48 states in 60 days or less

[Hoss48]

My wife and I are teachers and we plan to take our 5 and 7 year old boys + 2dogs to 48 states this summer in a pop up camper. I need advice/ideas (especially for the east coast for beaches) for the following route:

Day 1-Begin Carson City, NV across Loneliest Road in America to Ely area, NV
Day 2-To southern Utah
Day 3-Hit four corners...stay in northwestern, NM
Days 4 and 5-Visit with friend's family in Texas Grand Canyon by Amarillo
Day 6- To northeastern OK or southwestern, MO while hitting SE tip of KS
Day 7- across MO, staying in western part of KY or TN
Days 8 and 9- Catch AR/MS while heading to New Orleans
Day 10- Stay in MS or AL along Gulf Coast
Day 11- Stay on Gulf Coast of FL (Any ideas!)
Days 12, 13, 14, and 15-Pick up mother-in-law at Orlando Airport and stay at Disney World these 4 nights. (She will be with us until reaching her home in Upstate NY.
Days 16 and 17- Savanna GA area (ideas/must sees?)
Days 18 and 19-SC beach (ideas?)
Days 20 and 21-NC coast (ideas?)
Days 22, 23, 24, 25, 26- Cover all coastal states to ME, then across NH and VT into northern NY to drop off MIL (Help! I need ideas for beaches to park a pop-up in for VA, MD, DE, NJ, CT, MA, NH, or ME.
Days 27, 28, 29, 30, 31-Visiting wife's family in upstate NY by Lake Champlain
Days 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37- We own a cabin in central PA and visit childhood friends
Day 38-western PA or eastern OH passing throught WV panhandle
Day 39- passing through OH, staying in southern MI
Day 40- passing through IN and IL, staying in eastern IA
Day 41- Cut up through WI into MN
Day 42- Staying in ND
Day 43- Down Rt. 83 to Mission, SD, where my wife and I used to teach
Day 44- Staying in NE
Days 45, 46, 47-Stay at my parents' home by Laramie, WY
Day 48- Yellowstone, WY
Day 49- MT
Day 50- Across ID chimney into WA
Day 51- Head down 395 into OR
Day 52-Home on 395 through CA into NV...Carson City...HOME!

We have 8 spare days. Please advise on things we must see or places we must stay on any part of this route. Remember...we have 2 dogs, 2 young boys, and a pop-up camper.

Thanks for your help.

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA forum!

I can certainly respect the idea to go on a quest trip like this where you are trying to hit all 50 states.

That said, I don't know if I would do it when you consider the kids and the dogs. You just end up adding a lot of miles for the sake of saying you drove through somewhere, even if you don't have time to do anything than just drive through it. You've got some stretches where you really are just planning to drive all day, zig zagging to get to the next state.

That said, it doesn't appear like you are trying to over-extend yourself too badly on your travel legs, so you would at least might have a chance to explore, and you've got some nice long stretches where you won't have your kids couped up all day, so that will help.

I don't have much in the way of advice for beaches, however, I would recommend using at least a couple of your extra days to break up some of those longer driving stretches, especially your trip from PA to WY.

[Mark Sedenquist]

My wife and I are teachers and we plan to take our 5 and 7 year old boys + 2dogs to 48 states this summer

Sounds like an awesome adventure -- Welcome to the Great American RoadTrip Forum!

Day 1-Begin Carson City, NV across Loneliest Road in America to Ely area, NV

I hope you stop in at the Nevada Hotel! Here is field report from the area.The KOA is a handy place -- actually if you are going to go to Great Basin NP -- a friend, owns a RV park/motel near the entrance and, while a bit rustic, it's location can't be beat.

Mark

[Hoss48]

Thank you for taking the time to write. I understand where you're coming from with sometimes zigzagging just to hit a state. You are right...sometimes that is what's happening.

That being said, I have two goals. One, I want my kids to see every state and every continent, including Antarctica, before they graduate from high school, or at least college. We travel quite a bit...in the past year, we have gone to Montreal, Puerto Rico, NYC, and Santa Cruz to Long Beach (cruise to Mexico).

Secondly, a major goal of mine on this trip is to spend quality time with my family...no tv, computer games, etc. I want to read, build puzzles, throw baseballs, ride bikes and things like that. Now-a-days, we have so much going on. I coach two sports during the school year. I have a good friend that has a similar situation, and he spent so much time coaching others' kids, that before he knew it, his own kids are graduating, but he didn't get a whole lot of quality time with them.

Good advice about PA to WY possibly taking some time to enjoy sights along the way. Any advice would be welcomed.

[Hoss48]

Thank you Editor for the link to info. about the Ely area and GBNP. I have already printed some info. after going to suggested links.

[Mark Sedenquist]

That being said, I have two goals. One, I want my kids to see every state and every continent, including Antarctica, before they graduate from high school,

Can I stow along? Speaking of zig-zag -- here is one of the best routes we know of (although yours is very good). (You need to click on "Our Journey" to see the map).

Here is a field report about South Dakota, I think you will enjoy and another one about the northern Pacific coast written by the same field correspondent.

Craters of the Moon will be a bit of a detour -- but it is very, very cool and if you can add the Going-to-the-Sun road -- none of you will ever forget it!

In fact, I am quite proud of our "Getting Out There" series of articles -- here is the directory page.

[Hoss48]

Once again Editor, thank you. I have just printed the suggested information and I am filing it away for future usage.

I really do need help finding a camping spot for the 4th of July this summer. I believe we should be located around North Carolina on the beach somewhere around that date. I want to lock in a site before they're gone.

Any help from someone from the Carolina area or someone who's spent the 4th of July on the beach somewhere in the Carolinas would be greatly appreciated.

[Flossy]

here is one of the best routes we know of

Mark, that does look like a good trip. Can you tell me whether it is doable in 6 weeks or is this a pipe dream on my behalf?