Over the years, my travel habits have evolved. I started with solo trips. I then met Victoria, and we began taking trips together. Eventually, we settled down and started a family. This led to whole family trips. Now, a new phase has emerged.
Little Dude is now three years old. He is independent enough that I can take him on a dad-son trip. This lets Victoria stay at home with Littler Dude and have some peace and quiet. Little Dude is very high energy, so getting him out of the house definitely helps.
I actually threw this trip together pretty quickly. I realized I had an opportunity on July 3rd to take a trip like this. She had the day off from work on July 4th, so that's when I could go. I am still on parental leave, so my timeline was flexible. The main thing was that someone needed to be available to look after Littler Dude.
I was planning a trip with a three-year-old the day before leaving. I knew I had to be a bit more thorough in my planning. I hopped onto ChatGPT with the following prompt after including a map of my counties visited:
"My wife has said I can take the 3 year old county collecting to get him out of the house and have bonding time. My nearest county is 5 hours away. I was almost thinking doing Bond, Clinton, and Madison Counties in Illinois. Illinois has rest stops with play areas and if I left Friday night and did some reasonable driving before getting a hotel room I could get those 3 counties and find some cool things along the way."
It came back with the following:
"That sounds like an awesome bonding trip and a great way to knock out a few more counties! Based on your map, Bond, Clinton, and Madison Counties are still unvisited, and they're all clustered close together in southwestern Illinois-efficient for a weekend run.
Quick Route Plan (assuming Belleville, WI starting point):
Friday Night:
Leave around 5-6 PM
Drive ~4-5 hours
Stop somewhere near Springfield or Litchfield, IL for the night.
Saturday:
Start with Bond County (Greenville has a neat downtown and a railroad museum).
Continue to Clinton County (Carlyle Lake has scenic views and a visitor center).
Wrap with Madison County (Edwardsville and Alton have family-friendly attractions like parks, and the National Great Rivers Museum).
Saturday night: Stay near St. Louis or head north if you're not too tired.
Sunday: Casual return trip with a possible stop at a playground-style rest area (e.g., Funks Grove rest area on I-55).
Tips for County Collecting with a Toddler:
Hit at least one memorable stop per county: even a courthouse photo and a quick park visit count.
Keep snacks, audiobook/stories, and backup toys handy.
Use rest areas wisely. Illinois rest areas often have picnic areas and grassy space.
Would you like a custom Google Map route or printable itinerary for this?"
I'll save you all the details, but I refined things a bit. I settled on just trying to get the Bond County Courthouse and the railroad museum. Everything else would be a bonus. This would be a trial run. The main thing would be to see how things went and take notes for future trips.
I then booked a room in Springfield, Illinois, at the La Quinta. Victoria and I had stayed there in the past, so I knew it wasn't going to be sketchy. I had baby duty with Littler Dude that night, so I made sure to get as good of a night's rest as I could.
On the morning of the trip, I turned on the news. It looks like it would be a hot one!
A while later, I packed things up. Since this was a solo parent trip, I wanted to pack as light as possible. I was able to fit everything we needed for the hotel in a single backpack. I also packed a separate tote with a few extra toys.
After lunch, we got in the car and started our trip.
Our first stop wasn't too far. We stopped at Kwik Trip in Belleville to pick up snacks.
We had about four hours of driving to do to get to Springfield. Of course, the GPS took us down a bunch of backroads. I have taken this route before, so I followed it. If I hadn't known the area, I would have taken a different route. Given the sheer number of natural disasters, it's best to avoid taking backroads. You especially want to stay away from those near rivers.
Before you know it, we were in Illinois and on the main roads.
Our next stop was at the Willow Creek Rest Area for a potty, snack, and play break. I wanted to save the snacks we got from Kwik Trip since there was a vending machine there. I got Lunchables for him and a sandwich for me. We ate on a bench.
Little Dude didn't seem too hungry. On top of my sandwich, I ended up eating most of the Lunchables. One thing he was in the mood for was playing. I let him loose on the playground and he ran off some of his energy.
