Anyone do a road trip across America?

lukenick1

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 23, 2007
On our bucket list is a road trip across American and back towing a small camper. Has anyone done this and have a great route to follow? I want to see as many sights as possible and also not sure the best time to take this trip. Thought we would start going west through the north and return through the south. The least amount of driving every day is our ideal route i know that sounds stupid right on a road trip but we just don't want to spend hours in the car on any given day. Prefer to sight see/make stops along the route. Is parking in Walmart parking lots overnight for free still a thing? Thanks for any direction, advice, tips, etc. Want to start gathering info and plan early. We figured bringing a camper would be the most budget friendly. BTW Connecticut is our starting point.
 
Are you wanting to do this in one shot? How many days so you plan to take to do the trip? What do you want to see? Parks to hike? Cities to shop? Sporting events? The type of trip will really decide what kind of route to take.

We're planning kind of the same thing, but breaking it into 2 different trips. We're doing an east and west national parks trip where we visit and hike around the all national parks and pull a camper to camp instead of hotel. Our route is determined by where each park is and stops are either at the parks we want to explore or we're finding a rest area or campground to stop at on the longer drive days.
 
We have never done this, but this summer we did fly to Denver and took a road trip from there to South Dakota to visit the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, and Custer State Park. We then headed across Wyoming to Yellowstone NP and Grand Teton NP and then back to Colorado to visit Rocky Mountain NP before flying out of Denver to head home. It took us two weeks and we still drove over 3,000 miles. We had a great time and want to visit Southern Utah next.

It is a lot of driving and there really isn't much to see from point A to point B. I could never drive across the country as I just don't have the patience for it, but a lot of people do. I think we saw more trucks pulling campers than we saw cars driving. We also met and talked with so many people that were on road trips across the country. Again, it sounds fun, but for my family, flying to a location and doing a road trip from there is more feasible than driving across the country.

I'd figure out where you want to visit and then search for FB groups for those areas. Most of what I learned about the locations we visited were from FB groups. There are a lot of knowledgeable people out there that like to share their experiences. I also asked a lot of questions on the Community Board on the DIS. You could probably even do a search of the DIS on places you'd like to visit. Chances are a lot of places you have in mind have already been discussed on here.

Have fun!
 


No interest in ever doing that, but from a practical standpoint, I would think you should avoid times of the years where there could be snow/ice wherever you are traveling. Doubt sleeping in a small camper would be much fun in colder weather either. If you park @ Walmart do they let you setup something like your BBQ to cook and where do you go to the bathroom/running water if you only have a small camper which likely wouldn't have those facilities? Seems stopping at established campgrounds would be a better plan.
 
We actually did it twice. We were living in Oregon and started home schooling our kids in 2005. We left in September and drove mostly east to Pennsylvania stopping at National Parks, Monuments, and Historic Sites. From Pennsylvania, we drove down to DC, then out to Williamsburg. From there we headed mostly west across the plain states until we got to Grand Junction, Colorado, and went roughly northwest home. Took about six weeks.

In December of 2006 we drove down to California, then turned and went mostly east along I-10. We spent a few days in WDW in January then headed back mostly along I-40. When we hit California we turned north. That trip was closer to seven weeks.

My kids earned over 100 Junior Ranger Badges on the two trips, plus saw and did a lot of other interesting things.

As far as staying at Walmarts, we did occasionally park at non-campgrounds, mostly Sam’s Clubs. Most let you back then, but sometimes they didon’t. I think it’s more common now to see signs saying no overnight parking now then it was then.
 


MN to CA - OI helped my older brother move back to CA just before we both started families. It was a pretty great experience. East of the Rockies can be VERY monotonous. I highly recommend I-70 through Utah and Colorado - well, really to Denver.
 
Now that I am retired, and once covid calms down, I hope to do it. Never understood how people had enough vacation time to do that trip. I made a bit of money as a kid in the 1960's house and pet sitting for neighbors who took such trips.
 
