Recommendations for a new road tripper

Hi all - when I was little, my family traveled back and forth all over the US and Central America by car, but it was always to get to the destination.

Now with my own family, I find myself with seven weeks in June & July and a new Class-C (for us anyway) and a general direction:

We are looking to stay east of the Pacific ;-), north of I-80, west of the Dakotas and south of Calgary. The ideal trip would be a mix of 2-3 night stays and 4-5 short days on the road per week. If we could keep it to between 150 & 200 miles on a travel day, that would be best, but if we have a long haul (<400 miles) every 2-3 weeks, that's OK too. We want to get out, look at the scenery, take short hikes and see natural wonders and man-made curiosities.

As for staying the night, since we are self-contained, I'd prefer to stay away from RV campgrounds, and find places not too far off the beaten path to stay - every once in a while, find larger campgrounds with a dumping station. We like to enjoy nature (from primitive campgrounds to National Parks) and stay away from the yahoos who shoot guns and ride their OHVs in the middle of the night through the campgrounds - everything in its place right?

Stopping for a day or two every now and then in a city like Portland or Vancouver would be nice so the kids can see a movie and have a change in scenery.

Now the big question: recommendations? places to see, stay, avoid?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chris.williams

Now with my own family, I find myself with seven weeks in June & July and a new Class-C (for us anyway)

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Seven weeks sounds like heaven to us...(working in the RTA office). Welcome to the Great American RoadTrip Forum! Congratulations on the Class C RV. Where are you starting from?

To get started, you might read this field report, taken by Southwest Dave in Class C using Denver as a hub.

And this article I wrote about planning Family road trips.

Mark

Thanks for the info. We will be starting out from Santa Rosa, CA just as soon as the kids are out of school.

Where are you staying where you have OHV's and gunshots at your campsite in the middle of the night?

With your general outline you really could do a great loop of the best of the northwest, doing Yellowstone, Glaciers, and the Canadian Rockies (Banff, Jasper, etc), and then head back west and make your way down the coast via Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Redwoods, etc.

As far as those OHV's and gunshots are concerned.....if you stay at either commercial campgrounds, or campgrounds run either by national or state parks, you should be okay. The government parks usually have on-site hosts whose job is to ensure that crazies are quiet between certain hours! The crazies don't necessarily like paying $30/night to do that. I've heard friends talk about certain BLM sites as catering to such crazies.

Seven weeks with an RV....wow. We did that about 12 years ago, but haven't had the time since so we sold our rig. Now I wish we'd kept it, as this year we have 7 weeks and no rig!


Donna

The yahoo's have generally been in NF campgrounds such as Pillsbury Lake and Union Valley areas in NCAL.

I have thought much the same for a circle route - the loop seems to get larger as I look closer at the maps - that's why I had to restrict it to boundaries.

Any must see, must avoids?

At RTA we really don't do "must see's" because what I must see may not necessarily be yours. (For instance, in Philadelphia, I really want to see the Wanamaker Organ in Macy's. Other people could care less about that!)

"Must avoid" is also relative. Some folks love the crowds at certain places at certain times. I would make sure I wasn't anywhere near Sturgis SD at the time of the big rally there, and we are planning our trip to avoid being at a theme park on a summer weekend.


Donna