I was making sure to watch the weather, mainly for the temperature. This playground was older, as you can see with the metal slide. It also had seen better days, as you can see with all the weeds growing. I had to double-check everything for safety. I didn't want him burning himself on the slide or tripping.
Regardless, he had a good time. I had to set a timer so he knew when playtime was done. I limited it due to the heat. When we got back to the car, I put some sunscreen on him. One thing I found is that rubbing sunscreen is a pain, especially when doing it from a car seat. Next time, I will get the spray stuff.
Before you know it, we were rolling again. We went over the Abraham Lincoln Bridge. I told him that I have fished under that bridge. He asked to go fishing. I told him not on this trip, but now I know a future activity for us.
He then napped a bit. When he woke up, it was hot.
He said he was hungry. I figured since he didn't eat much at the rest stop. I handed him some of the snacks I bought from Kwik Trip. He ate them and asked for a napkin when he was done, as well as handed me the trash.
This was another lesson learned. He's perfectly content eating in the car. There's no need for special snack stops or sitting around after a potty stop to snack. I just need to have food ready for him, and he will eat as we go.
As we were getting close to Springfield, I decided I would stop at a grocery store to pick up supper and more snacks. I was going to drive to the hotel and then find a nearby grocery store.
Lo and behold, a Walmart was across the street from the hotel. We stopped there and went inside.
I had to go to the bathroom, so I parked the empty cart in front of the bathrooms. I took Little Dude in with me. When we got out, the cart was gone! Within the couple of minutes in the bathroom, someone had taken it.
We walked back to the front and grabbed another cart. As we walked around the store, Little Dude now had it in his head that a "bad guy took our cart." He speculated if it was Rhino or Doc Ock from Spidey. He was very adamant that it had happened and kept stating that a bad guy had taken our cart.
We usually order our groceries online at Target and pick them up. I also order a lot of stuff from Amazon. If I need to purchase a one-off item, I typically go to Piggly Wiggly, Family Dollar, or Kwik Trip. I forgot how big Walmart was. I definitely got my exercise looking for stuff. The first place we went was down a summer aisle.
I found a $5 foam basketball. I swear this was one of the best investments I made on the trip. Little Dude pointed it out while we were walking by. How can I go wrong for $5? I also found a variety pack of snacks.
We then made our way to the actual grocery aisle. From there, I found some Bobo's snacks. He seemed to like these when I bought them at Kwik Trip. They were also shelf-stable, making them perfect for him to eat while we drove.
We also went over to the deli section and got a few more things.
We checked in and got to our room. This bigger room was the only one left in the app, but it proved to be super useful for our trip.
My strategy of one trip up worked. I had my backpack with everything, including toys, in it. I also had two grocery bags for our food and the snack variety pack.
One of the first things I do is unplug the phone cable from the hotel phone. Little Dude has a habit of picking up the phone to call "puppy." He wants to say hi to our dog Maya, so he will pick up the phone and say, "Hello, puppy," or "Puppy is calling."
Little Dude discovered a fancy coffee table with a glass top. He started to hang on to it. That looked like a bad idea, so I removed the glass. Lo and behold, it was an instant basketball hoop. He loved the idea!
He settled down a bit, and we ate supper.
He then watched some TV before bed.
Little Dude was good with his bedtime routine. Now, going to sleep was a different story. Since this was a single king room, we would be sharing a bed. I said he could take his ball to bed. We usually let him bring one toy to bed.
He decided that since Dad was there, it was still playtime. He kept trying to bounce the ball off of me and play. I finally had the threaten to take the ball away and put it on the other side of the room. After a little bit, he finally calmed down and went to sleep.
When he does fall asleep, he sleeps well. It was probably around 8 PM when he finally got to sleep. We slept until the normal time of 7 AM. There was no wake-up transition, though. He went from 0 to 100 instantly.
I put on a show while I hopped into the shower. He was content while I did that. I then packed everything up before we headed downstairs for breakfast. I was hoping for eggs, but they had biscuits and gravy. He wanted Fruit Loops. He also asked for a piece of my breakfast sausage. I was surprised when he ate the whole thing. He normally doesn't eat much sausage.
