Our dream RV National Park Trip

My family is planning an RV trip next summer that will include approximately 6,000 miles and 21 days of travel through the western United States. We don't own an RV. We will either rent one, or buy one. We're thinking a Class C.

We have a pretty ambitious itinerary. I'm wondering what is a reasonable amount of ground to cover on the road each day. I keep reading that we shouldn't plan to cover as much ground as we would in a car... but... what's reasonable?

WOW!!  Do you have any idea how big the WesternStates are??  JM2?  ~~  YMMV

thatbradguy said:

My family is planning an RV trip next summer that will include approximately 6,000 miles and 21 days of travel through the western United States. We don't own an RV. We will either rent one, or buy one. We're thinking a Class C.

We have a pretty ambitious itinerary. I'm wondering what is a reasonable amount of ground to cover on the road each day. I keep reading that we shouldn't plan to cover as much ground as we would in a car... but... what's reasonable?

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I have been to all 49 of the National Parks and spent a lot of time in each of them. IMHO 21 days is just enough time to see Yosemite or the Grand Canyon. If you want to rush through them to see as many as you can you are doing yourself a disservice. Driving an RV 300 miles per day like you are planning means you will have absolutely no time to see anything in any park, you will just be driving past them. I would suggest hitting the Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches and Capitol Reef and saving the rest for future vacations.

Your itinerary assumes 285 miles per day driving each of the 21 days.
This seems difficult. What's "reasonable" is, of course, subjective but you mention your family.
Kids like to "experience", not quickly jump from one place to the next, on some arbitrary itinerary.
I'd suggest planning a less stressful trip. Pick out some key places to visit. Stay a few days rather than trying to cover it all.
Depending on the ages of the kids, involve them in the decision making process regarding your stay/layover options. Believe me, it will make for a much more enjoyable trip.

To phrase it differently, 6,000 miles at 50 mph average (hard to do more, long term) means 120 hours of travel time. 120/8 is 15 eight hour days for your three weeks. It can be done, but you won't have time for a lot of sightseeing beyond the driving time, except for the 6 non-driving days. If there are kids along, you'll really have your hands full, and it's no picnic even without them.

We have a pretty ambitious itinerary.

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You do, indeed. You might mention the places you hope to see, the things you hope to do,  and the experienced folks here can probably help you plan a way to accomplish a lot of it, perhaps over multiple years.

Larry N. said:

To phrase it differently, 6,000 miles at 50 mph average (hard to do more, long term) means 120 hours of travel time. 120/8 is 15 eight hour days for your three weeks. It can be done, but you won't have time for a lot of sightseeing beyond the driving time, except for the 6 non-driving days. If there are kids along, you'll really have your hands full, and it's no picnic even without them.
You do, indeed. You might mention the places you hope to see, the things you hope to do,  and the experienced folks here can probably help you plan a way to accomplish a lot of it, perhaps over multiple years.

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I redid the math, turns out it's more like 5,000 miles, but still... I see your point. Doing this over multiple years is a great plan, but getting three weeks off to do such a thing is another story entirely. However, that's not a problem you can help me with. 

Averaging 50 mph is the information I was looking for, and makes our time calculations even more unreasonable. Here's what we *were* thinking.

Travel to Yosemite (1200 miles) - 2 days
Tour Yosemite - 3 days
Travel to Olympic (900 miles) - 2 days
Tour Olympic - 1 day
Drive to San Francisco through Redwood (840 miles) - 2 days
Tour San Francisco - 1 day
Drive to Yosemite (200 miles) - 1/2 day
Tour Yosemite - 2 days
Drive to Sequoia (200 miles) - 1/2 day
Tour Sequoia - 2 days
Drive to Grand Canyon via Hoover Dam (648 miles) - 2 days
Tour Grand Canyon - 2 days
Drive Home (1000 miles) - 2 days

I'll echo what the others have said. It sounds like a great trip if you had more time. But my advice would be to spend more time at less places. Still sounds like a great trip!

