2020 planning

Have fun. We plan our trips around National Parks and visiting family. In January we start a 100 day trip to visit close to 40 National Park sites out west. In September a two month trip to Pennsylvania and Maryland to visit family and only 10 National Parks. If course NP include monuments, battlefields, and such.

My 2 week gulf coast trip was planned and booked even before the MH went into storage. I don't like to wait and see if I get a spot. I've booked a year in advance before and have been lucky to get the last spot.

It's encouraging to think about summer plans when the snow falls and the wind blows.

We do themed trips too. All you have to do is pick a subject you're interested in. Do an internet search of places and events that fit the theme. Plan your itinerary and go.

A few years ago it was going to all the places with old fashioned trains that do day trips.

Another year it was lighthouses, beaches and seafood.

One year it was Cape Breton and Nova Scotia.

Then there were the Longmire Days trips and visiting old Western towns.

Geology was a theme one year. Pipestem State Park and Fairy Stone SP in VA. The Crater of Diamonds SP, AR. Geodes in KY and IA.

Fishing is a recurring theme for me.

Herself likes to go to Blue Grass festivals around the US and the Old Fiddler's Convention in VA.

Astronomy and star parties are another recurring theme for us and we also go to Dutch Oven Gatherings.

We also spend a lot of time planning. One of our best was a couple of years ago we did our "Spring Falls" trip where we toured several falls of TN, GA & AL and it was great planning and experiencing. Later that year was the appropriate "Fall Springs" trip through out central Florida. And terrific again.

Doug,
I'm a planner too. Right now I am putting together getting to Patterson LA in the spring and Rapid City SD for the fall rallies and then what comes between??

I am going to suggest that you look at picking up Skyline Drive in Front Royal VA and run that to the Blue Ridge Parkway. This will take some planning as there are some low clearance tunnels on the BRP. I don't remember them because I only need 9' to be good. BRP will end in Cherokee NC.

From there, it is about a full day (~300 road miles) to the head of the Natchez Trace. You can take that to Natchez(Duh?) and have a stop along the way to tour Vicksburg. There really is an historical marked about every other mile along the Trace. You need to find the book.

From Natchez you can do a river crawl as far south as you like and then head back along the gulf coast. I can't even remember all the museums, but Mobile and Pensacola Naval Air are a given.

There is enough else to do between there and Maryland that I am sure that you can find something to do on the backhaul.

Matt

I really enjoy planning our summer trips out early. Our 2020 trip theme is "Ghost Towns". I've already have some great suggestions from my post here on the subject. We have 10 weeks available start in mid June to the end of August. We prefer the "US" routes to the interstates. Slower but so much more to see. I like to break out the paper maps, find my points of interest then connect the dots. Nothing is set in stone though. So far we're going to work our way west to Mesa Verde NP Co.. Hang there for a bit, then work our way north to Montana visiting various Ghost Towns and anything else interesting along the way. Being such a huge area I'm sure we won't have enough time, but the good thing is, God willing,we can always come back and finish the tour.

I often started planning next year's trips while on vacation. Still do it even without the motorhome.