Alaska to Florida

[mkincaidak]

Hello!

My family and I are traveling from Alaska to Patrick AFB (Florida) next month and I was just curious if anyone had any recommendations for the trip down, including routes to take, campgrounds to stay at, and things to do. I've been trying to use the trip planner on the Good Sam website, but it's been a bit frustrating to figure out! We will be traveling with a six year old child, two dogs, and a cat, so we'll be looking for kid and pet friendly parks. I'm also not really looking to rough it too much, so camps with full hook ups are preferred.

We just got a class C 29 foot Jayco and know little about RVs, so any advice is greatly appreciated. We were thinking on taking the fastest route down (entering the US through North Dakota and heading straight down to Florida), but are open to exploring other routes that aren't too far out of the way. I wanted to cut down through Washington and follow the coast and then on to Arizona, but I think that'll be a little too much for us at the moment. We'll have about 14 days to work with and I don't want to be rushed.

I realize this post is pretty vague, but I just wanted to open up in case anyone had any personal experience they could share. I'm going to buy a milepost that will hopefully help us through most of our trip through Canada, but would love to hear about any personal experiences and recommendations for people who have made the trip (or part of the trip).

Thanks in advance!

[mkincaidak]

Thanks everyone for the ideas and words of wisdom! I'm gonna pick up a milepost today and we've started using google maps. Seems to be a bit more user friendly! Looks like we'll be spending most of our time driving, but at least we'll be able to see the country a little. We'll have to save the touristy trips for long weekends once we're down in Florida!

[DownTheAvenue]

mkincaidak wrote:

We just got a class C 29 foot Jayco and know little about RVs, so any advice is greatly appreciated.

You already have some good input from previous posters. But I will add two things. Since you are new to RV's, you should do several camp outs first before departing on your big trip. Even if you just "camp out" in your driveway, you will discover several things you have neglected to load into the RV and maybe some things you already loaded you don't need. Secondly, I understand the Alaska Highway is extremely rough this year, with much construction. I also understand the Cassiar Highway is in much better shape.

[TyroneandGladys]

Second using Google maps. I have Google maps open in two tabs. The first tab with the route and I will use it to find the area that I will be staying at and then in the second will zoom in on that area and search in Google maps for RV parks. Then check them out in RVparkreviewa.com.
BIG suggestion with the time of year and the country that you will be traveling in get a weather radio with travel mode. Second if there is the least bit of chance of bad weather ask the campground people where they suggest to take shelter.

[Tom_Barb]

Using Google Maps your traveling about 5000=5500 miles over all, to do this in 14 days you must make at least 400 miles per day. That is very doable, but doesn't allow very much sight seeing.
Taking a couple days off to sightsee ups the daily required mileage.

Have a good trip and stay safe.

[Tom_Barb]

You could use the Alaska Marine highway.

[lucy6194]

If you are military check out famcamps on military bases

[2chiefsRus]

Given the time frame and season, I try to see Glacier National Park, then Mount Rushmore and then drive east through the Badlands National Park. That will keep you north as you head east which should give you the cooler weather until you start to head south around Minnesota.

Trying to go south first on the west coast before turning east will put you into some really hot weather next month.

If you still have the time once you get to the lower 48, you might try to drive through Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.

You have a lot of possible routes that you could adjust on the fly given how far your total trip is going to be. Good luck on your PCS.

[americanrascal]

Most times when we run from west georgia to Anchorage we take a good 20-25 days, but last summer we had to push it to get home from AK. We have traveled from our home in GA to ANC, AK and back several times.

We came back from Anchorage down to southwest of Atlanta last summer. (we're 8 hours north of Canaveral)We pushed it rather hard as we wanted to be home in time for the birth of a grandson. It was steady movement for all 14 days an no time for sightseeing along the way. We'd get up early and hit the road and stop by supper time every evening. Like you we always do full hook ups for comfort.

Make sure you use Milepost coming down the Alaska Highway at least to Calagary.

I liked the roads best from Calgary down to I-15 through Montana to I-90, then down through Sheridan, and over to Souix falls, SD. Then down to KC and east to I-24 to I-75- then down through ATL and for you in to FL. The roads were great until Sioux Falls then they started getting congested especially around the larger cities, but we used bypasses around them and strived to hit them during non-commute hours. Made it just in time. You definitely can do it in 14 days but your going to have to make pretty steady time.

We found good campgrounds at Tok, AK;Yukon Hotel and RV park ; Toad River; Edmonton;many good CG's in Montana, Sheridan WY, many CG's around Rapid City/Black Hills; then lots of campgrounds from there on with full hook ups.

[mkincaidak]

Thanks, Tom/Barb! We'll take those stops and routes into consideration. Any campgrounds you'd recommend? DrewE, we plan on averaging about 8 hours a day for driving. When you live in Alaska, you get used to driving all day if you want to get anywhere. At least we'll actually be passing through different provinces and states instead of still being in Alaska after traveling all day! Plus, the first bit of the trip should have lots of light. Right now, it doesn't get dark up here until close to midnight! I don't plan on too many touristy stops with the animals. If you have any ideas for attractions that may be worth the time, let me know!

[DrewE]

With 14 days, a more or less direct route is going to require to average about 300-350 miles per day, or probably at least 6-7 hours or so of actual driving time per day. Once you add in stopping for lunch and gas and stretching legs and animal potty breaks, that's sounding pretty close to ten hour days if you don't make any significant touristy stops. It seems to me that being somewhat rushed is inevitable with that timeframe and a child and pets.

[Tom_Barb]

14 days, I'd head to Calgary, and Edmonton then south to Glacier park, then south to Yellow Stone, then south to I-70 or 80 and east. cross the border any where except the I-5 corridor.

If you must do the I-5 thing do the Sumas crossing.