I have tried in vain to find someone that has done a circumnavigation of the U.S. via all the states that touch the borders. This would be the northern tier, the Great Lakes, the Atlantic seaboard, the Gulf states, the Southern tier, and the Pacific coast. It's a personal bucket list quest for info. I don't want anyone to design our road trip, which I figure will take 10-14 weeks to accomplish, but rather any personal experience or anecdotal info that could help shape the epic journey. You may want a few details before you respond:
We attended a great presentation by Bruce Baldwin at OX2013 in Flagstaff with this same title. He has done this for 30 years! in various RV's, now in a converted transfer ambulance (the tall one so the medical folks can stand during transit) and gave us a glimpse of what, how, when, where, who of the 4 or 6 times he has done this. He showed us where to RV in Manhattan for free! What a Gypsy Bruce is. He told us alot about dry camping, stealth camping, and all the low-cost camping you can do and gave us a host of references to look at.
Jeanie and I, married, in our 60's, elderly mother (97), (read my sig below for motational details), we move right along from attraction/event, usually at a faster pace than others we have traveled with, want to see fall colors in New England, looks like a clockwise traverse starting about mid Sept, we like (4x4) beach camping, oddball exhibits and military stuff, we plan to visit many of the restaurants featured in triple D's, and we like to hike and walk the off-beat areas, because we still can! Our rig is 20 feet in length, will fit in an regular parking spot, and we have done lots of stealth camping in big cities as well as down by the river.
It's difficult to read what other people have in mind as to travel, but our object is to live eclectically, using Bruce's resource pages as a guide, which include camping at Federal, State, County, and Local parks and campgrounds, with a smattering of high bucks hotels.
He really got me going with a fascinating talk.
It may be that we'll have to break this into areas that people know about and string it together when we go.
regards, as always, jefe
On the Mojave Road in March: click on pic to play-
We attended a great presentation by Bruce Baldwin at OX2013 in Flagstaff with this same title. He has done this for 30 years! in various RV's, now in a converted transfer ambulance (the tall one so the medical folks can stand during transit) and gave us a glimpse of what, how, when, where, who of the 4 or 6 times he has done this. He showed us where to RV in Manhattan for free! What a Gypsy Bruce is. He told us alot about dry camping, stealth camping, and all the low-cost camping you can do and gave us a host of references to look at.
Jeanie and I, married, in our 60's, elderly mother (97), (read my sig below for motational details), we move right along from attraction/event, usually at a faster pace than others we have traveled with, want to see fall colors in New England, looks like a clockwise traverse starting about mid Sept, we like (4x4) beach camping, oddball exhibits and military stuff, we plan to visit many of the restaurants featured in triple D's, and we like to hike and walk the off-beat areas, because we still can! Our rig is 20 feet in length, will fit in an regular parking spot, and we have done lots of stealth camping in big cities as well as down by the river.
It's difficult to read what other people have in mind as to travel, but our object is to live eclectically, using Bruce's resource pages as a guide, which include camping at Federal, State, County, and Local parks and campgrounds, with a smattering of high bucks hotels.
He really got me going with a fascinating talk.
It may be that we'll have to break this into areas that people know about and string it together when we go.
regards, as always, jefe
On the Mojave Road in March: click on pic to play-
Great responses here. Keep those links coming. I looked at some and it is a bit like comparing apples to oranges, since we don't need more than a parking space to stealth camp in. Stop motor. Pull down steps. climb said steps. Pull up steps. Close door. Pull down shades. Voila! Instant domicile.
We have traveled with other friends and found we like to motate at a faster pace than any of them do. So, we do plan to move every day (with a few exceptions) traveling oh, maybe 100-200 miles per day to the next place of interest. Of course this is all about the distance between attractions. It may be like our tour up the Oregon Coast. Some of those days we only traveled 20 miles up the coast to the next State Campground. But, we are not lingerers.
Yes, we are planning on visiting every beach camping experience open to us, from Mass. down the coast to Assateague to the Outer Banks, with our last beach experience being driving the 100 miles down the beach on South Padre Island on the Gulf. We are set up for dune running lowering the pressure in those super singles (and on-board air to get them back up).
I'm hoping to drive a lot of secondary roads and not just interstates from end to end. You see more local color and the mpg's go up. @62 mph we get 15 mpg without a headwind or hills. @70 mph it drops to 12-13 mpg. @ 45 mph (secondary road speed) it can be 16 mpg, which is good for a 10K pound white windbreak.
It looks like leaving around Sept. 1st or so we can time it to see the Fall Foliage in the Northeast by October 1st. With 4 wheel drive, traction diffs and the go-anywhere capability of our rig, only a big hurricane would deter us. Not as likely in October. We've been thru 100 mph winds during a sudden Haboob in Death Valley:
and 4 foot snowfalls with the XTC with no deletorious effect.
I really don't know how much time this will take. I depends on how many whiffs we want to take of the flowers.
But, with your kind input the picture is starting to have much more focus.
regards, as always, jefe
We have traveled with other friends and found we like to motate at a faster pace than any of them do. So, we do plan to move every day (with a few exceptions) traveling oh, maybe 100-200 miles per day to the next place of interest. Of course this is all about the distance between attractions. It may be like our tour up the Oregon Coast. Some of those days we only traveled 20 miles up the coast to the next State Campground. But, we are not lingerers.
Yes, we are planning on visiting every beach camping experience open to us, from Mass. down the coast to Assateague to the Outer Banks, with our last beach experience being driving the 100 miles down the beach on South Padre Island on the Gulf. We are set up for dune running lowering the pressure in those super singles (and on-board air to get them back up).
I'm hoping to drive a lot of secondary roads and not just interstates from end to end. You see more local color and the mpg's go up. @62 mph we get 15 mpg without a headwind or hills. @70 mph it drops to 12-13 mpg. @ 45 mph (secondary road speed) it can be 16 mpg, which is good for a 10K pound white windbreak.
It looks like leaving around Sept. 1st or so we can time it to see the Fall Foliage in the Northeast by October 1st. With 4 wheel drive, traction diffs and the go-anywhere capability of our rig, only a big hurricane would deter us. Not as likely in October. We've been thru 100 mph winds during a sudden Haboob in Death Valley:
and 4 foot snowfalls with the XTC with no deletorious effect.
I really don't know how much time this will take. I depends on how many whiffs we want to take of the flowers.
But, with your kind input the picture is starting to have much more focus.
regards, as always, jefe
That sounds like a wonderful idea. Remember to visit Assateague Island National Park in Maryland. Enjoy the beach!
