Washington state to ft Wilderness...anybody make this trip?

[phwang20]

Hi all, I'm just trying to pick anyone's brain about this trip. Would love to make it and I'm not necessarily restrained by time. We have a 11yo and 8yo. We typically fly, but thought the cross country trip would be memorable... Maybe nightmarish? Haha. Longest trip was in smaller class C over 2 weeks down to AZ, San Diego and back.

If you've made the trip, how long did you give yourself? Or general thoughts are welcome. Thank you.

Paul

[Veebyes]

Is the purpose of the trip to see the country in a leasurely way or is Disney the destination then do the express route back.

Any mapping app will give you the express route & time. The seeing stuff along the way trip is a whole nuther can of worms. We have done from the Mid Atlantic to the NW twice in a interstate avoiding loops. Each trip was over 4 months & we came back wondering where the time went.

Two small children in the truck all day???? Ummm...how about NNOOOOOO!!!

[phwang20]

tatest wrote:
That's a big trip, about six days each way, on the shortest routes. But there are a million ways to go.

Want to see Chicago? It won't add much more than a hundred miles to the trip, less than one additional day of driving time. But I can easily spend a week touring Chicago, it is one of my favorite places to visit, even after living there four years.

Or route through San Antonio, Houston, and New Orleans, for less than two extra days driving time, but each stop good for several days, much more if you want to explore Texas Hill Country or the Mississippi-Alabama-Florida Gulf Coast.

No specific suggestions, just trying to broaden your interests. I could spend 2-3 months getting from Washington to central Florida. I've been road tripping between NE Oklahoma and SE Michigan for 34 years and still keep finding new routes, new places to stop.

Washington to Florida is a huge world. If you have the time to make it a road trip, keep your perspectives wide. Mall of America? The Alamo? The Grand Canyon?
Indianapolis Motor Speedway? Saint Louis Arch? WJ Clinton Library in Little Rock? Opryland in Nashville? Home town of Popeye the Sailor? World's largest ketchup bottle (near St Louis) or ball of string (Kansas or Iowa?).

For this trip, any of this could be enroute with little variation in distance or travel time. It all depends on what interests you (which may not be what interests me) and how much time you have to stop along the way. If you don't have time to stop to see anything, just let a computer figure out the fastest route; that will be the same both ways.

Thank you for taking the time to write. These are fantastic thoughts and definitely helpful in planning this out. The thought of doing this is both exciting and liberating. Our great country has so much to offer.

Thanks again

[tatest]

That's a big trip, about six days each way, on the shortest routes. But there are a million ways to go.

Want to see Chicago? It won't add much more than a hundred miles to the trip, less than one additional day of driving time. But I can easily spend a week touring Chicago, it is one of my favorite places to visit, even after living there four years.

Or route through San Antonio, Houston, and New Orleans, for less than two extra days driving time, but each stop good for several days, much more if you want to explore Texas Hill Country or the Mississippi-Alabama-Florida Gulf Coast.

No specific suggestions, just trying to broaden your interests. I could spend 2-3 months getting from Washington to central Florida. I've been road tripping between NE Oklahoma and SE Michigan for 34 years and still keep finding new routes, new places to stop.

Washington to Florida is a huge world. If you have the time to make it a road trip, keep your perspectives wide. Mall of America? The Alamo? The Grand Canyon?
Indianapolis Motor Speedway? Saint Louis Arch? WJ Clinton Library in Little Rock? Opryland in Nashville? Home town of Popeye the Sailor? World's largest ketchup bottle (near St Louis) or ball of string (Kansas or Iowa?).

For this trip, any of this could be enroute with little variation in distance or travel time. It all depends on what interests you (which may not be what interests me) and how much time you have to stop along the way. If you don't have time to stop to see anything, just let a computer figure out the fastest route; that will be the same both ways.

[phwang20]

MaverickBBD wrote:
I planned out a trip to see one of the last shuttle launches. Invited my motor home club, the San Juanderer's from Wa. state. Six coaches took me up on the invite. We met in Tucson after all of us snow birding in different locations. We went by way of Carlsbad then Big Bend. Hugged the Gulf coast as much as possible. Stopped in Galveston for Johnson Space Center. Then N.O., Biloxi, Gulf Shores, Destin. Launch was delayed so some of group went to a state Winnebago Rally in Myrtle Beach. Some continued down the forgotten coast of Fl. Cut across to Orlando and then on to Titusville for the launch. Then we all parted ways. Some returned home, some went down to the Keys. We went up the coast all the way to Maine and then back home to Wa. via the northern route.

Did a second trip very similar touring Civil War battlefields and Bourbon Trail.

Putting together a third to do Blues Hwy., Natchez Trace, and Civil Rights historical sites.

This sounds so amazing. Probably more so in a coach or DP, and when I'm retired, haha. Being able to see the country this way is so desirable. Doesn't sound like you had a timeline, but out of curiosity, how long did you take on this trip?

