Possibly (probably) crazy

[rsqfyrmedic]

Have rented RV's for several years and recently decided to take the plunge and purchase our TT. Planning a great adventure next year and looking for the best combination of scenic/hwy routes in order to maximize the 6-8 weeks next summer.

Leaving Miami, FL going to
New Orleans
Carlsbad Caverns
Grand Canyon (hoping to book Phantom Ranch and a river raft excursion)
Joshua Tree NP
San Diego
LA
San Fransisco
Yosemite (hoping to stay in the park)
Yellowstone(hoping to say in the park)
Devils Tower
Mt. Rushmore
Smoky Mountains
St. Augustine
Back home to Miami
Crazy, right? Mainly looking for some tips/pointers across TX from NOLA and from Rushmore back east to TN.

Glad to finally be a part of the RV community and looking forward to sharing with all!
Thanks in advance!

[tatest]

Get into a trip planning site, or software like Streets and Trips, connect the dots, put in stop durations for the places you want to visit, and see how the times and extra overnight stops work out. You just might be trying to do a four month trip in 6-8 weeks.

[kelvingrove]

If you plan on staying overnight in New Orleans, we stayed at Pontchartrain Landing RV Park last summer and enjoyed our stay there. We had a waterfront site with an unobstructed view. We unhitched our tow vehicle and drove into New Orleans and I think it might have been a 5 minute drive or so from the park. We parked at a large parking lot not far from Cafe du Monde and had a nice time walking the area.

It seems to me that the park also offered a shuttle service, if I am not mistaken. You could
double check that if you like.

It seemed like an odd place for an RV park to be located because it is in a sort of industrial area. Once at the park though, it was quite nice. It had a nice pool and the park was clean, quiet and well kept. The landscaping was nice and there were some beautiful flowering shrubs at our site. I felt very secure there and our view was quite enjoyable. We were sorry that we were not able to stay for one more night. I would definitely go back again.

[Bill_S_1]

2gypsies, that's a great itenerary, and with your closing comment in the above post, I tried sending you a message re our upcoming trip, but your pm feature has not been activated. Would like your input if you care to comment. I started a thread on Roads & Routes.

[rsqfyrmedic]

WOW.......lots to think on......thanks for the detail 2gypsies......NOLA was intended to just be a stopover/ day trip while heading to Carlsbad.....thinking 2 days there then at the Grand Canyon a week into the trip.....one day planned at San Diego then up to San Fran.....2-3 days rest then 5 days at Yosemite. 3-5 days in Yellowstone then heading back east with quick stops at Devils Tower and Rushmore. Smoky mountains for a break from driving just like St Augustine then back home. We plan on being COMPLETELY exhausted and will take a couple of days to recover.
What's the quickest way across Texas? And back from Rushmore?

Thanks again all. Just got back from Jonathan Dickinson state park....real nice. Last Month we did Point of View in Largo for spring break. Beautiful place.

[2gypsies1]

O.K. This one got me really thinking tonight. 🙂 The bottom line is that your would have 7400 miles of driving, not including siteseeing and staying mostly on interstates until destinations. If you did 300 miles/day it would take you 25 days of driving. With all your planned stops, add another 36 days minimum, basically 2 & 3 day stops except for 5 nights in Yellowstone. Grand total is 61 days for your trip - so doable in 8 weeks. Would we do it? Definitely, no.

If you want to do it, here's the shortest route:

I-75 from Miami to
I-10 (New Orleans 3 nights), continuing on I-10 to Fort Stockton, Texas
285 to Carlsbad, NM - 2 nights and 185 north to I-40 at Clines Corners, NM
I-40 to Grand Canyon - 3 nights - you definitely can't do Phantom Ranch & raft trip unless you tack on an extra 4-7 days of rafting to get to Phantom Ranch and then a long full day hike UP the Bright Angel Trail (extremely strenuous)to the Canyon Rim & 1 year prior reservation.
I-40 to Needles, CA & pick up 95/62/177 at Joshua Tree - 2 nights
I-10 to I215 to I-15 at Riverside, CA & on to San Diego - 3 nights
I-5 north to Yosemite - 3 nights and on to San Francisco - 3 nights
I-80 to Reno, Nevada to Wells, NV to US93 to Twin Falls, Idaho
I-84 to I-15 to US26 to Jackson, WY through Grand Teton Nat'l Park & on to Yellowstone - 5 nights
Exit Yellowstone via US14/20 to Cody, WY to US16/20 to Worland, WY and on to Buffalo, WY to I-90
I-90 to Devil's Tower - 2 nights to Mt. Rushmore - 2 nights to
I-19 at Sioux Falls, SD/Omaha, NE/ Kansas City, MO
I-70 to I-40 to I-140 to US321 to Smokey Mtn. Nat'l Park at Townsend, TN - 3 nights
I-26 to I-95 to St. Augustine, FL and home to Miami

Those are just your planned stops. There are many more things to see along the way. Also figure in weather or mechanical problems and just some extra days to relax!!

