Northern California to Nashville, TN

[Tribeofour]

This is my first time posting, I though I would try it out & see if I could
get any suggestions. Traveling Mid March 2021!!!

We are a family of four we have a 2year old boy, 1year old girl, my husband & I. We are moving to TN in March! We will be getting a Camping Trailer is the plan. We have a Ford F-250 and are looking to pull with just the hitch. Not sure what kind besides it will be 26-28ft in length. On this road trip from California to Tennessee we will also have our pups and kitty's. So suggestions to point us in the right direction of brand would be much appreciated! We have family that just bought homes in TN and we are the last ones to get over there.
So driving seems like the best option for the family.
I was wondering does anybody have any suggestions about nice places to stop along the way? Any places of interest? We wanted to stop & see some kid friendly spots on our trip not just driving straight from Calif. to Tenn. We will be leaving in mid March so weather wont allow us to make some of the stops we wanted due to snow and/or weather conditions.
If anybody knows of any neat little towns & spots along the way to Tennessee let me know.
I just wanted to get some ideas of stuff to stop and get out of the truck along the way for both the kids, animals and us adults.

Thanks, Tribeofour

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

Before anyone could get into finer detail we would need to know a bit more. For example, how much time are you planning to spend making the journey ? Have you some stops already in mind and what route are you thinking of taking, where are you starting from ? What do you find interesting ? With a 2 and 1 year old child I don't think you need concern yourself with kid friendly attractions, just a nice park and enough fresh air each day should do, the same as you would do at home. Are you purchasing the camping trailer with long term future travels in mind or just for the move ? With the time of year, possible covid restrictions and the like it might not actually be the best option.

[Tribeofour]

This trip could take anywhere from 7-9days depending on the route. The only stop we were looking at doing we can’t because of the snow. We are open to any cute/fun towns people may know of. We are starting from Auburn, Ca. We love history, different/Corky towns, or sight seeing vistas. With the 1 & 2 year old children I’m looking to see if RV parks have playgrounds or yes open areas would be great also. I am buying a camping trailer with this moving trip in mind and will be living in it until we find a home in Tennessee. The market is so hot right now we have decided we will just have to be in the state if one pops up so we can jump on it. With the time of year we can’t help it due to selling our home here we have to go. I understand there is Covid restrictions but it doesn’t change the fact we are moving and would like to make this long drive as comfortable as possible for the kids and animals.

[Southwest Dave]

With the trailer and family you really don't want to be travelling more than 400 miles a day by the time you consider regular stops and hooking up and setting down each day, so you are looking at 5 to 6 days of travel. If it were me I would probably head south to I-40 and check out some of the route 66 towns, the Grand canyon and Petrified forest for example. That would be subject to checking road and weather conditions along that stretch. Barstow has RV parks or of you wanted something a bit quirkey, Calico ghost town has camping. (Not been so can't vouch for it) The Grand canyon south rim would make a lovely spot to stay over 2 nights and spend a day exploring. Getting there could include a trip on route 66 from Kingman through Peach Springs and Seligman. You could make it to Albu after that, but I would be tempted to stopover night near Holbrook and check out the Petrified forest before going to Albu. If that tempts you you could look at what other options are along the way, you could stop at Cadillac ranch near Amarillo for a photo op and stay over night in town, or push further. Elko city would be a full day on the road and you could have a look at Foss Res and State park. I would likely look at Lake Eufaula near Checota OK and Memphis for overnights before Nashville.

Of course they are just a few suggestions from many options along one route, of which there are many more. It's what I might do, but it's your trip and what you want to do is what counts. At the top and bottom of this page you will find many links to help you with your planning. The Map centre alone has many interesting stops listed and you can use advanced maps to help create your own route, check out roadtrip routes and articles and much more. Once you have some dots on the map, we can help fill in some blanks and answer any specific questions but until then it's a bit like throwing darts in a dark room. Enjoy the planning !

[DonnaR57]

Once you get the dots in order, we have an entire forum regarding camping in public campgrounds. It covers state and national forests, state and national parks, with a few city and county parks thrown in. There are listings for the major interstates, the major US highways, and a few designated scenic highways. It does not cover private campgrounds and RV parks.


Donna

[Midwest Michael]

I am buying a camping trailer with this moving trip in mind and will be living in it until we find a home in Tennessee.

I know you're planning on living in the trailer for at least the short term, but be aware RVs are not moving vans and despite their fairly large size, can store far less stuff than you probably think. You'll also need to keep a close eye on the weight. While people usually look closely at towing ratings, your vehicle and axel weight capacity can often be reached long before getting to towing capacity. You'll need to figure out how to significantly downsize from your house for this trip, and presumably find options to store and move the vast majority of stuff in your home.

Along those lines, I would make absolutely sure this trip is not your first trip with your new trailer. Take at least a couple of weekend shakedown trips where you can practice getting everything set up, learn how everything works, learn what it takes to both set up and hook up at a campground, and develop a checklist of all the things you need to do before you get back on the road. This will also help you discover which things need to be fixed - and as any RV owner will tell you, when you have an RV there WILL be things that need to be fixed, even on a brand new rig.

This trip is only a month away, and it appears you haven't bought the trailer yet, so that's a real tight turnaround as is, but the last thing you're going to want to do is discover problems or try to figure out how things work while you're on the road and no longer even have a home base to go back to.

[glc]

and as any RV owner will tell you, when you have an RV there WILL be things that need to be fixed, even on a brand new rig.

My nephew found this out the hard way. He bought a brand new 31 foot RV trailer to live in while working on a construction site, with plans to keep it for family use. The first time it rained it leaked like a sieve. The RV dealer offered to repair it on warranty but would not do interior damage mitigation.

[DonnaR57]

Read this to find out other reasons why some "shake down cruises" before your actual long trip are important:

What to do after you've purchased your RV, post #23


Donna

[travelingman]

If you buy a used trailer, hopefully the owner would have had time to fix any problems that came up and maybe give you a good run down of how everything works.

If you buy a brand new trailer, be ready for endless problems that need to be fixed! Unbelievable, but new trailers and RVs often have many problems, some serious. They often have to be left for extended periods of time at a dealer’s Overworked repair Facility.

Personally, I’ve had interesting experiences transporting RVs. I once transported a “factory refurbished” RV cross country for Cruise America. Amazingly, numerous things went wrong on that trip including the fridge dying. Another time I drove a virtually new RV from Camping World and so many things went wrong with it that it was hilarious! A faucet handle actually came off and squirted water in the air!

WARNING!

It is imperative that the weight in your trailer be properly balanced to prevent loss of control!

Typically it is recommended that 10% to 15% of your trailer weight should rest on your hitch. Verify this range for yourself. Too much weight reduces the load on the front tires affecting handling on curves and braking. Too little weight can result in sway or “fishtailing” a violent and potentially catastrophic loss of control. Using your trailer as a moving van doesn’t mean that you can simply throw everything in back or wherever. You are going to have to weigh your fully loaded trailer and also determine the hitch weight. Be safe.

[Tribeofour]

Thanks so much this is so helpful!