A SUMMER trip of a LIFETIME!!!

[Artik]

Hello "Roadtrip America" community!

My name is Art and my dream is soon to come true!
Me and my girlfriend have been dreaming of going on a roadtrip in the USA. Finally we have managed to save enough money to afford it and nothing is going to stop us:)
Our plan is to arrive to the US somewhere around the 10th of August. We have 1 month time in the US, but technicaly 2 weeks, +/- a couple of days for the actual ROADTRIP!(I know it is not a lot)
We were thinking of starting our trip in Colorado and by August 25th-26th get to Reno, NV. We have only ONE stop that we plan to make along the way, it is in Santa Fe, NM. Our friends live there. Other than that, we would love to see some beautiful places, views(there are so many: Grand Canyon, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico's white sands,........aaaaaaaah) .....on the way to Reno. OH! Why Reno?! We are going to visit the most amazing festival "Burningman", from the 27th Aug to the 4th of Sept.(after the fest, we won't be able to handle the road anymore, i'm sure;)

This is our FIRST EVER roadtrip. We are super excited and want to make the most out of our time in America, as we both live in Moscow, Russia.
Now I have done some research and tried to set/find/come up with a good, interesting and not a complicated route, but everytime I end up with is HUGE milege(have to drive 10 hours a day, everyday) or pointless driving back and forth..... want to have some time to stop and embrace the beauty of it all. We want to see everything and I understand that it's impossible.......
We really need your help. No. We REALLY REALLY need your help and wisdom:)) to find the coolest route and places to visit in the USA.

As i mentioned it will be our first time and all your advice and tips and tricks will be extemely helpful!!!!(even if you think "oh, everyone knows about that":)
We still haven't found a good place to rent an RV from ONE WAY, neither what we MUST take with us on the road. Don't know if we can park anywhere we want, orthere are special places for that. It would be awesome to try to get away from crowds and people, but i don't know if you're aloud to do that on an RV....drive out somewhere in the wild and stop and just "BE".
And finally....(cuz I can go on forever, typing this letter. hehe) An RV roadtrip is done for the experience, for the beauty of it all. It is not the cheapest way to travel, in my opinion. But still, I'm sure that You, road trip lovers, over the years, have come up with ways and tricks to save money on the road. I would love to hear them.

Unconditional THANK YOU for your responce and help!
So happy I found you!
All the best!

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

We all face the same problems, too many places and not enough time ! It's not unusual to start out with a list of places that is just to big for the time you have. The best place to start is by having a big map and mark the places you definitely want to see with no compromise and then join those dots so that you are left with an outline and then start to see how you can fill in the gaps without going hundreds of miles out of your way. Personally I would look at doing a loop trip so you return the RV to the place you picked it up from, that's a big saving right there and it doesn't mean you have to go over ground you have already covered. Once you have a better idea of the places you will have time for you can see which city works best to start out from, instead of Denver, you could look at Las Vegas for example.

I would keep working on your trip and narrow your choices down so that you have that time you want to enjoy the places you see and then we can offer more meaningful advice and add suggestions. Take a look in the Road trip reports section and search other areas of the sight for information and just keep asking questions as and when you need to. What I will say is that with the time you have for a road trip you could easily fill that in Utah and Arizona alone with possibly 'dipping your toes' into Colorado and New Mexico.

Your RV rental company will provide bedding and kitchen gear at extra cost but no, you can not park anywhere you please. The National parks are great places to camp in but they need booking as they are popular. You can find State parks and National Forest campgrounds etc which are good value and you could spend an odd night in a truck stop or Supermarket car park (With permission) but that's not camping and is not really fun.

[DonnaR57]

Welcome to RTA!

First, I have to ask: do you have real, paper maps or a good USA road atlas? If not, scroll down and order one from the RTA bookstore, and it should be there in a few weeks. In that atlas (I recommend the Rand McNally), it will show you the roads, plus state and national parks and forests, and those with a campground/RV park will be marked with a little icon. This is invaluable to have along, for both planning and execution of the trip.

Second, you are correct in thinking that the RV may not be the best way to travel. First there is the rental fee, then there are the linen, kitchen and outdoor gear packages to pay for, and then the really big one: fuel. RV's take more fuel because they get less miles-per-gallon. In most ways, you are better off renting a sedan, taking lower cost motels, and partaking of the "free" breakfast that is included with the overnight. Buy a small cooler and stop at the grocery store for lunch things. Then eat out for dinner -- and you will be at less cost than renting a motorhome (RV). The final comment about renting an RV: parking it. It takes more space, and in some national parks in August, finding a space to park it so that you can take that short walk to the viewpoint, may be difficult. A car is much easier. (I am a former RV owner, and the daughter of RV owners.)

I agree with Dave that you may be wise to fly into Las Vegas instead of Denver. A loop trip is easy from there, and can include Santa Fe and Reno.


Donna

[Midwest Michael]

As Dave indicated, there isn't a one size fits all list of best and coolest places and routes, planning a great trip is always about finding the places you most want to visit, and then finding a way to make them all fit together. When coming up with your plan, I will remind you that the travel time estimates provided by online mapping programs typically underestimate how long a trip will actually take. I will also remind you that sometimes less is more - if you try to visit "everything," often you can end up in a situation where you are just checking places off a list, and you don't actually leave yourself time to enjoy anything.


There is one other, and perhaps even larger, potential problem, however, and it involves Burning Man. If you are hoping to use a rented RV at Burning Man, you could have a major problem. Many of the major RV rental companies have banned their RVs from being taken to the Burning Man festival. The hot, dusty conditions at the festival are very hard on RVs and as such, the rental companies have taken steps to protect their property. Before you agree to any RV rental, make sure you find out what the company's policies are in regards to Burning Man, make sure you know what's in the rental contract, and don't even think about going there is it is forbidden - because they will know you've gone there, and that could result is some very expensive penalties.

[Rick Quinn]

Hello!

If you do manage to find a vehicle that the rental company will allow you to take to Burning Man, you should be aware that vehicle passes are required, and these are separate from your tickets to the festival. There are a limited number of vehicle passes available; I'm told that they can be as hard to get as the people tickets. Check the Burning Man Ticket Website for details. It seems that Burning Man gets more elaborate, more expensive, and more exclusive every year.

Rick