Touring the US - South in the Winter; North in the Summer

[Skookum]

Since I was born in and my wife and kids have been in the Philippines most of our lives, hot and humid is actually totally fine. We deal with 90+ heat with 90%+ humidity 8 months out of the year in the Philippines.

It's the winters in the north that I'm more concerned about and want to avoid for them. Hence, We'll only stay in Idaho April thru Jun then travel the rest of the months according to the plan. You can see a draft me my first tour here:

At least the Philippines are tropical. Iowa? When the dew point is 76 degrees and it smells like cow dung, you might remember this post Just pointing out that there are more um...comfortable...and perhaps, scenic areas along your routes. The Upper Midwest isn't horrible in the summer, and can be quite beautiful. Lots of lakes and forests. The Boundary Waters is a place I hope to return to someday, even though I did not enjoy living in the midwest. It has its good parts.

 

[SeilerBird]

I lived in SLC for three years and I could not imagine being a tourist there for over an hour.

The last trip I took in my class A and camped in San Diego for a week. Then on Sunday I drove 50 miles up the coast and spent a week. I did that for six months to see the California coast. Drive 50 to 100 miles and camp a week. Last stop was in Crescent City. I liked it so much there I ended up spending a month there.

 

[John From Detroit]

When I was full time I headed south (From Mid-East-Michigan, Flint/St. Clair area) about 1 Nov give or take a bit... One year I was a week late and left in a blizzard.

And returned after easter.. again one year I returned in a blizzard but it was short lived. (just one day) at no time did I have issues though I did drain the water heater.

 

[Laura & Charles]

I love it, @Kirk! I love your insights. Our plan is not to exhaust all the places to see in each area but rather see one or two. Then the next year, hit the same general area again focusing on different places in that area. For example, in our first trip to SLC, we'd see the temple, visit Provo, and that may be it. The next year, we may park closer to Dinosaur National Park and enjoy that area.

So, we'd return to the general area again.

But you bring up a great point. Maybe we should just make the first trip (Summer) a shorter destination then head south. For example. we can do Idaho to Ohio in 13 weeks then start our Winter (26-week) from Ohio, head south through Kentucky to Texas, to San Diego.

That would allow us to stay 3 to 4 weeks in an area.

What do you think?

Sorry so slow… working today and a lot added to this string since you questioned my response.
What you originally outlined is certainly doable. Kirk and Tom (Seiler) make great points and suggestions.
We tend to stay east or west for a year and a half (maybe longer coming up). Ohio is our original home base and lots of friends and family there. So we cycle through there as often as is feasible. For example:
Get to Ohio mid April and stay to early July. Head to northern Michigan for some cooler temps, staying in northern lower peninsula (Leelanau Peninsula is an fav) for a while, then work our way to Michigan’s upper peninsula and west from there. The boundary waters are fabulous. Back to Ohio for a few weeks and shoot up to New England to catch the leaf change and follow it south to Florida, where spend a winter. The next spring, back to Ohio in April.
Now, when we want to go west (we’ve done twice so far), we’ll leave Ohio (as above) and whilst in the boundary waters area, keep heading west. Work our way south with temps to winter in Arizona. Back to Pacific Northwest for summer.. work our way back to east side of things by winter in Florida.
All the while, whether driving (car or coach) or flying, we get to Ohio 3-4 times a year.
Please don’t get me wrong. Your plan can work. And I (and many others) first thought a big loop around the lower 48 would be ideal. We’ve learned break up our tours by eastern and western perimeters.
Oh, and be flexible.. we’ve changed up plans and extensively altered itineraries because of the western fires twice. Not even necessarily because of proximity… If you’re going to Glacier NP but Washington or Oregon are on fire, you’d still be safe from actual fires, but the smoke ruins all scenic views.

 

[Rob&Deryl]

Thanks @SeilerBird, that's why I love asking here to learn from everyone so that my thoughts would be challenged and I can learn.