WHEW!!! By the way, can you believe I LOVE to plan trips!! 🙂

[kohldad]

Summer is a vague term, are we talking June when things are a bit slower or July/August during peak season when just about anything worth stopping at are crowded?

IMHO, 6 weeks is doable, but really not sufficient time to see enough to make it worth while.

Drop New Orleans, Smoky Mountains, and St Augustine. Those can be done on long weekends or single week trips.

Unless you have some special reason, I would also skip anything west of Grand Canyon due to the time. Instead, hit Zion, Bryce, Canyonlands, Tetons. Less driving and more sight seeing.

Maximize travel the first three days out and last three days back home. This should put you 1,500 miles out figuring 10 hours / day averaging 50mph.

In 2005, we made a trip similar to yours hitting Grand Canyon (3 nights), Bryce (2 nights), Zion (2 nights), Kings Canyon (4 nights), Yosemite (2 nights), Oregon coast (4 stops 2 nights each), Glacier (3 nights), Yellowstone (5 nights), Pipestem(1 nights), home. A few other small places along the way once we made NM, but otherwise was moving about 200-400 miles/day which left a little time to sight see. Luckily, we had 8 weeks to do the trip, fun but very tired when we got home.

Plan on arriving back home with at least one day before going to work. Buffer in case you have problems plus time to put the house back in order.

[2gypsies1]

agesilaus wrote:
For one thing if you don't already have reservations for Yosemite and Yellowstone then you aren't getting them.

I would disagree with this statement. For one, there are plenty of 'no reservations' campgrounds in Yellowstone and if they get in those early morning they'll get a site. Same goes for Grand Teton Nat'l Park which they definitely shouldn't miss. There are 600 non-reservable sites in Colter Bay and Gros Ventre. We've been to both parks many times without reservations. For Yosemite, there's a reservation window time. There are many people who don't make reservations a year in advance and some, like us, rarely make reservations. Very doable.

Also, there is wonderful camping in Louisiana, including New Orleans.

For the OP, I, too, think this is not enough time to do all you listed. Perhaps just going as far as Arizona and perhaps Utah's wonderful national parks the first year and another year taking in California and Wyoming. Even getting into Oregon/Washington/Idaho/Montana takes a LOT of time. We've full-timed for 16 years and travel constantly and still have not seen it all! Have fun with your planning!

[profdant139]

I'm tired just READING your itinerary. If this is the only trip you will ever take, then I guess you should try to do it all. But if possible, break it down into less exhausting chunks -- this could take several years. And that's a good thing!

[DesertHawk]

Here's a recent post with links to other posts, etc. etc. :C Click :C It might have some useful info for your trip. TX, NM, AZ, CA area. More on California ::::::::: Ditto

Likewise for Yellowstone & WY and for Rushmore & Yellowstone.

A Hodgepodge of Sites maybe with something new you can use.

A little of This or That.

Los Angles to San Francisco ::::::::: Half Moon Bay & Bart to see San Francisco

More Sights & Routes in Texas.

[Tiger4x4RV]

We did a trip of similar craziness in a tiny TT from the southwestern corner of California, across the south, up the east coast into Canada, and back home diagonally across the US in the early 1970's. With two small children. Ten weeks. It took two years to plan (without internet). Was it worth it? YES! The memories of a lifetime were made. Of course, gas was about 25 cents a gallon then and our old 6-cylinder Ford was a frugal user thereof.

Put a US map on your wall so you can visualize this project. Stick pins in it for the places you want to visit. If you have to do the entire loop and be back home by a certain date, the itinerary will have to be followed carefully or you won't make it. Be sure to be flexible enough that you can accommodate illness, bad weather, and mechanical troubles. If you have endless time, it will be different.

Think of plan B for each of the big national parks because staying in them might not be possible. At least with a TT you can camp outside the park and do the day use thing.

Have a great trip!

[agesilaus]

Way too ambitious. For one thing if you don't already have reservations for Yosemite and Yellowstone then you aren't getting them. And New Orleans and LA with a RV?! You would be better off picking one main area as the primary target for your trip and concentrating on that. You seem to be interested in CA so maybe that area.

Taking your time it's 6 days on the road to LA from Miami. Hauling that RV you really should plan on traveling at 60-62 mph not 75 mph. And 6 days back. Add a week for Carlsbad and the Grand Canyon and you've burned 3 weeks of your time right there. You are also skipping a lot of places that you'll be driving right past. There are all sorts of parks in Arizona for example.

Get out a map and think about this some more. We've done this sort of trip every summer for 20 years. A good loop for a FL start is I-10 out bound. And I-40 to Amarillo, 287 to Dallas and I-20 to Mississippi and then back down to I-10. Along that route you'll find plenty of places to divert to and use your available time.

BK

[Eycom]

6 to 8 weeks?... Whew!!! ambitious!

[fla-gypsy]

That will be quite an adventure but that may to be a lot to take in and enjoy in that time frame. Have fun