Some questions about a trip out West
I am retiring early next summer, and to kick off my retirement, my husband, who has already retired, and I are thinking about taking a trip out West. We live in Pennsylvania. We would probably visit T...
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It sounds like your summer and fall will be iffy next year. Why not take a month of reserving sites in Michigan and Wisconsin if you haven't been there yet? Do a short trip that year.
The following year take your bigger trip. What I would do is to leave in August for the NE, come down Washington and Oregon coasts and into California and then spend the winter in a snowbirding state (southern CA, AZ,TX,AL,FL) before returning to PA late spring. You could do a big relaxing circle trip this way.
As far as reservations...we did just fine with our 40' motorhome during our full-timing years. You're correct. Some campgrounds in the national parks don't even accept reservations. If you plan it right you can get a site. Stay outside the park close by the previous night and drive to the non-reservable campgrounds early morning. That's what we did and it worked just fine. We stayed without reservations in Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, etc. and even in the state parks along the popular Oregon coast. There, too, some state parks don't even accept reservations.
Yosemite is different though. It's too close to the major cities and gets a LOT of traffic. It's our least favorite national park - just too crowded.
As noted, in the western states there are many nice state parks, county park and city parks to stay. Most even have hookups. North Dakota has great city parks.
If you feel a need for reservations for some places you could wait until you get closer and can better judge when you'd be there to make reservations.
If we had to make reservations for our 16 years of full-timing we would have never done it!
I've never heard of a RVer not having a place to stay for the night. :)
The following year take your bigger trip. What I would do is to leave in August for the NE, come down Washington and Oregon coasts and into California and then spend the winter in a snowbirding state (southern CA, AZ,TX,AL,FL) before returning to PA late spring. You could do a big relaxing circle trip this way.
As far as reservations...we did just fine with our 40' motorhome during our full-timing years. You're correct. Some campgrounds in the national parks don't even accept reservations. If you plan it right you can get a site. Stay outside the park close by the previous night and drive to the non-reservable campgrounds early morning. That's what we did and it worked just fine. We stayed without reservations in Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, etc. and even in the state parks along the popular Oregon coast. There, too, some state parks don't even accept reservations.
Yosemite is different though. It's too close to the major cities and gets a LOT of traffic. It's our least favorite national park - just too crowded.
As noted, in the western states there are many nice state parks, county park and city parks to stay. Most even have hookups. North Dakota has great city parks.
If you feel a need for reservations for some places you could wait until you get closer and can better judge when you'd be there to make reservations.
If we had to make reservations for our 16 years of full-timing we would have never done it!
I've never heard of a RVer not having a place to stay for the night. :)