I highly recommend I-70 through Utah and Colorado - well, really to Denver.
I really enjoyed the Black Hills of Dakota. Lots of great National Park sites there. From there could drive to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. But then again southern Colorado and Utah have several too.
 
We did a 5 week 25 state road trip last summer, towing a 21 foot ultralight Coachmen camper. Started in Michigan, down the coast of Carolinas, across the panhandle of Florida, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, up through Texas to Mesa Verde, Grand Canyon, Utah parks, Salt Lake City, Yellowstone, Badlands and home across Iowa/Illinois.

I saved my vacation time for a long time, and had to go in the summer because my kids were out of school. There are apps that list safe free places to camp - Walmarts are only sometimes an option because of local laws. We also stayed at a Cracker Barrel, a City Park in New Mexico, and a great art center in West Virginia - I will look up the apps. We boondocked south of Wall Drug, South Dakota on the edge of the Badlands.

We made National park reservations a year in advance, and some of the very popular locations that weren't national parks that early too.
We ended up staying 2 nights of the 35 in hotels - life just got in the way of plans and we needed the easy button:-)

Total miles was 8,500 in 35 days. We did have a couple really long driving days, but we planned it that way - there's not much to see as you cross Texas, so we just planned to make that a really long day. We stayed in a campground 2 or 3 days each time and 4 in Yellowstone. All of the free places we stayed only overnight, and they generally expressly forbid you setting up camp/grilling etc. It was easy enough to heat up some soup and grilled cheese or chili etc. in those places, or just sandwiches. We generally just slept and moved on in the morning.

Our planning started because my kids read a book of roadside attractions, and needed to see the worlds largest ball of twine and the geographic center of the US - among many other things. On the way we added a stop to see an Uncle, the ship my dad served on in the Navy, and the Bonneville Salt Flats.

So many amazing things we saw and did - memories for a lifetime:-)

I'll dig up some of the resources I used and post them this weekend.
 
Dont miss:
Yellowstone, Route 550 in Colorado between Durango and Ouray (Million Dollar Highway), Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Yosemite. Try to see: Rocky Mountain National Park, Mt. Rushmore, Badlands, either Arches/Bryce or Canyonlands national parks in Utah, Death Valley. Have a wonderful time!
 
On our bucket list is a road trip across American and back towing a small camper. Has anyone done this and have a great route to follow? I want to see as many sights as possible and also not sure the best time to take this trip. Thought we would start going west through the north and return through the south. The least amount of driving every day is our ideal route i know that sounds stupid right on a road trip but we just don't want to spend hours in the car on any given day. Prefer to sight see/make stops along the route. Is parking in Walmart parking lots overnight for free still a thing? Thanks for any direction, advice, tips, etc. Want to start gathering info and plan early. We figured bringing a camper would be the most budget friendly. BTW Connecticut is our starting point.
Boondocking at Walmart is still a thing. However it is not allowed at all Walmart's due to local regulations. There are a couple websites around about it. Good rules of thumb are to only stay one night at each store and not to use one store as your "campground" in one area, if the store will be open when you arrive call the stores manager in advance to double check about spending the night, and parking far from the stores entrance and exits as not to take up space for other shoppers.

This is not an official Walmart site but it has a map of Walmart's and show if you can or can not overnight there. https://www.walmartlocator.com/walmart-map/

As for your route it could depend on what time of year you leave. If you were to leave in the spring you might want to start by heading south before you head west as to avoid any bad weather in the north. By the time you are ready to head back the weather would be better in the north.

I know I have seen a road trip guide to hit as many National Parks so a google search should find it/one.

