first trip for newbies ? wintertime

If you plan to do LONG days of driving, then you will be able to have about 8 good days to see whatever you want to see, but for many of those places, that's only skimming the surface. From NJ to Moab (just used that as an example), it is a 32 hour drive, not figuring in traffic. That is three good driving days of about 12 hours since you have to eat and go to the bathroom. You will need to leave about 5 am in order to get to the next camping spot during daylight hours since this is a new RV. Remember, this will be winter when it gets daylight late and dark early.

If you were going to do it in the late spring or even early fall, the daylight/darkness driving might not be a bad thing, but you also never know what type of weather you are going to run into. You will be driving through the major winter storm areas and December and early January are prime times for those.

I'm honestly not sure if two weeks are enough time to head that far, but it is according to how badly you want to go, I guess. I would opt for heading for warm weather down south, maybe heading toward Texas. That would be doable for a two week trip.

Just my $.02 worth.

No 2 weeks isn't enough. Four or five days getting there doesn't leave you much time. I've driven 14 hour days and it becomes a lot less pleasant with that big fifth wheel behind you. You should only drive 60-63mph since the fiver tires aren't rated for higher speed and will start blowing out if you push them.

Possibly Rocky Mountains National Park could be done in that amount of time. Otherwise has you been to Acadia NP or the Smokys. Or maybe the Florida Keys.

I think that you biggest problem at that time of the year would be SNOW and cold out west. A lot of the National parks could be closed by snow in the mountains. Most parts of Utah are 7,000+feet. We have been in southern Utah in late September and it got down into freezing several nights. Is you trailer equipped for very cold conditions? Also if you are planning on visiting national parts, dogs are not allowed on any of the trails.
I would say that is to ambitious a schedule. Stick with the south east USA. 14 hours days is a BIG difference in a truck with a big trailer behind you then in a car.

Dr quick, I don't plan on doing the snow/neg temps for this trip. I'm realizing you guys are right with the SE idea.

DW and I both drive and sometimes cover big distances in short periods of time so that we have the maximum amount of time at our desired destination. I still think you are being too ambitious. There is no way to make really good time towing. We recently did 2100 miles in three days. It was tedious, monotonous, and frustrating that we were passing by interesting places to get where we were going. Plus the weather and traffic were uncooperative. We took four days returning and that made a big difference. Have you considered the Ashville/Blue Ridge/lPigeon Forge areas? OR Colorado? North to Niagra Falls? Other great choices? Two weeks 1200 to 2000 miles each way is ambitious IMVHO

Doesn't NJ have quite a bit of snow in the winter? As you get west UT can get nasty in the winter. Hopefully your plan doesn't include west on I-80 through WY where you may see 20 to 30 below zero and white out conditions. Never saw an RV that takes cold temps well. Driving on snow and ice for 14 hours a day? Driving through cold conditions you'll probably want to be winterized. I'm not sure it will be a vacation you will enjoy.

Where do you plan to go in the West? Not much will be open. They get many, many feet of snow. In the mountains tire chains are required - even on the RV. Do you want to go through that?

14-hour days is unrealistic with a big RV in the winter.

Why not plan on Florida or Alabama at Gulf Shores? It will be a more relaxing trip for you.

from NJ I would go to Holly Beach, LA and park that 5ver on the beach get out the dirt bike and go for miles on the beach.
Alternative could be Kisatchie National forest in Louisiana has trails for motorized vehicles starting from one of the forest service CG but I cannot remember which one but i think
http://www.ohvtrails.net/trails/7731-camp-claiborne-woodward-trail

Finding something open that time of year would probably be where I would start looking. RV's don't do cold well and even if you do find a campground open it doesn't always mean the water will be turned on. I just wintered in Virginia Beach and the park turned the water off several times whenever the temps got down to 32. As others have stated I would probably go very south and try to find something closer to the east coast or south coast.
Personally I would not want the better half of my very rare two weeks off to be spent mostly driving. If you find something Very South, you will want to remember that that will also be prime snowbird season so you may want to consider reservations for area's south of I-10.
Hope you find something good though cause that first good trip is what sold my wife on wanting to do more camping, and now we are full timing.
If you do stay in cold area's be sure to search this site for winter tips like space heaters and heated hoses, and know you will probably need to refill your propane at least once.

Thanks guys. I appreciate all the input. I'll start looking in al,la or ar.