January Road Trip

Hi all -

Looking for any advice. My husband and I run a general store in upstate New York - and since January is a slow time of year, we're planning to hit the road. We've have three young children, 8yrs old, 5 yrs old and 3 yrs old. We think we might be able to borrow or cheap-rent a friend's RV and we'd like to head down to Florida and then out to the Southwest. We originally thought we'd like to eventually head out to Salem, Oregon, where a dear friend is, but I'm not thinking we have enough time or money (or patience, with three kids in an RV) to get that far, and make it back to upstate New York.

There are a bunch of things we'd like to see - we have some favorite children's museums down the east coast, in Philadelphia, DC and in Raleigh, NC - but I thought I'd see if anyone had some particular advice about routes.

Thanks,
April

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

At this point, we really don't have enough information to give you much in the way of help, especially in regards to routes and things to see.

Other than a very, very, rough outline of where you are thinking of going, we know really nothing about how much time you have, what you are looking at in terms of budget, or really any idea at all at the kinds of places you are interested in. We can help you with your planning, but we need to have more of a foundation before we'd be of much help.

One word of warning about the RV. Even if you get to use it for free, it might not be much cheaper than traveling in a car and staying in motels. You'll be using much more fuel, and you'd still have camping fees, which can easily be as expensive as a cheap motel. On top of that, RV travel in January is very tricky. A lot of campgrounds will be closed for the year, except in areas like Florida that cater to snowbirds. You also would be quite limited in using the RV's features, as you can see below-freezing temperatures in almost any part of the country, which could cause severe damage to things like water lines if they are not winterized. Its not a dealbreaker, necessarily, but depending upon what your overall plan is, it could be much more of a challenge than you are expecting.

We have about a month. We did a road trip down to St. Augustine - with lots of stops - about two years ago, but it felt like a bit much in a minivan, though I suppose we could do that again. We've been investigating boondocking and such, and since we plan to visit a lot of state parks, thought the RV idea might keep things within budget. But perhaps we should rethink that.

The general plan was to leave on Jan 2, and make our way down the east coast to the tip of Florida, then travel up around the gulf coast and head towards California. I wish I could say I have a budget number for you, but I really don't. I'll give it some thought and post again.

Thanks very much for your help,
April

You will find much information searching around the forums and checking out the planning pages in the tool bars above. For instance, you can create routes and find attractions in the areas you are travelling through by using the Map centre. Once you have found points of interest and have a few dots on the map, we can help fill in the blanks. With literally thousands upon thousands of different options available to you, it's simply impossible to make meaningful suggestions on a trip this size until you have the basics laid out.

Since you've already spent some time traveling on the east coast, and you've got a full month available, I'd give some serious thought to just heading out west, and do things like visiting your friend in Portland.

But that's my inclination to try to go to new places and find new things, rather than retracing my steps (there are plenty of places I've made return trips too, but even there, I try to make it a different experience).

In any case, the ball is very much in your court, and these are decisions you have to make. Until you've got a more of a plan, beyond a very rough concept, we really can't offer any specific suggestions.

Hello April,

You mentioned State Parks as places to explore. While this is generally a great idea, be aware of the likely restrictions as to overnight camping at State Parks during January.

Even as far south as here in NC and VA, the preponderance, if not all, State Park campgrounds are closed in winter. The water systems are not designed to resist freezing, and the traveler volume is so low it's a money-losing proposition to staff them in winter.

If overnight camping at State Parks is part of your planning outline at this point, I'd call ahead to determine what State Parks will be open.

Foy