Too ambitious?
We live on the east coast , and want to visit tombstone AZ, the Grand Canyon AZ, and Monument Valley UT. Is this doable in one trip? This would be when we purchase our Class C motorhome. As fa...
Forum Discussion
As a fellow Easterner who has been West once, yes, it's doable and worth it.
(I have flown to Vegas a few times and driven there once, but that doesn't count.)
Before RVing, the wife and I did 9,800 miles by car with a tent. We only had 26 days. We pulled into our driveway at 11:30 on a Sunday night, and both had to be back at work the next day. It sure was worth it.
That was 1998 and we haven't been back since. We want to, but its hard to carve that kind of time from a busy work schedule.
We are saving vacation and giving our bosses fair warning for 2016. That is when we will do it again. This time in the Class A with two kids. We hope to take 4 weeks, maybe a few days less.
Yes, we will drive the wheels off. Yes, we will drive in shifts to get there. Yes, we will pass many great sites. But, we will expose our children to some of this country's greatest treasures. We have already given them the gift of the great outdoors here in the East, and they love it. I can't wait to see their faces when they see some of those unbelievable sights out there.
Does such a trip make sense when you add up the miles, gas money, seat time and more? That depends on the value you place on the destination.
I say go for it. Our reasoning was to go see what we could and we'd know what to do on the return trip. I never thought the return trip would take us this long, but life happens.
A quick recap of our 1998 trip:
Badlands
Mount Rushmore
Crazy Horse
Devil's Tower
Yellowstone
Grand Tetons
Jackson Hole
Lake Tahoe
San Francisco (Muir Woods, Trolley Museum and a drive up the Pacific Coast Highway)
Yosemite
Sequoia
King's Canyon
San Diego
Las Vegas
Zion
Grand Canyon
Bryce Canyon
Rocky Mountain NP
Is this trip doable in an RV --NO WAY!
We had a nice-driving Volvo. Many of these stops were just overlooks. We managed to hike a bunch. We rode our bikes around Yosemite and across the Golden Gate Bridge. A couple of these stops were dinner breaks at restaurants with overlooks. We pitched our tent on the beach in San DIego for a couple nights. We did a lot of the driving tours with pull outs. But, we knew we were on a tight schedule. We only had one reservation and that was at Yellowstone (two nights).
I wish we could go west 3 or 4 years in a row and take more time in more places, but that's not in the cards. The gas money alone makes it a once in a while trip for us.
I agree that you will need at least three days out and three days back.
I have driven home from Key West in three days, and that was leaving lots of driving time on the table. The DW has driven the MH on a short stretch. This year and next, she will drive it more to prepare for the big trip. She wouldn't touch the TT, but has no problem with the MH. The drive west is much easier driving until you get to the mountains. We will make serious time through the flatlands, then settle in to the tourist thing.
On our 1998 trip, we left home on Friday after work at 4:15. We pulled into a hotel near Badlands NP at 9:30 Saturday night. Our journal says we stopped to sleep in a truck stop at 2:30am and were back on the road at 9am Saturday. We were on the driving tour on Badlands Loop Road at 8:30 Sunday morning.
I don't expect to keep that pace in the MH with the kids, but they travel well. They can keep themselves occupied for hours.
I say go for it. Don't let the naysayers tell you that you won't see everything, so don't go. Go for what you WILL see, not for what you WON'T!
(I have flown to Vegas a few times and driven there once, but that doesn't count.)
Before RVing, the wife and I did 9,800 miles by car with a tent. We only had 26 days. We pulled into our driveway at 11:30 on a Sunday night, and both had to be back at work the next day. It sure was worth it.
That was 1998 and we haven't been back since. We want to, but its hard to carve that kind of time from a busy work schedule.
We are saving vacation and giving our bosses fair warning for 2016. That is when we will do it again. This time in the Class A with two kids. We hope to take 4 weeks, maybe a few days less.
Yes, we will drive the wheels off. Yes, we will drive in shifts to get there. Yes, we will pass many great sites. But, we will expose our children to some of this country's greatest treasures. We have already given them the gift of the great outdoors here in the East, and they love it. I can't wait to see their faces when they see some of those unbelievable sights out there.
Does such a trip make sense when you add up the miles, gas money, seat time and more? That depends on the value you place on the destination.
I say go for it. Our reasoning was to go see what we could and we'd know what to do on the return trip. I never thought the return trip would take us this long, but life happens.
A quick recap of our 1998 trip:
Badlands
Mount Rushmore
Crazy Horse
Devil's Tower
Yellowstone
Grand Tetons
Jackson Hole
Lake Tahoe
San Francisco (Muir Woods, Trolley Museum and a drive up the Pacific Coast Highway)
Yosemite
Sequoia
King's Canyon
San Diego
Las Vegas
Zion
Grand Canyon
Bryce Canyon
Rocky Mountain NP
Is this trip doable in an RV --NO WAY!
We had a nice-driving Volvo. Many of these stops were just overlooks. We managed to hike a bunch. We rode our bikes around Yosemite and across the Golden Gate Bridge. A couple of these stops were dinner breaks at restaurants with overlooks. We pitched our tent on the beach in San DIego for a couple nights. We did a lot of the driving tours with pull outs. But, we knew we were on a tight schedule. We only had one reservation and that was at Yellowstone (two nights).
I wish we could go west 3 or 4 years in a row and take more time in more places, but that's not in the cards. The gas money alone makes it a once in a while trip for us.
I agree that you will need at least three days out and three days back.
I have driven home from Key West in three days, and that was leaving lots of driving time on the table. The DW has driven the MH on a short stretch. This year and next, she will drive it more to prepare for the big trip. She wouldn't touch the TT, but has no problem with the MH. The drive west is much easier driving until you get to the mountains. We will make serious time through the flatlands, then settle in to the tourist thing.
On our 1998 trip, we left home on Friday after work at 4:15. We pulled into a hotel near Badlands NP at 9:30 Saturday night. Our journal says we stopped to sleep in a truck stop at 2:30am and were back on the road at 9am Saturday. We were on the driving tour on Badlands Loop Road at 8:30 Sunday morning.
I don't expect to keep that pace in the MH with the kids, but they travel well. They can keep themselves occupied for hours.
I say go for it. Don't let the naysayers tell you that you won't see everything, so don't go. Go for what you WILL see, not for what you WON'T!
