Hotels Smotels:
KOA's are worth every (saved) penny.
Kids and hotel rooms are like oil in water, and its no fun with your spouse continually ytelling the 9yo to stop stomping.
It is stressful, crowded, and filled with the bacterial-ghosts of those who came before you.
You dampen and drug the situation with bad cable TV, a poor substitute for life and the antithesis of why you've driven 2,000 miles to be here (except for ANW, see above).
Yes, Kamper Kabins require your own bedding and a walk to the bathrooms. But there's space, breathing room. KOA's have playgrounds and pools and fire rings. They have cheap pancake breakfasts and great people watching. If you dare, you might even strike up a conversation and find the random reasons others from all over the world have found themselves sharing the property for the night.
You are a picky sleeper. I get it. At home, we sleep in $1,000 beds with noise machines and ideal temperatures. But after a few nights, your body adjusts, and you sleep just fine.
The money you save on the night's stay and cheap breakfast pays for a great meal the next day.
Daily Bread:
One good meal a day is perfect. I love love love food; am a sucker for local-owned, local-style. Am so grateful for TripAdvisor to help me find gems. Each day enjoy a good solid meal, not rushed, not drive-thru.
With the promise of a good meal to come, find contentment with granola, greek yogurt, fruit, GORP, hummus, veggie chips, etc (suburban white-people food).
Overeating catches up with you; you can do it for a 3-day man-trip, but a road trip requires pacing.
Watch for Stools:
People react differently to changes in eating and life schedules. Take a bottle of Stool Softener pills. Better queasy about packing the pills than on Day 5 finding your offspring balled up in the back of the car cramped and crying with no memory of passing their daily bread.
Less is More:
You've got your bedding, and your stool softener. You don't need much else.
Pack less than you think you may need. You don't.
Everything you bring has to be towed, packed, carried in/out and re packed.
You have to carry it or climb over it and it's not worth it.
Want to read? Paperbacks; or better yet, Kindle.
Need clothes? Take 3 changes (including what you are wearing) and do laundry. No one wants to travel in the car with piles of dirty ones.
Shoes? Two pairs: sneakers plus sandals.