Our dream RV National Park Trip

[SLOweather]

I'm going to throw in one more recommendation.

If you have never driven or camped in a motorhome before, rent one for at least 3 nights first, and go someplace local. You will gain driving, parking, and setting up and taking down camp experience. And, you can make notes of all the stuff you forgot to pack, and all the questions to ask us before the Grand Tour.

 

[John Stephens]

We are planning a similar trip for next summer, covering about 7,200 miles and seeing quite a number of national parks out west and in Alberta. I have made an itinerary for it that will take 86 days.

On my first RV trip, I was unaware of just how strenuous driving an RV, towing a car behind it, really is. The experienced people on this forum that talk about the 3/300 rule know exactly what they're talking about. I tried to take one long western trip by driving 400-450 miles per day. After six days of driving, I was wrecked and needed time off the road. I have since learned to hold it to 300-325 miles per day and to take a day off the road about every four days of driving.

Good luck with your travels. I just hope your vacation doesn't turn into a nightmare.

 

[blw2]

grashley's point about renting out west.
I was shocked at how many rental RV's I saw out west, especially at the tourist spots like the canyon.

Here's my rig parked in the RV lot at the Grand Canyon South rim.  I'm the 7th in line...

at least 8 out of the 12 motor homes you can see are rentals.  There were several rows of parking spaces like this.

Tons of class C's out there, but I saw lots of other various rental types all over the roads out there

 

[garyb1st]

We see lots of Rental RV's all the time in the West.  Most likely a lot are being rented by foreigners who are here for an extended period.  While expensive, it not practical for foreigners to purchase an RV for travel in the US and then sell it before returning home.   

 

[IBTripping]

One more thing. In talking to campground staff and other campers, we learned that July and August appear to be much heavier vacation months than June. We chose June because the weather temperature would be more moderate than later in summer. All the commercial RV parks where we stayed were not filled to capacity for tent or RV campers. However, you do need to make reservations months in advance for campgrounds inside Yellowstone Park. We chose a Cody, Wyoming KOA outside the South Entrance of the park and made day trips to the park. The nice thing about Cody is the public rodeo every night in Cody. And, the KOA has shuttles to the rodeo. Might be an added attraction your family would enjoy.

 

[Larry N.]

However, you do need to make reservations months in advance for campgrounds inside Yellowstone Park.

Colter Bay in Yellowstone, and Gros Ventre in the Tetons don't take reservations, though in busy seasons you need to get there in the morning to get a site, since they often fill quickly. Of course they don't have hookups, but they're in the parks.

 

[decaturbob]

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?

My trip rule now days is no more than 300miles in a day of driving.  Allows set up and tear down time, gas stops etc. Sometimes I schedule stops for a 2 days if there are things to see and do at that location.

 

[Old_Crow]

at least 8 out of the 12 motor homes you can see are rentals.  There were several rows of parking spaces like this.

Reason #1 to go to the North Rim instead. 

Sure, there's a lot of rentals(thus lots of people)up there, too, but not as many as that.

 

[Molaker]

As your trip date approaches, you may want to check each park for current wildfire conditions. Yosemite Valley was closed to most traffic this year until August. As mentioned earlier, June can be a better time for a West trip, including encountering wildfires and resulting smoke. A couple of years ago we traveled to Banff, B.C. then swung on down through Washington and Oregon. It was so smokey we could hardly see the mountains. Very disappointing trip.

 

[MikeFromMesa]

Reason #1 to go to the North Rim instead. 

Sure, there's a lot of rentals(thus lots of people)up there, too, but not as many as that.

It is certainly true that the north rim is less crowded than the south rim, but the south rim has more campgrounds, including the only one with hookups, others near the center of the south rim and one on the east side of the south rim, and much better facilities. I also think that the walking trails are both better and more numerous on the south rim.

I have been to both, many repeatedly, having lived in both Utah and Arizona, and now almost always go to the south rim when I go at all.

 

[IBTripping]

Colter Bay in Yellowstone, and Gros Ventre in the Tetons don't take reservations, though in busy seasons you need to get there in the morning to get a site, since they often fill quickly. Of course they don't have hookups, but they're in the parks.

Larry, you are correct. I should have been clear that I was referring to campgrounds with hookups.

 

[JudyJB]

Your times are still way too ambitious.  I drive only about 250 miles a day, and that tires me out.  I have occasionally driven 300 miles, which has really been exhausting.  In a car, I used to easily drive 400 miles in a day, but driving a motorhome, even a small one is NOT like driving a car!!  I have driven my motorhome 122,000 miles in the past 6 years, so I know what I am talking about.

