I suffer from the same demons, and last spring the plan was for my mom, my twins and I to drive cross country from Wisconsin, up through MI, MN, and onto California via Reno. My anxiety was NOT under control at that time, and at the last minute my husband took the time off (which shortened our trip by a couple of weeks) to drive us out there.

First, let me say that the Northern route was NOT a good idea. We had wind storms so bad starting from Nebraska and they didn't stop. The mountains had blizzards, oddly enough our first stop was to be in Duluth, but since they lost our reservations we ended up stopping just outside the Twin Cities, thank God, we were ahead of the major storm the whole way out there. It would have been much cheaper to fly, but my mother does not fly.

Second, I also have OCD so I had the trip planned out the trip to the minute, the twins were 14 so they had MP3 players, DVD players, PSPs you name it, they were occupied and didn't have a problem. I on the other hand literally had blisters from hanging on to that strap above the window. No matter how much you think you can drive, there's a good chance you'll not be able to drive as long as you think you can. Something's gonna come up. We planned an nice slow trip to enjoy the sites as we went there were not many, but I had to make many adjustments on route. My husband was very frustrated when we got to Fresno. When we arrived at my brother's beautiful house with a lovely pool we left only once to have lunch. I was a homebody even away from home. It was a good thing too, because the return trip wasn't any better weather wise, I was a wreck.

My kids always travelled well (hubby was in the service we were always moving). Make sure there's a new picture book, brand new crayons, coloring book, snacks, etc. Ew, almost forgot, nothing noisey, those car games with sounds seem like a good idea until you're in traffic, looking for your exit, and hearing BINGO for the millionth time.

It's very frustrating, when we were stationed in OR, I'd drive back to the UP of MI a couple times a year with four small kids in tow and never give it a second thought.

Good luck, I'm sure you can do it. We battle with these demons on a daily basis, but it's amazing what we can do when we absolutely have to. Don't think of the trip as a whole, think of it in pieces, you only have to make it to the next stop. The more you dwell, the more anxious you will become.