Where to stop and what to see-Grand Canyon to Yellowstone

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Slideman

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My wife and I are planning our first major RV trip- (4 weeks)traveling from the Florida panhandle to New Mexico and Arizona, north to Yellowstone, then back home. Would hate to drive right by a "must see" so thought I'd ask folks with the knowledge. Also, as a city guy my entire life, I have a busket list item of stargazing in the desert which I hear is amazing. Any thoughts on how best to achieve that dream without incurring anyone's wrath by boondocking where I shouldn't would be greatly appreciated.
 
That trip is impossible. About 6000 miles will take you 30 days of driving if you do 200 miles a day. If you go 300 a day it is 20 days but that is an unrealistic when RVing. Even just driving to the Grand Canyon and back from Florida is 5000 miles. You need to decide on a destination that is much closer to Florida or fly to Phoenix, rent an RV and see the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, then fly home.
 
I am not going to say it is impossible, we live in western Louisiana and have done both the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone on circa 4 week trips in the RV. I think both trips worked out to be right around 29-30 days, though we are 600 miles west of Tallahassee. What I will say is pick on or the other, not both. There are so many diverse things to see and do just within a couple of hundred miles of the Grand canyon that the area is worth a trip (or more than one) on its own, a partial list of sights to see all within 200 miles of the grand canyon are, Petrified Forest national park, Meteor crater, Page AZ with Antelope canyon slot canyon tours, and smooth water float trips down Glen Canyon, as well as the new Horseshoe Bend photo op spot, Grand Staircase, Bryce Canyon, and Zion national parks, along with others.

Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, and the places you pass through between Florida and there deserve almost as much time to see, Yellowstone is huge, we were only able to spend 3 days there, and 2 days in Grand Tetons on our trip in 2017, and it was barely enough to be a sampler trip, you really need a week or more inside the two parks to stand a chance at seeing all the major sites, and that does not count all the nearby must see stuff. The thing people don't realize is that Yellowstone is huge, it can take all day from dawn to dusk to drive the main loop, maybe longer depending on animal pile ups slowing traffic, that does not count stopping and actually seeing stuff.
 
As you state your trip plans, I'd say that's a difficult itinerary (not QUITE impossible to travel like that, but impossible to see much), but I'd agree with Isaac that you should do one or the other unless you fly to one, rent an RV, then round trip to/from the other, then fly home.

Driving from FLA to NM/AZ, seeing the sights, then returning home is fine in 4 weeks, allowing a MINIMUM of 4 days to get there, preferably adding a couple more to minimize fatigue and let you enjoy your trip better. Taking the same (or more) time to get back home, still leaves time to see a few things.

Distances are long out there between sights, with very long areas of (as some might say) miles and miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles and miles, though to my taste, most of that western country is gorgeous, but it is decidedly different from what most are used to. Add in that RV travel is more tiring, mile for mile, than car travel and there is more "life maintenance," that is, setting up camp, hooking up to facilities, getting things in the RV from travel to living mode (slides out, leveling, etc.), then cleanup in the morning, followed by breaking camp (put stuff away, pull in slides, retract levelers, unhook, etc.).

AND, if there are kids along, other considerations apply, including letting them enjoy the trip by not keeping them cooped up in the RV on the road for 12+ hours a day.
 
I show the distance for this trip as only 5,000 miles and it drops to 3,800 miles if they skip Yellowstone. That is still a lot of distance for a 4 week trip. However, what are you driving? It would be more doable in a Class B van than in an A or C, or pulling a trailer.

Also, will you have kids with you? That makes a difference in recommending places where they could get out and run around.

Also, tell us WHEN you are going, as that makes a difference, also.

If you are looking for desert viewing, I would skip Yellowstone and focus on all the wonderful things to see in Arizona and maybe a bit of southern Utah. You will be driving through places like Albuquerque on your way and could dive a bit south on your way to visit White Sands, NM, and Carlsbad Caverns on the way if you skipped Yellowstone. Both are worth an entire day, and kids can even rent sleds and slide down the "sand" dunes at White Sands.

You should plan to spend at least 3-4 days at the South Rim of Grand Canyon. Also, there are some wonderful regional (Maricopa County) campgrounds around Phoenix where you can camp next to a big cactus! And Phoenix has a terrific Desert Botanical Garden and the Heard Museum, which contains some of the best Native American art anywhere. During February, they also have the international hoop dancing competition at the Heard. And Tucson has the Saguaro National Park and the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. This is outdoors and you can camp at Gilbert Ray, depending on the size of your rig.

Also in Tucson, you have the "Boneyard" (where old planes go to die) and the Pima Air & Space Museum. There is just about one of every plane ever built there!

My point is that by racing to Yellowstone AND Arizona, you are missing a ton of really interesting and fun things along the way. Better to save Yellowstone for another trip and see the stuff along the way instead. Plus, I have only mentioned a few of the things you will miss if you try to drive 5,000 miles in four weeks!
 