"The way of man is right in his own eyes..." - Proverbs 14:12, "But in the multitude of counselors there is safety." - Proverbs 11:14

So, I'll be driving a Dodge Ram 3500 Dually which I've recently test driven and will get myself more familiar with. I've done tens of thousands of miles with many long trips (300-500 each) in my sedans, SUVs, and light trucks. So, you're right in that I've not done a long trip in an RV (200 was my longest in a rental RV).

So, I'm curious, given that I'll be driving a Dodge Ram 3500 Dually for these trips between cities, what challenges can you enlighten me on? I'd love to hear so that I can adjust our plans accordingly.

There are a few things I'm expecting such as the following:

• Very limited options of where to stop for gas and food since we are hauling a 5th wheel
• Need to have food ready and available since we can't just go through a drive-thru
• Highway detours may require a less spacious route causing us to stop and re-evaluate our path or go around the LONG way
• Fuel capacity of the Dodge Ram 3500 (32.0 gal) only lasts 300 to 400 miles hauling the 43-ft 5th wheel
• Please add to my list so that I can adjust my plans... I'm sure I'm missing so much more.

I drive a Ram 3500 with a 35’ 5th wheel.
200-250 is a comfortable day on the Interstate. Longer is tiring. With the long rig you work harder to keep in your lane. Undulations in the road tighten your grip. It is work on your arms & shoulders. Also, your increased attention is tiring. Yes, you can, and I have, drive up to 400 miles in a day. The times I have done it, I usually follow with 100 ish mile day.

You have a refrigerator and a kitchen. Just cook like you do at home.

Driving the 2 lanes is relaxing. Yes, you do fewer miles but remember, the journey is important. We all get to the same destination (more or less) in the end.

Expect 9-11 mpg. Over 60mph will drop it further. I set my plans around fueling before 250 miles. I don’t go below 1/4 tank. I carry a 5 gal can of fuel in the truck bed. Finding fuel is no big deal. Most exits of the interstates have fuel. Google earth is your friend to see in advance how the approaches and exits are at fuel stations. If fuel is stupid expensive and I must get some, I put in 10 gal (or less), use Gas Buddy to find less expensive and be on my way.
Fuelling a truck & trailer rig takes way more time than a car. First, you are traveling at a crawl in the service area. No zoom in, pull into any open pump, and you are done. You will have fewer pumps to choose from and you will curse the compact car parked between the 2 pumps that have diesel while they go in, use the rest rooms, do some shopping, prepay $10 for gas etc… Unlike in a car, you cant just jump around to another open pump quickly. Spending half an hour for 20 gal is common in my experience.

Slow down and enjoy the scenery.

 

[Ex-Calif]

Every good plan survives until first contact with the enemy.

You seem very goal oriented and I find it a little amazing that you have a 3-year plan. I am not sure what I am having for lunch today - LOL...

It seems like you are gonna work from the RV so geography on any particular day is meaningless. If you are in Florida during the winter? So what? You'll figure out where you want to go and where you want to be over time.

Life's not a sprint. It's a marathon. I think you will find a bazillion other things to worry about before worrying about what campground you are gonna be in in May of 2024...

BTW - My second wife of 23 years was Filipina. I lived in Manila from 1985-1989 and survived the People Power revolution. Pretty crazy... Fond memories...

 

[Yorick]

That would be a big step in the right direction, but you should still use the available travel guides to plan what to see and where to stop. Use the cities as way points and then look at the travel guides to plan the actual travel. By doing that you can make your stops in places that are more enjoyable than in some city. For example, Antelope IS State Park is only 42 miles from downtown SLC but is much more relaxing with their nearly 100 campsites spread over several campgrounds. Find your stops that way and then visit the cities rather than the other way around.

Also I can tell you from experience that you will need to have advance reservations for the Ft Collins area. Last spring I reserved in May for a site for early July and still had difficulty finding one that we could stay in for 4 nights without changing sites.

