There exists a potential that in 2014 I will retire from the Army (dependent on the results of a promotion board). My family and I have started saving up my leave to take one last HUGE trip as a "retirement award".
We will be taking myself, my wife, and my two daughters (will be 11 / 13) and our dog.
I am (at this time) capping the trip to 60 days (I would like to increase it to 75 days, increasing length of some of the stays, and include Mesa Verde, Monterey / Big Sur, and others).
The routes indicated on the map are NOT indicative of the actual planned routes--those will be determined later. The map was included to orientate people to the locations I intended to visit and the order of what we are intending to do so in.
Tentative launch date will be memorial day 2014.
The goal is to hit as much of the "southern national parks" as early as possible to avoid the the worse of heat and conversely take as long as possible in the summer to hit the northern parks to allow snow time to melt.
What I am looking from the board:
Sites we might be passing along the way that we are missing (ie I am thinking of hitting the Laura Ingalls Homestead site again)
Suggestions to choose one park over another (ie should we choose the Cascades over Olympic?)
Suggestions to alter the order (ie go straight to Grand Canyon after Arches then go to Zion)
Suggestions for campgrounds at each of the major stays or along the route. We do prefer to stay with full hookups but inside national parks (we are staying at / will make reservations for Fishing Bridge so I can end that debate!)
Thanks for your feedback!
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GreenSalsa is a married Army Special Forces family stationed at Fort Bragg, NC
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Thanks for your service to this country. Glad to see that you want to see the country you helped protect.
I would do Rocky Mtn, Dinosaur, Arches at the beginning. Save you some travel time. 12500 miles is ambitious in 60 days.
We did 12000 trip than lasted 94 days it was nowhere long enough. You'll have to avg 521-mi per travel day. Of course you could drive straight thru to Rocky Mtn and on return section after Rushmore.
BTW, you will encounter very, very warm temps (100+) on the southern end - but it will be a very dry heat (3-10% humidity).
Planning is half (well maybe not have) of the fun of the trip. Get every family members' input and ENJOY the trip.
johnrbd wrote: I would do Rocky Mtn, Dinosaur, Arches at the beginning. Save you some travel time. 12500 miles is ambitious in 60 days.
I had that thought too but I a so VERY concerned that in Rocky Mountain National Park the Trail Ridge road wouldn't be open--some of our favorite hikes of all time are up there. Do you think Rocky Mountain roads will be open in early June?
12,500 is ambitious but not as bad as you suggest--my "daily average" is just over 200 miles. On my dedicated "travel days" I have put a limit of 500 miles. I expect to travel up to 100 miles daily at each park (some will be more ie Yellowstone, some will be less ie Redwoods).
We started planning this trip by putting a map on the floor and EVERYONE marking their favorite places--good advice on getting all participants input.
I won't make suggestions as to parks/campgrounds since I don't know what your preferences are vs. mine/my family's. I DO agree with the one reply to your post - 12,000 miles is a LOT of miles to cover, even in 60 days. Do the 75 if at all possible. In 2009 we did 8,300 miles in 35 days. Yes, we saw a lot, but the whole tour felt like a drive-by-shooting. We spent no more than 2 nights in any one CG. Why did we do this? Well, our agenda was to "fill in our map." We had five states left - NV, CA, OR, WA & ND.
Given you have children I'll suggest this - 2 or 3 days of driving (making what distance you can) with one or two days off the road. Trips like these are a tremendous learning experience for them but you want them to remember more than endless hours in the truck on the road. Sometimes you just need a day to hang out in the CG and do nothing more than swim in the pool - no schedule.
I will also tell you that you'll have to make some difficult choices. For every one thing/park you see or visit, you will have to forgo 10 others. Yes, planning is key and is also part of the fun - at least it is for me.
Good luck, enjoy & safe travels. And we thank you for your service to our country.
I see your concern about snow. According to NPS site, that road "normally" opens in late May, but there can be snow as late as July.
Checking weather conditions wherever you go these days is a must. As your experience in the Army has taught you - may need to be flexible as you travel on down the road.
As we traveled on our long trip, I would make adjustments each evening for the next days leg of the trip.
Drbolasky wrote: Given you have children I'll suggest this - 2 or 3 days of driving (making what distance you can) with one or two days off the road. Trips like these are a tremendous learning experience for them but you want them to remember more than endless hours in the truck on the road. Sometimes you just need a day to hang out in the CG and do nothing more than swim in the pool - no schedule.
Good advise. My usual MO for enroute travel is to stay at KOAs--I know they are expensive--but they almost always have pools. After I set up the rig--wife takes over setting up the interior / fixing dinner and I take the girls to the pool for an hour or so.
Finally we have installed a DVD player in my truck and typically get a DVD series to watch the duration of the trip. We don't turn the DVD player on immediately, but a couple of hours before we pull into our campground--great diversion and breaks up the trip.
johnrbd wrote: I see your concern about snow. According to NPS site, that road "normally" opens in late May, but there can be snow as late as July.
Checking weather conditions wherever you go these days is a must. As your experience in the Army has taught you - may need to be flexible as you travel on down the road.
As we traveled on our long trip, I would make adjustments each evening for the next days leg of the trip.
I just checked the NPS website for this year and the Trail Ridge road opened in mid May--maybe we will "dial down" our expectations for Rocky Mountain--see what we can--and then move on to Dinosaur NP. It would save us a couple of days of driving time I can apply to another portion of the trip.
We got home last Wednesday (July 11th) from a 65 day, 8,500 mile trip.
IMO you should leave a month earlier for the southern portions of this trip. We left home on May 7th and experienced very warm temperatures in southern Colorado and Utah during May. It may be a dry heat, but the sun is much stronger than in the humid East. Somewhat cool in the shade, but extremely hot when out in the sun.
For your consideration, we had the following destinations:
- Great Sand Dunes NP in southern Colorado - 650 ft high dunes you can climb.
- Mesa Verde NP
- Grand Canyon North Rim - We had visited the south rim on previous trips. The north rim is much less crowded and a higher elevation, making it cooler. The views from Cape Royal and Point Imperial were spectacular.
- We drove through Zion NP, but did not stay.
- Bryce Canyon NP - Absolutely spectacular.
- Capital Reef NP
- Arches NP
- Canyonlands NP Island In The Sky portion
- Dinosaur NM and the Utah Field House in Vernal
- Grand Teton NP (our favorite place) to cool off after the Utah heat.
- Yellowstone NP
- Badlands NP - a quick drive through, too hot in early July
We spent 4 weeks in Grand Teton and Yellowstone (Did I mention it's our favorite place?)
You should also consider adding Glacier NP to your list.
So many places to see, things to do, so little time!
(To cheap to buy new)
1990 37 ft 5th wheel that hasn't moved since 1996 (our best home)
1997 33 ft trailer (winter home in much warmer climate)
2005 25 ft M/H (our "stand up B" for traveling)
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