Crossing the USA from Tampa, FL to Western USA and back

OK not knowing the dates or how long you have I'll set out a typical trip for us.

1) I-75 to I-10 then west.
2) San Antonio has the Alamo which may be worth visiting. You don't want to pull your RV on the San Antonio surface roads. We stayed at a CG just outside the city. Besides the Alamo there is the River Walk and a old Mission all in the same area. I promise you that you'll be surprised when you actually see the real Alamo.

3. OK this is where the time of year matters, if it isn't the summer then you may want to consider a side trip down to Big Bend NP and Terlingua. We went last time for a week in July and while we had a good time even being from Florida didn't help with the heat when we were back at the CG.

3a. Assuming you skip Big Bend proceed west on I-10 until you get to Hwy 54 at Van Horn, Go north there to US 64 and continue north. You will drive thru Guadalupe Mts NP. You can only drive around the edge of the park and seeing more means getting out and hiking. We've never been there in cool weather and those mountains look mighty hot in summer.

4. This brings you to Carlsbad Caverns, a must see. There is a CG outside the gate at White City but we've never stayed, we go into Carlsbad (town) and find a CG there.

5. Proceed north to Artesia and then west on US 70 to White Sands NM. Then west to Las Cruces. Then either continue west into southern AZ or go north on I-25 which will eventually bring you to where you can head to the four corners area and the major parks-Mesa Verde, Canyonlands, Arches, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon and Zion and a lot of smaller parks. That comprises the "Four Corners Loop" which many people take as their entire vacation.

5b. Going west instead will bring you thru southern AZ and eventually into California. Adding California will add a -lot- of time to your trip if you do King's Canyon, Sequoia and Yosemite. Frankly I'd save those for another trip that would take you north thru those and Lassen Volcanic. the Oregon and Washington coastline highway, Crater Lake, Mount Rainier and Olympic National Parks. You can drive west from there to get to Glacier and down to Yellowstone/Tetons. Even if you visited Yellowstone before one trip isn't enough.

6. When you finish the four corners go north to Yellowstone/Tetons

I'm skipping many smaller parks which you may want to stop at depending on your schedule. Parks like Petrified Forest, Chaco Canyon, Natural Bridges, Monument Valley, Dinosaur NM, Devil's Tower and probably 30 or 40 others.

Give us a better idea of what RV you have, what time of year and how long you have. What I set out above is 6 weeks to 2 months minimum. More if you take your time.

Thank you Veebyes. Sounds reasonable. Is there a software that you would recommend to chart our course?

Crossing Texas I would suggest I-10 or some of the parallel highways, especially thru the Texas hill country. Prettier country than I-20 and parallel highways. I-10 may get boring in far west Texas. I-20 gets boring as you leave east Texas approaching Dallas, and continues from there to El Paso.

Mark the start point. Mark the furthest point. Start adding waypoints/attractions. Click the calculate route button on whatever software being used & see what you have. Insert how many days where for each stop & calculate again. Take a guesstimate on how many miles you are happy with per day for between stops, insert & calculate again for time needed.

Subtract or add destinations to suit time available & calculate again. Spend months tweaking & researching. Be prepared to change anything on the fly.

Thanks to everyone who has posted an answer to our request. It is all so helpful. I didn't see a place to post directly to a post in response with a question or simply a "thank you". We are new to this forum and you all are very helpful.
Our agenda is very open and time is not limited. Traveling from April to September and We'd like to travel approx. 200-300 miles per travel day.

Get a copy of mountain directory west. It will give you mountain driving information as to area with steep grades, roads you should not travel with an rv, length, speed restrictions etc. You can google it and find it.

Mostly you will need time! And reservations! Campgrounds in and near almost all the National Parks get full months ahead of time. Figure mid-May to mid-October as the window you have for travel, as many places get very cold/snowy before and after. And the higher/northern places are more like mid-June to Mid-Sept. And then there is the desert heat to consider in the southern areas.

From Tampa to Rocky Mtn. Park (Denver), for example, will take you 5-6 days one way. And then the trip really starts. Figure a minimum of 3-4 days at each Park (that pads in a little down time for laundry, etc.). Of course, you can always add time, and some (Yellowstone area) will demand several more days.

From what you say, you'd be looking at several months! Seriously. We just completed a whirlwind trip from Minn to Colorado to Utah and back, and that took a solid month. A grand adventure, but we should have added at least 2 weeks on to it, just for all the places we stopped at, let alone anything additional.

So start plotting routes, identifying the most important places to go, and making reservations.

TyroneandGladys wrote:
How much time are you going to have? How many miles do you want to drive in a day?

And what time of the year do you want to go ??
NOT recommended to go north of I-10 in the winter time.

Do a Google search for `_______ tourism' and put the State, city, area or whatever in the blank space and read what the specialists recommend.
Such a trip could take a lifetime!
Adventure Caravans takes the entire month of September just to make the great circle tour of the western national parks.
You may not realize how BIG is the US if you are from the East. For example after driving 1000 miles you will make it as far as St. Louis or Oklahoma and that's 1/3 of the way!

How much time are you going to have? How many miles do you want to drive in a day?