Thanks, @Kirk. I should have stated that our plan is actually to stay in RV parks (national parks and sometimes commercial) that is outside the city. For example, we would select something close (i.e. within an hour) to SLC but not actually be in SLC). We'd do the same for Chicago, Columbus, etc. I just used the city names to make it easier for you all to know the area I'm planning to drive to.

Given your suggestion, here is a modified plan for that first Summer and Winter Tour. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Northern Route Trip (July thru Sep - 13 weeks)

• Jul 1, 2023 - Starting in Boise, ID
  • Drive 350 miles to SLC (1-day trip)
• Four weeks in SLC area
  • Drive 900 miles to Lincoln, NE (3-day trip)
• Three weeks in Nebraska
  • Drive 850 miles to Columbus, OH (2 or 3-day trip)
• Six weeks in Columbus - we have family there

We then start our Southern Route Trip (Oct thru Apr - 26 weeks)

• Oct. 1, 2023 - Starting in Columbus, OH
  • Drive 380 miles to the area of Nashville, TN (2-day trip)
• Four weeks in TN
  • Drive 500 miles to the area of Gulfport, MS (2-day trip)
• Four weeks in MS
  • Drive 430 miles to the area of Galveston, TX (2-day trip)
• Four weeks in Galveston
  • Drive 550 miles to Midland, TX (2-day trip)
• Two weeks in Midland
  • Drive 350 miles to Albuquerque, NM (1-day trip)
• Four weeks in NM
  • Drive 320 miles to Flagstaff, AZ (1-day trip)
• Five weeks in AZ
  • Drive 480 miles to San Diego, CA (2-day trip)
• Stay in California for 5 weeks for as long as we need before returning to ID. We have family all over California.

A key difference is that we're going a bit further between stops but staying a lot longer in each area. I'm thinking that I'll max out at 350 miles on any single day. Any trip going over 350 would mean a stop at a rest stop and boondock in our 5th wheel for the night. Do you think 350 is a good number of should I drop that down to 300?

 

[Kirk]

A key difference is that we're going a bit further between stops but staying a lot longer in each area.

I think that many others are suggesting as I am that you need to travel shorter distance and move more often. Most of us have learned to make the enjoyment of the travel as important as the destinations we visit. For us a typical day was to travel 200 miles or less in each day and they to stop for a minimum of 2 nights and frequently for 3 - 5 nights before the next move. In our 12 years of fulltime RV living our longest travel day was 400 miles (to attend a funeral) and our shortest day was 32 miles. Looking through my records, there was never more than 1 trip in any given year that we moved as much or more than 350 miles and a typical year would also include at least a dozen times that we moved 100 miles or less.

Traveling with an RV you will probably average no more than 60 mph and 50 mph is a much more likely average, meaning that you will be traveling for 7 hours per day, plus an hour of setup and breakdown time each day for a total of 9 hours. That does not sound like a good way to make the travel a part of your fun experience.

 

[Yorick]

Picking cities to stay in seems odd. For example, I lived in SLC for 6 years. I couldn’t imagine recommending someone stay there for 2 weeks sightseeing. Temple Square, Provo (why? It is full of all kinds of odd MLMs mostly), Antelope Island, Park City, Snow Basin. Five days, done. Generally we recommend going to National and State parks, not cities. It just seems so odd.

Hi @UTTransplant, sorry for being unclear. I was using cities in my outline because they are more commonly known to get an idea of what area we plan to drive to. Our intention is to stay in national parks and sometimes in commercial RV parks well outside of the main city as explained here.

 

[Yorick]

