Brits' 6-month road trip - join-the-dots please! :-)

asprn said:

I am (just back from several weeks in Morocco with our 32ft A-class....) but I'm sure I'll be delighted to sit back & let someone else take the strain whilst I gaze out the window!  Does the shuttle run to & from a visitor centre/viewpoint?

Thanks.

Dougie.

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The park shuttle runs a regular schedule. starting from the West Glacier KOA to the top of the GTTS Highway.  It is a bus not a tour tho.  If you want guided tours of the Hwy, get a Red Car Tour. 

By the way, you are wise to leave the driving to others.  The Park Service has to regularly dispatch drivers to take over the vehicles of drivers who freeze up from acrophobia  on the highway.  Highway is a misleading term in this case.  The road is 2 lane, two way, and narrow and winding.  The downhill side has few if any walls or guard rails, and the exposure is about 1000 feet in many stretches.  Vehicles over 21 feet in length are barred from the road.

Think of a Scottish Highlands road cut into the side of a 2000 foot high cliff and you will have it. 

If you're taking Hwy 1 south on your way to San Francisco you might consider visiting Glass Beach in Ft. Bragg.  I have not been personally but folks that I know who have say it's a once in a lifetime visit.  In the late 1940's the site was used as a public dump for trash.  Since then dumping has become illegal and the surf has pounded and polished the refuse glass into brilliant shining glass stones that line the beach.  From photos I've seen and stories I've heard this is definitely a place on my bucket list to visit.  Hope you enjoy your travels.

Another vote for the Columbia River Gorge east of Portland, Oregon. Besides the many waterfalls, you can visit Bonneville Lock and Dam, completed in 1938 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Columbia River drains an area the size of England and France put together (which rarely happens, I believe!). Besides the interesting tours of two hydroelectric generator powerhouses, there are the salmon and other fish with windows into the fish ladders, a navigation lock for ships and barges, and a wide variety of other natural resources. And Scenery!

Also another vote for the Evergreen Airlines Air and Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon, northwest of the capitol, Salem, which is also a nice town. The Museum is huge, has lots of original craft in several buildings and outdoors, and is awaiting a space shuttle when available. The Spruce Goose is actually a small (but large!) part of it. To top it off, they're building a water park in a huge building that already has a 747 parked on top. There's also an iMax Theater building.

Some other suggestions: The Badlands and Custer State Park, both in South Dakota; Ringling Bros. Circus Museum in Baraboo, Wisconsin; RV Museum in Elkhart, Indiana; Redwoods N.P. in northern California; Yosemite N.P.; White Sands N.P., New Mexico; Santa Fe, N.M.; and a whole lot more, of course, that would take way more than five years!

LilShala said:

If you're taking Hwy 1 south on your way to San Francisco you might consider visiting Glass Beach in Ft. Bragg.  I have not been personally but folks that I know who have say it's a once in a lifetime visit.  In the late 1940's the site was used as a public dump for trash.  Since then dumping has become illegal and the surf has pounded and polished the refuse glass into brilliant shining glass stones that line the beach.  From photos I've seen and stories I've heard this is definitely a place on my bucket list to visit.  Hope you enjoy your travels.

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I have taken an RV south on CA-1 thru Ft. Bragg and on down to Bodega Bay.  DO NOT TAKE CA-1 SOUTHBOUND.  It is a white knuckle drive.  As you round headlands you are on the outside of turns hanging over the cliff side with northbound traffic, including 18 wheelers coming at you.  It is a white knuckle drive.

Thanks (again) for all the input.  There seem to be endless numbers of national parks!  What about towns to visit - just regular, nice places with good campgrounds nearby that we can chill out in, and maybe re-stock the fridge for a few days between highlights?

Dougie.

What about towns to visit - just regular, nice places with good campgrounds nearby that we can chill out in, and maybe re-stock the fridge for a few days between highlights?

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There are literally thousands of them. And most towns of more than a few thousand people have a supermarket and at least basic shopping. Any attempt to list them will be like counting raindrops, but I'll toss out a few...
-Moses Lake, WA and the Suncrest RV Resort
-Camden & Rockport, ME and Camden Hills RV Park or Camden Hills State Park Campground
-Rome & Oneida, NY and the Turning Stone RV Resort (& Casino too)
-Winchester, VA and the Candy Hill Campground
-Old Town, FL and the Suwanee River Hideaway