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With all due respect to these astute RVers, they're making a lot of assumptions. First, they don't know what kind of RV you have. Second, they don't know how old you are and your apatite for long days driving/pulling an RV. Third and most important, they don't know what you've already seen and what you're interested in seeing.

On the first point, when we started RVing, we pulled a travel trailer with an F250 diesel pickup. That was when I was quite young, about 65 at the time ;). It's all relative ya know. Bottom line, the wife and I could do 500 to 600 miles a day and still enjoy a few sites. Not much stopping other than for lunch. That said, if you drive 500 miles a day, you can do the 5,000 miles in 10 days and have 18 days to explore.

Second, age is quite important. For me, at 78, I'm done with long marathon drives. While I can still do 400 miles in our class A motorhome, it's tiring and 150 to 200 is much more enjoyable. So depending on your apatite for long days behind the wheel, you'll be able to figure out how many days you'll have to sight see. Third, there is a lot to see and do. But most don't do everything in one RV trip. If you enjoy RVing, then it's likely you'll be able to see a lot of the country over the years. Some good suggestions so far. Give us a bit more information and then we'll help you fine tune your trip.
 
Also in Tucson, you have the "Boneyard" (where old planes go to die) and the Pima Air & Space Museum. There is just about one of every plane ever built there!
Nice writeup, Judy with many great tips and things to see. But although the "Boneyard" at Davis-Monthan will have almost any military aircraft of WWII and later, Pima has a number of historical military aircraft plus a few light aircraft, they're lacking most light aircraft (there are a few), most airliners (there are a few), and most anything before the 1940s or so. Both are very much worth spending a day or two to visit though, depending on your tastes. Wikipedia says "more than 4,000 military aircraft are parked on the base" (D-M) and it certainly seems that's not an exaggeration. The Pima A&S Museum has "a display of nearly 300 aircraft spread out over 80 acres" according to Wikipedia. A lot of walking but it's great to see those aircraft, from the tiny Aerosport Quail to the Super Guppy to the Beech Starship to a B-17 to a B-47 (my favorite) to the "Century Series" fighters to an SR-71.

Pima also has a several inside displays of various types, including certain historical aircraft, among other things. Allow at least a few hours to see this alone, depending on your tastes.

Somewhat west of Tuscon (northwest, actually), along the south side of I-10, you can see an airline "boneyard" and maintenance facility called Pinal Airpark. Though you can't go on the field as such, it's amazing what you can see from just outside the fence.
 
My wife and I are planning our first major RV trip- (4 weeks)traveling from the Florida panhandle to New Mexico and Arizona, north to Yellowstone, then back home. Would hate to drive right by a "must see" so thought I'd ask folks with the knowledge. Also, as a city guy my entire life, I have a busket list item of stargazing in the desert which I hear is amazing. Any thoughts on how best to achieve that dream without incurring anyone's wrath by boondocking where I shouldn't would be greatly appreciated.
Many state and national parks in the west are "certified" by the International Dark Sky Association and you only need to find one to find the dark skies you are looking for.

One, not too far from Moab is Utah's Goblin Valley State Park which has a campground and also has BLM land nearby for dispersed camping. Long Long Honeymoon was just there, and showed some spectacular scenery and night skies.

You make no mention of when you are planning this trip. Be aware that many campgrounds have either shut down for the winter, or have turned off the water, power, etc and only provide a site to park in.

If you plan to do some boon-docking and are not familiar with this, I'm going to suggest using an app such as the DyrtPRO which has overlays of BLM land and rules, as it varies from place to place. For instance, Alabama Hills in California has suddenly been closed off to dispersed camping. There are a very few sites left that allow camping but most are either indicated on a map as no camping or are marked by signs as such. (there is a campground there that camping is still allowed in).

As others have mentioned, you need to narrow down the scope of your trip, and again, depending on the time of year, I'm going to suggest New Mexico and Arizona and nothing more.

Get out there, wander around, when you are running out of time, head home. Next trip, go to another area and do the same.

Charles
 
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Minor topic swerv?
For those who have done Q & Kofa, are they good dark sky places? We really want one.
I would expect so as they aren't too close to huge towns. Being a bit higher up though can help. The Mogollon Rim was awesome in the fall we found.

I'm hoping those in the know reply with a positive!
 
With all due respect to these astute RVers, they're making a lot of assumptions. First, they don't know what kind of RV you have. Second, they don't know how old you are and your apatite for long days driving/pulling an RV. Third and most important, they don't know what you've already seen and what you're interested in seeing.
I don't care what kind of RV they have. I don't care how old they are or what their appetite of driving is. And I don't care what they have seen or what they are interested in seeing. No matter what I stand by my original accessment, the trip they are planning is impossible.
 
This thread reminds me of the scene from the movie "Vacation" where the family gets to Grand Canyon, piles out of the car, looks around for about 5 seconds then gets back in the car and off they go!
 