Sorry so slow… working today and a lot added to this string since you questioned my response.
What you originally outlined is certainly doable. Kirk and Tom (Seiler) make great points and suggestions.
We tend to stay east or west for a year and a half (maybe longer coming up). Ohio is our original home base and lots of friends and family there. So we cycle through there as often as is feasible. For example:
Get to Ohio mid April and stay to early July. Head to northern Michigan for some cooler temps, staying in northern lower peninsula (Leelanau Peninsula is an fav) for a while, then work our way to Michigan’s upper peninsula and west from there. The boundary waters are fabulous. Back to Ohio for a few weeks and shoot up to New England to catch the leaf change and follow it south to Florida, where spend a winter. The next spring, back to Ohio in April.
Now, when we want to go west (we’ve done twice so far), we’ll leave Ohio (as above) and whilst in the boundary waters area, keep heading west. Work our way south with temps to winter in Arizona. Back to Pacific Northwest for summer.. work our way back to east side of things by winter in Florida.
All the while, whether driving (car or coach) or flying, we get to Ohio 3-4 times a year.
Please don’t get me wrong. Your plan can work. And I (and many others) first thought a big loop around the lower 48 would be ideal. We’ve learned break up our tours by eastern and western perimeters.
Oh, and be flexible.. we’ve changed up plans and extensively altered itineraries because of the western fires twice. Not even necessarily because of proximity… If you’re going to Glacier NP but Washington or Oregon are on fire, you’d still be safe from actual fires, but the smoke ruins all scenic views.

Wow! Amazing insights, @Laura & Charles. You all are blessing me so much to help me adjust and refine my plans. I love the "break up" the tours by east and west. I'm going to ponder on that and see if I can come up with a plan by separating the regions and using Idaho as our home base. That is so awesome! Thanks!!!

 

[Yorick]

I think that many others are suggesting as I am that you need to travel shorter distance and move more often. Most of us have learned to make the enjoyment of the travel as important as the destinations we visit. For us a typical day was to travel 200 miles or less in each day and they to stop for a minimum of 2 nights and frequently for 3 - 5 nights before the next move. In our 12 years of fulltime RV living our longest travel day was 400 miles (to attend a funeral) and our shortest day was 32 miles. Looking through my records, there was never more than 1 trip in any given year that we moved as much or more than 350 miles and a typical year would also include at least a dozen times that we moved 100 miles or less.

Traveling with an RV you will probably average no more than 60 mph and 50 mph is a much more likely average, meaning that you will be traveling for 7 hours per day, plus an hour of setup and breakdown time each day for a total of 9 hours. That does not sound like a good way to make the travel a part of your fun experience.

@Kirk, ahhhh... I get it! I see what you are all saying. Shorter stays, shorter drives in between, more stops. So, hit a few specific areas in a single region. For example:

• Drive into Utah and stay at a national park
• Stay a few days to a week
• Drive to the next national park or sight to see within 100 miles
• Stay a few days
• Drive to the next sight to see/park/etc. within 100 miles
• Stay a few days
• etc...
• Keep heading in a direction... to get to the next "region"

Is that right, @Kirk ?

One issue I have is that we need to drive on Saturdays/Sundays so that I'm online and working during most of the morning and early afternoon. So, I could just make them weeklong stops between sites but still only drive under 100 miles.

What do you think?

 

[Larry N.]

One issue I have is that we need to drive on Saturdays/Sundays so that I'm online and working during most of the morning and early afternoon.

One other thing to consider is that in many state/national parks, especially in the west, cell service is minimal or non-existent, regardless of carrier, particularly the more remote ones such as Yellowstone, where much of the park has NO service. And other spots that do have service may not have the bandwidth available that you need, so that will have to be checked when work is dependent on adequate connections.

Also some places will have some service from one carrier but none from some other carriers. So planning connections will be paramount.

 

[Laura & Charles]

@Kirk, ahhhh... I get it! I see what you are all saying. Shorter stays, shorter drives in between, more stops. So, hit a few specific areas in a single region. For example:

• Drive into Utah and stay at a national park
• Stay a few days to a week
• Drive to the next national park or sight to see within 100 miles
• Stay a few days
• Drive to the next sight to see/park/etc. within 100 miles
• Stay a few days
• etc...
• Keep heading in a direction... to get to the next "region"

Is that right, @Kirk ?

One issue I have is that we need to drive on Saturdays/Sundays so that I'm online and working during most of the morning and early afternoon. So, I could just make them weeklong stops between sites but still only drive under 100 miles.

What do you think?

