I second maintcpo's suggestion about Yosemite. The Eastern Sierra is very pretty in the summer and Yosemite is outstanding. There are two ways to do this.
From L.A. go north on hwy 14 to hwy 395 and go to the small town of Lee Vining. Stay at the Mono Vista RV park and drive your truck into Yosemite, about a 30 minute ride. Spectacular views on the
Tioga Pass road. Take your time and enjoy the view from the turnouts, there are several of them. If either of you are 62 make sure you have your Golden Age pass so you can get in for free. Yosemite is a very difficult place to find a campsite in the summer if you don't have reservations and they are probably already booked solid. You can also take a trip to the Bodie ghost town. Looks pretty much like it did when it was abandoned about 60 years ago. Very cool trip.
From Lee Vining stay north on 395 and you can take either US50 through Tahoe or continue on to Reno and take US80 over the mountain. My vote would be 50 to see Lake Tahoe. It's a true jewel of nature.
The other way would be to drive your trailer through the park but parking is a major problem and traffic can be ugly. I don't recommend it.
To answer your original question, no you are not nuts. My wife and I made the trip in the opposite direction last fall and it was outstanding. Take your time and if possible, extend your trip for another week or so. Well worth it.
This is not nuts. Figure out the per day cost of the whole thing, then compare it to flying/renting a car/staying in a hotel/eating in restaurants. RVing is far cheaper, on a per day basis. Shocking, but true.
We're about equally nutty - maybe more so since we're leaving in 2 weeks for the reverse trip. If we don't get stuck in a snow drift our plan is about 9 weeks on the road:
BC > Columbia River > Yellowstone > Mt Rushmore etc > Mississippi Rvr > "B" rally in Ohio > Niagara > relatives in PA > Adirondacks > VT > MA > ME (Bar harbor etc) > NB > NS > PEI > QU > ON > ferry to Manitoulin Is. > Soo > UP MI > MN > across to Glacier > AB (more relatives) > Jasper than back to Vancouver
About 13,000 miles and I don't want to think about how much gas
Even more "interesting" is it's our first real trip in the RV we got last fall
Our time frame is fixed, can't add anymore time to it and the one leg of our trip that is a must see is the PCH and California coast.
As far as Yosemite is concerned, really don't want to back track with the tight schedule we have, so it will have to wait till our next trip out which we will take in all the NP in Utah and eastern California.
So keep the info flowing!
Paul & Judy
hopefully we'll see you in NY!
Jay
Good Luck and Happy Trails
2007 Dodge 3500 4X4 MC,SRW,CTD EB
2004 Citation 29NP
Equal-i-Zer
Yamaha EF2800i
Nascar24 A lengend in my own mind, A Scary thought in someone else's!
I t may be nuts, but we may only get to do it once in our lifetime, i'm figuring on $4000., IF gas doesn't get more than $4.25 a gallon.About 7-8 Weeks
1.Conneaut,Oh...Visit Family
2.Walnut Grove,Mn
3.Mitchell,SD
4.Black Hills,SD
5.Devils Tower, WY
6.Hardin,MT (Little Big Horn)
7.Yellowstone NP
8.Glacier NP
9.Cheyenne, WY
10.Denver,Co (quick shopping Stop)
11.Dodge City,KS
12.Altus, OK... Visit Family
13.N.Little Rock, AR
14.Mammoth Cave, KY
15.Beckley, WV (coal miners museum/exhibit)
16. Home
2007 Forester 2941DS
2005 KIA Spectra
Zamboni, Long Haired Mini Dachshund
We're going to San Antonio, Austin, New Orleans, Memphis, Nashville, Branson, Denver, Salt Lake City. We have been planning this trip a long time and an extra $800-$900 for fuel isn't going to stop us. We just won't be able to spend as much on tourist things but we will see a lot of this beautiful country.
We are taking a cross country trip from Massachusetts to California and back this summer, anyone else nuts enough to spend 7-8 weeks on the road and spend $5k on fuel doing a similar trip?
Major stops along the way
1) Taos, NM ( family wedding)
2) Grand Canyon
3) Hoover Dam
4) Las Vegas
5) San Diego
6) Los Angeles
7) San Francisco
8) Grand Teyton NP
9) Yellowstone NP
10) MT. Rushmore
11) Home
You are leaving out one big chunk of the USA by not seeing Colorado – having done this more times than I can remember Colorado/Utah are states that are do not miss might be a little hot in Utah in the summer but still to drive 2,000 mile out and 2,000 miles back and miss this is a shame.
Colorado even if you only see I-70 is a need to see some of the state same with Utah
It may sound like I’m trying to change your trip but I will just try to give you a lot of little ideas on places we’ve enjoyed in our years of travel in this area. You may want to save the Colorado stuff for the next trip and concentrate on the southern and Utah side of the trip.