I know what you mean about not wanting to spend hours in the car. My then 11yo daughter and I did a 2500 mile road trip last summer and we left on a Friday and arrived back home on the following Sat For the most part our driving was limited to 2 to 3 hours at a shot. We left from Boston and spent a night near NYC where we spent an afternoon and a day, After NYC it was 3 hours west for the night. The next morning it was 2 hours to Pitt where we went to a baseball game and then 2 hours to the Pro Football HOF and finally 2 more house to Cedar Point Amusement park where we spent 2 days. It was then a couple hours south for the night and the next day we spent at the Columbus Zoo and a Columbus Crew soccer match with friends and then 2 hours to the hotel for that night. The next day it was about 2 hours to Detroit for a Red Sox game v the Tigers and then a couple hours to a hotel right outside Cleveland. The next day was spent in Cleveland at the Rock and Roll HOF and another baseball game and then a couple hours heading east to just out side Buffalo. Our last day was maybe the most driving in one day from Buffalo to Boston but we stopped and met friends in Syracuse for lunch. As you can see we didn't do a lot of driving at one time but we fit a lot in so it's easy to do.

Have a blast.
 
i know a family who did portions over multiple summers in order to hit every state in the continental u.s. they split it up in order to spend adequate time in each state and b/c they were long time experienced campers who knew the challenges and acknowledged that trying to accomplish it all in one summer would make it less enjoyable. i had a family member who had done some camping (one or two week trips over the years traveling to different regions). upon retirement the couple embarked on a cross country adventure-to find that going to a couple of destinations and spending several days to a week was vastly different than traveling thousands of miles and only spending a day or two at any stop (they abandoned the plan within a few weeks and returned home staying at motels that could accommodate parking the rv they had rented).

i would suggest if you are not a seasoned camper to do a shorter route/term trip before you commit to such a large one. if you enjoy a few weeks on the road then plan for the longer term. for a longer term research internet groups that can provide advice and guidance on the odds and ends that can make a major difference when traveling in multiple states (when we've traveled within a few states near our home we've had to take into consideration/plan for-medications-despite having a national pharmacy chain fill our scrips-our doctors are not licensed in other states so some will not allow refills, medical coverage-some plans only cover what THEY deem emergent care so travel insurance can be something to consider, auto insurance-some states have MUCH higher minimum insurance coverage requirements and if you get into an accident with lower insurance from your home state you can be in a world of financial hurt as the person from another state that carelessly caused an accident resulting in property damage and physical injuries with us in our state learned. it's little stuff that ideally you never have to deal with but it's better to know about it in advance.
 
We did a trip similar to this the summer before last (2021) but in the opposite direction. I got a LOT of advice on Tripadvisor, some of which I took, some of which I didn't.

We drove a small-ish SUV (Lexus 450h which are not terribly roomy) and put a rooftop carrier on top to hold camping supplies, but we mostly stayed in hotels. We figured it probably evened out since we don't have a camper and renting or buying one would have been an added cost, plus the hybrid got good gas mileage and a camper would not, plus we drove many places that either a camper couldn't have gone or I would not have felt comfortable trying to drive one. In particular I remember the "road" to a ghost town in California (or maybe Utah? Or Nevada?) that I would not have wanted to drive a camper up. Also the Tioga Pass...yikes.

We started in Tampa, Fl, went through the southern states to California, then spent some time touring around the southwestern/midwestern area, then up through Colorado and into Montana, got as far north as Glacier National Park (couldn't go into Canada due to COVID), then drove across the north to Maine and visited Acadia National Park then back down the Eastern coast to home. We were gone exactly 8 weeks.

We mostly focused on national parks--I think we went to around 23 of them?-- but also saw other things like the Johnson Space Center, Las Vegas, New York City, Niagara Falls, etc.

I could give you our itinerary and my opinion of the places we visited if you're interested in more detail.

I did the vast majority of the driving (I think we covered over 4000 miles) and my passengers were my two teenagers. My husband had to work but he flew out a few times and we'd pick him up at various airports. He joined us for our Grand Canyon visit, then again for the Arches National Park/Great Sand Dunes NP/Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP stint, and finally for the Glacier NP/Yellowstone NP/Grand Tetons NP portion of the trip. By that point (6 weeks into the trip) my daughter was homesick (more like "boyfriend-sick" haha) and flew home with my husband from Jackson WY, so my 13-year-old son and I did the last two weeks just the two of us.

