VA to Utah in Sept. 2016

[Bobbiej]

We are planning a trip out west to see most of Utah. My only real concern is the best route through the mountains. We have a 29' 1997 Winnebago Brave. Though we have been through some of our adventures, none like we will see once we get into Colorado. Any ideas on the best route out there? I'm not a fan of Route 40, having been that highway many times through Ark. I thought a more northern route would be something new.
Thanks for any ideas!

[DonnaR57]

Welcome to RTA!

A couple of questions before we can help you a whole lot:

How many weeks are you planning for the trip? In a motorhome, it's going to be 5-6 days just to get from VA to UT.

What are your concerns regarding the mountains? Are you towing a vehicle?



Donna

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

A road trip is a unique and personal experience to each traveller which separates them from a pre-planned tour from travel agents. That's the reason you will see a popular theme here, that there is no generic 'best' route or 'best' attraction, all that matters is what is best for you and that will come down to your interests, how much time you have available and if your aim is to get out west as quickly as possible or start your sight seeing from the moment you set out. So far we don't have any clues to what these factors might be.

We have travelled through Colorado and Utah in a 30ft RV and by just using a bit of common sense and staying on the 'black top' there is no major concern for driving an RV in these mountain areas, many people do. What I would suggest you do is search around the forums and look at the maps to collect info and find what your main points of interest are and then once we have some points and a timescale we can help to 'Fine tune' your trip and make suggestions.

Even for September you should consider booking RV sites in the National parks asap as they are limited in number and highly popular, although demand does drop off in the 2nd half of the month it's still worth consideration imo.

[Bobbiej]

We have no time limit for this trip. Once we are done seeing all we can see, we will head south to Deming NM. We have family there, so will stop in for a visit. Yes we will be towing a Jeep. My concern is climbing the mountains! Since we don't have a time limit, I thought avoiding the extremely high elevations might be better.

[Bobbiej]

I'm sorry I guess I could have added a little more information! No time limit, no particular place to be. We will be just taking our time and enjoying the views. Utah is on my bucket list, so off we go! I thought there might be suggestions for a route that was better than another. We are thinking about a more northern route heading west since we will be traveling a southern route when we return. We normally fly out west, rent a car and roam everywhere. So driving the northern route will be a new adventure for us.

[Lifemagician]

Without time restraints and with no particular place in mind - my kinda trip.

Your reference to a northern route does not specify which one you are looking at. But if you get out your maps, you may like to check out the following:

Look at US12 and/or 200 across the northern route, especially through MT, ID and WA. These are scenic routes which at times will take your breath away. High speed limits, but on the whole lightly travelled, so ample time to mosey and stop to check out all the scenic and historic points of interest along the way.... more so on 12 than 200.

I could have taken a week, rather than a few days.

Then there is US-2, which is also a historic route and very scenic in places. Unfortunately completely clogged with oil tankers and traffic in the western half of ND.

Lifey

[Bobbiej]

Thank you, Lifemagican, for you tips. I will look into your recommendations. No, we haven't pick a route as of yet. I'm still just looking at different areas that we might want to see. We enjoy the ancient history of our country and just the landscape. We enjoyed coming across the mid and west bare landscape of Texas. Not so sure it would it would be our first choice again but we are glad we did it al least once. Thanks again.