Quadrants, rather than one big cross country trip?

[spoon059]

I retire in 34 months and we had initially planned on taking a long cross country trip once we move to the Tennessee-ish area. Kids are home schooled, so we can avoid the busier summer months. The wife and I were talking yesterday about perhaps instead of ONE big cross country trip, maybe it would be nicer to take a couple trips over a couple years. I'm hoping that my next job after retirement will be the kind where I can work remotely and go part time for a couple months of the year (but that will be another thought process and discussion).

We were thinking about a 4-6 week trip to the southwest in the April-May timeframe, then come back home. Then the next year maybe take a September-October trip to the midwest national parks area. Then the next year taking a January-February trip to the southeast, etc.

When I was a kid, we did a 6 week cross country trip. I remember a LOT of waking up, driving all day, setting up camp, going to bed, waking up, driving all day, etc. Those memories are just as strong as the memories of Mesa Verde, the Redwoods, Yellowstone, etc. I thought if we broke it up into quadrants, it would be less driving and more experiences. We want to see a lot of national parks, we want to spend some time at lakes, we want to try local foods, etc. I'd LOVE to do some legit boondocking at BLM lands a couple nights in a row, love to find some nice campgrounds near an attraction for a couple nights in a row for the kids to be able to hit a pool or a lake.

Also, if they were shorter trips, we could try to avoid the summer months where it would be a lot more crowded (and hot) and enjoy it more. I remember being at Hoover Dam and it was 120 degrees in the shade as we waited for the shuttle bus to the dam. We got tired of waiting and just drove across... If we visited in April, it would be a LOT nicer than going in July!

The hope was that I could do some part time work remotely while we are traveling, to keep some money coming in. Also the hope was that by breaking up the trip over 3 or 4 years, it would also keep some costs down or at least spread them out over a couple years.

For those that have done trips like this, what do you think of this plan? I see a lot of benefits, but I'm sure there are some downfalls. One potential downfall is drudging through a lot of the same areas multiple times... but I'm pretty sure we can find a couple different routes to take that wouldn't neccessarily overlap. The hope is to avoid interstates and take more of the surface highways and see some small towns and history of our country, rather than just truck stops and fast food joints.

[ken56]

You bring up a very good point. I think the plan to do quadrants is a good one although I would allow 8 weeks per trip. Moving to "tennessee-ish" area? OK....I live in East Tennessee just east of Knoxville and I can be in Myrtle beach in a day. I can be in New Orleans in a day... long days, granted that. BUT the point is TN is very centrally located. For going out west yeah, that will take 3-4 overnights to get to the Grand Canyon and the National parks in Utah.

Traveling is about seeing the country. RVing is far different than flying to somewhere and renting a car for a few days and then flying back home. RVing you get to see every little town you pass through and stay a few days if you like. You are correct in that you don't want to just drive all the time, that's no fun. I do 6 hours max driving and that is between the hours of 9am and 3 pm. I miss all the rush hour traffic. I am not rushed breaking down to leave in the dark AM. I am not dog tired pulling into the next stop at 10 PM and trying to set up in the dark. The objective is to enjoy the journey.

When on the road we use the RVPARKY app to find parks along our route. It gives you all the info you need to see if it sounds like an acceptable park to stay at. We start looking about 1 in the afternoon to find a park 2 hours ahead of us. We call to see if they have a site and then secure it for our overnight if available. We have never been shut out and were forced to stay in a Walmart parking lot. We only made reservations at our destinations where we were staying more than 3 days to a week.

Flexibility is the key. The RV has wheels so you can go anywhere you want to.

[TenOC]

The problem with my home base of TN is that you need to drive 500+ miles to see the different sites. Year one. Summer in North-East & Newfoundland -- Winter in FL. Year 2 SouthWest and chase the snow north to Yellowstone and Alaska -- Let the snow chase me back South to the NorthWest (WA & OR & CA and AZ).