That doesn't mean we sailed through without ever stopping for anything other than sleep, food or bathrooms. In Montana, we stopped at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, which has an extensive graveyard and exhibits providing context for the 1876 battle that killed Lt. Col. George Custer and hundreds of U.S. soldiers. The park is $10 per carload; www.nps.gov/libi/.

While we were at the monument, re-enactors were pulling in for upcoming anniversary events. Soldiers and Indians dined together at large tables in a local cafe. They were happy to chat with the kids and pose for photos.

At a lunch break in Faith, S.D., we wandered into a local rodeo and spent some time in the stands. Friendly locals explained what was going on in the arena.

In Wisconsin we stopped at Taliesin, the home of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Home tours, at $47 a person, were too rich for our budget. But a Wright-designed visitor center offers a glimpse of the architect's inspiration and some history; www.taliesinpreservation.org/.

Nearby, we happened upon the spacious — and free — Madison Museum of Contemporary Art; www.mmoca.org/. In Chicago, we fulfilled our wish to visit the Art Institute — www.artic.edu/aic/, free on Thursday evenings — which came with the unexpected benefit of Grant Park right next door. Here huge fountains cooled off hundreds of joyful kids (including mine). Grant Park also features The Bean, a giant stainless-steel sculpture that provides a panoramic, if rounded, reflection of the city — or, depending on where you stand, your family.

In New York, we made it to the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum, web.baseballhalloffame.org/index.jsp, along with an unexpected hit: The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, and its close-up glassblowing demonstration, www.cmog.org/. The huge gift shop of glass and CorningWare is an experience itself — a place where if you're not paying attention, you might happen to see your 9-year-old manhandling a $44,000 glass egg.

Corning was also home to Thali of India, a downtown restaurant that proved to be the culinary highlight of the journey. An excellent lunch buffet with dessert for our two adults and two kids, ages 9 and 10, set us back $21 (28 E. Market St., 607-936-1900).

Kids: The plan

We weren't sure how the kids would take to being in a car six to eight hours each day. I bought a dozen kids' movies at a Boise pawn shop, which they watched on a portable DVD player. We planned stops that would enable them to run around.

Kids: The reality

Busy as they are with homework and sports, the kids just don't have time at home to experience the kind of multihour movie hypnosis that so many parents had growing up in the 1970s. While my daughter occasionally took off the headphones to play Mad Libs with us or read, my son was in heaven. He couldn't wait to get in the car. From time to time he did take note of the wildflowers, cattle and antelope. He saw the cornfields and farms and small towns. He asked a lot of questions about farm equipment. But the movies made the kids' experience a snap.

As for what they'll remember most from this trip, it's probably not what we will. The kids liked the bold campsite raccoons (which we have at home) and the swimming pools we found along the way. They liked cooking al fresco and having their parents around without the distraction of phones, friends or computers.

And we liked the luxury of having time to talk together at length for the first time in years. We got to play our music, too. As we approached our destinations each day, the family generally regrouped. The headphones came off; together we looked for signs we were going in the right direction.