Heading west?

[paulfredricks]

Just starting to think about a trip west. Leaving from CT, heading to possibly Colorado, or Wyoming, or Utah.

Just looking for some very basic info at this point, and I know there are a million variables. Roughly how many days or weeks are realistic for this type of trip?

Hope this is the right forum.

Thanks.

[paulfredricks]

Thanks for all the info everyone. This trip is a long ways off, but this gives us some basic info to start the planning process.

[Veebyes]

We are in the middle of a four month trip to the west coast out of MD. Feeling rushed for time already.

[mr_andyj]

From GA to the mountains in CO is 2 1/2 days for me easy, every time. From CT since you are a little further East already then 3 to WY. i-80 from the river west seems like it is all uphill, and very rough road.
Depends how long you drive each day. Mapquest.com will plot out your route and give you driving time. Add in stops to make a complete day.

I would go into WY and thats Yellowstone land, then into UT make a stop in SLC to see the salt flats if you like that, stop and swim in the lake if you have never floated in that much salt - Antelope Island has parking and beach showers. Then head east to Arches NP in Moab, UT. You can go south and there are many worthy NPs inclding Zion, but it will be hot hot in the summer. Anything under 95 degrees is not hot. Over 100 is hot since it is 10% humidity, not like the 90% humidity you are used to in CT.
Then into CO. Take the Million Dollar Highway drive if you can, that will drop you eventually to Grand Junction CO at i-70 then you can tour the high mountains where all the ski areas are. Ski area in summer have ample RV parking and some will let you boondock overnight, or some have parking for a small fee.
You won't be far from the North Face of the Grand Canyon if you go to Zion, so that is worth the trip down, getting to the South rim is a huge drive, but the N side will give you a great view.
There are yearly / 12 month National Park passes for $80 or discount for seniors that will get you into all USA parks, so this might be worth it. Not all NPs sell these so plan ahead.
Part of the fun for an East-coaster person is just parking for a few days in a spot and soaking in the beauty of such a different place. dont be in a rush to get to the next spot. I like seeing fewer spots spending more time in one spot rather than seeing a bunch of spots Griswald-style.
Happy Camping

[agesilaus]

Going to be very difficult making reservations for every night with a trailer. 6-8+ weeks, especially if you only average 50mph and only drive 6-8 hours/day. wrote:

Once again I will disagree, we left north Florida and have made four stops and had no problem getting a spot. And spot number five is reserved. I don't expect a problem for our planned spot number six in Nauvoo Ill. We are slowly making our way to Rock Springs WY for the Escapade in the middle of July. We are right outside Mammoth Cave for four days right now.
I did have trouble making reservations for cave tours tho.

Now this does not apply to camps close to or in major National Parks, even so we made a three day stop 15 miles outside YNP last year with no prior reservations. But we know the 'secret' and can find a spot near most NP.

The CG overcrowding in my opinion occurs mainly in the NE lockdown states and maybe the West Coast. The SE and center of the country have plenty of free spots. For example we got a beach side spot on the FL panhandle a month ago, half the park was empty and before that a spot 30 minutes from the Gulf Shore beaches in AL and that park was 80% empty. So I have not seen the campground crunch. For private camps we call on the road or maybe the night before and once in awhile have to call our second choice.

As to how long you travel every day, when were were limited by vacation time we pushed hard for the first days of the trip 400+ miles a day until we got where we were going. But now as full timers we take our time. Not as much as many folks but still we meander along.

[Cummins12V98]

"When you look at distances, a good rule of thumb (and also easy math to do in your head) is an average of 50 mph. Not that you'll be driving that slowly, but once you figure in stops for fuel, food, bio, etc, it comes out to about 50 mph."

When towing at 60 I am right on the money at 50 miles traveled in one hour average.

[QCMan]

As an add on, we have a reservation for every night we will be on the road and a plan b to deal with the unknown. Have a great trip!

[Ivylog]

Going to be very difficult making reservations for every night with a trailer. 6-8+ weeks, especially if you only average 50mph and only drive 6-8 hours/day. It’s 2000 miles to RMNP so that’s 6 days of finding CGs and setting up each night even if it’s just putting a slide out and cooking. Are you really going to unhook the car and go exploring each night?

Even though we’ve been doing this for decades, our objective is still to get to CO (or WY) and then slow down. Left GA Monday evening (5 days ago) and made the mistake of not using the Interstates as much…trying something new that everyone raves about, the black roads. I’m surprised I still have a driver’s mirror (over width load on narrow road with no shoulder) and that the windshield didn’t pop out…narrow 2 lane roads and a closing speed of 125 mph with only 2-3’ of separation with the 18 wheelers.

Still made it past Denver (1500 miles) by Wednesday afternoon…we never stop before a big city as inbound traffic in the morning will be worse. Got into our 1st choice of CGs by being there Thursday morning at 9AM…forget doing that on Friday.

