I recommend planning your route around frequent stops. It's difficult to drive thousands of miles from one destination to another. You need to have minor stops, lots of them. The idea of a road trip is that the travelling itself is exciting. You want to create a certain anxiety where people are so excited about the next stop.

Try and keep the destinations within 100 miles or so. There is a good example of this in the movie Elizabethtown.

Congrats on your move, sounds exciting.. starting over in a new place :)
I know kids can get bored, I have a 7 yr old and we can not even go to the next town without her yelling she is bored! lol So, what we do is for one, she takes a camera of her own and takes the pictures she wants herself, she has her Ipod and her Nintendo to keep her busy some, a pad of paper and a pen, all kids love to write and draw, so having some crayons is a good idea, they have games for travel, you can get these mini games at Walmart like, connect four, are we there yet, a mini game that is similar to "Eye Spy", small set of legos, etc..
Books of course, lots of books :)
As for food, my number one and it is cheap is BEEF JERKY you cannot have a roadtrip without it :)
trail mix, mini pringles, pretzels and water!!!
Whatever you take or whatever you bring, be safe, and have a fun and exciting trip starting your new life.

xo

I just love to travel long distant as long as I will be having fun all the way. Some ideas you may want to consider when going out on such a long journey is to make short stops at some fun destinations, some where of interest to the kids and your wife and your self. You could do some research about where they would love to see and how to find it as long as it is near your route and you could make that a surprise for them. Carry some used newspaper these may come in hany. Snacks may be exciting and a portable TV, some games for the kids like video games and I assume that you will also be taking turn driving so entertain each other with your favourite music. I do not know if you will be spending night time at motels which will be an exciting time for the kids they may want everyone to stay together. Enough food, toiletries ect. should be available. Make sure you have cell phones and that they are fully charged or you may have a car charger for your cell phones, so that you can use it in case of emergencies or just checking up with love ones.

Make sure your gas tank is full and that you top up at each service station as much as necessary. It is not safe to carry jugs of gasolene in your vehicle espicially when driving long distance, it may cause an explosion. Carry bottle water although you can stop to buy bottle water.
I really do that I have mentioned some valid points that will help you and your family to have FUN on your long journey.

Hi,

The things you will need will basically depend on where you are travelling. For example, if you are going to a beach, a floor jute matt can be very helpful. Below I have a listed a few things which can be used in all kinds of travel.

For Comfort: Zip bags, baby wipes, duct tapes/sun glasses/sleep aids, ear plugs, medicine, flashlight
Food: Energy bars, nuts, cereal
Entertainment: ipod/portable cd player, music cds, some outdoor games (like frisbee, skipping ropes, balls), indoor games like Monopoly, cards

Happy Vacation

I would include things like ;
1) favorite music
2) pillow and blanket
3) snacks, nuts, candies, chips and a small cooler for drinks
4) a camera, you might want to stop on the way and do some site seeing
5) hand held games
6) portable dvd player
7) your favorite movies
8) a small bag with comfy clothing in it
9) cell phone

Happy Moving !!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/denemiles/4195859328/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/blueone/513658445/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gibbons/343384475/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35595350@N06/3470952345/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/markklotz/378505950/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/afrokid/2262982803/

Why not run a compettition for each leg of the journey. You could start with a game of I Spy and then another game is to spot the number of yellow (or any other colour) cars on the road. Each leg of the journey could be rewarded with a small prize such as some fruit or a visit to a place of interest on the route itself. Another game is a scavenger type hunt where you ask the kids to look out for a list of items that they are likely to see such as a goat, someone riding a horse, a type of truck etc. Very inexpensive to do (depending on the prizes of course).