Final family holiday?

Hi,

Like many people on this forum I am planning an RV summer trip next year from the UK and have found this site useful with some good information, and like many, it seems quite a few are going to similar places having read the threads and links. I’m planning a 6 berth vehicle but here is the conundrum, do I do a circular or linear trip? I’ve figured on a 14 night hire with a few days either side to go to Disney etc. There will be 5 of us, 3 kids and I’m guessing this will be the last family holiday before the eldest steps out on his own.

I want to experience California, initial thoughts are flying into and out of San Diego from the UK, doing San Francisco, LA, Yosemite and Las Vegas and…… if possible go look at some cowboy and Indian stuff too!, which I guess will mean travelling to Utah or Arizona. Is this a bit of a tall order within that time scale?

Of course, I want this to be right and appreciate that taking an RV into a city centre such as SF maybe challenging, can you park them in centre parking lots or leave them at the RV park and get shuttles into the centre? I have heard that getting an overnight stay in Yosemite is nigh on impossible, a bit tricky to drive in and out in a day given the size of it.

I have thought of doing 4 -5 hour drives at the most per day, so I guess that will limit the square miles I can actually cover, look at the finer points of your fair country, eat, open a bottle of wine and sit back to chill. I’m going to research using the powers of reading what literature I can get hold of but some heads up information would be good for starters. I’m not expecting someone to write an itinery for me, but some good start points would be appreciated to make sure I can cram in the best within such a time scale.

Anybody prepared to give me some pointers? This really is the initial stage of planning so and not tied to any specific times, durations, hire companies or places so it would be great to get a good start.

Thanks in anticipation, Mark.

Welcome!

A RV is a lifestyle choice, not necessarily an economical choice. Have you considered a car and hotels instead? RV's in large cities are a big hassle.

A tip - whatever city you choose (and a circular trip would be the most economical way no matter which way you do it) you should plan on going between SF and LA in a southbound direction if you plan on taking the coast road. This will put the scenic pullouts on your side of the road.

Hi, thanks for the quick response. Yes, we had thought of that but the idea of stopping in a camp site and sitting out appeals to us much more. I stay in hotels every week and it isn'ty what I want from a holiday. Funnily enough, we discussed that last night.

Thanks, Mark.

Hello and welcome to RTA !

With your 'wish list' of places to visit you are much better suited to a loop trip really. In this case you can start from any one of the City's on your route. Therefor, look at the cheapest place to start from with combined flight and RV rental costs by price comparing. It would seem your choices would be LA,SD, LV or SF.

Starting in LA for example you could go LA>SD>Grand canyon>Zion NP [Utah] Las Vegas> Yosemite[via Death valley]> San Fran and back to LA. Travelling in this direction [rom anywhere] will put the Ocean on your side of the road when heading south down the coastal Highway. Other options along the way would include Hoover Dam, Monument valley, Antelope canyon and Bryce canyon to name a few.

There are a limited number of RV parks around SF and a quick search will reveal them. [The names of them escape me] One in particular I know has a shuttle bus service downtown. If you were to start in SF, I would not pick up the RV untill the day you leave to begin the road trip. As this trip is for next summer you should have no problem getting an RV site in Yosemite. As with all major parks you will need to book as soon as the booking window opens, [literally] to secure a spot. It's well worth it, as it saves the time and hassel of driving in every day and you can catch the free shuttle buses around the parks and the leave the RV where it is. You can find all the info at nps.gov on all parks and campgrounds within them.

With 14 days you could cover all these places, but it would mean keeping on the move and you will have to sit down and discuss how long you plan to spend in any one place.

A few years ago we made our first RV trip out of San Fran and loved every moment. If you have the time you might get a few ideas from our report found here. Camping in the National parks is truly amazing !

You will find a lot more reading material throughout the forums, so have a little search around and as new questions crop up, just ask !

Three RV parks in San Francisco area, according to my (several year old) Good Sam atlas and confirmed with Google. San Francisco RV Park and Candlestick RV Park both use the same website, click here. The other is Marin RV. Years and years ago that was a parking lot with hookups, and from what I understand, it still is!

I agree with the above recommendation -- don't get the RV until just before you leave SF.


Donna

If you are going to spend a few days either end of the RV trip at places like Disney, then flying into LA would seem more logical. You can pick up the RV after doing Disney when leaving LA, and drop it off, before you go to see the other attractions on your list, at the end.

