Newbies first trip: Seattle to Salt Lake City

[mr mike]

Parrot Head, reading your post, have to smile. A bit more then a year ago, wife and I rented a class C RV in the Seattle area. Actually up in Everett, Washington.
This from Cruise America. It weas a 19G, a fun unit. I totally understand trying to cram as much as possible into the time you have to use the vehicle. They don't come cheap. We also had ours out for two weeks. That said however, what we experienced was, we had to stop and "smell the roses". We had plans to run all over during our two weeks, but we kept running into friendly little place's that kept us around an extra day. Places I never thought I'd find interesting like Deer Lodge , Montana. A tiny place with friendly people and lots of history. We spent three days at Yellowstone and could easily have stayed longer.
I'd advise slowing down, pick one or two main places and enjoy. It is what it is.
Today the wife and I are rolling our own rig, a 2014 Winnebago Trend.
Looking forward to some more adventures at our own pace, keeping in mind its more abot the journey, then the trip. Hope that makes sense.

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by Civdiv99

Are you not towing?

Good question!
I assumed they were just because we always do.

[Deny]

You can't miss- great choice

yes, it would be great to have more time, but you will have a ball

be sure to see all the old lodges, in glacier the bus service round trip from 1 side to the other is spectacular (about 6 hrs roundtrip)

we saw bears, mountain goats, deer in glacier, free range horses

ps seattle is great too: Pike market, boeng tour, gold rush museum, salmon ladder, needle, 1st starbucks- not to mention the aquarium & all the good restaurants

good luck

[Parrott_head]

Sorry I've not replied in a bit.
No, we are not towing, renting a 25 footer from Cruise America in Everette. It's off season so we got a good price.
Mr. Mike, we plan on taking our time and let the trip unfold. Quality over quantity.
Years ago I use to do motorcycle touring and would just stay off the highways and hit little towns. Had the most fun that way.

Thanks to all for the input so far.

[Parrott_head]

Sorry I have been so long in updating this topic.

The trip went very well, Cruise America was very professional and friendly, both on the pick up and drop off.

We enjoyed the trip immensely.

We have been back for sometime now and other things have distracted us.

I have been going over our financial situation and getting our ducks in a row for retirement in the next several years.

Wife and I were discussing retirement and all that. We will probably go to a fee based financial planner and play out different options as to when and how we retire.

She brought up the subject of RV travel as something she would like to do. This kind of surprised me, I knew she enjoyed the trip but I was not of the impression it was something she would want to do a lot of.

So this is where we are at from our little journey out west.

We think we would prefer a travel trailer over a motor coach. Costs of ownership and being mobile once we set up are considerations.

I am probably going to post again on this website our thoughts and ideas so that more experienced folks can toss pearls before us.

Thanks all of you for your input so far. You are welcomed to chime in on the next topic I post. I will link it here when I do.

Best wishes.

[TMan59]

Parrot head, are you the same folks from the c3 site?
Just curious.

[HavingABlast]

Parrott_Head, glad that the trip went well for you. It is a great that you sampled the lifestyle by renting a rig...and that you took some time to "process" the experience. More important, you are balancing the purchase against the finances. It is all too easy to succumb to the "new car smell" without fully understanding the consequences.

We retired 129 days ago (there is an app for that). We took delivery of our rig 127 days ago...this after decades of longing...and two years of figuring out what would work best for us. The research paid off. We are living our dream...and Having A Blast !!

Best of luck in your journey.