Thanks Donna,Quote:
Originally Posted by DonnaR57
I have a plan , just need the time and money.
John
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Thanks Donna,Quote:
Originally Posted by DonnaR57
I have a plan , just need the time and money.
John
Awesome report John. Ill give you all my stuff and you can do my report. lol. We were stuck at airport similar time. Not much you can do when flight is leaving late at night and you have luggage. Didnt want to get stuck in peak hour traffic so gave car back and sat at airport.
Keith
No problem Keith,just send it down. I have just started on the photos agian. I will live this trip forever.
We were quite happy to sit at the airport. I think we were ready for home.
John
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.
http://www.roadtripamerica.com/photo...m/usa_2013.jpg
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 thats 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 wont add up anymore.
Im 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 its 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
Absolutely brilliant trip report and photos thanks for taking the time to put both your trip reports together I have thoroughly enjoyed reading them. You must have a room at your house just filled with empty luggage! Cant wait for the next one :)
Trip reporting details copied and moved to the $$ reporting section of this forum.
A really excellent report. Thanks so much for allowing us to cruise along with you.
Mark
Thanks Harry16. It was a wonderful trip and enjoyed putting the report together. I have the next two trips planned but just need to accumulate some money and leave from work. Not to long I hope though.Quote:
Originally Posted by harry16
John
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Sedenquist
Thanks Mark,
but without the help from the forum and wondeful members we wouldnt have been able to put this road trip together as well as we did.
Thankyou
John
John,
Thanks for sharing all of your experiences. Nearing the end of our trip and keeping up with the daily posts I appreciate the time and effort you have put into this, especially after the trip. I concur that the camping experience is special, but appreciate a motel, especially in urban areas.
Thoughts for East Coast - October would be great for mid-Atlantic. We have been surprised at how warm and humid Florida has been in mid-November. Always hard to find the perfect weather combination. So much to see and experience once you get on the road.
Again thanks for the beautiful photos and detailed reports.
-Pat
Thanks Pat. I too have been following your trip as well and very enjoyable. With the east Coast we would love to experience the fall and the lovely colors.
I have a plan mapped out in my head but havent put it to paper yet. Knowing me it could end up another 2 month trip.
At the moment Im happily editing photos and dreaming of the next trip. We love our camping and had a great time on a 6 week trip to the USA in 2011.
We have done a few road trips camping in Australia for 6 weeks at a time but it is much different here as you can nearly pull up anywhere for the night. There is a published book called Free Camp Australia which gives location and ammenities available at each spot as well as GPS co ordinates.
John
Well we have been home 5 months since going on this toad trip and there isnt a day I dont think about it or talk to someone about the USA.
Im still trying to edit and sort all my photos for my website. I am down to 1500 and still editing. Then its time to start on the panoramics.
It wont be long before I start asking questions about Alaska 2015 or East Coast 2014.(Wishful thinking)
Cheers
John.
Hi John,
Thanks for a great trip thread as well as your planning thread. We will be referring to it a guide for our next trip.
I hope you don't mind my asking you a few questions about your road trip.
Unfortunately our 2013 US holiday was marred by the government shutdown. We arrived 1 October and departed 16 October, all of which was inclusive of the government shutdown.
Our planned two week itinerary on the mainland had to be thrown away - we missed out on Red Rock Canyon, driving along Route 66 en-route to the Grand Canyon (South Rim), and numerous other national parks along our planned route.
We then planned a week in Hawaii on our way home but missed out on the Pearl Harbour memorials.
We can count our blessings that our sea cruise to Alaska was the week before the government shutdown, so fortunately we were able to access the glaciers within the Glacier National Park.
So, we're planning on returning in 2015 when I can take my long service leave and do the road trip and much more that we missed out on doing this year.
I can't recall whilst reading through your threads whether you gave an opinion as to why you went with the Dodge Caravan camper rather than a full sized motorhome. Preliminary price comparisons I've made suggest the additional hire cost for a full sized motorhome is around 10% more than the camper. Was it the difference in fuel economy? Was the Dodge Caravan more maneuverable?
Our 2013 hire car was a GMC Yukon XL and we were quite surprised as to how fuel efficient the vehicle was.
Is there a camping app similar to WikiCamps Australia?
Hi Jardy.
Im sorry to hear that you were caught up in the shut down and hope that you have a better run next time.
This was our second trip to the USA and we used Escape Campers on both trips. I did some research on RVs but didnt like the idea of a large vehicle.
We liked the size of the Dodge caravan and could park it just about anywhere and could go to a National park or campground without the need for power or hookups.
Being in the summer it was easier to drive in and get a tent site without booking.
It was easy to drive,good on fuel and had all that we wanted.
I dont know what sort of RV you compared prices wth. We hired this for about $ 85.00 per day for peak season. That included full insurance, Unlimited miles (13946 miles), Roadside assistance,all linen and blankets,chairs,tables etc and a GPS included along with all maps.
No preperation fees on arrival or departure and all services and repairs fully refunded.