Just a thought...And I don't know if it's will work...

What if you and the Family fly out to the west coast....Rent the RV out there....Do you traveling thing....Then return the RV and fly home...

This could free up a lot of driving time

My gf and I took the month of June this year starting from Virginia. We loaded up our 80 lb Walker Hound and camping gear in my big 4 door sedan and took the trip. We weren't in an RV (tent camping). While driving we went 400 to 600 miles per traveling day. We spent a few days in Denver with GF's best friend. Then headed to Montana to spend time with my 2 daughters. We took a day trip to Glacier National Park. We stayed about a week and then headed for Yellowstone where we spent 3 days. On the way back to Virginia, we stopped for a couple hours at Mt. Rushmore.  Then traveled long hours back to Virginia with a 2 day side trip in a 13 bed rural hospital in Minnesota ( my bad reaction to a tick bite - Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever). After returning home I bought a TT (will never camp in a tent again).
'
My gf had never been in the West. I grew up in Montana and traveled all over the
Western states. While driving across Wyoming, which is mostly desert, my gf said, " you don't realize how big the western states are until you drive 80 mpg all day and don't get anywhere." (FYI- the speed limit is 80 mpg). Things don't seem that far apart when you are just looking at the map.

You can't drive that fast all day in an RV unless you have a death wish. My advice is to not try to see everything in one trip. In the past, I've been to Yellowstone a number of times. Still, I hadn't seen all of it. And, even in 3 days, there were some sites we were not able to see.

I think you and your family will be much happier taking a few days at each national park. And, my experience is that I needed an occasional day to rest up and not do much. Driving long days is physically and emotionally draining. So, my advice is to take your time so your family can fully enjoy each attraction and stay rested and fresh. Also, I recommend you don't force yourself to stay on a strict timeline. If you are tired or decide to take a side trip to something interesting, allow yourself the flexibility to do it. You can always cancel or reschedule reservations.

I and I'm sure many of the forum members will enjoy seeing your posts on the progress of your wonderful adventure. My best wishes on a fun vacation.

My wife, our dog, and I just made our first long-distance trip, 2200 miles in 5 days.  Our goal was to reach our ultimate destination before Thanksgiving.  We achieved that goal but had no time for sightseeing, shopping, or visiting.  Every day was drive, eat, fuel up, and potty breaks.

Probably the important things we learned: 1) plan well ahead; and 2) arrive at the day's destination before dark.  Not only is it easier to set up the campsite while there's light, but test-your-good-nature hazards like potholes, rocks, and fenceposts can't hide quite so well. 

Be aware that unless you have RV experience there's a considerable learning curve ahead of you which can (will) eat into your valuable time.

thatbradguy said:

I redid the math, turns out it's more like 5,000 miles, but still... I see your point. Doing this over multiple years is a great plan, but getting three weeks off to do such a thing is another story entirely. However, that's not a problem you can help me with. 

Averaging 50 mph is the information I was looking for, and makes our time calculations even more unreasonable. Here's what we *were* thinking.

Travel to Yosemite (1200 miles) - 2 days
Tour Yosemite - 3 days
Travel to Olympic (900 miles) - 2 days
Tour Olympic - 1 day
Drive to San Francisco through Redwood (840 miles) - 2 days
Tour San Francisco - 1 day
Drive to Yosemite (200 miles) - 1/2 day
Tour Yosemite - 2 days
Drive to Sequoia (200 miles) - 1/2 day
Tour Sequoia - 2 days
Drive to Grand Canyon via Hoover Dam (648 miles) - 2 days
Tour Grand Canyon - 2 days
Drive Home (1000 miles) - 2 days

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Is that a typo, going to Yosemite twice?  Or did you mean Yellowstone as one of the stops?

