Mom and kids around America

[imported_Sarah]

Hi! My kids are 6 and 7 now. When they are 9 and 10, I want to take them on a trip around America. I already have the go ahead from the big cheese (my husband). Now I just have to start planning. We have an RV (travel trailer) but we are thinking about trading it in before the trip for a class C., and towing a small vehicle.
Some call me crazy, but there are so many things I want to see, and I want to see them with my kids before they are to old and think that hanging out with dear old Mom isn't cool anymore. Anyway, there are a lot of things I really want to see, but I don't know the bese rout to take. Maybe someone can help me out.
Just to name a few...S.D.-- Mt. Rushmore, Bear County and Bad Lands. Montana-- Glacier National Park. Wyoming--Yellowstone National Park. and the Grand Tetons.

I'm in NJ, so I'm already on a coast which I heard is pretty good to start at. But I didn't know if there is a site that could help me plan my trip step by step.

I have time, as I will probably take the kids out of school and start homeschooling them at that age anyway.

Any suggestions are appreciated. I'm on a library computer, so please no e-mails.
Thanks,
K.M.B

[Robert Schaller]

Normally, I recommend MS Streets and Trips software, for its ease in making plans like you are requesting -- but since you do not have a computer to install it on (unless your library will allow you to do that), you can revert to the stone age of trip planning and purchase a Rand McNally atlas (it works, and although I am spoiled now, I have planned MANY trips that way). Use the USA map in the front to get an overall plan, then use the state maps within to plan each state's activities.

You might be able to use some of the free online trip planning programs (Rand McNally has one), but they are limited and you can only plan so many stops per trip. RoadtripAmerica has <a href = "http://www.roadtripamerica.com/travelplanning/userguidefree.htm">a review of these programs onsite<a/> -- you can find links to it on the site map -- and the reviewer rated RV.com as a pretty good program among the free ones found on the web.

Again, you could do the overall plan using your eyeball on a map, then perhaps use the online tool to plan short segments within that overall plan. Since you have plenty of time, you COULD do it this way. Might be more trouble than just using the paper maps though. Bob

[Syv]

The children will enjoy:

Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky
Kentucky Horse Park, Kentucky

Also possible, depending what route you take:

Niagara Falls (Canadian side is better)


www.mapblast.com & www.mapquest.com
let you plan directions step by step only. But once you have the idea from an atlas, you can start from there.

www.rv.com lets you plan the whole trip with several stops.

In South Dakota, also consider (they are all very very close to Mt. Rushmore):
Mammoth Site (educational & interesting)
Custer State Park (drive right in amongst the bison!)
Crazy Horse Memorial (IMHO, more interesting than Mt. Rushmore)

Depending whether your children are boys or girls - they might be interested in "little house on the prairie" - Laura Ingalls Wilder town -- DE SMET, South Dakota.

[Syv]

The children will enjoy:

Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky
Kentucky Horse Park, Kentucky

Also possible, depending what route you take:

Niagara Falls (Canadian side is better)


www.mapblast.com & www.mapquest.com let you plan directions step by step only. But once you have the idea from an atlas, you can start from there.

www.rv.com lets you plan the whole trip with several stops.

In South Dakota, also consider (they are all very very close to Mt. Rushmore):
Mammoth Site (educational & interesting)
Custer State Park (drive right in amongst the bison!)
Crazy Horse Memorial (IMHO, more interesting than Mt. Rushmore)

Depending whether your children are boys or girls - they might be interested in "little house on the prairie" - Laura Ingalls Wilder town -- DE SMET, South Dakota.

[Syv]

The children will enjoy:

Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky
Kentucky Horse Park, Kentucky

Also possible, depending what route you take:

Niagara Falls (Canadian side is better)


www.mapblast.com
&
www.mapquest.com
let you plan directions step by step only. But once you have the idea from an atlas, you can start from there.

www.rv.com
lets you plan the whole trip with several stops.

In South Dakota, also consider (they are all very very close to Mt. Rushmore):
Mammoth Site (educational & interesting)
Custer State Park (drive right in amongst the bison!)
Crazy Horse Memorial (IMHO, more interesting than Mt. Rushmore)

Depending whether your children are boys or girls - they might be interested in "little house on the prairie" - Laura Ingalls Wilder town -- DE SMET, South Dakota.

[Syv]

The children will enjoy:

Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky
Kentucky Horse Park, Kentucky

Also possible, depending what route you take:

Niagara Falls (Canadian side is better)


www.mapblast.com
&
www.mapquest.com
let you plan directions step by step only. But once you have the idea from an atlas, you can start from there.

www.rv.com
lets you plan the whole trip with several stops.

In South Dakota, (they are all very very close to Mt. Rushmore):
Mammoth Site (educational & interesting)
Custer State Park (drive right in amongst the bison!)
Crazy Horse Memorial (IMHO, more interesting than Mt. Rushmore)

Depending whether your children are boys or girls - they might be interested in "little house on the prairie" - Laura Ingalls Wilder town -- DE SMET, South Dakota.