April / May trip. Campsite availability?
Hi We are family of 4 from the UK planning our first RV trip across the USA...from New York to San Fransico. The trip will be 19 nights in total and 4000 miles. First night in the RV is 14th April...
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Well; we did it? 4501 miles across 13 US states and a brief trip into Canada! In total 18 nights on the road in the RV.
How did it go? Amazing,awesome,incredible! There are simply not enough adjectives available to describe your fantastic country!
We started with two days exploring New York before picking up a brand new "four winds 30' RV from Road Bear in New Jersey.
First overnight stop near Scanton. Next onto Branches of Niagra ( excellent site)and a brief 4 hour trip into Canada to see the falls from that side...incredible. All very easy to do. Was very cold but nobody about.
Next stop Crystal Rock campground nr Sandusky..another good site...most on this part of the trip were very quiet as it was early in the season but all everyone was helpful and friendly and overall the standard was good. This was followed by two nights at Indiana Dunes State Park...amazing place...and one day looking around Chicago where we took in a baseball game at the Wrigley Stadium.
Time then to clock up some more serious miles with two 500 mile + days across the mid west. It so easy to do big distance as the roads are so good and it is really easy to set the cruise to 65 or 75 and just enjoy the drive. I expected this part to be boring but landscape and agriculture was fine to drive through and I am glad we did it as it had a real "feel" to it. Real characters at Grandma Max's! Halfway stop at KOA Omaha. We pass Denver and arrive in the Rockies having covered 2000 miles.
Stayed in Rockies national park for two nights and hiked for one day...no rest on this vacation! Most amazing scenery and we just loved the contrast and change as we moved from east to west.
Drive through a number of exciting roads and passes to Moab...now we are really blown away by Utah....i think the word " awesome" was invented to describe this place. Hired a jeep for 1/2 day to get "off road" and explore some of trails and see how Colorado river meanders around this area...
Onto Bryce Canyon...words fail me now.
Then onto Lake Powell...nice and hot ...Kayak across the lake....busy busy!
Next Grand Canyon...25 miles drive along South Rim and stay overnight in park. Next morning off to Las Vegas via Route 66 ..drive through a blizzard...bit scary but we are going down ...not up so we drive out of it. We do approx 80 miles on Route 66 ..stop at Roadkill Cafe for amazing breakfast and onto LV via Hoover Dam. Overnight at RV park by Circus Circus ...win a million on the tables at the Bellagio (not!) and head off through Death Valley to Lone Pine. Check out where the westerns were filmed and off across Sierra Nevada Mountains to Moro bay on the coast. Arrived here having covered exactly 4000 miles since picking up the RV. We are not done yet so off up Highway one to Carmel...see the seals and add another 17 miles to the total around 17 mile drive! Stay at Saddle Mountain Ranch RV park here ...excellent and swim in their huge pool. Now don't want to leave and could really do with a rest but more to do so pack up and head out to Yosemite. Quick 400 mile round trip to here and once again worth every mile travelled. Two nights in parks here...really good...hike up to waterfalls...strenuous!
Finally we head to San Francisco to return a very dirty; travel stained RV to Road Bear with 4501 more miles on it when collected.
Overall the RV was excellent...no issues apart from needing regular $200 "gas" stops every 300 miles! 600 gallons. It did 7.5 mpg!
We treated ourselves to two nights at a hotel(wonderful beds!) at Fishermans Wharf and spent last two days Sightseeing...
To sum up this really was the "holiday of a lifetime" for our family and the memories we have will stay with us forever. Yes it was sometimes tiring and gruelling but what an amazing country you have and it was so good to see a good chunk of real America in the short time available to us.
If anyone is thinking of doing something similar the only advise I can give is ....JUST DO IT!
How did it go? Amazing,awesome,incredible! There are simply not enough adjectives available to describe your fantastic country!
We started with two days exploring New York before picking up a brand new "four winds 30' RV from Road Bear in New Jersey.
First overnight stop near Scanton. Next onto Branches of Niagra ( excellent site)and a brief 4 hour trip into Canada to see the falls from that side...incredible. All very easy to do. Was very cold but nobody about.
Next stop Crystal Rock campground nr Sandusky..another good site...most on this part of the trip were very quiet as it was early in the season but all everyone was helpful and friendly and overall the standard was good. This was followed by two nights at Indiana Dunes State Park...amazing place...and one day looking around Chicago where we took in a baseball game at the Wrigley Stadium.
Time then to clock up some more serious miles with two 500 mile + days across the mid west. It so easy to do big distance as the roads are so good and it is really easy to set the cruise to 65 or 75 and just enjoy the drive. I expected this part to be boring but landscape and agriculture was fine to drive through and I am glad we did it as it had a real "feel" to it. Real characters at Grandma Max's! Halfway stop at KOA Omaha. We pass Denver and arrive in the Rockies having covered 2000 miles.
Stayed in Rockies national park for two nights and hiked for one day...no rest on this vacation! Most amazing scenery and we just loved the contrast and change as we moved from east to west.
Drive through a number of exciting roads and passes to Moab...now we are really blown away by Utah....i think the word " awesome" was invented to describe this place. Hired a jeep for 1/2 day to get "off road" and explore some of trails and see how Colorado river meanders around this area...
Onto Bryce Canyon...words fail me now.
Then onto Lake Powell...nice and hot ...Kayak across the lake....busy busy!
Next Grand Canyon...25 miles drive along South Rim and stay overnight in park. Next morning off to Las Vegas via Route 66 ..drive through a blizzard...bit scary but we are going down ...not up so we drive out of it. We do approx 80 miles on Route 66 ..stop at Roadkill Cafe for amazing breakfast and onto LV via Hoover Dam. Overnight at RV park by Circus Circus ...win a million on the tables at the Bellagio (not!) and head off through Death Valley to Lone Pine. Check out where the westerns were filmed and off across Sierra Nevada Mountains to Moro bay on the coast. Arrived here having covered exactly 4000 miles since picking up the RV. We are not done yet so off up Highway one to Carmel...see the seals and add another 17 miles to the total around 17 mile drive! Stay at Saddle Mountain Ranch RV park here ...excellent and swim in their huge pool. Now don't want to leave and could really do with a rest but more to do so pack up and head out to Yosemite. Quick 400 mile round trip to here and once again worth every mile travelled. Two nights in parks here...really good...hike up to waterfalls...strenuous!
Finally we head to San Francisco to return a very dirty; travel stained RV to Road Bear with 4501 more miles on it when collected.
Overall the RV was excellent...no issues apart from needing regular $200 "gas" stops every 300 miles! 600 gallons. It did 7.5 mpg!
We treated ourselves to two nights at a hotel(wonderful beds!) at Fishermans Wharf and spent last two days Sightseeing...
To sum up this really was the "holiday of a lifetime" for our family and the memories we have will stay with us forever. Yes it was sometimes tiring and gruelling but what an amazing country you have and it was so good to see a good chunk of real America in the short time available to us.
If anyone is thinking of doing something similar the only advise I can give is ....JUST DO IT!
