2013 Lap around the USA

[john.waters]

I enjoyed your trip report thoroughly! Thank you for taking the time and effort to put up a beautiful report with gorgeous photos! Like you, we always seem to have another trip in the back of our head while we're taking the current one. It will be interesting to see what you choose for your next one.

Donna

Thanks Donna,
I have a plan , just need the time and money.

John

[keithg]

Awesome report John. Ill give you all my stuff and you can do my report. lol. We were stuck at airport similar time. Not much you can do when flight is leaving late at night and you have luggage. Didnt want to get stuck in peak hour traffic so gave car back and sat at airport.

Keith

[john.waters]

No problem Keith,just send it down. I have just started on the photos agian. I will live this trip forever.

We were quite happy to sit at the airport. I think we were ready for home.
John

[john.waters]

The Trip

We had the time of our lives and met the most wonderful and friendly people and visited the most beautiful places.
13946 Miles and 31 States in eight weeks in a Campervan and would not have wanted to do it any other way.
We put in some long days but not hard days and never had to rush to get anywhere.

Just an idea of some of what we covered on the trip.



Route 66 – Los Angeles – Albuquerque. – Chicago – Albuquerque
Wedding Anniversary and Mothers Day in Las Vegas.
Meteor Crater - Flagstaff
Standin on the Corner Winslow Arizona
White Sands National Monument - El Paso
The Alamo – San Antonio
Nasa Space Training Centre – Houston
Galveston
Oak Alley Plantation - Louisiana
New Orleans
Swamp Bayou Tour
Natchez Paddle Steamer Cruise- Wifes Birthday. New Orleans
Natchez Trace Parkway – Natchez – Tupelo
Memphis – Graceland
Chattanooga – Aquarium
Jack Daniels Distillery
Nashville – Grand Old Opry – Country Music Hall of Fame
Corvette Museum - Bowling Green Kentucky
Wild Turkey Distillery – Kentucky
Daniel Boon State Forest
Cumberland Falls
Great Smoky Mountain NP
Cherokee, NC
Blue Ridge Parkway – Cherokee to Front Royal (full length).
Shenandoah National Park – Skyline Drive
Washington DC
Arlington War Cemetery.
Gettysburg Museum
Lancaster Pennsylvania – Amish Communities.
Niagara Falls.
Gateway Arch St Louis
Route 66 – Chicago – Albuquerque
Rocky Mountains
Million Dollar Highway- Durango - Ouray
Mammoth Museum
Mount Rushmore
Crazy Horse
Bad Lands National Park
Beartooth Highway – Red Lodge
Glacier National Park – Montana
Going to the Sun Road – Glacier NP – St Mary
A day in Canada- Flooded out.
Seattle
Olympic National Park
Columbia River Gorge
Crater Lake NP
Avenue of the Giants
San Francisco
Yosemite National Park

Average Miles per day – 255 miles

Well that’s a rough idea of the trip.

The costing

The motels we stayed in ranged from $50 p/n to $300 for a night in the Bellagio in Las Vegas, New Orleans and San Francisco was having a big rainbow weekend so it was expensive.

Motels- 18 nights - $1752
RV Parks 6 nights - $195
Campgrounds – 13 nights - $244
Free nights 18
Total $2191

Average cost per night over 55 nights = $39.84 per night


Campervan Hire – All up cost for hire $ 4700 (Insurances + Unlimited Miles)
Fuel cost for trip $ 2100
Total $ 6800

Going by these figures it cost $8991 for Van hire, fuel and accommodation for the trip.

An average of $163 per day Van, fuel and accommodation.

Then add meals and sight seeing and park entrance fees it all adds up.
Air fares and insurance plus additional camera gear and souvenirs we got while on the trip all add up. Starting to get scary so won’t add up anymore.

I’m sure it could have been done a lot cheaper in a car and staying at motels, but I never done the research as we love the outdoors and camping and it’s the way we wanted to do it.

Maybe someone else might have an idea on what it would cost to car and motel for the same time and distance would be.

Would we do another trip the same?

On a smaller scale with more time yes. We want to go to Alaska and Canada but maybe take friends with us and get a bit bigger RV. At 56 my body takes a bit longer to recover from long days and hard beds.

Next Trip. Thinking of the East Coast. Car and Motel
We passed through some beautiful places and left some out as they deserve more time.
Probably around Late October. Start maybe from New York City and do a loop. Washington, Florida, South Carolina, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York State and whatever we can fit in. This is only an idea at the moment so not planning anything yet.

Summary.
Positives – Everything
Negatives – None

Cost – The overall cost was well within our budget and had some left over on out travel card and should be enough for car hire next time.
If you were to go to a travel agent and give them this list of places and ask them to plan it Im sure they would think you were crazy.
Our Rating 10/10

John & Sandy Waters

[harry16]

Absolutely brilliant trip report and photos thanks for taking the time to put both your trip reports together I have thoroughly enjoyed reading them. You must have a room at your house just filled with empty luggage! Cant wait for the next one :)

[Mark Sedenquist]

Trip reporting details copied and moved to the $$ reporting section of this forum.

A really excellent report. Thanks so much for allowing us to cruise along with you.

Mark

[john.waters]

Absolutely brilliant trip report and photos thanks for taking the time to put both your trip reports together I have thoroughly enjoyed reading them. You must have a room at your house just filled with empty luggage! Cant wait for the next one :)

Thanks Harry16. It was a wonderful trip and enjoyed putting the report together. I have the next two trips planned but just need to accumulate some money and leave from work. Not to long I hope though.
John

[john.waters]

Trip reporting details copied and moved to the $$ reporting section of this forum.

A really excellent report. Thanks so much for allowing us to cruise along with you.

Mark

Thanks Mark,
but without the help from the forum and wondeful members we wouldnt have been able to put this road trip together as well as we did.
Thankyou

John

[Pmount]

John,
Thanks for sharing all of your experiences. Nearing the end of our trip and keeping up with the daily posts I appreciate the time and effort you have put into this, especially after the trip. I concur that the camping experience is special, but appreciate a motel, especially in urban areas.
Thoughts for East Coast - October would be great for mid-Atlantic. We have been surprised at how warm and humid Florida has been in mid-November. Always hard to find the perfect weather combination. So much to see and experience once you get on the road.
Again thanks for the beautiful photos and detailed reports.
-Pat

[john.waters]

Thanks Pat. I too have been following your trip as well and very enjoyable. With the east Coast we would love to experience the fall and the lovely colors.

I have a plan mapped out in my head but havent put it to paper yet. Knowing me it could end up another 2 month trip.

At the moment Im happily editing photos and dreaming of the next trip. We love our camping and had a great time on a 6 week trip to the USA in 2011.

We have done a few road trips camping in Australia for 6 weeks at a time but it is much different here as you can nearly pull up anywhere for the night. There is a published book called Free Camp Australia which gives location and ammenities available at each spot as well as GPS co ordinates.

John