| Touring USA and Canada in a RV
Posted: 7/29/2009 8:12:48 PM | what are the "must-have-seen" all over?
I am searching for pure Nature!
starting from where and taking the Summer for the northern Parts - when to start?
I suggest, a minimum Time to take this Journey is a least 6 Months - right?
Beside : any openminded Lady to join me for this Adventure? | |
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| Touring USA and Canada in a RV
Posted: 7/29/2009 10:28:04 PM | | A big part of it depends on you. For example... Do you like to just look at mountains, or do you want to hike up mountains? Do you want to just see a bunch of things, or actually experience things where an RV can't drive? You can find guide books for all over that cover the big tourist things, but how far off the beaten path are you willing to go? | |
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| Touring USA and Canada in a RV
Posted: 7/30/2009 2:47:34 AM | the high mountain passes in say colorado , washington are closed after a certain time. the weather usually begins to get cold in northern parts in november, probobly in maine a bit sooner. October in the middle of the country you will probobly have great weather......like lets say the blue ridge parkway. summer in places like rocky mountain national park, glacier, ranier are a zoo in the summer and thats putting it mildly..........if i were starting out a 6 month trip id start in september after the kids are back in school........do the northern things then head south when it started to get too chilly.
but to say...........i hope you have very deep pockets.........rv parking is big business now, especially in national or government owned parks...........for a 30 days id expect to be spending somewhere in the $800-$1000 range, just to park the thing.............its difficult to hide an RV and they have gotten very strict most places about just pulling over on the road and spending the night, even at rest areas on the highway.............your best bet is Wal Mart parking lots to just park and crash, but to me thats not much of a trip spending it on concrete at wally world, but everynight, there are lots of folks doing it.
ive been all over the west......and alot of the rest of the country I had a political job and was sent everywhere and back then went by vw micro bus , if you have any questions about anything just mail me id be glad to help..........tim | |
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| Touring USA and Canada in a RV
Posted: 8/1/2009 8:12:57 PM | | hi.. Arches National Park, the entire state of colorado, Rushmore, Yosemite, Aspen, yellowstone, Bryce, Grand Canyon, Northern Cali, santa fe, saguaro desert.. alaska, BC, Banff, Whistler... san fran, san diego... tenn, parts of kentucky, North Carolina.. my fav US spot, Hawaii, pick any island.... blessings for safe travels | |
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| Touring USA and Canada in a RV
Posted: 8/2/2009 2:49:22 PM | Wow that's a great time your planning. Well it can be. Like other views stated you need to determine what your pleasure comes from. Seeing , doing or somewhere in between. I did a Southern tour of the US back in 1985 with a pop up Tent Trailer. It took about 6 months and I enjoyed it. Its still one of my fondest memories. Just sit down and have a good talk with yourself. Once you get real (dont lie to yourself) then pic a route. I started from San Luis Obispo and back to there. If you are going to do the southern route I would not leave until Late April. I was at the Grand Canyon in May and got snowed on... But it was minor but a little nippy...
I wouldn't just go with anyone either. Man or woman. IF you are with someone and you clash it can be a miserable trip so pick you travel partner very well and make sure you enjoy similar things.
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| Touring USA and Canada in a RV
Posted: 8/3/2009 11:41:30 AM | Wow what a trip that's going to be! and what fun to think about. This country is too big to even begin to answer the question. I had a job where I could take transfers all the time and treated life like a work vacation. I'd take the transfer , move in and then every single weekend and evening be out exploring. There is so much and so much variety. Just remember that the Rockies are the Rockies no matter what part you're in and remember to be prepared for snow and bitter cold any time after Labor Day, 1st week in September, but once that's through you get that fabulous Indian summer for another 6 weeks or so. It's kind of all like where you are.
WOW an enorous task to plan. There's no way I would try to do this country in 6 months time. You could easily spend years going north for summer and south for winter and still never see it all. I will tell you that here in North Central California we have it all, as does the entire west coast. I live about 1 1/2 hrs from one of the entrances to Yosemite but for me it's no longer fun. Too citified and too many tourists, and most years hot as **** on the valley floor . I prefer the emptiness of Wyoming where you can go and really enjoy nature. About the same distance to the west are the beaches, San Francisco (CCCCCold in summer most of the time, warmer in winter) , the famed Salinas Valley (east of Eden). Going north you have craggy mountain coast line (fabulous drives)m out here it's fertile farmland valleys, and to the east a bit high high mountains like the Rockies, only these are the High Sierra, Gold mining towns, caverns, lakes, forests and deserts ... Huge cities (for example San Francisco--no RV'g to speak of in SF, but just to the west and hooked around behind that little set of hills is Pacifica on the beach and loaded with camp places.
