2019 trip from KY to Yellowstone/Tetons

Search this Forum for each area of interest. I always recommend taking the Yellowstone tour(s) instead of driving around yourself.

wadecool wrote:
2019 trip to Yellowstone

I am planning a trip from Kentucky to Yellowstone and would like to run my itinerary by the experts to see how it looks. Some background and parameters: It will be me, wife, and 2 12 year old girls. and we have 2 weeks. We are driving a 2018 Ford F-350 dually towing a Premier 34BHPR 38 ft travel trailer. In order to maximize vacation, make good time, and keep girls from going stir crazy in the truck the trip out will be driving at night. I work third shift and mostly 12 hour shifts so driving at night isn't an issue for me. I have cousins in Rapid City and Gillette, WY who will be joining us in a convoy to Yellowstone and the Tetons.

7/17 - Leave Kentucky 8pm, arrive Rock Port Rivers Edge Campground in Rock Port, MO around 8am 7/18. Girls will swim and hang out in camper while i sleep.

7/18 - leave Rock Port, MO around 4pm, arrive Rapid City 4am 7/19 staying at Rapid City KOA. After I get a nap, tour Badlands, Mt Rushmore and hang out with family.

7/20 - leave Rapid City 8am and head to Hardin, MT KOA via Gillette WY and arrive at Little Bighorn Battlefield 2pm.

7/21 - leave Hardin, MT 9am to West Yellowstone, MT KOA via I-90, arriving 2pm

7/21 through 7/26 - tour Yellowstone NP

7/26 - leave West Yellowstone KOA 9am via US 191, arrive Virginian RV park in Jackson, WY 12pm. Drive through Grand Teton NP and see a few sights.

7/27 - Leave Jackson, WY 9am, arrive Cody, WY KOA 2pm. Tour Buffalo Bill Museum and drive the Beartooth/Chief Joseph Highway.

7/29 - Leave Cody, WY 9am, arrive Kennebec, SD KOA 8pm.

7/29 - Leave Kennebec, SD 3am, arrive Kansas City KOA 1pm on 7/30.

730 - leave KC KOA 8pm, arrive home at 6am.

To those in the know, how does this trip look? Any advice? Any other forums or threads I should be posting this on?



Thanks in advance,



Adam

Adaam,

OK - Let's try to be Honest Here - First RV/TT trip?

Night travel is fine - BUT - if anything Happens and Sh*t happens - you will be totally out of cycle. Waiting for help/repairs till morning, when things open - just keep that in Mind. (keep in mind check in and Check Out times as they might not fit into your schedule - Girls can handle 6-8 hours in the vehicle :))

Big Rig and Big trailer - Not fast and Not Cheap to run in. Might just think a little about a Rental Class C - everyone will have room to stretch out and travel is just easier, day or night - As most of us have done these crazy trips when we were young, we do have a bit of experience. Another thing to think about is using three weekends to add a few more days to the trip 16.5 vs 14 with your middle of the week start and finish you will lose these days.?????

Why not just shorten the trip a Bit and Take the Girls to the Beach? Just have to throw this out there as girls do love the Beach and whole it would still be a drive - it would be closer.

Wall Drug and Bad lands are both just drive throughs so a few hours at each is fine - Custer might be a good spot to stay - lots of things to see every day as you drive to and from the CG. Next Cody is a good stop with a Walmart so stock up there before entering no man's land in YNP, just add 20-30 percent to everything - Be sure to have a good Camera - but small - and good boots for everyone for hiking - floppy hats and sunscreen - Layers of clothes and a good cooler for lunches - it will likely rain at least once - start early and come back early - most start late and come back late - there are fun and beautiful things outside the parks - Keep the water in your plans, as kids love the water - Find a good travel App - I use Bing map to YNP ........

Send off to get info from the states and the areas you plan to visit - amazing how little we Know.

Keep working on the plan it will be fun to follow your adventure.

Might take it over to irv2.com good forum with more info.

Best of luck

Most experienced RVers are going to stick to about half that driving schedule. Have you confirmed your campgrounds will allow you to check in early in the day? You are talking about arriving hours before checkOUT time.

Too far too fast.

Yeah and Badlands NP and Rushmore are hours away from each other. The kids will want to go to Wall Drug too.

2 very rushed days to see Mt Rushmore, Black Hills and the Badlands. You will do a drive by and can say that you were there. You will not have time to enjoy anything. We go through the area about every other year and spend a 6 hours looking around the Badlands, a couple of hours at Mt Rushmore and then go back for the evening program that evening, 3 hours at either Jewel or Wind Cave, 4 hours to drive Needles Highway and the Wildlife loop through Custer State Park, this does not include time spent driving from one attraction to the next. In total, we spend 3 plus days there and only touch the surface. This is after being there more than 10 times.
On 3 occasions we have spent 7 days there to do in depth visits.

If you are absolutely limited by time, it is doable but you will be exhausted when you get home. Great stories will be born on this trip because you are traveling with the kids. They will remember it for life. Don't let my opening paragraph stop you from hitting the road.

Your plans seem regimented and your drives appear too long.

I assume you have only 2 weeks and want to squeeze in as much as possible. But 600 mile days are exhausting. Split up the driving duty so you at least get 2 or 3 hours of rest in the middle. And how fast to plan to pull that 38ft TT? Most people think that exceeding 60-63 mph is asking for blowouts. You'll be hard pressed to cover 600 miles in 12 hours. We usually hit about 500 miles is 13-14 hours, maybe a bit less. And if you plan to cut across rural Nebraska/SD good luck finding a service station open at 3 AM.

Otherwise I'd say you are doing what many new travelers do, trying to pack too much into the limited amount of time available. We've been doing this since the 1980's, tho I had already done a lot before getting married. We did the hard push west for years and now enjoy things much more after slowing down a bit. We even did 1200 miles in 36 hours once.

You really will enjoy this much more if you slow down and enjoy fewer areas this year. Schedule the other areas for the next trip. YNP and Tetons are plenty for a 8-10 day trip which is what you'll have after travel time is subtracted.

We've spent maybe 6-8 weeks in YNP and Tetons and still haven't seen it all.