Thank you for the info.

[phwang20]

dblr wrote:
Sounds like a great journey, with a wonderful destination. Check out the site Fort Fiends for everything you want to know about Disney and maybe someone there can also help you plan the trip part, they have lots of folks that might even live along the routes you need to take with info on places to see & stay. Good luck & enjoy if you end up doing the trip.

Thank you. I found that forum and saw the information on there. Great idea about reaching out in there also.

[MaverickBBD]

I planned out a trip to see one of the last shuttle launches. Invited my motor home club, the San Juanderer's from Wa. state. Six coaches took me up on the invite. We met in Tucson after all of us snow birding in different locations. We went by way of Carlsbad then Big Bend. Hugged the Gulf coast as much as possible. Stopped in Galveston for Johnson Space Center. Then N.O., Biloxi, Gulf Shores, Destin. Launch was delayed so some of group went to a state Winnebago Rally in Myrtle Beach. Some continued down the forgotten coast of Fl. Cut across to Orlando and then on to Titusville for the launch. Then we all parted ways. Some returned home, some went down to the Keys. We went up the coast all the way to Maine and then back home to Wa. via the northern route.

Did a second trip very similar touring Civil War battlefields and Bourbon Trail.

Putting together a third to do Blues Hwy., Natchez Trace, and Civil Rights historical sites.

[dblr]

Sounds like a great journey, with a wonderful destination. Check out the site Fort Fiends for everything you want to know about Disney and maybe someone there can also help you plan the trip part, they have lots of folks that might even live along the routes you need to take with info on places to see & stay. Good luck & enjoy if you end up doing the trip.

[phwang20]

RedJeep wrote:
What? A trip that big with kids? You must be crazy. Just joking.

We did it. With two little kids also. It was the trip of a lifetime. And, it was our very first RV outing. Literally the first trip. Learned a lot. Best lesson was to limit diving to about four or five hours a day.

So many great place to see. What comes to mind is Monahans Sand Dune park in West Texas. Camp right next to the dunes. Kids will have a blast and the park seems always empty.

Enjoy!

Haha, thanks for the post. How long did you end up taking? The dunes sound fun...probably a lot more so if you have quads or a side by side!

[RedJeep]

What? A trip that big with kids? You must be crazy. Just joking.

We did it. With two little kids also. It was the trip of a lifetime. And, it was our very first RV outing. Literally the first trip. Learned a lot. Best lesson was to limit diving to about four or five hours a day.

So many great place to see. What comes to mind is Monahans Sand Dune park in West Texas. Camp right next to the dunes. Kids will have a blast and the park seems always empty.

Enjoy!

[phwang20]

Thanks again, great thoughts and gives me ideas and things to think about. If you ever put together a blog, let me know! 🙂

The more I think about it and research, it's something I want to do. Life is short..

Thanks

[downtheroad]

No kids...but 2 dogs. No set time for driving each day..We just had a time we wanted to get to Florida (family reunion). Sometimes we just stayed for one night and moved on. Other times we got interested in something, or needed a break, or found an especially nice campground and stayed longer.

One tip. We tried to make friends with other RV'ers we met along the way and always asked them for tips on things to see, campgrounds, places to go...this caused us to often wander off our "plan." It was well worth it because we experienced and saw stuff we would have completely missed.

[phwang20]

downtheroad wrote:
We have done it twice...WA State to Florida and WA State to Outer Banks.
It a trip of a life time- a "must do" for any RVer, and it will show you and your kids what a great country we live in.

We took about 2 months each time....sort of had a plan, but wandered here and there following instincts, whims and tips that we got along the way.

Do it, you won't regret it.

Wow, that's exciting. If you don't mind me asking, did you have kids make the trip? How many hours a day did you average? With two months, seems like the agenda wasn't pressing and that sounds like a lot of fun.

Thank you to others that chimed in as well. This info helps!

[downtheroad]

We have done it twice...WA State to Florida and WA State to Outer Banks.
It a trip of a life time- a "must do" for any RVer, and it will show you and your kids what a great country we live in.

We took about 2 months each time....sort of had a plan, but wandered here and there following instincts, whims and tips that we got along the way.

Do it, you won't regret it.

[Dutch_Oven_Man]

You would definitely see come country. If I told my wife we were going to make a 6,000 mile round trip with the kids to go to Disney, one of us would probably not make it back!

Fort Wilderness is great, just got back from our fourth trip, but we drove from Nashville and I was tired after many late nights in the parks and all of the normal Disney activities. It takes us about two weeks to recover from a week at Disney, and that's only driving 1,500 miles. Maybe we are weak??

If you really want to experience Fort Wilderness, you can rent anything from a tent to a $1M Class A that will be set up and waiting for you when you arrive. I saw several very nice Fifth Wheel rentals that people were renting, as well as a few class A's. Your fuel costs alone would pay for a nice rental and probably even some of your airfare. But, if you have unlimited time and money, it would be an experience.