Coast to Coast trip in our Class A starts Thursday

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shakenbake

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Starting this Thursday our family will begin on our summer long trip. We will be traveling in a 30' Class A without a toad(I will have a scooter though). Our journey starts here at home in Ohio. From there we will travel to South Carolina for my son's baseball tournament. After the tournament we have about a week to get out west.  Our stops to get to San Diego will be as follows. South Carolina to Atlanta to Memphis to Little Rock to Oklahoma City to Amarillo to Albuquerque to Grand Canyon to Vegas to San Diego. I am interested in anyones input on great places to see along the way and also places or roads to avoid. We have a few thing planned but I am interested to see what everyone else has experienced on this route. Thanks in advance.
 
Do you really need to go to Las Vegas ? It's going to be hotter than you-know-what there. I'd suggest spending an extra day at Grand Canyon or explore the area around Flagstaff (Wupatki Nat Mon, Sunset Volcano Nat Mon, Walnut Canyon Nat Mon).

Wendy
 
Although it's going to be hot, Palo Duro Canyon near Amarillo is worth a day trip or even over night.  There is a campground in the canyon.
 
Wendy said:
Do you really need to go to Las Vegas ? It's going to be hotter than you-know-what there. I'd suggest spending an extra day at Grand Canyon or explore the area around Flagstaff (Wupatki Nat Mon, Sunset Volcano Nat Mon, Walnut Canyon Nat Mon).

Wendy
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I'd like to take the kids to a show or 2 but it's not set in stone.
 
Wendy is correct. You do not want to visit Vegas in an RV in the summer. If you must then at least book a room. You don't even want to try and sleep in an RV in Vegas in the summer. It cools down to about 85 at night with the A/C running. The shows in Vegas are wonderful no question and well worth seeing, but I don't think it is worth all the suffering.

Here is a thread that I listed 25 things to do in the Grand Canyon. I like Wendy's idea of adding a day to your stay at  the Canyon.

http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php?topic=40553.msg376663#msg376663
 
Thanks for the link Tom. I am surprised that Vegas and the Canyon don't share the same temps. I went to Vegas a few years back in July and took the helicopter ride to the Canyon. It felt just as hot at the Canyon.
 
Las Vegas is at 2000 feet elevation and the south rim is at 7000 feet. Temperature drops about 3 to 5 degrees per 1000 feet. That makes the Grand Canyon 15 to 25 degrees cooler than Vegas.
 
The bottom of Grand Canyon is going to be hot but you're probably not going all the way down to the bottom anyway. It will be hot up on the rim, but nowhere near as hot as Vegas.
 
Wendy said:
The bottom of Grand Canyon is going to be hot but you're probably not going all the way down to the bottom anyway. It will be hot up on the rim, but nowhere near as hot as Vegas.
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This makes sense. My helicopter ride only stopped at the bottom and it was sweltering hot.
 
phantomcarp said:
Sadona AZ.  Its on the way to the Grand Canyon.  A must see.  Breathtaking.  Unforgettable
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If he is going to the Grand Canyon from Albuquerque then Sedona would be way out of his way. It is a beautiful place no doubt. I think the GC is way better than Sedona. It is way too commericialized.
 
Plan for 2 nites in OKC so that you can visit the OKC Memorial and museum during the day and revisit at nite when it is lit. If anyone in your party has a birthday on the day you are in Amarillo, bring ID and you get a full steak dinner free at the Big Texan.
 
I'm sure you're looking for that unexpected WOW! Here was mine,  On a trip about 15 years ago, we mentioned to someone that we were going to Memphis.  They said, "Oh, you have to go to Graceland!"  Now I will tell you, I've never been a big Elvis fan, but I will say now; that was one of the top ten things I've seen in the USA.  So much history about him as well as the property and his life.  It was well worth the day spent there. The DW still talks about it 15 years later.
 
BernieD said:
Plan for 2 nites in OKC so that you can visit the OKC Memorial and museum during the day and revisit at nite when it is lit. If anyone in your party has a birthday on the day you are in Amarillo, bring ID and you get a full steak dinner free at the Big Texan.
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Big Texan is on the list!!
 
Steve N Dee said:
I'm sure you're looking for that unexpected WOW! Here was mine,  On a trip about 15 years ago, we mentioned to someone that we were going to Memphis.  They said, "Oh, you have to go to Graceland!"  Now I will tell you, I've never been a big Elvis fan, but I will say now; that was one of the top ten things I've seen in the USA.  So much history about him as well as the property and his life.  It was well worth the day spent there. The DW still talks about it 15 years later.
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When I was in Memphis I also visited Graceland. I am a huge Elvis fan. I saw him live at the International in 1971. But that was not the best thing I did in Memphis. I took the tour of Sun Studios where Elvis recorded his first commercial release, That's All Right Mama, in July of 1954. I visited in July of 2004 almost exactly 50 years to the day and I rented the studio and cut my own version of That's All Right Mama. Talk about a thrill. Same studio, same song, 50 years later.

Then a week later I took the tour of Mount Vernon. So in the same month I toured the home of the first President of the US and I visited the home of the first King of the US. ;D
 

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When we were in Memphis, we stayed in the "campground" behind the Graceland Hotel, a parking lot across the street from Graceland, but I had no desire to visit the place. My other half took the tour, while I stayed in our coach.
 
Memphis to Little Rock on I-40 has a lot of construction as does the Oklahoma City area. Check the DOT's in the states you are crossing to check for those kinds of delays. You will lose time in those construction zones due to lane closures and the inevitable delays caused by crashes in those zones which seem inevitable.

Riverside Park in North Little Rock is a great overnight stop and you can walk across the bridge to the Clinton Presidential Library if you enjoy such things. We always hit Oasis RV Park west of Amarillo as well, and we think Palo Duro is a must, notwithstanding the heat.

For perspective though, think 50 mph average with fuel stops, food breaks, and driver changes. We go from the Florida Panhandle to the far west through Little Rock and back every year and we find that to be a reasonable pace to plan by.

You really want to be able to enjoy the trip and not just tick off places you roared through. Have a great and safe adventure!



 
If you want a show, while in Armarillo (Fort Amarillo RV park is nice) go to the Palo Verde canyon and see the show "Texas". It's great for Adults and Kids and you can get a reasonable steak dinner before the show. This really is spectacular.
Ernie
 
Thanks for all of the advice. We are eating at The Big Texan right now and then headed to Palo Duro. Any good campground suggestions there?
 
shakenbake said:
headed to Palo Duro. Any good campground suggestions there?
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There's a campground in the canyon itself.
 
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