We also liked the paint job and drew a lot of attention and comments and met a lot of people who wanted to know about the van.
We also covered a lot of miles some days and the little van was a breeze and not tiring to drive and able to sit on the speed limit for hour after hour and not a lot of fuel.
Saying all that, If we were to go back with friends or family we would definetly look at a bigger RV with a lot more comfort.
Im not sure about any apps but we found a lot of information on the net.
I hope that answered some of you questions.
John
Well we have been home ten months from completing this trip and still think about this road trip daily. One reason is that im still editing ans sorting all the photos from the trip.
I dont do anything comercial with photgraphy other than post on my website or print for my own use.
Well I got an email a week or so ago from the campervan hire company.They spotted one of my photos from last trip while we were in a storm in South Dakota. They like it so much that they want to use it for a wall mural at one of their depots in the USA. I gave them the right to use the image and they will promote my website in exchange.
Also they will be looking after s on our next road trip.Hopefully in 2014. Im putting together a few more photos for them but will be very small files and not for free.
So now we have a reason to go back and check out the mural next year. |Until 2014 I will just have to keep reading all the planning and reports and just dream a bit more.
John
Wow! John, what an honour. So tell me, where will this mural be? I wouldn't mind checking it out if I happen to be in the area. (I leave in a fortnight.)
Are you going back this year? or should that read 2015?Quote:
Originally Posted by john.waters
Lifey
Thanks Lifey. Should read 2015. Boy its getting away. Not sure which depot yet. The sales/promotion guy is in San Fancisco but hasnt told me yet which depot.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lifemagician
Would love to be going back this year. We have been invited to go on the Ford Mustang Road Trip ftom LA to North Carolina for a week or so but just cant jsutify the expence for a week or so. Would be nice photographing all the Mustangs though.
This is the photo I have given them.
John
http://www.roadtripamerica.com/photo.../medium/sd.jpg
I can see why they would want it John, great image !
Dave.
Havent heard from them since giving them the file Dave. Still waiting for them to show me the finished product. It all takes time I suppose.
Meanwhile Im still editing photos from last year.
Would love to plan a new trip but have other priorities for a while. Alaska and the East Coast are still high on the bucket list with Canada.
Still dreaming of the next trip and looking back over old photos. Its been a long three years since this trip. Lots of things have got in the way of planning the next adventure.
It will happen so Ill keep on dreaming and reading about other peoples adventures.
John
John, have you heard anymore from Escape as to the mural? I was hoping to include it in my trip/
Lifey
I haven't spoken with them since I gave them the file. So not sure what their plan was. I have looked on their website but seen nothing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lifemagician
Planning a trip for 2017. Maybe to Alaska for my 60th birthday.
Thinking just Alaska then I plan it from San Francisco then add Oregon and Washington, Montana, Canada then Alaska then friend in Colorado, Oklahoma and California.
So much to do and so little time.
Just checking in. No Road trip planned for 2017. Had a bad year in 2016 and put off trips for a while. Work and poor exchange rate put a trip on hold for a while.
I had my computer crash so now re editing all my photo from 2013. A bit like going on a rip again. It would be very hard to plan another trip as we visited so many great places in 2013 that I would love to revisit. Bu I still see northern USA Canada and Alaska as our next destination.
John
Know the feeling John. Dollar exchange does not help. We would have been back by now but for health problems from within family. We will have to find cheaper accommodation next time maybe. It was available. Also gas is cheaper now. So much more to see and like you said, so many place we want to see again. All the best with your re editing of photo's. Keep you out of Sandy's garden for a while. :) I made slide shows and photobooks with mine. Just in case I did lose them. :)
Keith
Another year and still n o return plan to the USA. I cant believe its five years since last trip. So much has happened and so may changes.
I still have plans for to visit Alaska and Canada and the East Coast of the USA. I have the urge to process and edit another 20,000 photos.
Return trip.
I know the feeling John. We are planning for later in year. Anytime I start reading your road report, I get the urge to get my A into G and do something. Maybe you could have a huge Brom sale and you and Miss Sandy could head off again. Just kidding Miss Sandy hehehe. I enjoy reading your report.
Keith
Might suggest to her selling the broms to fund a trip.
Good luck.
Good luck with that John. haha. And of course there is no way I meant what I suggested hahaha.
Chicken Keith
Just having a look around. Cant believe its seven years since I put this Field Trip report up. Seems like it was only last week. Good memories are hard to forget.
Hello, John Waters!
Your field report was 'before my time' here on RTA, so I didn't have the pleasure of following the thread when it was first posted. Really nice work! You've got a good eye, and you took some beautiful photos. There's so much great stuff in the Forum archives, it's kinda nice when one of these classics pops back up again.
Rick
G'day Rick.
I agree with you. John and Sandy did a great job of this great trip they had. I will get on to him and let him know how his report is going. He may have found a few more pics to show us. I know he has been sorting through a lot that he hadnt processed yet. They live about 5 or 6 hours away from me over the border in NSW. We went to John's 60th and Sandy's Brom's have to be seen to be believed.
Keith