7 Month Retirement Road Trip

We are just starting to plan our 7 month road trip from the UK, covering as much of USA & western Canada as possible from April - Nov 2020, ending in Churchill to see the polar bears. Our aim is to cover the lower 48 & Alaska, Hawaii will have to wait. Flying in and out of JFK, hiring a long term rental SUV.
We have seen quite a lot of the USA on previous trips, Rocky Mountain NP, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands, Grand Teton, Glacier, Sequoia & Kings Canyon, Monument Valley, Blue Ridge Parkway, Big Bend, Mt Rushmore, Devil's Tower, Route 66, west coast north to south and so on.
We plan to re-visit some as well as the major cities we haven't yet seen such as Washington DC. We enjoy seeing the tourist areas, but prefer to see the back roads and small town America. We enjoy doing railroad trips, loved the Durango to Silverton railroad. Would appreciate any advice, hints, tips as to routes, must sees, no matter how small, or off the beaten track. Thank you.

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

Sounds like a fantastic adventure ! However at this point it's almost impossible to offer meaningful suggestions on a trip of this size as it would run into tens of thousands of route and attraction options, especially as we have no idea of your proposed routes and interests! As you move forward with your plans and have specific questions about an area you are visiting we can help fill in the gaps and offer alternatives. This site has great planning resources so dig around a bit and you will find, route and attraction info, the Maps and planning tips.

Enjoy the planning and ask as and when you need.

As Dave mentioned, while this sounds like a great trip, trying to narrow down the millions of things you might be interested in seeing or doing into meaningful suggestions really isn't possible at this point.

However, I think at this stage - being a couple years out - thinking about logistics is where I'd focus my time and energy. Have you already started work to get a long-term visa? Without a full tourist visa, you can only visit the US for 3 months - and your clock includes the entire time you spend in North America, so you can't take 3 months, drive into Canada for a while, and come back and get another 3 months.

You probably should also give some thought to your vehicle. If you find a way to be here for 7 months, then you might examine the possibility of purchasing a car, or finding a long term lease. Buying a car, and then getting it licensed and insured, as a non-resident is not an easy task, but renting an SUV for 7 months could also be extremely expensive.

Have you read all of the website of the US London Embassy, and your local consulate? This is your most important task before you even start thinking about a trip to the US. Touist visas are normally granted for 90 days maximum. After that you must leave the continent, before returning. If you are eligible, it pays to apply for a visa, all of which have their own conditions. Most, other than work and student visas, give you six months in the US - read that as North America, since you must leave the continent at the end of the six months. One such visa is, if you have immediate family in the US. Then you can stay for up to six months, without a stipulation as to how long you need to be off the continent, before returning.

The ONLY other way I can see you doing this is to start in Canada, and when ready enter the US (including Alaska). Your 90 days start with your first crossing into the US. After that you must exit the continent.

If this were me, I would break this into two trips, spending a month and a half in Canada (not including Alaska), and then enter the US for your 90 days.

All this of course, assumes you do not have some other eligibility to travel to and stay in the US for longer periods.

Lifey

You've been out West but you probably haven't explored the San Rafael Swell area. These are mainly dirt an gravel roads through some wild desert and mountain areas. This includes Goblin Valley State Park which I found fascinating, and was the setting for part of the movie Galaxy Quest.

https://www.carbon.utah.gov/attracti...-rafael-swell/

You can greatly add to your experience by geocaching your way through the west.

https://www.geocaching.com/play/search

It can take you fascinating places you otherwise would have missed.

http://www.sanrafaelcountry.com/san-...eocaching.html

The castlecountry link is no longer active. Another link to the area is https://sanrafaelswell.org

And here are some more articles about this area, we've published.

Off-Road and Inside the San Rafael Swell, by Del Albright

And one I wrote about using I-70 to explore the area.

Mark