We both work M-F regular office hours and generally don’t take PTO/vacation time to move so generally move on weekends, often just one day.. so we don’t move very far. We explore where we are evenings and weekends, move every 2-5 weeks, and do it again. It’s a cadence that has worked well for us for nearly six years, though we are slowing down some now (staying longer/moving less often.) We find commercial parks generally offer daily, weekly, and monthly rates (seasonal and annual too, but of no interest to us now). Very often the monthly rate is cheaper or same as three weekly rates.. so if planning for three weeks, we book a month. More than once we’ve stayed the month, and when not, it gives us flexibility regarding check in and check out times. (We always notify the office when we’re vacating so the site is available to others.)

What Larry says about internet and cell service is true as we wouldn’t be able to do this without phone and adequate reliable bandwidth. Almost all commercial parks advertise ‘free WiFi’ these days; I would estimate 80 or more percent of those aren’t adequate. Most of our internet is via cell routers and phone hotspots. We have both Verizon and ATT and rarely have any issues.

 

[Yorick]

One other thing to consider is that in many state/national parks, especially in the west, cell service is minimal or non-existent, regardless of carrier, particularly the more remote ones such as Yellowstone, where much of the park has NO service. And other spots that do have service may not have the bandwidth available that you need, so that will have to be checked when work is dependent on adequate connections.

Also some places will have some service from one carrier but none from some other carriers. So planning connections will be paramount.

Hi @Larry N.. Yeah, that's one of my concerns and why I'm planning for us to stay outside, but not too far, from the city areas to ensure we have decent service. Worst case scenario, I can drive into town during the weekday to get internet to work. It's okay if I'm disconnected at night at the RV park.

I am hoping, however, that Starlink for mobile use will finally be online next year when we start this journey. I'm in the tech industry and hearing that is progressing well. So, the timing may just be right. I may have Starlink on the RV and can move it from place to place. If so, connectivity problem would be solved. Umm... Unless I park in a cave. Haha!

 

[Yorick]

I drive a Ram 3500 with a 35’ 5th wheel.
200-250 is a comfortable day on the Interstate. Longer is tiring. With the long rig you work harder to keep in your lane. Undulations in the road tighten your grip. It is work on your arms & shoulders. Also, your increased attention is tiring. Yes, you can, and I have, drive up to 400 miles in a day. The times I have done it, I usually follow with 100 ish mile day.

You have a refrigerator and a kitchen. Just cook like you do at home.

Driving the 2 lanes is relaxing. Yes, you do fewer miles but remember, the journey is important. We all get to the same destination (more or less) in the end.

Expect 9-11 mpg. Over 60mph will drop it further. I set my plans around fueling before 250 miles. I don’t go below 1/4 tank. I carry a 5 gal can of fuel in the truck bed. Finding fuel is no big deal. Most exits of the interstates have fuel. Google earth is your friend to see in advance how the approaches and exits are at fuel stations. If fuel is stupid expensive and I must get some, I put in 10 gal (or less), use Gas Buddy to find less expensive and be on my way.
Fuelling a truck & trailer rig takes way more time than a car. First, you are traveling at a crawl in the service area. No zoom in, pull into any open pump, and you are done. You will have fewer pumps to choose from and you will curse the compact car parked between the 2 pumps that have diesel while they go in, use the rest rooms, do some shopping, prepay $10 for gas etc… Unlike in a car, you cant just jump around to another open pump quickly. Spending half an hour for 20 gal is common in my experience.

Slow down and enjoy the scenery.

Such useful insights, @Rob&Deryl. Thanks so much. My takeaways from your suggestions:

• Driving the rig takes a physical toll
• Plan for 200-250 miles/day
• Use our kitchen to avoid restaurants and bad food
• Plan for 10mpg
• Don't take it to the edge of empty, fill up way before
• Carry a can of fuel in the truck bed
• Expect a much longer refueling experience
• Shove the compact car out of the way! Haha!
• Slow down and enjoy...

 

[Kirk]

Is that right, @Kirk ?

