In a previous post, Shawna talked about her experience with taking her family on a trip in a side by side ATV. My in-laws just recently purchased two side-by-side Polaris RZRs: a 4-seater and a 2-seater. We have been DYING to take them out so, we took them on a daytrip to the sandy canyons of Moab, Utah.
This being our first Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) trip with kids, we learned a tip or two that made our trip more enjoyable that we wanted to share with you!
- Plan a route with lots of kid-friendly attractions so that the little guys can get out and stretch their legs. Jake’s brother, Jordan, planned this trip, and he picked a spectacular route that allowed us to stop at 4 gorgeous sites: Uranium Arch, Determination Towers, Tusher Tunnel, and Hidden Canyon.
- Goggles and Sunscreen are a MUST. With sand flying everywhere and the sun in full-force, goggles and sunscreen are essential for an enjoyable trip. We used our kids-sized snowboarding goggles and SPF 30+! We used Elemental Herbs Sunstick. It was easy for the kids to put on themselves, and worked great!
- Find a helmet that fits- Apart from being unsafe, a helmet that is too large for your child can prevent him/her from seeing the sites and can just be plain-out uncomfortable. Admittedly, we weren’t able to get our hands on kid-sized ATV helmets for this trip and ended up using their snowboarding helmets to protect their noggins. However, we will be making the investment for future rides! Here is a great article on how to size an ATV/OHV helmet for your child.
- Pack bath towels and baby wipes- Both baby wipes and bath towels make great cleaning cloths for hands and faces before and after meals, and for clearing sand from goggles. Bath towels have a couple of other great uses. They make for perfect neck pillows and blankets for sleepy kiddos. We ended up propping our 2-year olds head with both bath towels when he fell asleep in the middle of a long bumpy section of road. Later, we used them to cover both the boys when the chill of the evening dusk set in.
- Dress in layers- As you can see from the pictures, we weren’t sure what to expect as far as the weather goes, so we planned for the worst and hoped for the best. We dressed our kids for sub-zero temperatures. As we got going though, we were able to layer-down to long sleeve shirts and jackets.
- Don’t forget the booster seats! Booster seats fit perfectly in the bucket seat and make it easier for the kids to be high enough to hold onto the grab bars and see the action! Plus, it allows the seat belt to lay correctly across the child’s chest, which is of course safer!
I hope these tips help make your next OHV expedition a success! Do YOU have any tips that you would like to share? If so, please do! Leave them in the comments section below!
-Amanda
Amanda Steele
Amanda is an energetic mother of three rowdy boys, owner of a dog named Chaco, and is the wife of a wannabe fisherman named Jake. She spends her mornings running the foothills by her home (for fun) and the rest of the day chasing around her kids (also, for fun). She's had a plethora of job titles with some of her favorites being: Truck Loader, Ski Lift Supervisor, Fire Fighter, and Physical Education Teacher. But her all-time favorite occupation has been being a mom.
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