It was a great trip, but very much different from "going on vacation" for a week or two. It became a sort of temporary way of life, which is an adjustment we had to go through.
 
We did a trip similar to this the summer before last (2021) but in the opposite direction. I got a LOT of advice on Tripadvisor, some of which I took, some of which I didn't.

We drove a small-ish SUV (Lexus 450h which are not terribly roomy) and put a rooftop carrier on top to hold camping supplies, but we mostly stayed in hotels. We figured it probably evened out since we don't have a camper and renting or buying one would have been an added cost, plus the hybrid got good gas mileage and a camper would not, plus we drove many places that either a camper couldn't have gone or I would not have felt comfortable trying to drive one. In particular I remember the "road" to a ghost town in California (or maybe Utah? Or Nevada?) that I would not have wanted to drive a camper up. Also the Tioga Pass...yikes.

We started in Tampa, Fl, went through the southern states to California, then spent some time touring around the southwestern/midwestern area, then up through Colorado and into Montana, got as far north as Glacier National Park (couldn't go into Canada due to COVID), then drove across the north to Maine and visited Acadia National Park then back down the Eastern coast to home. We were gone exactly 8 weeks.

We mostly focused on national parks--I think we went to around 23 of them?-- but also saw other things like the Johnson Space Center, Las Vegas, New York City, Niagara Falls, etc.

I could give you our itinerary and my opinion of the places we visited if you're interested in more detail.

I did the vast majority of the driving (I think we covered over 4000 miles) and my passengers were my two teenagers. My husband had to work but he flew out a few times and we'd pick him up at various airports. He joined us for our Grand Canyon visit, then again for the Arches National Park/Great Sand Dunes NP/Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP stint, and finally for the Glacier NP/Yellowstone NP/Grand Tetons NP portion of the trip. By that point (6 weeks into the trip) my daughter was homesick (more like "boyfriend-sick" haha) and flew home with my husband from Jackson WY, so my 13-year-old son and I did the last two weeks just the two of us.

It was a great trip, but very much different from "going on vacation" for a week or two. It became a sort of temporary way of life, which is an adjustment we had to go through.
This is great advice! I’d love your itinerary! Yes it makes sense about the expense of a camper but I am picky about where I sleep and the stress trying to find the perfect hotel is not something I want to deal with. Thanks so much!
 
I did Arizona to NYC.
Flew to Scottsdale to drive back east with my friend who was doing travel nursing in AZ.
We did it in 6 days IIRC (it was in 2007). We were cramped in her little Ford Focus with all her belongings in the backseat and trunk. We drove through the middle.

We saw Arches National Park, Grand Canyon, 4 Corners, St Louis Arch off the top of my head.
Drove through Vail in a snow storm, drove through Utah and saw wild horses (one of the most breathtaking moments of my life). We jumped out to take a pic of each of the signs "welcoming" us to a new state.

We pretty much stopped every 4 hours to stretch our legs, go to bathroom and switch drivers.
Stayed in hotels with free continental breakfasts (back then La Quinta's was best).

I have to say it was an amazing trip.
 
On our bucket list is a road trip across American and back towing a small camper. Has anyone done this and have a great route to follow? I want to see as many sights as possible and also not sure the best time to take this trip. Thought we would start going west through the north and return through the south. The least amount of driving every day is our ideal route i know that sounds stupid right on a road trip but we just don't want to spend hours in the car on any given day. Prefer to sight see/make stops along the route. Is parking in Walmart parking lots overnight for free still a thing? Thanks for any direction, advice, tips, etc. Want to start gathering info and plan early. We figured bringing a camper would be the most budget friendly. BTW Connecticut is our starting point.
We did a road trip like this in 2009. We started with the idea of renting a small camper, but -- after looking at prices -- we figured out it was cheaper to stay in hotel rooms. Much cheaper, actually. I'm using 2009 prices: the camper rental was going to be almost $1000, and they charged a per-mile cost on top of that. And we realized just how much gas those campers require. In the event, we were glad not to be driving a big clunky vehicle through some of the cities we visited. The math might've been different if we knew someone from whom we could've borrowed a camper.