One issue I have is that we need to drive on Saturdays/Sundays so that I'm online and working during most of the morning and early afternoon.

Exactly! But I do think that you need to address how you will get reliable, quality wifi before you get too far into your planning. I suggest that you spend some time visiting the website Technomadia and get advice from my friends, Chris & Cherie.

 

[Yorick]

Exactly! But I do think that you need to address how you will get reliable, quality wifi before you get too far into your planning. I suggest that you spend some time visiting the website Technomadia and get advice from my friends, Chris & Cherie.

Hi @Kirk.
Yeah, that's one of my concerns and why I'm planning for us to stay outside, but not too far, from the city areas to ensure we have decent service. Worst case scenario, I can drive into town during the weekday to get internet to work. It's okay if I'm disconnected at night at the RV park.

I am hoping, however, that Starlink for mobile use will finally be online next year when we start this journey. I'm in the tech industry and hearing that is progressing well. So, the timing may just be right. I may have Starlink on the RV and can move it from place to place. If so, connectivity problem would be solved. Umm... Unless I park in a cave. Haha!

Thanks also for suggesting Chris & Cherie's sites. I just subscribed to their YouTube channels. That is an awesome recommendation.

 

[JudyJB]

One important thing to remember is that altitude counts. While in many places in the U.S., you can go north to get cooler and south to get warmer. But out west and in some other places, there are high places in northern Arizona and northern New Mexico that are high and very cold in spring and fall. For example, you can ski in Santa Fe, NM, in March. And many of the national parks in Arizona and Utah can be very very cold in winter, even though they are supposedly "southern" states. Phoenix may be very pleasant in January, but head north to Flagstaff, and you will encounter snow at those high elevations!

In a personal example, I was once staying in Las Vegas in February and had made reservations in the mountains nearby. I called to ask about cell service and then asked about the weather. I was shocked to find out that they were skiing there!! It was about 70 in Las Vagas but in the low 30s in the mountain campground and even colder that night!!

 

[JudyJB]

With a couple of mobile hotspots, you should be able to get decent internet access through Verizon anywhere not too far from a freeway, although you probably won't be able to do much streaming of TV programs. I taught online college classes for 9 years while traveling and managed, although I did not always need to keep a normal business day schedule. I was online about 5 hours per day.

I had two mobile hotspots because I found having a backup of everything was really critical in case something broke while I was in the middle of Yellowstone, for example. (I did have a hard drive die in Okracoke Island on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and had to leave the island via ferry, get Dell to drive out to Kitty Hawk to put new hard drive in once I was on the mainland, and then I immediately drove to Best Buy in Virginia Beach to get a cheap backup computer!!) I even had a backup mouse and cords!

And actually many national parks do have cell service that you can use to get internet through Verizon.

 

[Rob&Deryl]

Todays experience…
Went to Gilla Bend for fuel while traveling from Ajo, AZ to Bard, CA. Groceries (without trailer) in Yuma tomorrow.
The station we bought at last week which was much less expensive than the other 3 stations had no Diesel. We discovered this after pulling in and working our way through the congested (I don’t know why but all gas stations out here are congested all the time) station. Ok, of to next nearest. After several minutes I get to a pump but the pump won’t take any of my cards. Argh! Well, let’s try Loves, usually the most expensive but what can you do? I get there and, low and behold, they are 5 cents cheaper than the other place. Over a ten minute period, I work my way toward a pump and discover I cannot make the turn into the interior slot but I am now committed. I usually use outside pumps but here all the pumps had Diesel. I can’t get to an outside lane. Lots of maneuvering and I barely squeeze my 35’ into the lane with less than an inch of clearance. Sigh…
I buy 13gal before getting on the interstate. I had enough (half tank) to get where I was going but then I would be stuck…
Time to get fuel… 40 minutes.

One other thing… make some local weekend trips with your rig before heading out on a big trip. I am 7000 miles into this trip. Day one was 380 miles. I was really glad I had camped at 6 campgrounds before we headed out. We had no idea what we didnt know.