Suggestions:
--  Skip Olympic NP.  It is way out of your way.  If you do go plan on 2 days for Olympic.  One day for Hurricane Ridge and a second day for the rain forests.
--  Redwoods.  While the big massive redwoods are in the far NW corner of CA, there are Redwoods within a 1.5 to 2 hour drive of San Francisco.  From San Jose take SR-17 SW into the mountains.  There are some nice redwoods there.

Concerns:
--  You haven't planned any weather days.  Weather happens and you can't always do what you want to do. 
--  Averaging 50mph in a RV is for interstates.  You may even approach 55mph average. 
--  Get off on 2 lane highways and your average is more like 40mph, maybe less.
--  Going to the Redwoods in NW CA involves quite a bit of 2 lane highways.  If you try to come down the WA & OR coast highway, US-101, your average is going to be closer to 35mph.  Beautiful drive, but slow. 

For adults you trip can be done.  However given the amount of driving, you would be far better off taking a car and staying in motels.  Probably cheaper than renting a RV.  If you have kids along they will be unhappy with drive, look, drive, look.  Stop for the night at 5-6pm then the next day, drive, look, drive, look.  Then you repeat the process. 

Have you made reservations for Yellowstone (assuming that IS one of your stops), Yosemite and Grand Canyon.  Chances are the campgrounds inside the parks are booked for the 2019 summer season.  RV Parks outside the parks may be booked as well.

Great pix Tom S.  Did you create that or find it? 

garyb1st said:

Great pix Tom S.  Did you create that or find it?

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Thank you Gary. I photographed every sign and created the montage myself. Then they added Pinnacles NP and I had to drive back to California and photograph the sign so I could add it to the montage.

Well, we did our first RV, with a car in tow for the park tours and getting around, last summer - May 21st to August 8th.  6,280 miles from NY a southern route to SC, GA and west to the GC South Rim with lots of stops and tours to get there, on to LV and then north into Utah, Arizona and Colorado; and then East towards home, then another 20 days to Maine and back.  We did not see, or visit, a fraction of what there was to see. North Rim, Zion, Bryce, Arches, CanyonLands, Rocky Moutain NP, lots of state parks, were the biggies we saw.  Lots and lots of stuff to stop and see/do.
You will be rushed, to say the least.

Alaska is in our sights for this summer, starting Mid May, with absolutely no time/travel constraints.

thatbradguy said:

I redid the math, turns out it's more like 5,000 miles, but still... I see your point. Doing this over multiple years is a great plan, but getting three weeks off to do such a thing is another story entirely. However, that's not a problem you can help me with. 

Averaging 50 mph is the information I was looking for, and makes our time calculations even more unreasonable. Here's what we *were* thinking.

Travel to Yosemite (1200 miles) - 2 days
Tour Yosemite - 3 days
Travel to Olympic (900 miles) - 2 days
Tour Olympic - 1 day
Drive to San Francisco through Redwood (840 miles) - 2 days
Tour San Francisco - 1 day
Drive to Yosemite (200 miles) - 1/2 day
Tour Yosemite - 2 days
Drive to Sequoia (200 miles) - 1/2 day
Tour Sequoia - 2 days
Drive to Grand Canyon via Hoover Dam (648 miles) - 2 days
Tour Grand Canyon - 2 days
Drive Home (1000 miles) - 2 days

Click to expand...

Everyone's driving day is different, but 600 miles in a single day in an RV is very ambitious. You have to remember that an RV is not a car. Even your planned speed of 50 mph means that you are planning to drive 12 hours a day for part of your trip and that can be very tiring. I love to drive, and a day behind the wheel relaxes me more than almost anything else, but a 12 hour day is a very long day behind the wheel of an RV and I never try to do more than 7 or 8.

We aim for a max of about 400 miles per day. Some days we do 450, some 350 and, sometimes, less than that. We leave early and stop early and get to relax so I would suggest that you might want to reevaluate your planned daily distance. And always try to remember that an RV is not a car.

