Planning Cross Country Road Trip

[Campfire RV]

We are beginning our planning process now for our cross country road trip in the MH for one month beginning late June 2013. We live in southern California and plan to visit Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, my sisters family in Indianapolis, IN, my parents in western KY then return home. We may possibly visit some family in Hornell, NY but I'm not quite sure about adding that much more driving to the trip, besides I only have one month to travel and I don't want to spend all of it just driving. The route I'm considering is:

• I15N to Yellowstone NP
• I90E to Mt. Rushmore
• I90E, I35S, I380S, I80E, I74E to Indianapolis, IN
• I70W, I57S to Paducah, KY
• Hwy 60W, I44W, I40W to southern California

We are looking for some good places to visit along the route so if you have any good ideas of places to check out I would appreciate if you would share. I want to have a checklist of places to visit along the route and see how many we can hit on this trip. This will be about a 5000 mile road trip and should be a lot of fun for the family. We purchased our new MH in May of this year and have driven it 5000 miles so it appears we will add many more miles next year. I really love the RV lifestyle.

Everyone have a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Years and be safe!

Josh

 

[SeilerBird]

The main problem with your itinerary is that you are trying to fit 10 pounds of poop into a 5 pound bag. In other words you are biting off more than you can comfortably chew. Way too many miles. 5000 miles in one month in an RV would be torture. 3000 miles would still be way too much. All you will be doing is driving and not seeing much. If I were you I would eliminate Indiana and Kentucky from the itinerary. You could easily spend one month in the Yellowstone/Rushmore area. There is Grand Teton, Roosevelt, Wind Cave, Badlands and Glacier National Parks. Plus Custer State Park and Bear River Wildlife Refuge.

 

[Betty Brewer]

The main problem with your itinerary is that you are trying to fit 10 pounds of poop into a 5 pound bag. In other words you are biting off more than you can comfortably chew.

May I  respectfully disagree.  Your family visits may  well be the highlights.  Sure you will be traveling lots of distance but you already know that.  Use this trip as a base to see where you may want to come back and spend more time!  Sure you could spend months in Yellowstone but if you only have a few days, you will see the highlights. NY may be stretching it .  Could the  NY relatives meet you in Kentucky?  Your enthusiasm for this  trip is great!

 

[Campfire RV]

I understand that I will be driving a lot of miles and I have driven the MH as far as 500 miles in one day but I don't plan to do that on this trip. I'm looking around 350 miles/day and spending about three days in Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore each. I don't think we will be making the trip to NY due to the extra mileage and time to get there because I want to maximize our time with family rather than drive 80% of the trip.

 

[Steve & Linda]

I'm "feeling" you on this trip as we are kinda planning one in reverse of your route. We'll be leaving SC 1st week of June and travel to Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore and Custer over 2 months. We've already made our reservation near South Rim of GC where we'll chat for about 1 week and then work our way north/east (?) toward Yellowstone, then eastward. We do have stops planned for Memphis area, Diamond Crater park in Arkansas, then OK, Abilene TX, Albuquerque, NM, and then AZ, so we're not trying to rush but pace ourselves about 350 miles/ day on travel days. I agree there are too many places to visit and do justice with on this trip but that gives us incentive to return. Go for it!

 

[jagnweiner]

Josh-
We live a few miles from the intersection of I80 and I74 in Illinois.  If you decide to stop somewhere in that area enroute to your sisters, let me know and I'll offer tips and make you dinner. There are some nice places to camp in that area.

 

[Ken & Sheila]

I agree with Betty. While its a lot of miles, you have a good plan and I am sure you will have a great time. In our FT working years we often did 4,000 mile trips in 3 weeks and some 3,000 mile trips in 2 weeks. Enjoyed them all. I forgot, we also drove from Vermont back home to Chicago a couple of times in one week (9 fays) trips to see family - around 2,000 miles.

ken

 

[JCZ]

May I  respectfully disagree.  Your family visits may  well be the highlights.  Sure you will be traveling lots of distance but you already know that.  Use this trip as a base to see where you may want to come back and spend more time!  Sure you could spend months in Yellowstone but if you only have a few days, you will see the highlights. NY may be stretching it .  Could the  NY relatives meet you in Kentucky?  Your enthusiasm for this  trip is great!

I concur your honor! 

It'll be a push at times but it is do-able.

 

[topdownman]

We did Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Yellowstone, Teton, Canyonlands and Denver coming out of Louisville, KY during a two-week vacation a couple of years ago.  Great trip and we really enjoyed it. 

 

[Dance Chick]

I think it'll certainly be a push at times, but you've figured that out, it seems.  I think you have to know yourself and what you can handle.  We took a 5,200 mi. trip this past summer and took two months to do it.  We stayed 1 week in Custer, SD.  That was the longest we stayed anywhere.  Most times we stayed 3 to 4 nights and learned that was the minimum we want to stay anywhere.  We don't like to pick up and go to the next place too soon even if we aren't sightseeing.  We like to chill at the MH. So, the trip you're planning wouldn't work for us, but I think if you know yourself and what you like to do or can handle, you'll be fine.  Have a great time and be safe!