For the rest I have to agree with what is written above.

Lifey

Hello All and thanks to those who responded.

Now at least I have some indication how and where to kick this trip off. I'd sort of figured that it would be pointless having a huge camper sat outside a motel while we did the Disney stuff, though I guess they have RV parks.

Job for this week end is purchasing maps and a book to sort out the fundementals. Thanks to Southwest Dave for the loop suggestion, can I avoid D Valley? The company I am looking at for the hire do not prohibit going thru' it but is things go pear shaped I can't turn to them for help and all costs will be borne by me, which isn't very enticing. Hope the UK summer isn't causing you any problems down there.

Yes, I have plenty of time for planning and this is precisely why I've started this early with the high costs for this holiday, it's gotta be spot on. What's the story if you decide you can't get to a camp site because it's too late and pull up somewhere, will you get the Boys in Blue knocking on your door at 03.00 or is it just not the done thing?

Thanks, Mark.

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Hope the UK summer isn't causing you any problems down there.

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Summer ?! That's long gone, we had 2 weeks in March. ;-) A few branches down [one huge one ner my house] in these gales still blowing, but not too bad. Thanks.

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can I avoid D Valley?

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Yes you can. You could head north out of Vegas on US95 to NV266/CA266/NV264/US6/CA120/US395/CA120 and into Yosemite NP over Tioga pass. [Not as complicated as it sounds]. If Vegas was not a must, or you visited on the way to the GC, then from Zion NP you could cut across to Tonopah via the ET highway. [See the route in the report I linked you too. It will be in reverse order.] A third option would be to head south around the mountains via Barstow and Bakersfield and perhaps visit Sequoia NP.

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What's the story if you decide you can't get to a camp site because it's too late and pull up somewhere, will you get the Boys in Blue knocking on your door at 03.00 or is it just not the done thing?

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Either that or worse still, an angry land owner ! As I mentioned previously, if you work your itinerary out I would book the NP campgrounds as soon as possible. They are in wonderful settings, will save driving and the hassel of getting in and out of the parks which could save a couple of hours driving or more. If you don't want to be tied down that's fine, but a lot of your 4-5 hours of driving per day could be eaten up driving around looking for campgrounds and in and out of parks. Most parks have free shuttle buses, so once parked up you can have a day or 2 with no driving and relax. Remember these places are HUGE !

In a pinch, you can park a RV overnight in a truck stop, with permission. It would be courteous to give them some business in return, such as buy a tank of fuel.

No, I think Dave's right. Book the sites ahead and use that type of lay over in the case of emergencies. After all, it would look rather odd BBQ ing on a forecourt.

I'll check out the maps and when I have some specifics come back to you. You've been most helpful. Thanks.

Hello again. Right, I went out and got some info and spent two days pouring over a map of the West and reckon I have a plan.
day 1 & 2, Hollywood, Downtown LA & Disney and I'm going to treat us to Mustang
Day 3 I thought about S Diego or maybe just head out to LV thru' Joshua Tree park. [I]Would I be missing anything by not going to SD, not wishing to offend anybody but a city is a city? Right or wrong?
Day 6 Flagstaff via Boulder, Hoover & Jerome for some cowboy stuff.
Day 7/8 Short drive to G Canyon
Day 9/10 Zion & Bryce
11/12 Yosemiti, is it too far to drive that in one day in an RV, should I plan a stop over?
13 Is the southern tip of Lake Tahoe worth a visit?
14/15 S Francisco
16 head down the coast road stopping at either S Maria or S Barbara for a day on the beach before returning the vehicle on day 17
This makes sense on paper but what about in reality?

Hi Mark,

My advice to you would be to very carefully weigh up the balance between driving time and time spent out of the RV to see where you are driving to. Especially when you are travelling with kids out west where the distances cannot really be comprehended by somebody from the UK until you've driven them. It is a difficult balance to make because there are so many wonders to see, but to take on too big an intinerary can result in you visiting lots of places but not really seeing any of them.

We had a holiday partly in an RV in the area you are considering which is recounted here.

It surpised me how much slower it was to travel in an RV once you are off the interstate and some of the drives we did took several hours longer than I had planned.

