The drive to Crossing Creeks RV Resort & Spa — or any number of places you and your family may travel in your RV — requires keeping your children or grandkids busy.

A movie will take up a big block of time, but you’re going to need more than that. Here are some kids travel ideas, some of which require very little to keep everybody happy, and some of which require just a little imagination. They get everybody to interact.

1. Plan interesting stops

Well ahead of time, look at a map, your GPS or Web sites to find good places to stop along your route.  You’ll need to stop anyway, for rest and food. Make some of those stops interesting places. A petting zoo, a public garden, a park or maybe a small museum would provide plenty to talk about. Before the trip, print out facts about the sites or the history behind them to spur discussion off and on the road.

2. Tell stories round-robin style

This can take up loads of time, and it’s fun for everybody. Pick a person to start the story. For instance: “Once upon a time, a boy was born — with wings. He could fly high and far. Then he went to school, where he was the only boy with wings …” Then the next person has up to one minute to continue the tale — and the next, and the next — until it ends. Sometimes stories will continue for two or more rounds. You will do another story — guaranteed. Give each person a turn at starting a story.

3. Sing karaoke

Get karaoke discs online or at a store that sells CDs and take turns singing. Play the discs on a laptop and display the lyrics on your smart TV. A karaoke song sounds very much like the original pop song, but without the singer’s voice. It’s up to you and your kids to do the singing. The onscreen lyrics light up in time with the music. Just follow along and belt out a tune. Chances are your kids will know the songs already, but having the lyrics onscreen will inspire confidence. Add a microphone for even more fun. And don’t forget to clap or cheer for each performance!

(This is how karaoke lyrics will look on your TV, helping everyone sing along as the words light up in time with the music. You can buy discs with kids songs, pop and country hits, and songs of faith.) 

4. Make your kids discoverers

This is a fun way to get your kids to actually look out the windows while traveling. Look up places along your route and download photos of landmarks from Web sites. Print the pictures out, put them in folders, and give a folder containing all the landmarks to each of the kids. Don’t pick too many sites, and make sure they’re all in just a part of the route, so discoveries don’t take too long. The first person to spot a landmark gives the photo to Mom or Dad, Grandma or Grandpa — whoever is not driving. Place each photo of a discovery in a notebook or folder and mark down who saw it first. Give a quarter for each landmark found, or maybe a dollar to the winner. Talk about each landmark and the history behind it as it is discovered.

Turn your kids into discoverers. Print out Internet photos of historic places along your route, such as the Cotton Exchange Building in Augusta, to make rest stops interesting. Whoever “discovers” the building wins the point. (Wikipedia)

Before you know it, you’ll be saying, “We’re here!”

If you’ll be at Crossing Creeks RV Resort & Spa the afternoon of Monday, Aug. 21, you’re in for some spectacular entertainment — a rare total solar eclipse.

Just about anyone in the United States will be able to see at least a partial eclipse if there’s no cloud cover. But only people in a 70-mile-wide swath from Oregon to South Carolina will be able to see the eclipse in its totality. Blairsville, Ga., home of Crossing Creeks, lies within that path.

The eclipse, from partial through full and then again through partial stages, will last up to 3 hours. It will begin about 1:07 p.m. It will reach totality about 2:37 p.m., making it look as if nightfall has arrived. You may not want to miss it: A total solar eclipse won’t be visible again in northern Georgia until 2078.

But be careful how you view the eclipse. I found information on safe viewing from the people who know a thing or two about heavenly bodies: NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA says it’s safe to view the eclipse with the naked eye only in its total stage. The total eclipse — when the sun appears to be a black sphere surrounded by a bright aura — will last a mere 2 minutes and 40 seconds. Looking directly at the stages before and after the total stage can injure your eyes.

NASA recommends using eclipse safety glasses. These solar filters, held together by cardboard frames, are sold online and in discount stores for $4 to $5. Eclipse glasses meet the ISO 12312-2 international standard. The American Astronomical Society, part of the National Science Foundation, says the following manufacturers make certified eclipse safety glasses: American Paper Optics, Baader Planetarium (AstroSolar Silver/Gold film only), Rainbow Symphony, Thousand Oaks Optical, and TSE 17.

Make sure the glasses have no scratches or holes. Put them on before glancing at the sun, NASA suggests. Look away from the sun before removing them.

Warning:  Normal sunglasses, no matter how dark, are not safe for viewing the eclipse. Even dark ski goggles are not safe. And NASA warns not to look directly though a camera or telescope unless equipped with properly fitting solar filters.

Here are two ways to watch indirectly:

• Get two sheets of heavy white paper. In one, punch a pinhole. With your back to the sun, hold the sheet with the hole up to the sun. Hold the second sheet so the light shines through the hole, hitting the solid sheet. You will see a real-time image of the sun on the solid paper.

• Use your hands to form a cross hatch, with tiny spaces between your fingers. With your back to the sun, hold them up so the sun’s rays shine through. A multiple image of the sun — and the eclipse — will form where the shadow of your hands falls. Look at the images, not directly at the sun.

You don’t need to climb up on your RV to see this show. There are air conditioning units, luggage racks and solar panels up there, and it’s a long, dangerous way down if you fall. You’re safer on the ground, unless your RV is set up to handle rooftop sitting.

Enjoy the show!