About to be talking my 1 year old on a 14 and a half hour drive. Most of the drive will be at night but there will be some hours at the beginning and end of the drive. I need all the tips and tricks. The closer it gets the more anxious I get about it.
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You are in for one of the most torturous drive’sof your life!!
Travel at night like you said and snacks
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Snacks in little lidded containers, non messy toys, screen time—maybe you can hang a tablet on the back of a seat with preprogrammed stuff. I like magnet scene pages with magnet elements (people, trees, houses, etc.) to put on them, as long as they don’t pose a choking hazard.
Picture books, board books, pop-up books (buy these—they’ll get ripped up by a 1-year-old), busy books like Pat the Bunny. Etch-A-Sketch.
CD or playlist of children’s songs you can sing along to, preferably some with action like Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. I love the Milkshake band out of Baltimore.
Drinks in bottles with pull-up tops. These spill the least. (See pic below.)
Pla-Doh & plastic cookie cutters if there’s a tray attachment for your car seat. Look for kits with stamps and cutters, etc. included.
No crayons. Ruin the car, break, melt in the sun, get chewed on, maybe swallowed.
Is there a baby gym-type thing you can attach to the carseat?
Stuffed toys that wont hurt if thrown at you.
Busy box with things to turn, crank, push, pull, beep, etc. Nothing that could come off the base.
Frozen wash cloth to chew on if teething.
Flask of booze for you. 
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Make sure they are well fed, warm and dry
You will still need to stop every 2 hours to get them out
We recently did this from Florida to Texas and back. We stopped over night to stretch our legs and shower and what not with our baby. Best decision.
I would not recommend drive at night……I get the thought process I had the same one. However after a bunch of 12-14 hrs drives with small kids on my own I learned better. Little kids get irritated with not being able to get comfortable to sleep. Then they cry inconsolably until u stop and take them out or they cry themselves back to sleep. They don’t get good sleep so the whole ride you’re dealing with a tired crabby baby as well. It’s was never a fun or even tolerable experience. Leaving super early in the am like 4-5 driving all day always worked better for us and driving during the day is easier driving then night driving 
I also dont recommend night driving. You really do need to stop every 2 hours, medically, its not healthy to sit that long in a car. Also, unless someone is used to staying up all night its so dangerous driving at night, falling asleep at the wheel happens way more than you think! Leaving early in the morning is so much better, baby will probably be happier with a full nights sleep and then leaving, just have snacks handy!
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Snacks and small toys to keep them busy also stop to stretch your legs and get their energy out if they are walking
I’d recommend leaving super early (around 3 am). Driving during the day has always been easiest for us. We travel from Ohio to Massachusetts frequently. I would also recommend if your time and budget allows for it to break the drive up over 2 days. 12-14 hours on the road is a lot. Especially if you’re the only one doing the driving. I used to do the drive in one straight shot and realized how much I would struggle the 2nd half of the trip.
We usually leave Ohio early. Well stop for breakfast and lunch. Than about 7/8 hours into the trip is when we’ll stop. I usually plan that out and reserve a room ahead of time. Than the next morning, we’ll get up and have breakfast and get back on the road. For this, I’ll leave 99% of our stuff packed in the car and I’ll pack everyone a backpack with a change of clothes and bathroom essentials for the hotel.
My kiddo- was a great traveler. I had snacks and movies they liked on hand. I had soft cuddly things she liked and when we stopped I let her out to move around.
Lotsa breaks,about every two hrs need to get out to let them run around,have diaper change,
We always traveled at night while they slept