Ann Miller calls her father Chevy Chase reincarnated, referring to the actor's role as the bumbling family man trying to take his wife and kids on a road trip in "National Lampoon's Vacation" and its sequels.

Miller, her siblings and their parents toured a different region of the country for four straight summers in the early- to mid-1980s, and did so without the DVD player in the car that her family has now.

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Surviving the adventure required low-tech solutions.

Those experiences allowed Miller, now grown up and living in suburban Minneapolis with her husband Todd and children Josh, 5, and Eve, 1, to come prepared with a litany of activities to keep her children occupied while trying to limit the time the DVD player was on during their own 10-day tour of the Midwest last summer.

One of Miller's favorites growing up was "Windy Boy," where each player gets a tissue held in place by a window. The one with the most tissue left after a certain time wins.

"It's the only way to get them stop asking, 'Are we there yet?' was to say, 'When Windy Boy gets to a certain level,'" Miller said. "And they still ask, 'Are we there yet?' Expect it as soon as you leave the development [where you live]."

Avoid Electronics

Laurel Smith, the creator of the Web site MomsMinivan.com, said that watching DVDs or playing video games can be part of the trip.

"You just can't watch TV the whole trip, and you don't want to," Smith said. "A lot of that time in the car is really special. You can talk to them and they can open up. I like to think my vacation starts when we get in the car, not when we arrive."

Smith's Web site offers low-tech games such as car bingo and roadside bingo, with cards that have pictures of items to check off as the kids see them.

Smith said that the DVD player gets used for downtime.

"You just can't be active and involved for eight hours in a row," she said. "You have to plan ahead if you do these activities, so bring what you need with you."

Mary Gavin, a pediatrician at the duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Del., and the medical editor for KidsHealth.com, said that it's important to remember to look out the windows.

"If you don't have eyes out away from the screen and look at a very dramatic landscape you might see, you're missing the trip and the opportunity to learn about why a place is different," Gavin said.

Come Prepared

Miller said that edible jewelry -- Cheerios threaded on a licorice rope -- were a hit with Josh -- albeit, a quick one.

"That took up a good 17 minutes," she said with a laugh.

Smith suggested preparing surprise packages for the trip that can be doled out at predetermined intervals, either by mileage or time.

"Just make up little bags of small items that can you pick up at a dollar store and spread it out over the trip," Smith said. "It gives the kids a little surprise every time, like a snack or stickers or crayons. Sometimes you can give a map and that shows when they get it, so they look forward to the next one and see how the trip progresses."

A popular toy for all ages, Smith said, is aluminum foil.

"Kids can mold it into animals or toys to play with, or jewelry or hats," Smith said. "My kids had fun with a roll of Scotch tape. Kids can have fun with weird stuff like that. And it's easy to clean up and throw away."

Gavin said that planning activities outside the car is as important as in the car, since families get a lot of uninterrupted time together by going on road trips, which they don't often get at home.

"Usually when you go out on a trip, you're going to a destination," Gavin said. "Why wait until you get there to start the vacation? You may find an interesting park to stop at that can be incorporated that into the trip. Take a trip (that lasts) over an hour, and kids get antsy, and I do, too. That's not specific to children."

Child Involvement

Gavin said that getting your children involved early in the trip process could make all the difference.

"You have to get the kids involved right away," she said.

That can include letting them pack bags to keep near their seats. They can be full of things such as pads of paper, magnetic games or electronics.

Be Flexible

Miller said the key to road trip survival is to take deep breaths and be flexible.

"Have a good attitude," she said. "It's not the situation, but how you respond to it."

Miller said she would do another road trip with her family after last summer's adventure.

"Something in your brain makes you forget how difficult it was," she said. "It's a great way to bond and a great way to test your marriage. The best stories come from what didn't go right."

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