This post is dedicated to those inevitable troubles along the way. On this trip, we had 2 big ones, a sick toddler and a shredded tire!
A sick toddler is no fun at all. About 30 minutes into our trip, my youngest threw up all over her clothes and into her car seat below her. Luckily, it did not get onto the floor or onto her siblings on either side. We QUICKLY pulled over to the nearest gas station to figure out clean up!
I broke 3 of my rules that I strongly recommend for car travelers:
1) Always have an extra pair of clothes easily accessible (like in your diaper bag),
2) have a few ziploc bags on hand, and
3) stash a roll of paper towels under the seat.
Unfortunately, the only pairs of clothes we had were tucked in suitcases under EVERYTHING in our trailer. It took a little effort to get a new pair out. My husband was able to go into the gas station to buy the paper towels and get a plastic bag to put the yucky clothes into, but it would have been better if I already had those to help with immediate assistance.
After we pulled my sick daughter out, undressed her, cleaned her off with regular baby wipes (luckily, her clothes and the car seat got most everything), I turned my attention to the car seat. My husband had also bought orange-scented Clorox wipes. After taking up half a paper towel roll with soaking up gunk in the car seat, I used the Clorox wipes to go after the car seat straps and scrub the car seat itself. I then loaded extra paper towels all over the area and placed my daughter back in her seat. It worked for the 2 1/2 hours we had left to drive until we could take the car seat apart to wash it.
Yuck! I kept an empty Sonic cup very close at hand the rest of that drive to hopefully catch anymore “grossness.” I occupied her with other items for the rest of the trip and avoided food for 1 1/2 hours just to be safe. Then, I gave her a little bread and water to see how she would do. Happily, we arrived without any more troubles. I wish I would have been more prepared…Sorry no picture of this incident! I am sure no one will mind 
For the next catastrophe: Our trailer tire shredded on us as we were driving home. Luckily, we were able to slowly pull off the road without an accident. I had to break out items from my surprise bag and food stash to keep kids occupied while we figured out what we had to do to get on our way.
We ended up leaving our trailer at a gas station and then finding a Wal-mart several miles back. We were able to eat lunch at the Subway there, use their restrooms, and look at the toys while the auto department hooked us up with a new tire. I was very thankful for one-stop shopping!
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