We're currently east of Portland, Oregon. Here are a couple in this area:
Sandy Riverfront RV Resort, Troutdale, OR, east of Portland at the start of the Columbia River Gorge.
Premier RV Resort, Salem, OR, about an hour south of Portland.
We have found that Elks Club lodges have good short-term RV parking in many locations, often right in town, at low rates. Not sure if you would be interested or eligible.
Escapees RV Club has quite a few RV parks around the country, at good rates. As an example, if you are on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, there's a park in Chimacum, WA. It is a few miles to a grocery store, and a few more to a sizeable town, but gorgeous country all around. www.escapees.com
There are so many answers to this question you almost need to break it up into regions to make sense of it. Many of us have traveled theI-5 corridor then over to Phoenix, so there are quite a few other threads on that route.

asprn said:

Thanks (again) for all the input.  There seem to be endless numbers of national parks!  What about towns to visit - just regular, nice places with good campgrounds nearby that we can chill out in, and maybe re-stock the fridge for a few days between highlights?

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Not only National Parks but also National Monuments, National Seashores, National Historical Sites, and more. Check the National Park site for info on what's out there in the NPS. Be sure to buy the America the Beautiful pass that gets you free entrance into the NPS and other federal sites that charge an entrance fee. It'll pay for iteself with the 3rd or 4th park you visit.

As for regular towns, when you're traveling, if it's about time to stop for the day and you're in a town that looks nice, well, then stop. If there's a visitor center, try that for info on campgrounds, restaurants, shopping. Even if it's early in the day, if a town appeals, go ahead and stop and relax.

Enjoy your travels.
Wendy

asprn said:

Thanks (again) for all the input.  There seem to be endless numbers of national parks!  What about towns to visit - just regular, nice places with good campgrounds nearby that we can chill out in, and maybe re-stock the fridge for a few days between highlights?

Dougie.

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As Gary said, the US is full of small towns and cities and thousands of RV parks.    You need to get yourself a reliable campground directory and work with that.    Two guides that folks around here like are:

Trailer Life Campground Directory -- Click HERE. ;

Woodall's Campground Directory -- Click HERE.

One of those and a cell phone are essentials for RV touring in the USA or Canada.

Carl L said:

One of those and a cell phone are essentials for RV touring in the USA or Canada.

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Yep.   Got the cellphone, soon to get the guides.

The response here has been outstanding, and confirms how great this forum is (only because the people are).  I've also been getting emailed suggestions and shared experiences from some really great people, so thanks once again.

(And BTW, I had realised that America had a few towns in it ... )

Dougie.

While the online Trailer Life Campground Directory is the most up to date, I recommend getting the DVD version of the directory rather than the book.  The DVD version is updated periodically online as well, while the book is not.  And the book is harder to use in moving vehicle than a computer.  The DVD version will also do trip routing and will interface with a GPS for a moving map display.

Sorry, Ned, but I disagree.  I much prefer the paper version than using a computer while driving, especially in an area that borders several states.  I can put clips on pages for several states and jump around much easier with paper. 

ArdraF

To each his/her own, but the computer version has a very flexible search feature that remembers past searches without using paper clips   And try plugging a GPS into that book, I never did find the USB port

And when the book slips off my lap, I get vertigo bending over to pick it up.

LOL, Ned.  ;D

ArdraF

Can someone please enlighten me as to the difference (apart from the $80/$50 prices) between the America the Beautiful annual pass, and the National Parks one?

Dougie.

Here's the info on the America the Beautiful pass. It's $80 and gets you entrance into the National Parks as well as other federal facilities. I don't know of a separate $50 NPS pass.

Wendy

The wife and kids recommend you go to Springfield IL and check out the differant things about Abraham Lincoln. It's great if you like history. Don't forget to go the Sears/Willis tower. I would not recommend driving thru downtown. I would find a CC and shuttle in. The other thing I would suggest is the museum of science and industry in Chicago. It's one of my favorite places. Plan on spending the whole day the place is HUGE. Again do it from a campground Chicago area is not very RV friendly for parking or for that matter even manuvering around. My wife told me there is a KOA outside the city that even rents cars. Enjoy your trip!!!

Wendy said:

Here's the info on the America the Beautiful pass. It's $80 and gets you entrance into the National Parks as well as other federal facilities. I don't know of a separate $50 NPS pass.

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Wendy,

http://www.nps.gov/fees_passes.htm.bak2 shows a $50 pass.  However, http://www.nps.gov/fees_passes.htm (without the "bak2" on the URL) shows the $80 one.  Both links came from various campground sites.

Dougie.

The .bak2 page is an old version of the real page, ignore it, it's from 2004.  A web site shouldn't be linking to it.

Ned said:

The .bak2 page is an old version of the real page, ignore it, it's from 2004.  A web site shouldn't be linking to it.

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The same thought occurred to me this morning!  Google still links to it.  Thanks.

Dougie.