summer cross country rv trip

[meatman921]

Hello.My fiance and two children are planning to travel from california to ny in our first road trip in our new 40' bounder.we would like to zig-zag and stop at historical places and amusement.We would like the children to see as much as they can as the biggest adventure trip of thier lives (as well as ours) can you help plan a route?

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America forum.

...but a bit more information would be of help. How much time do you have for the trip? How old are the children? What are their interests? What are yours? Is there a particular period of history that you're interested in? What part of California are you coming from? By 'amusement' do you mean Amusement Parks or something quieter?

As a first stab at this, I'm going to suggest that you start by heading for Las Vegas, which has become much more family oriented over the years, and then come up through southeastern Utah and see the great national parks there (See this current thread for some ideas for a similar journey). Continuing via I-70 through Denver, you would then be in position to follow the old Oregon Trail into the Midwest and then the old National Road into the northeast.

See what of that appeals to you and also what ideas of your own it triggers, then come on back for more ideas,

AZBuck

[meatman921]

Hi AZBuck.

Thanks for your reply. Here is some more info: We have a total of 1 to 2 months we can spend (2 months max). The girls are 6 and 15. Our interrests are very wide and varied. We do love old ghost towns and things of that nature. We know we want to hit Dolores, CO which is where my fiance and I met when we were 15, and we want to see Niagra Falls. We are not much interrested in Amusement Parks (althought the I'm sure the 6 yr old would disagree!). We are in Southern California, 55 miles from Los Angeles. We love the simple life.

Thanks again for your response, and any suggestions you have are truly appreciated!

Meatman921

[AZBuck]

OK - now I see that you really do have time to do some serious zigzagging. I'll still stick to my basic route recommendation, but you can go a bit far afield from that. For starters you should probably add the north rim of the Grand Canyon to your itinerary. It's relatively easy to reach from the Zion area via UT-9, US-89, US-89A, and AZ-67, and offers a slightly more unspoiled and unique venue for seeing the canyon than the more developed south rim.

I had thought about the possibility of suggesting southern Colorado, so since you have the time and want to hit Dolores anyway, you could head south from I-70 seeing Arches National Park and continuing on to the Black Canyon of the Gunnisonand Mesa Verde National Park. You might also want to consider a ride on an old steam train. From southeastern Colorado, head up to the north central part of the state and Rocky Mountain National Park.

I'll see if I can come up with some more suggestions later.

AZBuck

[RoadTripper 101]

Hi
It would help if you could give a little more detail. I have gone cross country 6 times and also the eastern seaboard (mostly rt 95) 28 times. If you could at least give some other cut in stone places you must visit I would be glad to help. I have made travel binders by day with information for each day seperated by a divider. It helps a lot. You can request infor from states you plan to visit on line. You can also get this type of info from individual towns/cities/National Parks. The National Parks Pass costs $50.00 and is good for the family and for a year from when you purchase. It is well worth it if you plan on visiting more that 2 or 3 parks. Individual fees are 10-20 per park.
Diana

[AZBuck]

Try this for the best listing of Ghost Towns I've found on the web. As for history, while you're traversing Colorado, look into some of the old mining towns like Leadville and the Blackhawk/Central City area. Although the later are now more of a gambling mecca, they still preserve a good bit of there history. As I said before, once you're out onto the plains, the old Oregon Trail makes a great historic backbone for the trip. Besides the many rock formations that the pioneers used as reference points, be sure to also drop in on some of the old cavalry forts in both Kansas and Nebraska.

Now, if you've got the time for a big zig and zag, one of my favorite historic roads is the Natchez Trace Parkway from roughly Natchez, MS to Nashville, TN. Besides being a gorgeous road in its own right, it has several sites along its length that tell the story of the boatmen who would float farm goods down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers in the days before steam power, break up their boats in New Orleans and sell the lumber, and use the Trace to get home. This road also passes relatively close to some of the major deciding battles of the Civil War such as Vicksburg and Shiloh. Making this detour would then put you in position to finish off your trip up to NY with visits to some of the great scenic and historic sites of the east such as Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Monticello, Washington, DC, and Philadelphia.

AZBuck

[meatman921]

this is some really great information! let us have some time to research these and ( may take a while as we are still preparing for the move and just about to recieve the rv) get back to you.As we start to plan we would like to stay in touch,sounds like you know quite a bit of great info,thanks for your time and effort in uor new adventure!

[Mark Sedenquist]

Hello.My fiance and two children are planning to travel from california to ny in our first road trip in our new 40' bounder.

Wow! I didn't even know Bounder made a 40-footer -- that is a lot of truck! Sounds like a grand adventure. Even if you are an experienced RVer you will probably find this tip list valuable when you take your first "shake-down" run and I suggest you print it out and test all of the on-board systems as Mark Helmlinger recommends. Don't be put off by the "rental RV" title -- I use a similar checklist for any RV rig.

I must have missed it -- but when is this trip planned for?

Mark

[meatman921]

ya,it's a lot of truck alright and we will also be towing a nissan.the trip will start the last part of June. whew lot of work and planning still to do!!