30 Road Trip Across America

Your second plan is much more do-able. You will be able to guess my gender when I suggest that you build in a little time in some of those private campgrounds to do laundry. Yep, one of life's little necessities that takes anywhere from 3-5 hours out of a camping trip. (It can be done while you working on dinner, or if you want to sleep in shifts. :) )

Remember to MAKE ADVANCE RESERVATIONS in state parks and national parks particularly. People do show up & find campsites, but if you bank on that, you may find yourself being turned away in Yosemite, Yellowstone, etc.

BTW, I know you're aiming for least expensive, but the CG you chose for the Badlands is basically someone's backyard - or so it seemed to us when we drove by. I'd recommend you look instead into staying in the national park CG (they have recently installed electric hookups, and you WILL need air conditioning there) or at the KOA, several miles south, which has shade trees as well as hookups. The Badlands can be "done" by driving the loop, which starts and ends at I-90, and unless you want to go hiking - remember, in summer, this area can be upwards of 100 degrees - you may be content with just driving through. Just a thought. That way you could add an extra night up in the Black Hills (more pleasant) or somewhere along the way across SD. There may be some Corps of Engineers CGs along the Missouri River, mid-state in SD, which could be somewhat inexpensive.

Walmarts can be somewhat few & far between in some of the western states. Not sure how many there are between Yellowstone & the Black Hills (Mt. Rushmore) - Cody has one and I'd guess Buffalo, Wyoming might have one; perhaps also Gillette (WY) or Spearfish (SD). That would be about it. The direct routes between Yellowstone & the Black Hills cross the Bighorn Mts - slow going, and make sure to watch engine temps on the way up and brake temps on the way down (experience talking)!

The only problem on the new itinerary is that the Pacific Coast highway is best done North to south but sometimes you can only go south to north

I'm a little different than most people because I actually enjoy being on the road as much as I like camping. But having said that, your plan is way too much. I just completed a cross-country trip myself in a car. One thing I can tell you is if you plan on driving 500 miles in a day there really is not much time to do much site seeing on those days. I once did two 700 mile days in a row in my motorhome and that was pretty much all day driving.

Sounds like you want to see some sites while you're on the road so here's how I would do this trip. You are in New York so much of the stuff on that side of the Country is stuff you could probably see on shorter trips. Since you want this to be a cross-country trip and you have 30 days to do it, what I would do is spend the first few days just on the road and put the entire east half of the Country behind you. Then plan the same type of three day return when you're done. That gives you 24 days to explore the West.

Also I'm not much into the planning thing. My first RV trip was in a rented motorhome and we had it for 9 days. We started in the middle of California and I didn't know if I wanted to head north to the Pacific Northwest or South. I actually made the final decision as we approached the freeway onramp. We ended up heading South and didn't really plan anything. Went to the Grand Canyon and spent some time in Vegas and then worked our way up the back side of the Sierras. That's how my trips usually go. But I've also known people who can't survive unless they have a schedule and a plan and stick to it every day.

Oh, and if you can't really "stop" in a particular state try looking for a great place to eat that's close to your route. My DS likes watching those crazy TV eating shows like Man Vs. Food, etc. So we stopped at Big Texan Steakhouse in Amarillo and saw someone trying the food challenge. Also stopped at Cadillac Ranch to spray paint some cars.

So we only did 2 quick things in TX and most people would saw we missed ALL the good stuff.... but we knew that going into the trip. There was no way we could do anymore in our timeframe. So we met people from Texas and saw how friendly they are. We saw some parts of the state as we passed through and saw how it differed from the northeast. Now we know hat we want to go back and explore more.

Same thing in Missouri. We were just passing through on our way home, but we stopped at Lambert's Restaurant - home of the "Thrown roll". Made a good stop and we have a photo in the album and we are all smiling. Sometimes a quick memory is better than nothing a all.

Stars101 wrote:
I couldn't open your link, but we did a 19 day road trip last year in a truck camper with a 7 y/o. Covered 21 states. Was it rushed? Yes. Did we see everything? Not even close, but we did get a quick overview of what the US has to offer. And we will probably never get the time to do it ever again. So go for it. You can adjust as you go and turn for home when you need to.

Google - "Lolo's Extreme Cross Country RV trips". She has a blog with awesome maps and routes. She and her husband live in NJ, so the times from NY are pretty accurate. Plus she packs a ton of places/stops into each trip.

Here is the full link: https://www.myscenicdrives.com/road-trip-directions?i=e300d4d5-3e91-4b69-988c-15cfe9698f49

Stars101 wrote:
I couldn't open your link, but we did a 19 day road trip last year in a truck camper with a 7 y/o. Covered 21 states. Was it rushed? Yes. Did we see everything? Not even close, but we did get a quick overview of what the US has to offer. And we will probably never get the time to do it ever again. So go for it. You can adjust as you go and turn for home when you need to.

Google - "Lolo's Extreme Cross Country RV trips". She has a blog with awesome maps and routes. She and her husband live in NJ, so the times from NY are pretty accurate. Plus she packs a ton of places/stops into each trip.

Thank you!

I couldn't open your link, but we did a 19 day road trip last year in a truck camper with a 7 y/o. Covered 21 states. Was it rushed? Yes. Did we see everything? Not even close, but we did get a quick overview of what the US has to offer. And we will probably never get the time to do it ever again. So go for it. You can adjust as you go and turn for home when you need to.

Google - "Lolo's Extreme Cross Country RV trips". She has a blog with awesome maps and routes. She and her husband live in NJ, so the times from NY are pretty accurate. Plus she packs a ton of places/stops into each trip.

Hello,

Thank you for all of your advice. I have refined our trip to include more campgrounds, and more time in national parks, including multiple days in some parks. I would appreciate your feedback on this new itinerary. Here is the link if you are able to help: https://www.myscenicdrives.com/road-trip-directions?i=e300d4d5-3e91-4b69-988c-15cfe9698f49 Please note that the $433 for stops and food is for campground fees only and does not include food. Thank you again!

Shane

DW and I did a similar trip with a car and tent gear in 1998. We only had 23 days on the road.

Badlands, Mt.. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Devils Tower, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Jackson Hole, Lake Tahoe, San Fran, Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, San Diego, Las Vegas, Zion, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Arches and a quick stop at Rocky MT NP on the way home.

We missed Pacific NW but were able to see some redwoods near SF at Muir Woods.

I also recommend skipping that Nashville/New Orleans leg. You could do that on a long trip to Florida later.

With three drivers, I wouldn't stop the RV until I got to the Rockys.

We are Snowbirds and spend a month on the road at a time going North or South. We take a different route each time and found out quickly that it becomes tiring and monotonous doing one-night stopovers. Now we try not to drive more than 4 hours in a day and spend at least 2 nights at each campground. If we plan our trips that way we can always find interesting things to see or do at the 13 to 15 campgrounds we have picked out for each trip. You may not travel as far on the first loop but you will enjoy it more and you will have many next years and many new loops to plan together. Wherever the road takes you travel safe and enjoy the journey.