Maybe you should head west across Canada, starting right now. There are spectacular undeveloped places all along the coast, but it's some rugged driving (like the beartooths) , then take the Pacific Coast from North to South and down into Mexico through Baja and down to to Baja Sur, hitting great museums in LA and San Diego as well as the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park-- MUST DO is Disneyland! It's still great at my age--went for my birthday and had a great time.
One great trip if you like the high plains and Gulf South was straight down I 90 and 25 Alberta through Montana with High Plains side trips (what are your interests?--Custer's Battlefield near the Wyoming/Montana border will give you goosebumps), plan on Sturgis if you're a biker amd Mount Rushmore, great mineral hot springs in Thermopolis, Wyoming and down in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Pikes Peak. Strange little out of the way places like Hwy 50 through Nevada offer eeerie country. There are great Hot Springs along there too, but that is some desolate country (and I mean desolate compared to Wyoming! Jackson and Yellowstone NP, Aspen or Vail in Colorado are pretty much tuorited up. Oh man, too many places ...then down through New Mexico and see NASA near Houston, and Galveston ... and across the bridge at Lake Ponchartrain into New Orleans and across the rest of the Gulf through Biloxi and Pensacola, (lot's of devastation from hurricanes the last few years though, so I don't know what shape any of the Gulf Coast is in anymore, but they say they are making a comeback. Alot of of the beautiful beaches were devastated). Head down along the west coast of Florida, take a look across the waters at Cuba, time it for a Shuttle launch at Kennedy/Cape Canaveral around and up the east coast, St Augustine, Myrtle Beach ....... and mountains of North Carolina, especially in the Spring and summer when the azaleas are on. I could spend weeks at the Smithsonian , the Botanical Gardens, the gardens of Mount Vernon, National Cathedral in Washington DC, Maryland Virginia area.
New England in the autumn for the leaves (anywhere on the east coast for that). Maine is rugged and pristine for the most part.
If you go through the center of the country (East to West or vice versa) you have all sorts of Pioneer places, where to this day you can see the carvings people made in Independence Rock in Nebraska, wagon ruts still in the ground (on private land but you can see them ) near Torrington, Wyoming. Not too far out of the way, West of Casper Wyoming there is a place where you can actually go and pull a handcart to experience just a smattering of what it was like for people who pioneered the West. Salt Lake City has Temple Square, a peaceful place to visit. You can go to a free concert of the Mormon Tabernacle Concert on Thursday nights. If you are into genealogy, the largest collection of genealogical records in the world. Then you can take off in any direction and go experience the desert Southwest of over to here , the High Sierras and SF as I mentioned earlier. Not a ton of touristy places across the center of the country.
Now part of this stuff I did because I lived in the areas, and part of it was actually trips. You have a huge undertaking to try to narrow down what you will do.
I'd like to sell my house, get a new RV and just full time it until I'm too old and feeble to drive. I'd not do much planning, just go and explore to my heart's content.
I have to quit daydreaming and typing. I'm supposed to be paying bills!
Oh one last thing. When you RV, the parks have weekly and 28 day rates which make it substantially cheaper to do this great adventure. Find a park you like, pay for 28 days, and use that as your base camp from which to go exploring.
GOTTA get to those bills!!
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| Touring USA and Canada in a RV
Posted: 8/5/2009 11:32:48 AM | Use Craigslist Rideshare to ease costs of gas. For that matter, Craigslist will find you a girlfriend to if your really in need of one. **** it, I'll provide you a few girls to kick it with if you bring us along haha
My favorite states:
Oregon (EVERYTHING is awesome about Oregon)
Alaska (untouched beauty)
Maine (Go to Bar Harbor Maine and visit all other coastal towns)
Washington (Seattle is sweeet and you got tons of awesome mountains)
California (Come one. Its CAli!)
New York (amazingly beautiful)
States to Avoid:
Texas (this should be self explanatory)
Nebraska (unless you love cornfields)
Arizona (its a ****ing wasteland. Well, I heard some places are cool, but avoid phoenix.) | |
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| Touring USA and Canada in a RV
Posted: 8/5/2009 10:07:51 PM | I recently went through a lot of New Mexico and Arizona getting off the interstate and traveling old route 66. Taking a detour here and there, I went through Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos in NM, very nice places.
If you like outdoor activities. You can try setting camp in Flagstaff, AZ for a few days. There's lotf of hiking and biking areas in and around there. Also, the Grand Canyon's about an hour away and Sedona's about a half hour south, also worth the trip.
It would be hard to top traveling up California's Hwy. 1 from LA to SF. All kinds of great places to see and views that defy description.
It's been many years since I was out that way but Lake Tahoe used to be a favorite area to visit. | |
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| Touring USA and Canada in a RV
Posted: 8/10/2009 3:23:49 PM | | Well,you're already in Alberta so head up to Grande Prairie and get on the Alaskan Highway. I've been up there for work in the winter and there's some pretty nice scenery there. You'll find the Northern Rockies a lot different from the ranges further south. | |
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