I've recorded a few times with the camera on the dashboard and it doesn't really have much if any shaking at all so I'm not sure we will need some extra solution.

I would think the main thing is if we should have it on the dashboard or on the hood. Mostly depends on the time this would take us. If too long then the camera might run out of battery.

I have an extra battery pack for it but if this would take half the day, I'm not sure that it would do. We like to record the whole thing as a video instead of making the GoPro take the time lapse as we might miss some important frames like that. Better to process it afterwards.