Sorry to be a little negative with my comments compared to others, but I can imagine you ending up on a relentless itinerary driving a bus for hours and hours every day with a frustrated family in the back if you take on too much.

Hope this helps.

UK

Hi,

Completely agree with you. That's why I thought I'd send the agenda out because it's one thing to plan it out on a map where it all looks easy enough but then its a different ball game behind the wheel of a 30 foot vehicle.

I must admit, I do a lot of driving but I am often outside of the law. Having driven to the south of France a number of times I figured this wouldn't be difficult, just takes longer in such a vehicle. My plan is to spend maybe 3 - 4 hours driving, is my agenda too busy?

A couple of quick thoughts.

First, with 5 people, a Mustang is not going to be a treat. Even if all of your kids are small, its just a tiny backseat, and its just not enough room for 3 people. I'm guessing that since this is likely your last trip will all of your kids, then at least one or two of them are teens, and that's going to be very uncomfortable. I also don't know that you'd have enough room for 5 people's luggage, even if you pack very light. Even if its just for cruising around LA, I wouldn't recommend it for a family.

With your routing, the one problem would be the possible stop at Lake Tahoe, which would be a place you'd want to stop before Yosemite, if you choose to visit it. Tahoe is east of the Sierras, while the Yosemite Valley is on the west side.

Much of the rest of your plan is ok, although it doesn't really fit your goal of only driving 3-4 hours a day. Nearly all of your drives are quite a bit more than that.

LA to Vegas by itself is about 5 hours, and detouring to Joshua Tree would add several more hours to it.

Bryce to the East Gate of Yosemite (before Tioga Pass) is a 9-10 hour drive. If you are up for a long day on the road, you could travel to Lee Vining, and then actually enter the park the next day. But if you only want to drive 4-5 hours a day, you'd need to spend at least one more night on the road.

SF to LA via the coast is a pretty full 2 day drive. If you only want to drive 4-5 hours a day, or want to spend a lot of time on the beach during this section, then you'd need to spend at least 2 nights/3 days for this drive.

OK, thanks, obviously I need to rethink the route or add a couple more days. Perhaps skip Lake Tahoe and put an extra night in between Bryce and Yosemite as a starter and stopping off somewhere in between LA & LV.

You are right, eldest lad will be almost 18 on this trip. Loose plan was to get a shuttle bus to the hotel and then the car from a downtown branch, having been to Virginia & N Carolina several times the flights don't get into the US until late am which would be a wasted rental day. Back to the maps again tonight then.........

As for UK's comments, no problem. I need to know how it really is otherwise a holiday of a life time could turn out rather disasterous. Thanks to all who have contributed.

From the Grand canyon you need to go to Bryce canyon and then to Zion not the other way around. From Zion you could take the ET Highway part of the way towards Tonopah and Lee Vining. I wouldn't go any further than Lee Vining on that day and in actual fact I would recommend Millers Rest just west of Tonopah for somewhere to bunk down for the night.

Been reviewing the maps again and trying to figure out a place to stay en route between LA & LV, given the comments above I thought I'd be a little less optimistic with distance. I had thought of travelling on the outskirts of Joshua Tree on the 62 but there doesn't appear to be a great deal except 29 Palms which is a town predominently set up for the Marine base I guess? I'm thinking maybe Lake Havasu is a little too far, and in any case I wanted to take the 95 north to Vegas from Vidal Jnctn. Just liked the look of that road!

Anybody got any good spots somewhere in the middle?

Are Clarks & Granite Pass particularly high and windy stretchs of asphalt?

29 Palms has a good selection of lodging. There's a lot more to it than just the base.

Not to try to change your routing, but I'd be inclined to go through Joshua Tree and spend the night in 29 Palms, then take Amboy Rd to Amboy, then Kelbaker Rd up into the Mojave Preserve - exiting via Cima or Nipton, then on to LV.

If you just want to sightsee out the windshield, you can actually go from LA through Joshua Tree and the Preserve and make it to LV in one day.

The only really viable lodging options between LA and LV are in Barstow, 29 Palms, Lake Havasu, Needles, and Laughlin/Bullhead City.

Thanks for the tip. Don't mind people trying to changing my routing, at the moment I'm very fluid and it's precisely the reason why I joined this forum. I thought that road, whilst having delightful scenery, would also eat into the day but it is certainly worth considering.