 

[tonyandkaren]

This site should be helpful with your trip planning - http://www.cross-country-trips.com/

Also check out the maps on my blog - link in sig line.
We often drive across the country (although much , much slower than you will be traveling on your trip ) so I started making maps so that I could look at them each morning and do some quick planning for the day. A little break from driving is very welcome especially if it's not far off of your route.

 

[kjansen]

I would stay on I90 into Wisconsin insteads of going south on I35.  You will go through Wisconsin Dells which can be a fun stop over, then go south
to Bloomington IN.  I think this is a better trip than going to Des Moines Ia and then east.

 

[Campfire RV]

Thank you everyone for your inputs. I'm really looking forward to making this trip but I also want to be safe and enjoy the trip. I may take an extra week off from work so we can enjoy the trip more and so I don't have to drive so much of the trip. This is why I started planning the trip several months out. Another option we are considering is to drive a straight route to Indiana and Kentucky and hit some places in along the way which will take out some of the driving distance to maximize more time with the family when we get there. Yellowstone is about 1000 miles drive from us so I can always take a week trip there later in the year and enjoy it longer. There are just so many options available so at least I have time to decide on the arrangements. Whatever we decide I'm sure it will be an enjoyable trip with my wife and daughter.

 

[Jeff]

Josh:


Today as retirees that trip would be most of your Sumer traveling but when we were working and raising a family we would have thought a month was loads of time. My wife drives our motorhomes on the open road and team driving let us cover a lot of miles in a day while the kids entertained themselves with Old Sony Beta tapes and just sitting around bugging each other. ;D


From central Illinois it was a 24 hour trip to New England, Florida, and Colorado. When you hear all of us say 200-300 miles a day remember we have lots of time but little of your stamina. :

 

[Trailer traveler]

...Hwy 60W, I44W, I40W to southern California..We are looking for some good places to visit along the route so if you have any good ideas of places to check out I would appreciate if you would share...

More places than you will have time for but here a some to consider:

Texas:

South of Amarillo is Palo Duro Canyon State Park which has a nice campground.

New Mexico:

Petroglyph National Monument, El Malpais National Monument, El Moro National Monument, Acoma Sky City, Pueblo Cultural Center, Ice Cave and Bandera Volcano,  Mining Museum Grants, NM, The Blue Hole.  Several things to see and do in Tucumcari.

Arizona:

Petrified Forest National Park, Sunset Crater National Monument, Wupatki National Monument, Walnut Canyon National Monument, Meteor Crater

Sedona Area:
Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well National Monuments, Tuzigoot National Monument,  Palatki and Honaki Ruins, V-Bar-V Heritage Site, Verde Canyon Railroad, Town of Jerome

Hope you have a great trip!!

 

[Campfire RV]

Josh:


Today as retirees that trip would be most of your Sumer traveling but when we were working and raising a family we would have thought a month was loads of time. My wife drives our motorhomes on the open road and team driving let us cover a lot of miles in a day while the kids entertained themselves with Old Sony Beta tapes and just sitting around bugging each other. ;D


From central Illinois it was a 24 hour trip to New England, Florida, and Colorado. When you hear all of us say 200-300 miles a day remember we have lots of time but little of your stamina. :

Jeff,

This would be a good trip for my wife to get some driving experience with the MH as well and get in some extra miles each day since much of it will be Interstate highways. If we team up driving then we can cover more miles each day then be able to spend more time with our families. My daughter will be fine because she will have plenty of things to do while we are in motion anyway. I have spent some time over the past week planning a couple different options for the trip so I'm guessing there will probably be at least another ten updates to our plans. Planning is half the fun of the trip for my wife and I.

 

[Campfire RV]

More places than you will have time for but here a some to consider:

Texas:

South of Amarillo is Palo Duro Canyon State Park which has a nice campground.

New Mexico:

Petroglyph National Monument, El Malpais National Monument, El Moro National Monument, Acoma Sky City, Pueblo Cultural Center, Ice Cave and Bandera Volcano,  Mining Museum Grants, NM, The Blue Hole.  Several things to see and do in Tucumcari.

Arizona:

Petrified Forest National Park, Sunset Crater National Monument, Wupatki National Monument, Walnut Canyon National Monument, Meteor Crater

Sedona Area:
Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well National Monuments, Tuzigoot National Monument,  Palatki and Honaki Ruins, V-Bar-V Heritage Site, Verde Canyon Railroad, Town of Jerome

Hope you have a great trip!!

Thanks for all the great ideas of places to visit along the way. I will add these to many of the great ideas of places to stop along the way and we will see where we can stop along the way. Of all the places you mentioned I have only visited the Montezuma Castle about 25 years ago. Thanks again for sharing.

 

[JCZ]

Don't forget Yosemite.  Here's a link to our visit on Christmas day.....(it's a motorcycle forum so as not to conflict with this RV forum)  http://www.cvoharley.com/smf/index.php?topic=80814.0   

 

[Tom]

Great pictures JCZ; They remind me of our trip to Yosemite in winter, although we've made more trips there in the summer.

 

[Campfire RV]

Don't forget Yosemite.  Here's a link to our visit on Christmas day.....(it's a motorcycle forum so as not to conflict with this RV forum)  http://www.cvoharley.com/smf/index.php?topic=80814.0 

Great pics, thanks for sharing. Yosemite is just a little just about four hours north of where we live so I can visit there just about anytime. It would be nice to visit in the winter sometimes to take in some of the views in the snow.