North America loop

If two months, you will probably need to plan it, because you are probably looking at 8000-9000 miles of driving, 20 to 30 days of driving time for a fairly fast sightseeing pace and not including any extended stops.

For me, I can't imagine the loop as anything less than six months, as I am both a city explorer and a wilderness person, so places like southern Alberta, the bare-rock parts of the West need a week or more, and if I am going to cities like Toronto, Montreal, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, D.C., Atlanta, Nashville, Houston, San Antonio all need at least a week. I was in D.C. for three months, free on Sundays, could not get beyond scratching the surface. Four years in Chicago and I have to keep going back. A week in NYC wasn't enough to get started, I would need 10 years to really learn it.

East Coast must-sees for me are Boston, New York, Philadelphia, the museums and monuments of D.C., Jamestown and the Williamsburg tourist complex, Charleston, Savannah, and on the way back, Atlanta, Nashville and Memphis. Three days to a week for each are going to use up a couple months, considering the driving time to get there.

Then working your way back west, Houston and San Antonio are repeated week-long visits for me, Santa Fe and the Taos art communities are "must see" on the way to the Rockies across southern Colorado (choose Pagosa-Durango-Cortez or Pueblo-Poncha-Monarch-Gunnison-Monarch-Grand Junction, or try to do them both) the onto the Colorado Plateau in southwest Colorado, southern Utah, northern Arizona.

Six months to a year, I would wing it. Two months for such a loop, you need a travel planning program to work in times for each stop, how far to move each day, and just a quick pop in and out of each city you might want to visit.

If you are going into southern Canada, May through September for the timing.

Whew! Two months? If you're retired, take your time and stop and enjoy the places you'll pass through. We've full-timed for 17 years and travel constantly and we still haven't seen it all. :)

It might be good to travel north and then across Canada first and be in the NE for the colors of fall. Then leisurely work you way down the east coast and spend the winter along your southernly route back to California.

Yes, 2 mo. seems all too short, even for me. I posted about a trip here about 6 mo. ago, trying to learn more about the things to see along our proposed route for a U.S. boundary states tour, clockwise, touching every state that has an international boundary. I got almost no response to this plea, but am certainly bookmarking this post as good fodder for our trip. I finally wound up going to Trip Advisor with great, local results and got lots of info.
The most important thing I learned is that this country is a lot bigger and deeper than a short trip can accommodate. It is a jolt to see that you are in a paradigm shift. At first, jeanie and i thought we could do this trip in 8 weeks. Huh! Not good thinking. We then expanded it to 12, then 16 weeks to get the most out of it. We travel at a rather fast pace, not staying more than one night in any location. We camp in Federal Campgrounds, State Campgrounds, County Campgrounds, BLM, Nat. Forests, dry camp about anywhere that looks good and most importantly stealth camp, especially in the cities. We have developed a 'sense' about successfully picking a spot that works for us. We pick a spot, go up the stairs, pull down the blinds, and camp. It looks like no one is home. The rig is 20 ft. long and will fit in any parking spot along the curb or in a lot.
Our big boundary trip has not happened yet, but the wheels of preparation are still turning. Our twist is we are doing it in a small Lance truck camper on an off-road prepared 4WD Dodge diesel pickup, expecting to camp on every beach (right on the sand) that will allow same. There are quite a few that fit that requirement.
Thanks for all the replies to this post, as I have downloaded a lot of good info for our trip.
regards, as always, jefe

As noted, this is a very quick trip, given the distance. A couple of thoughts:

>If you can travel in March - May or September - November, you'll avoid many of the crowds as the kids will be in school.

>You will have an option of a coastal route or of following the Blue Ridge Parkway. No, they're not like mountains in the west, but they have a beauty all their own. If you take the coastal routes, be prepared for heat and humidity in the summer in the south.

>If you do a fall trip, start in the north and head south, following the changing of the leaves. Be prepared for a lot of company on the trip.

>If you can carve out more time, definitely plan on multiple days in the D.C. area. The Smithsonian is actually a number of buildings, and there are a number of amazing things to see elsewhere on the Mall, too. The next time we go, we want to spend a week.

Ive been to DC three times and still haven't seen it all. :)

Since I'm a native too, I'll kick in my three cents worth.

First, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is a must-do, just for the sake of it. It's not especially scenic or breath-taking, but it's the only one like in North America, and is worth the $10. Going North, it will also dump you on the Eastern Shore/DelMarVa peninsula which is a quiet, interesting drive up to the Delaware Valley. (I-64 around Norfolk can be a b**ch, but you'll live.)

If you're into that stuff, Williamsburg and the other "colonial" sites and sights in the Mid-Atlantic can be interesting. Monticello, Mount Vernon, etc. I won't cover DC as there are other much more experienced people here who can tell you about it.

The big problem over here on the east coast is that there are not a lot of RV parks, or campgrounds in general, except in real tourist-attraction rural areas. And certainly none around any of the 'downtown' areas of the older East Coast cities, that I know of. People use Liberty Park for NYC, and Cherry Hill for DC, but I'll be damned if I can recommend an RV park anywhere near Philly.. :) Plenty of T/As and Pilot/Flying Js and things across the river along I-295 and the NJTP, but I don't know of anything on the western side of Philly. Too built up. I'm not even sure if there's a good RV place out around Valley Forge. There's a KOA out near West Chester, 35 miles west of Philly.

There's fairly decent mass transit in the city proper of Philly, but your problem will be getting to a station. If you find a place over on the Jersey side near Camden (ugh), you can get on what is known as PATCO, which is a high speed, few-stop commuter train that will get you right in to Center City Philly in about 15 minutes from it's farthest station. Camden has a big aquarium along the river, and the USS New Jersey battleship, but not much else to recommend it, unless you like viewing decrepit old refineries and abandoned row houses. You can get around much of Philly on foot, or a quick taxi ride is easier than trying to figure out where the SEPTA buses might be going this time. Independence Hall, the Bell, City Hall, the Franklin Institute, and the Art Museum are typical tourist destinations, but check out the Mutter Museum, Penns Landing, and some of the other places near center city. The old Eastern State Penitentiary is just a block or two from the Art Museum, and is an interesting tour for the penal system aficianado.

It might almost be worth renting a car for the day or two that you visit Philly. The traffic here is nowhere near as hectic or frantic as around DC or NYC, just don't get caught on the Schuylkill Expressway at 5:15 pm on a Friday night in the rain... :)

Another option is to park at one of the newer casinos near center city Philly - I think SugarHouse allows overnight large-vehicle parking. It's on the waterfront. Harrahs/Philly is actually in Chester, about 15 miles south on 95 along the river, and you don't want park overnight there. Trust me. There's also Parx out near Bensalem, in the northeast of town, that I think is also fairly close to mass transit.

Here's a quite useful blog that has more info.

http://www.cheddaryeti.com/2012/06/20/rv-parking-for-philadelphia-10-reasons-its-worth-your-effort/