Need help planning an RV trip from Seattle to Ohio

[seattletrip]

Hi everyone,

I need some help planning a trip for a client. They will rent an RV in Seattle and drive to Ohio and want to stop at the following parks:

1. Glacier National Park
2. Yellowstone
3. Grand Teton
4. Jewel Cave National Monument
5. Wind Cave
6. Mt. Rushmore (4-6 are all really close to each other)
7. Badlands
8. Great Wolf lodge Minneapolis
9. Indiana Dunes
10. Cedar Point Amusement Park

Will need someone who can help make a route, help figure out best campsites and so on. Will pay for the assistance.

Can anyone refer me to someone who would help? Thanks so much
Dmitry

 

[thelazyl]

When I first learned to RV I got a lot of value out of RV trip planning software. We pay for an app called RV Trip Wizard which has been hugely beneficial. It helps select our route, our driving duration for the day, and select campgrounds on our needs and reviews. Also, there are experienced RVers on the site that can advise on specific places.

 

[seattletrip]

Yes, I will for sure use one of the RV trip planning software, either RV trip Wizard or something else, but it would still be helpful if I get some advise from an expert in the field and will pay for their time.

 

[donn]

Don't forger Custer Battlefield NP in eastern Montana

 

[jackiemac]

Hi, a few questions:

What time of year are they going?

Is it a family or a couple?

Do they want to do hiking or just whistle-stop tour?

How long is their trip?

What size is the RV and are they experienced at RVing?

 

[seattletrip]

It's two adults and two young girls. they are looking for something on the higher end side of things. Luxury RV, safe parking spots for overnight. I am not sure about hiking, maybe a little since the girls are like 10 and 12 years old. They are planning in August. The RV will be a 30-33 footer or so.

 

[SpencerPJ]

So, a higher end customer, wanting to tour the USA with some stops, wanting everything preplanned. Hmmm, that will be a tough one, finding any campspot only 4 months away will be challenging. Cough cough, I have not seen any campground reservation system accepting tokens of appreciation allowing you to change the current reservations others have. People put months and months into planning such trip. Hate to be a buz kill for you or your client, but a reality check might be in order. Many find a truck stop, a walmart, or various roadside eateries that allow rvs to overnight as a safe place to stay. I'm just guessing that your client would not.

 

[seattletrip]

So, a higher end customer, wanting to tour the USA with some stops, wanting everything preplanned. Hmmm, that will be a tough one, finding any campspot only 4 months away will be challenging. Cough cough, I have not seen any campground reservation system accepting tokens of appreciation allowing you to change the current reservations others have. People put months and months into planning such trip. Hate to be a buz kill for you or your client, but a reality check might be in order. Many find a truck stop, a walmart, or various roadside eateries that allow rvs to overnight as a safe place to stay. I'm just guessing that your client would not.

Thanks for the feedback. I figured this would be a tough trip to plan, especially all the way to Sandusky Ohio so was hoping to lean on an expert who can do all the leg work for me

 

[jackiemac]

How long is the trip?

 

[seattletrip]

How long is the trip?

They are flexible, two weeks?

 

[donn]

Are these foreign customer? My bet they simply have no clue the enormity of the USA. Out of that 2 weeks your going to waste about 6 days just driving round trip.

 

[Arch Hoagland]

seattletrip...have you yourself ever used an RV?

 

[Larry N.]

Are these foreign customer? My bet they simply have no clue the enormity of the USA. Out of that 2 weeks your going to waste about 6 days just driving round trip.

And that's if they make fairly long days of driving. It can take a fair chunk of one day just to drive through Yellowstone and the Tetons even without stopping to see any of the sights, especially if they get caught in a bear or bison jam. They'll be mighty tired, too, before they get halfway through this trip.

I'd suggest that, at the very least, they cut items 8, 9 and 10 off of the list, for only two weeks. That list would, ideally, take a month or more, depending on how much they really want to see of each item.

And if it's an RV with no towed vehicle there may be parking problems that will take up time, since they have to get around in the RV, and perhaps cause them to miss some of the sights. First timers in Yellowstone and the Tetons could easily spend that two weeks there, alone.

 

[seattletrip]

They are US citizens living in Seattle but never rented an RV before.

 

[Bugford]

Knowing what I know now after two years of research, taking the plunge last fall, and only two trips under our belt, I can't imagine taking on that trip as our maiden voyage.

 

[seattletrip]

I knew planning this trip would be very difficult, this is why I was hoping to find a professional who can help plan it all for a pay. I myself live in New York and have not visited any of these parks myself so that's why I came here for help.

 

[Tom55555]

Hi everyone,

I need some help planning a trip for a client. They will rent an RV in Seattle and drive to Ohio and want to stop at the following parks:

1. Glacier National Park
2. Yellowstone
3. Grand Teton
4. Jewel Cave National Monument
5. Wind Cave
6. Mt. Rushmore (4-6 are all really close to each other)
7. Badlands

8. seattletrip...have you yourself ever used an RV?

Will need someone who can help make a route, help figure out best campsites and so on. Will pay for the assistance.

Can anyone refer me to someone who would help? Thanks so much
Dmitry

• Great Wolf lodge Minneapolis
• Indiana Dunes
• Cedar Point Amusement Park

Great Wolf lodge is great for swimming in the winter.

Wasn't impressed with Indiana dunes but they ere clean.

$160 bucks for a night at Cedar Point. I just wanted the experience.

 

[jackiemac]

I knew planning this trip would be very difficult, this is why I was hoping to find a professional who can help plan it all for a pay. I myself live in New York and have not visited any of these parks myself so that's why I came here for help.

People are different in how they approach travelling and that doesn't make it easy to plan for someone else.

Driving an RV can be tiring and many won't do more than around 350 miles in one day. Your speed may be slower than in a car too. You could probably do a long day to get to Glacier from Seattle or it might take 2 and thats before you do sightseeing.

I think you need to know how much sightseeing they want to do. Do they want to hike at all? An RV isn't the best way to experience a couple of these parks, particularly Glacier as one of the Road's is inaccessible to RVs and it would mean using tour buses etc to see some things. They may be happy with that, but you need to know this for planning unless you are giving them a very clearly defined vacation with few options to change, or with specific breaks.

 

[steveblonde]

Not possible there is a day to get to the first destination then a day at stop one and a day driving to stop 2. A day at stop 2 and a day driving etc. That is barring any issues. Long long days driving. And 3 day driving back. Seattle to Spokane is close to 11 hrs driving done it twice. Jackie has some solid advise. 350 miles in a day is a lot if the kids are not used to traveling. You would be much better off planning 2 weeks in Oregon there is a ton to see and do there with time for the kids to explore and have fun and get out of Washington State

 

[JudyJB]

A professional will not be able to help you, unfortunately, because even a professional cannot shorten the number of miles these people want to travel in a very, very short time period. Also, most of us who travel extensively ARE as close to professionals as exist. Those of us who are responding HAVE TRAVELED those places, and know that what you are asking is not doable. First, you cannot drive a motorhome as many miles or hours per day as a car. No exceptions.

I suggest they rent a vehicle in Seattle, travel two weeks and make it as far and the Black Hills, and then fly to Ohio if they really want to go there, but that would be outside of the two week trip.

Either that, or have them make this a four week trip. And almost always, you need to return the RV to the place where you rented it, so how are they going to do that??? Even in a month, there is not time to drive all the way back to Seattle!!!