We are no reservations types and even last summer it worked out with 2 big rigs…should be easier with only one this summer despite it being busier than normal. Helps that we are fully self contained for a week or more.

[QCMan]

We are going from coastal SC to Moab and are taking eight days to do it. Short days will give us time to relax or explore a bit locally. We will be spending a week in Moab and then a week in Cortez CO and then back with a few two and three day stays in places of interest to us. Total trip will be just over five weeks. We did the trip in three weeks when we were working and as beautiful as the trip was, it was physically exhausting and we were 16 years younger.

[agesilaus]

I'll also ditto the 50 mph rule.
Another big suggestion is to visit a FEW places and take you time at each. Newbies tend to want come up with a long list of places which means they spend most of their vacation driving from place to place.
We used to pick a central location and do day trips from there.
So decide how many days you have.
Plan ob 5-6 days each way for Utah. Eastern Colorado is a day less but you are more limited in parks, Rocky Mountains and Great Sand Dunes. I think RMNP may require tickets now. Better check on that.
Taking I80/90 west will run you thru the South Dakota Parks: Badlands and Rushmore with some other minor stops.
Utah: Zion and Arches are absolutely mobbed, packed, too many people. Zion has shuttle tickets you have to buy online. Arches lockes the gates when full, Zion will keep you waiting in a traffic jam for hours to get to a parking lot which will probably be full.
Capitol Reef has fewer people. Canyonlands also but you need at least a high clearance vehicle to drive the roads. Cedar Breaks is little visited but only open 3-4 months a year.
AZ: Many indian ruins parks but the are hotter than Hades in summer. So are Zion and Arches BTW.South Rim of the Grand Canyon also flooded with mobs. But cooler. North Rim has fewer people and is cooler yet.
Yellowstone is huge and has a lot of people. It is cooler, but expect in park traffic jam. Glacier seems to be getting mobs and requires difficult tp get tickets.
And lets not forget the big issue, where will you stay. Lodging/camping around the great parks needs to be reserved six months or more in advance.

[Crowe]

When you look at distances, a good rule of thumb (and also easy math to do in your head) is an average of 50 mph. Not that you'll be driving that slowly, but once you figure in stops for fuel, food, bio, etc, it comes out to about 50 mph.

X2. This rule of thumb works very well.

If you don't want to feel rushed and depending on where you go, 3-4 weeks is the minimum I'd plan. I've been out to SD, CO, WY & MT twice and it's a long drive to get out there. You will lose 3-5 days each way just driving, depending on where you go.

[DrewE]

How long it takes really depends on what you intend to do and how long you take to do that. I guess there are some practical hard minimums based on driving speeds and times, but even so what's a reasonable minimum length for such a trip varies a lot based on who's driving (and if you have more than one driver to share the duties).

Personally, I'd likely plan a minimum of five days each way between CT and one of those states, which leaves basically no time for doing anything along the way besides eating and sleeping. (Four days might barely be possible for me, depending on the final destination.) Anything much less than about three weeks would seem to me to not be worthwhile for the trip, assuming the goal is tourism/vacation; with less time, I'd opt to fly or take Amtrak out or something, or choose a destination closer to home.

You, of course, may cover more or less distance in a day comfortably than I do.

[wildtoad]

We went on a western jaunt from SC a few years ago. Spent a month. Not nearly enough time to have a relaxing trip. If you like driving 6-8 hours a day then perhaps you can do all you want in that timeframe.

[dedmiston]

When you look at distances, a good rule of thumb (and also easy math to do in your head) is an average of 50 mph. Not that you'll be driving that slowly, but once you figure in stops for fuel, food, bio, etc, it comes out to about 50 mph.

Next, figure out your personal preference for driving. How far do you like to drive in a day and how many days in a row do you feel like driving? This will determine how far you can get with your available time.

Another variable is what kind of camper are you? Do you like to stay in RV parks, state parks, COE, boondocking, etc.? Do you make reservations and stick to a schedule, or do you like to wing it?

My wife and I took an 11,000 mile trip year before last without any solid destinations or reservations. We never backtracked, which gave us three general compass points to choose from on any travel day (ruling out the direction we just came from). The night before a travel day, I would pin my wife down to a general direction and then I'd glance at the available places to stay in that area. Then the next day on the road around one or two in the afternoon I'd start to bug her to pick us a spot and call ahead to book it. I don't think we could get away with that during the current RV boom though.

And yes, this probably isn't the right place for this question. The Roads and Routes forum is really for directions and suggestions for getting to Point B from Point A. I'll move this to General RVing for you.

[Lwiddis]

Look up average temperatures in the areas where you plan to stay. You may wish to "go higher" which is usually cooler.