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The Summary
The Trip
We had the time of our lives and met the most wonderful and friendly people and visited the most beautiful places.
13946 Miles and 31 States in eight weeks in a Campervan and would not have wanted to do it any other way.
We put in some long days but not hard days and never had to rush to get anywhere.
Just an idea of some of what we covered on the trip.
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Route 66 – Los Angeles – Albuquerque. – Chicago – Albuquerque
Wedding Anniversary and Mothers Day in Las Vegas.
Meteor Crater - Flagstaff
Standin on the Corner Winslow Arizona
White Sands National Monument - El Paso
The Alamo – San Antonio
Nasa Space Training Centre – Houston
Galveston
Oak Alley Plantation - Louisiana
New Orleans
Swamp Bayou Tour
Natchez Paddle Steamer Cruise- Wifes Birthday. New Orleans
Natchez Trace Parkway – Natchez – Tupelo
Memphis – Graceland
Chattanooga – Aquarium
Jack Daniels Distillery
Nashville – Grand Old Opry – Country Music Hall of Fame
Corvette Museum - Bowling Green Kentucky
Wild Turkey Distillery – Kentucky
Daniel Boon State Forest
Cumberland Falls
Great Smoky Mountain NP
Cherokee, NC
Blue Ridge Parkway – Cherokee to Front Royal (full length).
Shenandoah National Park – Skyline Drive
Washington DC
Arlington War Cemetery.
Gettysburg Museum
Lancaster Pennsylvania – Amish Communities.
Niagara Falls.
Gateway Arch St Louis
Route 66 – Chicago – Albuquerque
Rocky Mountains
Million Dollar Highway- Durango - Ouray
Mammoth Museum
Mount Rushmore
Crazy Horse
Bad Lands National Park
Beartooth Highway – Red Lodge
Glacier National Park – Montana
Going to the Sun Road – Glacier NP – St Mary
A day in Canada- Flooded out.
Seattle
Olympic National Park
Columbia River Gorge
Crater Lake NP
Avenue of the Giants
San Francisco
Yosemite National Park
Average Miles per day – 255 miles
Well that’s a rough idea of the trip.
The costing
The motels we stayed in ranged from $50 p/n to $300 for a night in the Bellagio in Las Vegas, New Orleans and San Francisco was having a big rainbow weekend so it was expensive.
Motels- 18 nights - $1752
RV Parks 6 nights - $195
Campgrounds – 13 nights - $244
Free nights 18
Total $2191
Average cost per night over 55 nights = $39.84 per night
Campervan Hire – All up cost for hire $ 4700 (Insurances + Unlimited Miles)
Fuel cost for trip $ 2100
Total $ 6800
Going by these figures it cost $8991 for Van hire, fuel and accommodation for the trip.
An average of $163 per day Van, fuel and accommodation.
Then add meals and sight seeing and park entrance fees it all adds up.
Air fares and insurance plus additional camera gear and souvenirs we got while on the trip all add up. Starting to get scary so won’t add up anymore.
I’m sure it could have been done a lot cheaper in a car and staying at motels, but I never done the research as we love the outdoors and camping and it’s the way we wanted to do it.
Maybe someone else might have an idea on what it would cost to car and motel for the same time and distance would be.
Would we do another trip the same?
On a smaller scale with more time yes. We want to go to Alaska and Canada but maybe take friends with us and get a bit bigger RV. At 56 my body takes a bit longer to recover from long days and hard beds.
Next Trip. Thinking of the East Coast. Car and Motel
We passed through some beautiful places and left some out as they deserve more time.
Probably around Late October. Start maybe from New York City and do a loop. Washington, Florida, South Carolina, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York State and whatever we can fit in. This is only an idea at the moment so not planning anything yet.
Summary.
Positives – Everything
Negatives – None
Cost – The overall cost was well within our budget and had some left over on out travel card and should be enough for car hire next time.
If you were to go to a travel agent and give them this list of places and ask them to plan it Im sure they would think you were crazy.
Our Rating 10/10
John & Sandy Waters
[complete trip report here]
