Two Week Spring Break trip from Tennessee out West

[Joy4today]

My husband and I want to take our boys (9 & 6) on a two week trip from Tennessee out West in our Motorhome. Is it reasonable to think we could go all the way to the West Coast. We would like to go out through Colorado as that is where my husband was born. Maybe we shouldn't "plan" farther that Las Vegas and then seem to have some four hour destinations all around us (Las Angeles, Grand Canyon). Want to show the boys as many natural wonders as possible, but don't want to kill my husband with driving which may be inevitable. Our trip will take place the last two weeks of March..will weather be a problem?

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

2 weeks is kind of a bare minimum of time you'd need for an enjoyable trip out to the west coast and back. Its a 4 day drive each way from Nashville to LA, plus a little more time if you want to detour to Colorado or elsewhere that's not off the direct route.

Being that this trip will be in an RV, I don't really see how basing yourself someplace like Vegas would be helpful. First the Grand Canyon and LA are both more like 5 hours away, and are both too far away to do as a daytrip, but since you are bringing your home with you, I just don't see what your advantage would be.

Weather could be an issue. You're going to be dealing with mountain elevations where it will still be winter, and a late season storm isn't out of the question even in places like the southern plains.

If getting all the way to the coast isn't essential, you might consider just doing a loop through the 4 corners region. If your goal is seeing natural wonders, there are so many parks to choose from in this area, you're trip would be more than full!

[Joy4today]

Thank you so much for the reply! You are right, I think I just needed someone to tell me what I suspected! Can you give me an example of the 4 corners region? I hope you don't think I am too out of it! I am new to the out west travel so I want to be sure and get the right area. I did do some preliminary maps on RTA and was excited about all the Natural Wonders marked on the route! Again, thank you for the reply.

[Midwest Michael]

I'd strongly recommend you get out a good paper map for further exploration, but just as a sample of some of the many places you could visit, you've got the Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands, Monument Valley, and Mesa Verde to name some of the most popular.

[Mark Sedenquist]

Thanks for using the RTA Custom Maps program -- we don't have everything a paper map would have, because we post only those places that a RTA writer has actually been recently, but gradually we're getting there. In the meantime, here's a nice field report presented by Southwest Dave about a 4 corners trip he took a couple of years ago.

Utah has a wealth of places to explore -- the real problem is the distance between home in Tennessee and those places in the west. I think you'll need to limit yourselves to one western state. You're still going to need 4-5 days in transit -- the closest state would be Arizona with the Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, Tombstone, Kartchner Caverns, Saguaro National Park, etc.

Mark