As far as your destinations, you probably want to make sure your visit to The Grand Canyon is to the south rim, not the north rim. Both are beautiful, but the south rim is more popular for a good reason. It is much nicer and has facilities like campgrounds and general stores. Plus, of course, that route should take you near Cameron, Az which is worth a special stop as well as Page, which has some wonderful things to see.

One more thing - one of the joys of traveling in an RV is the knowledge that you can, and probably will, see small stuff along your trip that you will want to stop for. Many of the things that are worth seeing are not the large National Parks (which I love), but small out of the way places that are worth spending a couple of hours at, and you have not planned for any of that. My comments about Cameron and Page are of that sort. Page has some very beautiful slot canyons which are astonishing, as well as Lake Powell. Cameron has a wonderful Native American Trading Post which I think is worth seeing. Near to those are some very pretty National Monuments and, further south, Sedona.

My point is that too much planning may mean that you miss some truly wonderful places that are just as much worth seeing as the National Parks.

I guess i'm late to this...didn't quite catch your original itinerary or where your starting out from.  I'm guessing you modified the first post...

Anyway, my input.  Two summers ago we did a trip out to the grand canyon from NE Florida.  I can give you a perspective from the "weekend warrior" with a family and limited vacation time (which brings a different perspective from a full timer with basically unlimited time.

In nineteen days we drove roughly 5,200 miles

I did all of the driving...well DW drove about 15-20 miles at one point for the experience...but that hardly counts
We tried to have some sort of activity almost every day...stop for a museum or something.
We were boondocking a lot.  I found that personally I don't sleep as well when I'm in a parking lot, and that after about 3 days I need to stop at a CG and plug in the RV while unplugging the mind.

I just went and did a quick look at the routing we did over the 1st 5 days.
377 miles, 466, 279,272, 288...that got us to Albuqurque.  Every day doing a little something, a couple of those were only to spend a few hours at a park or something.
after that was our first CG.  that was too much for me.

Our longer stays... Spent 2 nights in ABQ, I think it was 3 at the canyon boondocking in the NF, and 2 nights at Lake Powel
everything else was 1 night stays

Anyway, I'd do it again. 
    even though I totally agree with others when they have said do less.  I would totally have loved to have another 3 or 4 weeks at least for that trip, but I'll take what I can get...so realistically with vacation time and such...I might plan just a few days more for what we did.

and I'll add..I would have predicted that I would be ready to get home after that... after nearly three weeks with a family of 5 in about 200 SF.... but I wasn't.  After I got in the routine of a campground every 3rd night or so, it was a blast.

I agree with the others!

Our son lives in Las Vegas - 1752 mile drive.  IN A CAR, we can do it in 2 days - long, hard days, and it takes a day to recover after we arrive.  Pulling our camper is completely different.  I keep the speed about 62 mph on the interstate, but is is much more stressful than driving a car.  6 hours a day is PLENTY!!  Remember, that 62 mph does NOT include gas stops, meal breaks or potty breaks.  Leg stretch breaks are also needed.

When I was a teen, a good friend and family (dad, mom, and 6 kids) bought a TT and took a 2 week vacation.  They had a Ford Country Squire wagon as a tow vehicle.  Dad had a FOR SALE sign on the back of the camper before he unpacked it!!!

Since you have no RV / camping experience, I would strongly suggest renting a Class C for this trip.  If you hate the RV experience, you have no RV to sell, and the rental was money very well spent. (see above)  If you LOVE the whole RV thing, I guarantee the rental will be worthwhile because you will learn so much about what YOU want in YOUR RV, compared to the rental.  What size do you really want, compared to the rental?  How was the floor plan?  What will you do differently in your own RV?  All very valuable experience.

I love the earlier idea to fly to Las Vegas or other point near your target area, and rent the RV out there.  First, you loose 2000 "getting there and back" miles, and RV miles are expensive!!  Second, you save 5 travel days that can be much better spent in the National Parks.

You have all been super helpful. I am forwarding this thread to my wife and we're gonna talk through it... and likely make some adjustments. I'll keep you posted!