Couple of thoughts come to mind; might just look at driving to the south side of the Million Dollar Hwy to Durango and drive up (north ) to Silverton and Ouray. You could make the Durango area your home base and your mountain drive would be Rt 285 out of Denver to Rt 160. This makes a loop out of the trip and allows you to not back track areas. This is easy enough in your rig, and is scenic enough with only one pass to go thru. (Pagosa Springs)
Interesting things you might try to see in Colorado
Golden and Clear Creek RV park
Red Rocks Park just off 470 south of Denver
Buena Vista and the White water rafting and the Collegiate Peaks
Silverton Ouray Telluride
Mesa Verde NP
Gunnison NP
Crested Butte
Marble
Maroon Bells
Aspen
Glenwood Springs Canyon drive on I-70
Vail
Frisco /Breckenridge
Grand Lake/RMNP
Peak to Peak Rt119
Lyons
Steamboat Springs
Dinosaur NM
Not on my RV list but still interesting
Colorado Springs?
Boulder
Denver
Just a few.
Utah is easy (LOL)
Leaving Mesa Verde to
Mexican Hat –Drive back take pictures
Monument Valley – A step back to the Movies – Stay in Gouldings CG
Page and Lake Powell Antelope Canyon and/or Canyon de Chelly or both and skip the south side of the GC
Go to the North Rim
Zion
Bryce
Rt 12
Capital Reef NP
To Moab – Arches/Canyonlands
Out of arches on Rt128 to Bus neat drive along the Colorado River
Back to Colorado
Remember Utah is hot so you might try to stay at altitude/or a lake, to keep it cool -- Hike early and travel in the afternoon.
We are taking a cross country trip from Massachusetts to California and back this summer, anyone else nuts enough to spend 7-8 weeks on the road and spend $5k on fuel doing a similar trip?
Major stops along the way
1) Taos, NM ( family wedding)
2) Grand Canyon
3) Hoover Dam
4) Las Vegas
5) San Diego
6) Los Angeles
7) San Francisco
8) Grand Teyton NP
9) Yellowstone NP
10) MT. Rushmore
11) Home
You are leaving out one big chunk of the USA by not seeing Colorado – having done this more times than I can remember Colorado/Utah are states that are do not miss might be a little hot in Utah in the summer but still to drive 2,000 mile out and 2,000 miles back and miss this is a shame.
Colorado even if you only see I-70 is a need to see some of the state same with Utah
It may sound like I’m trying to change your trip but I will just try to give you a lot of little ideas on places we’ve enjoyed in our years of travel in this area. You may want to save the Colorado stuff for the next trip and concentrate on the southern and Utah side of the trip.
Couple of thoughts come to mind; might just look at driving to the south side of the Million Dollar Hwy to Durango and drive up (north ) to Silverton and Ouray. You could make the Durango area your home base and your mountain drive would be Rt 285 out of Denver to Rt 160. This makes a loop out of the trip and allows you to not back track areas. This is easy enough in your rig, and is scenic enough with only one pass to go thru. (Pagosa Springs)
Interesting things you might try to see in Colorado
Golden and Clear Creek RV park
Red Rocks Park just off 470 south of Denver
Buena Vista and the White water rafting and the Collegiate Peaks
Silverton Ouray Telluride
Mesa Verde NP
Gunnison NP
Crested Butte
Marble
Maroon Bells
Aspen
Glenwood Springs Canyon drive on I-70
Vail
Frisco /Breckenridge
Grand Lake/RMNP
Peak to Peak Rt119
Lyons
Steamboat Springs
Dinosaur NM
Not on my RV list but still interesting
Colorado Springs?
Boulder
Denver
Just a few.
Utah is easy (LOL)
Leaving Mesa Verde to
Mexican Hat –Drive back take pictures
Monument Valley – A step back to the Movies – Stay in Gouldings CG
Page and Lake Powell Antelope Canyon and/or Canyon de Chelly or both and skip the south side of the GC
Go to the North Rim
Zion
Bryce
Rt 12
Capital Reef NP
To Moab – Arches/Canyonlands
Out of arches on Rt128 to Bus neat drive along the Colorado River
Back to Colorado
Remember Utah is hot so you might try to stay at altitude/or a lake, to keep it cool -- Hike early and travel in the afternoon.
Check out these web sites crazy family from the East and great photo by Stan Parker of the whole country.
Lots to see and do you will have a great time, try to see more than you think you can.
BOL,
Hi
We have spent time in Colorado on two trips in the past and truly enjoyed our trip there, but we just can't fit it in on this trip without doing some serious back tracking. We have to be in Taos , NM within five days of departing from Massachusetts for a family wedding, the route that we are planning will take us into Denver and we'll head south into NM.
From there we will head west to Grand Canyon and onward to the California Coast with a northern route to San Francisco, then turning east to Grand Teyton, NP Yellowstone NP, and Mt Rushmore before heading home.
I'm hoping that in the future we can take in Utah and Colorado in great depth and would rather have the time to enjoy it rather than rush through it just to say we been there, so I appreciate your recommendations but will have to reserve them for another trip.
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