This thread reminds me of the scene from the movie "Vacation" where the family gets to Grand Canyon, piles out of the car, looks around for about 5 seconds then gets back in the car and off they go!
That is nothing compared to certain types of people from the east. I spent a lot of my days living at the Grand Canyon on the patio of the Bright Angel Lodge. A bus load of tourists would unload at the front door of the BAL and thirty or forty first time tourists walk right through the lobby and out the back door and then walk about 25 feet to the two foot high wall on the rim of the canyon. They were almost always in groups of two. One of the two would walk over to the wall, turn around and flash a big smile as their partner took their photo. Then they would change places and do the same thing. Then without hardly even noticing the canyon they would head back to the bus or the souvenir shop and then back on the bus.
I use to say that I should start a business in the east. For a small fee I would photograph them in front of a large photo of TGC and that would save them the expense of flying all the way to the US. Of course I would offer many different backgrounds of famous places, Statue of Liberty, Hoover Dam...
One of the things I always have wished for it to see all of the photos they took in a slide show. I am imaging a few hundred shots of people with only one or two being scenic shots.
 
We took a trip with the grandkids the summer of 2019. Left Delaware and landed in South Carolina for the first leg. As I remember it we overnighted at a Walmart on the way. We stayed in a hotel for several days and the kids enjoyed the pool and we found a state park with a nice beach. Then on to Memphis where we stayed at a state park and ate some great BBQ. Then on to Little Rock, AR where we stayed for a few days at the FamCamp at Little Rock AFB. Took the kids to Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site (grandkids are biracial). Then on to Hot Springs NP for a day. After that we stopped and dug for diamonds. We have friends in Texas so made plans to meet them in Boerne where we all stayed in a hotel and went tubing and visited the Alamo and the Riverwalk in San Antonio. Then over to Ft Walton Beach, FL where we hooked up with friends from England and stayed at their HOA’s little RV park. Kids loved the beaches there. left Florida and spent the night in a hotel in Atlanta then back home to Delaware. This was a four week trip with a loosely planned itinerary. I was 68 while on that trip. I enjoyed not having to stick to a rigid plan and alternating staying in the TT and the occasional hotel was nice. I was quite tired at the end of the 4 weeks. And we did not rush ourselves.
 
From Quartzsite you can easily drive to a dark sky location, but the town is right on an interstate so it will never been a great place for nighttime. KOFA is better since it has more hills/mountains to block the lights. Both will let you see the Milky Way through they aren’t great for things like astrophotography which needs really dark skies.
 
That is nothing compared to certain types of people from the east. I spent a lot of my days living at the Grand Canyon on the patio of the Bright Angel Lodge. A bus load of tourists would unload at the front door of the BAL and thirty or forty first time tourists walk right through the lobby and out the back door and then walk about 25 feet to the two foot high wall on the rim of the canyon. They were almost always in groups of two. One of the two would walk over to the wall, turn around and flash a big smile as their partner took their photo. Then they would change places and do the same thing. Then without hardly even noticing the canyon they would head back to the bus or the souvenir shop and then back on the bus.
I use to say that I should start a business in the east. For a small fee I would photograph them in front of a large photo of TGC and that would save them the expense of flying all the way to the US. Of course I would offer many different backgrounds of famous places, Statue of Liberty, Hoover Dam...
One of the things I always have wished for it to see all of the photos they took in a slide show. I am imaging a few hundred shots of people with only one or two being scenic shots.
Did you ID them to make sure
 
Minor topic swerv?
For those who have done Q & Kofa, are they good dark sky places? We really want one.
The south rim of the Grand Canyon. Really clear air at 7000 feet. In June there is a astronomy group that sets up about 60 telescopes in a large parking lot. There are all types of telescopes available from a binocular chair to a refrigerator sized ones. It is free and anyone can join in. They keep their telescopes set up until dawn.

 
My wife and I are planning our first major RV trip- (4 weeks)traveling from the Florida panhandle to New Mexico and Arizona, north to Yellowstone, then back home. Would hate to drive right by a "must see" so thought I'd ask folks with the knowledge. Also, as a city guy my entire life, I have a busket list item of stargazing in the desert which I hear is amazing. Any thoughts on how best to achieve that dream without incurring anyone's wrath by boondocking where I shouldn't would be greatly appreciated.
You might try Zion N.P. and skip yellow stone.
 
The south rim of the Grand Canyon. Really clear air at 7000 feet. In June there is a astronomy group that sets up about 60 telescopes in a large parking lot. There are all types of telescopes available from a binocular chair to a refrigerator sized ones. It is free and anyone can join in. They keep their telescopes set up until dawn.

They do the same thing at the north rim at the same time. I understand that the astronomy clubs from the north half of the state go to the north rim and the clubs from the south part of the state go to the south rim, but I don't know that for sure.
We had several telescopes set up at our campground for the whole week. One of the guys even had a special scope that you could look at the sun during the day time. I was surprised at the amount detail you could see on the sun.
 

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