A year of planning for the perfect family trip!

[tragusa3]

There's another thread discussing the cycle of life that hits most of us right in the gut. I'm a 43 year old husband and father of two 8 year old boys. We've got the same dreams as many of you, to make memories with our families in the RV. I'm all too aware of how fast the kids are growing and recognize that my window of making these dreams a reality is at most about 8-9 years longer.

We've spent our lives to this point being as "wise" as we can to prepare for the future. However, this philospohy of "windows" that are open for short periods has become real. You either "DO" something like this at a certain age, or it doesn't get done.

In the last two years, I've gone back to school and am making a career change. I'm going to be a middle school teacher. There were many reasons for the change, one of which is freeing up summers for family time. Realistically, we should be able to a trip each summer that puts us on the road for weeks at a time. I think we would have a maximum time of 6 weeks, but that might change.

We live in South Carolina and would like to have at least two of these trips. A southwest and a northwest one. We'd like the first one to be the southwest trip. I have been working on it on google maps and thought why not get the input of the EXPERTS! 🙂

This thread is meant to be a tool for me to use over the next year. It will be busy at times and at times be shelved. If any of you are willing to work through this with me through the next year, please join in. Your experiences travelling the country would be so valuable.

There's got to be a better way to collaborate with google maps, but I can't figure it out. It's not exactly user friendly. So, for now, here's a link and a quick screensnap of what I've got in mind so far.

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=211628587478009914116.0004de6c8e9b3ecd4fb1b&msa=0&ll=37.788081,-89.384766&spn=27.533419,62.226563&iwloc=0004de6d42d43368b1d88




We aren't very interested in visiting urban areas, so I basically tried to tie together as many National Parks as I could. However, I know nothing about the roads themselves. I don't want to drive randomly, but certainly would prefer to be on a known scenic road rather than an interstate.

**** I'VE USED UP ALL MY TIME THIS MORNING TO POST, BUT WILL FINISH THIS THOUGHT LATER TODAY

[tragusa3]

To all that helped with the planning, and anyone else that stumbles along through this thread. Here is a link to my trip report thread.

Trip Report: The Perfect Family Trip!

Let's try to move any future discussion from here to over there. Thanks.

[tragusa3]

Thanks so much for asking. We returned home around the end of July. I was so tired that I wasn't ready to post for a few weeks, and then the school year started for me. Been full swing getting my new crop of students trained up. 🙂

I wanted to do my post justice, but I haven't found the time for it yet. Here's the nutshell until I do. It was the PERFECT trip! Truly epic. The plan went off smoother than I even hoped. The help from this forum was invaluable. Thanks to all!

I do plan to do a full trip report, with photos. Warning...it will be long. And I know how much you folks hate going through pictures.

[2gypsies1]

So OP....how about a trip report of your year of planning? Pros and Cons of all of our recommendations?

[tragusa3]

Vermillion Cliffs was eliminated due to the lottery for the hike. However, my wife really wants to see that serpentine rock formation in the slot canyons. Are we going to see that at any of our other stops?

[tragusa3]

Pop, "the perfect trip" doesn't have to be trouble free! 🙂 So, yes, it will be the perfect trip, regardless of the blunders. Just have to pack the right attitude.

Murphy, credit to that goes to the forum. Wasn't my idea. Haven't done it yet, so not sure it's a great idea.

[murphysranch]

Read the entire thread and had to take some notes for our trip to AR in late July.

So you fill a Tupperware container with some water and soap and some clothes and as you roll down the road, they slosh and wash themselves? Genius!

😉

[Pop-Pop_C]

Good luck! If you have the perfect trip, it wii be the first!,,,

[tragusa3]

Packing clothes today. We're thinking 10 sets of underclothes and 7 sets of day clothes (5 shorts outfits and 2 long pants outfits). Any thoughts?

We are bringing a Tupperware container to wash clothes in the shower while driving. I figure that will help, and then 2-3 times during the trip we will do a laundry.

[tragusa3]

11 days and counting!

Hooked up a cargo carrier on the rear bumper hitch. (It is attached back to the frame). I've loaded it with my blue tote and 3 water jugs. Saved tons of space in the truck, and didn't add much weight at all. Cable locked through all the jugs.

Map is all highlighted. Putting points into the GPS today.

Hiking packs are loaded and ready. My wife is at 10 pounds with 2 liters of water. I'm at 14 pounds with 3 liters. I didn't weigh the kids, but under 10 pounds with 2 liters each. I see that many hikes have water available along the trail (Bright Angel for instance).

I have been researching at more of a macro level the last few weeks. I now feel silly for suggesting we might hike rim to river at the GC. We will stick to the recommendations of the park. On Bright Angel, we will hike to Indian Garden at the 3 mile point and wait until the temps start to cool before heading up.

We've stopped parking the car in the garage, and are putting our pile of things to pack in the middle of the garage so that nothing gets left behind.

[Blackcell]

Here's another simple route planning map, RoadTrippers
Sorry can't help you on self guided audio tours.

[tragusa3]

Haven't had a chance to go through the map yet.

Question: Any recommendation on self guided audio tours for any of the parks? I see the GC has a phone number to call in. I've found some fee based options. Anything free?

[Blackcell]

Thanks tragusa3. No, can't be saved locally least not that I'm aware. However, you can export to KML and view in Google Earth which I think once loaded will save a temporary local cached copy for offline viewing.
https://support.google.com/mapsenginelite/answer/3109452?hl=en

I'm also old fashion and still draw my routes on paper maps along with a documented itinerary.

[tragusa3]

Thanks again to all.

Padredw, you may have, and it didn't register with me until I started researching that part of the trip. I will take that route, regardless of the time it adds!

Blackcell, I am planning for 12 and 24. Your Google Map link is AWESOME! I'm heading to work now, so no time to digest it, but I know what I'm doing tonight! Looks like you have a ton of information on there, and a good bit of it are things I was not aware of. Reservations have me somewhat locked in, but I will add in as many of the "stop for a quick look" items that I can. I'll also try to build my own version of that.

Can those google maps be saves locally so that when I don't have internet access, I can still use the map I built?

[Blackcell]

I haven't read all through this thread but if your SW trip isn't written in stone yet I would highly recommend taking Hwy 12 & 24 when in Utah. This should not be missed. You'll miss alot of awesome scenery by sticking to the interstates.
Also, for map planning if you're sticking with Google I use the newer map version.
Here's one of my examples Utah Trip 2014, though still a work in progress.