Has anybody been to Jerome, is it worth a detour? I had thought of going to Flagstaff but given my replanning of time wondered whether from Vegas we should just head toward G Canyon. I think UK Road Warrior got it right about seeing lots of places without seeing them and that's not what I want so I am going to have to be quite disciplined about where we go. But I did quite like the idea of walking up Humprey's Peak (highest point in AZ apparently)

Hi Mark. I got your PM, but it's much simpler and more beneficial to keep all questions about your trip in the forum.

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Hi Dave,

Just re reading your trip report and I have found Benton and Tonopah but not Millers Rest. I assume that's not a town but a watering hole and camp site? Couldn't find it thru' Google either. Which is the nearest town on the "6"?

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Millers rest area is about 13 miles west of Tonopah on US6. With stops along the way [Warm Springs/ LittleAle'Inn] it was quite a full, but relaxing day on the road to Zion NP. It's location was ideal for us between Yosemite and Zion and especially as we were 'rollin' in' quite late in the evening. It's popular with bird watchers, but careful when walking across the lawn in the morning, you might get an unexpected shower from the timed sprinklers !

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Having driven to the south of France a number of times I figured this wouldn't be difficult, just takes longer in such a vehicle.

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The loop you are planning in this 'small corner' of the US you are visiting will be like driving from Lancashire to the south of France and back again [plus some] while trying to see several attractions along the way. Your trip is perfectly doable, you just have to remember how big it is ! Although nowhere near as many road miles, Yosemite NP would cover a ground area almost 70% the size of Lancashire !

I would probably skip SD and head straight to the GC from Vegas, perhaps with a stop at Hoover dam and a possible detour onto route 66 through Seligman on the way. Take an overnight stop on the way to Yosemite to allow yourself plenty of time to stop and admire the views over Tioga Pass and skip Lake Tahoe. If you had another night to spare between GC and Bryce/Zion you could fit in a detour to Monument valley.

Thanks Dave, SD & Lake Tahoe has been sacked from the agenda and it looks like Flagstaff is heading the same way to try to fit Monument Valley in, I was looking at that last night. Hoover dam is on the agenda but as a stop, take photogs and off again, as is the 66 for a short while. This is starting to like a plan thanks to the invaluable contributions of you and the people on this site, brilliant!

Millers rest is looking like the place between Yosemite and Zion and I think we'll throw in an extra day between SF and LA. The analogy between Lancs and Yosemite is interesting though while Lancs has some really nice area's it has more than i's (certainly not fair) share of daggy places too.


I'll keep all notes on this thread, if it helps others then great, I just didn't want to bother people with minute detail.

Lancashire to France and back. Hmmmmm....... We normally do it in two days (not back again!) but I am rather hoping we don't experience 300km traffic queues as the Parisians evacuate their city en mass. Thanks once again, Mark.

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Originally Posted by Newby Traveller

...had thought of travelling on the outskirts of Joshua Tree on the 62 but there doesn't appear to be a great deal except 29 Palms which is a town predominently set up for the Marine base I guess?

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I know you've already tossed this location as a place to stay, but I'll add a suggestion you re-think about putting it back in. The Twentynine Palms Inn is an old resort that's historically been a retreat for Hollywood A-listers. It's still a semi-secret hideaway for Hollywood insiders. Peter & Carole Thody stayed there a couple of years ago and still count this place as one of their best discoveries and they've stayed at some of the most interesting lodging choices in America. It's not real fancy and there are a range of pricing options, but it would be memorable place to stay for a night or a week....

It's also home to a remarkable collection of murals... here's one

Mark

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Originally Posted by Newby Traveller

... I just didn't want to bother people with minute detail.

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You'd be amazed at how many people want minute detail, and will be only too glad to read your plans... in detail.

Lifey

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Lancashire to France and back. Hmmmmm....... We normally do it in two days (not back again!)

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The big difference is you are 'just' heading to the south of France as a journey and not what I would describe a road trip to be. A true road trip makes the adventure as much about the journey and stops as it does about the destination. From home to France, imagine making 'quick' detours to visit the Peak District, Snowdonia, London, Paris and perhaps throw Geneva and Mont Blanc into the mix along with a couple of other French parks, and then you can get a better comparision to timing. ;-)

You are in for an amazing trip and don't hesitate to ask questions, no matter how small a detail.

Dave.