For one thing, you have to hang onto the steering wheel more tightly and be more watchful of things like chuckholes.  Motorhomes tend to be top heavy, so they are much more sensitive to the wind and to trucks passing them.  If you are not holding onto the steering wheel with two hands, you can easily get moved over a couple of feet by a big truck passing you.  And you do NOT want to lose control and run off the freeway or two-lane because the RV will break into small pieces, and your trip will be over.  Hopefully, your family will not be injured too badly.  I am not exaggerating this--look at some pictures of motorhomes that have run off the road and rolled and you will see what I mean. 

In a relatively low-to-the-ground car, you can relax a lot more and do things like drinking a cup of coffee with one hand while you steer with the other hand.  If you do that in a motorhome, you take a chance of losing control, which is why driving a motorhome is a lot more exhausting than driving a car the same distance.

I strongly suggest you limit your driving to no more than every other day and no more than 300 miles per day, for a total of maybe 2,500 miles in three weeks, tops.  You and your family will enjoy themselves MUCH more if you focused on one part of the west, like the southwest or northwest, and then tackle the other half on another trip. 

And you are much better off flying (or driving in a car) to the RV rental location instead of spending 5 days driving to and from.  There might even be a limit on mileage on your rental which will make this long drive to get there impractical.

 

[John Stephens]

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!

Brad, you are wise to have come to this forum in the first place and listen to what experienced travelers have to say about your idea. You are even wiser to realize your initial idea may not have been doable.

If you have never driven a motorhome before, you'll find it a completely different experience than driving a car the same distance. My wife loves the idea of being able to get out of her seat and go to the bathroom or get a soda out of the fridge while I'm still driving and not slow us down. But we still will stop every 90-120 minutes for several reasons. One is bathroom breaks for both ourselves and our dogs, another is to stretch your legs and walk around so you don't get a DVT, something that can happen at any age if you sit too long, and another is simply to give me a break from the road. If you're going to rent a Class C motorhome, it will drive and ride more like a van and be slightly easier to control than a Class A, but you will still get fatigued faster than you may think. I drive a Class A with toad. I assume my next trip will be easier because I am going from using a tow dolly to flat towing. Are you planning on towing a car behind you so you can visit the parks that don't allow motorhomes on their roads? If so, that will slow you down even more.

And your breaks will always be longer than you will plan. I assume when planning a trip that we will take a break every 100 miles or so and I used to give us 15 minutes until I realized after several trips that this was impossible. The dogs being walked will take 10 minutes or more, then we have to use the bathroom, get a fresh drink and/or snack and get settled back in our seats. That 15 minute break always winds up being 20 or 30. I used to plan 30 minutes for lunch until I realized we simply needed to stay off the road for longer than that and unwind a little, so now I give us an hour. When you throw in 3 short breaks and an hour lunch, you're off the road for a total of more than two hours that has to be added to your driving time. When you figure that you're going to have an average speed of around 50 mph, an eight hour day will give you six hours of actual driving, which means you're going to travel about 300 miles per day.

I don't travel with kids, just dogs, so I have to assume kids will slow you down even more. So that 300 miles might wind up taking you 9 or 10 hours per day. If you were to try to stick to your original thoughts of driving 500-600 miles per day, you will now realize doing so would take 15 hours or more each day. Trust me, you don't want to stay on the road for that long more than one day. By the third day, you'll be regretting going on the trip at all.

You didn't mention where home is for you, but you are 1,000 miles away from the GC and 1,200 miles away from Yosemite, so I assume you're east of those destinations. You may want to think about modifying your itinerary to include only a few of the sights you mentioned if you are going to be limited to 21 days. And give yourself a day or two off the road before returning to work or else you'll need a vacation from your vacation. As someone else already suggested, break this trip into more than one so you can enjoy what you are visiting more and for a longer time.

I had planned out a 120 day trip that would circle the western half of the country, starting in SW Florida and seeing as many national parks as possible from Rushmore to Olympia to Yosemite. I realized I would be able to see everything I wanted, but wouldn't really enjoy it. So I broke that trip into two, with the first one covering Rushmore, Tetons, Yellowstone, Glacier, Banff and Jasper; essentially the north half of the journey that will be taken next summer and will take 86 days. The second half will be the southern half of that circle, allowing us to see the GC, Vegas, Death Valley, Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Redwoods, Crater Lake, Mt. Ranier, Olympia and then circle back through Colorado and see the RMNP. That trip will be over 10,000 miles long and take about the same amount of time the original circle was going to take - about 120 days. This is the only way to visit the parks and really take the time to enjoy what you're seeing, and still feel like you took a vacation when you get back rather than it being a chore from which you need rest.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[Spike1306]

Seriously rethink what you want from this trip.

I live in UK and did a coast to coast trip 2 years ago with 1 week in the RV just to see if we liked it or not, when we had the car mile munching was fine but in the RV it was a different story.

We are back again next year with 16 days in the RV and taking things real slow, still seeing loads but taking more time to just relax and chill out, driving and sight seeing take their toll with no rest days.