Bonding Road trip from SF/Oakland to NYC with my wife this summer

Hate to be the newbie with ambitious plans, but here I am.

I am new to RTA and have been looking around a bit. I was hoping to get some advice as to where are some nice camping spots en-route to to NYC. We are thinking of taking at most a month driving through the northern states via the route suggested by google maps, and then heading south and driving back passing the southern states, Texas, then hit the Grand Canyon and maybe even the Hoover Dam before heading home to Oakland. It would be nice to find camping spots on the way back as well, but we are still in the planning stages. We are expecting to spend about 3,000 and make this an adventurous and bonding experience for me and my wife.

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

You have a lot more 'work' to do before we can be of much help to you. A trip that spans the width of the Country twice, with a Month to explore leaves a million miles of Highways and Byways to choose from and tens of thousands of attractions and Campgrounds, on top of that we know nothing of your combined interests.

To start with you need to get a good map, do a little research and get some dots on it to include places you want to visit. I am not sure why you would want to follow a preconceived mapping program route that will bypass many of the countries great wonders while travelling on Interstate. North of I80 are the National parks of Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, Mt Rushmore, Badlands through Chicago and a lot, lot more. To the South of I80 you could cut through Utah and Colorado and the NP's of Zion, Bryce, Arches, Canyonlands, Black canyon, Rocky Mountain NP, through St Louis. On the way home the list of possible places to visit is endless, so I would get back to the planning [It's half the fun!] and as you have new questions and want help in joining 'those' dots then just ask.

Your budget could be a little tight [?] as you could spend $1500 quite easily on gas and camping fees. That would leave you with only $50 a day for 2 people for all other expenses.

Enjoy the planning !