I checked the weather and it was already almost 80F outside. I also saw there were a bunch of storms. I was hoping we wouldn't get caught in them on the way home. I had just learned that there was major flooding in Texas, which made me nervous.
I consolidated everything into one grocery bag, besides my backpack. This made it easier to check out and go to the car in one go.
We had a little over an hour to drive before our first courthouse. We hit the interstate and eventually ended up on Illinois 127. We would follow this road for most of our journey.
We made it to the Bond County Courthouse. There appeared to be a festival happening, so we had to park a block or so away. I took Little Dude's hand and we walked to the courthouse.
Like I said earlier, that ball was an amazing $5 investment. One strategy I had was to play for a while at each courthouse lawn. Normally, I would just circle the courthouse, get a few pictures, and go. With Little Dude along, he would get bored fast just doing that.
We would toss and kick the ball around. He also would explore other things, like this Civil War monument.
At 10 AM, it was already close to 90 F. I knew I had to limit our time outside.
Little Dude spotted an old tractor. He thought it was new and wanted to look at it. I told him it appeared to be new, but it was probably older than Grandpa. He enjoyed looking at it before we headed back to the car. We would now be heading to the railroad museum.
The nice thing about driving a 3-cylinder Ford Focus is it's amazing on gas. I hadn't had to fill up the entire time. I was getting around a quarter tank, so I stopped at a Casey's. It was easy to get in and out quickly.
The railroad museum is actually called the American Farm Heritage Museum. We were in luck that it was the first Saturday of the month. We looked at some of the cool things and then got to ride the train.
There was a sandbox there, and Little Dude wanted to play in it all day. I ended up having to set up another timer for him. When I got in the car, I found out I could follow Illinois 127 for 20 miles and hit the Clinton County Courthouse.
We headed that way and visited that courthouse.
We played with the ball as I got my pictures.
There was a gazebo that had nice shade and a fan running. Little Dude loved playing in it.
Even after the timer went off, he begged to keep playing. He asked if we could go to another courthouse. I would consider that a win! I was tempted to fit another courthouse into the trip, but I saw it was about five-and-a-half hours of driving home.
If we did it right, we would be home before his usual bedtime. I hit the road and stopped at a Love's along the way for a potty break. We were loaded up on all food except for jerky. I got some of that, and we both started eating along the way.
We retraced our route up Illinois 127 to get to the interstate.
Little Dude started napping as I drove. Eventually, we made it to the Willow Creek Rest Stop going the other way. I can say this one was sketchier than the other one across the interstate. You definitely had to heed the warning sign.
The radar was starting to look more threatening. I would really need to high-tail it before I got caught in a storm.
We made it to the back way we came. Little Dude claimed he wasn't feeling the best. The nice thing about taking these back roads is that you can easily pull off onto a side road.
Little Dude was fine, so we resumed driving. He had been snacking along the way, but I was hungry. I always love getting Chicago-style hot dogs at Bullwinkle's in Brodhead. I drove right past it on this drive, so it was the perfect stop.
As we got closer to Belleville, the clouds looked even more threatening.
I think with it getting darker, Little Dude wanted to sleep. He asked me to turn down the radio, and it appeared that he would try to nap on and off. By the time we hit Downtown Belleville, the sky was black.
It started to pour shortly after, literally a few blocks from home. It was just in time for us to get wet getting out of the car. We did get home before the hard stuff really started coming down.
I skipped filling up until later, but I can basically say this trip took two tanks of gas. The biggest expense was the hotel. I also learned a ton of things along the way. I found my backpack to be efficient, but I think I will use more MOLLE pouches next time to separate things further. I discovered that I had to do a little digging to find things.
I now know it just makes sense to pack shelf-stable food. Little Dude doesn't seem hungry at the regular stops. I might as well save the time and let him eat in the car when he tells me he is hungry.
Little Dude did awesome on the trip. There were no tantrums or meltdowns. There were only a few things I had to correct, like bouncing the ball off my back at bedtime. Otherwise, he was well-behaved.
He has been asking to visit more courthouses, so it's clear this trip was enjoyable in his eyes. It was a nice bonding trip with him. I look forward to doing more daddy-son trips in the future. This is definitely going to be a new and exciting chapter in my travels!