What we did:
- We had planned to do a month, but my husband's job forced us to reduce it to three weeks. As a result, we flew to Vegas and rented a car and drove among the Western national parks (we are on the East coast).
- My husband was traveling for work a good bit then, so he purposefully chose specific hotels to build up rewards points. About half our hotels were free or reduced because of this -- we saved points for about two years. We also stayed in cabins in national parks, and we got some very cheap rooms from Pinterest.
- Our first stop in Vegas was Walmart, where we bought a cooler and filled it with sandwich materials, fruit and drinks. We typically had breakfast at the hotel, lunch from the cooler and dinner at a restaurant. We abandoned the cooler at the end of our trip /left it in our rental car -- but it saved us quite a bit.
- Here's a website that was useful: https://www.roadtripamerica.com/
- We bought an America the Beautiful Pass at our first national park. It cost about $100 and was absolutely the best value along the trip. Don't buy your pass until your first stop -- your 12 months start counting when you buy it /not upon your first use.
- We spent a huge amount of time mapping out our stops so that our drive was efficient, but we were on the road a lot. At times it was necessary to do a marathon driving-day, but we never did two of those in a row. When we knew we'd be in the car a long time, we tried to plan for a suite or two rooms so we could spread out a bit -- and we tried to get hotels with pools /exercise rooms. We needed some movement after being in the car a long time.
- We visited lots of national parks and historical sites, but we had teens then, so we included a rock concert, a water park and other things that were more "for them" than for us.
- We didn't do everything we wanted; for example, I am still genuinely distressed that I've never seen a redwood tree. We mapped out the major things we wanted to do, then added in things that were "on the way".
- I had a huge notebook with maps, pre-paid tickets, etc. We literally never took a wrong turn on that whole trip.
- We packed light -- one rolling carry-on each /5 outfits total. We washed clothes every couple days. We packed a pair of jeans but no jackets (we traveled in July). This was a mistake, as I was forced to buy $$$ sweatshirts when the temperature dropped to the low 50s in Yellowstone. On the positive side, they were good quality, and we still have them.
- Our favorite stops were the Grand Canyon (North Rim), Mesa Verde National Park, downtown Denver, and Custer State Park.
 
I did this three years ago with my kids who were older teens at the time. We had the best time! We drove from Massachusetts to CA and back over 7 or 8 weeks. We took our minivan and packed a tent in a Thule on top with a few supplies.

We drove pretty much straight to Colorado via Kansas..so mid country and then slowed down. We camped two nights near Boulder, CO but then found it easier and cheaper to stay in basic motels. I looked for ones with kitchen facilities as much as possible to cut down on food costs. We also brought along an induction cooktop with a large pan as well as a cheap toaster. They were so useful and saved us so much money.

With a hotel/motel it was nice to have a shower and or kitchen and laundry at the end of the day. We used TripAdvisor to pick hotels and everyone was perfect for our needs. In addition, we found them more cost efficient than many campgrounds. Camping is definitely not as cheap as it used to be. We are huge campers but for this trip the hotels made more sense for us cost wise and time wise setting up and taking down. Plus, the summer we went the temps were well over 100 degrees and the ac in hotels were crucial.

We visited 11 National Parks, drove Route 66 and the Pacific Coast Highway and it was all amazing. In all, we drove about 11,000 miles. I urge everyone to get out and see this beautiful country as much as you can.

My son is actually doing this with a friend now. He met a friend in Portland, OR and they have been traveling in a van for a month seeing all the National Parks. Right now they are in Rocky Mountain National Park. I am sitting here very jealous.😁

So my advice is GO! You will NOT regret it! Have fun planning!

PS…I would suggest May as a good time. Weather is better, schools aren’t out yet so not as crowded and rates are still cheaper than summer.
 
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