The Big Trip-Help /Ideas to keep us out of trouble

[hurricane05]

Hi everyone, I have been reading threads, and replies and thank all for your replies to these concerns us newbies have.
We have a 2005 class A 29' Thor Hurricane V10 gas with a toat 06 TJ rubicon jeep.
We are both retired, and planning a 3 or 4 mouth trip.
Leaving California central coast, heading north on 101 and into Oregon,spending as much time in each state to enjoy some sites,we realize we won't see all that each state has to offer.
Then off to Idaho, Montana, Washington, No. Dakota, So Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, little gambling in Nevada, then back home to California.
My questions are, which roads to stay away from,best roads to take, best places to see, sugestion on camp grounds, and or places to boondock.
I thank you ahead of time for any help/info that would help us enjoy the trip and stay safe, best to you all.

[Scarab0088]

Your first post was moved to it's own thread to increase traffic...best luck.

[George Schweikle]

Buy this: Mountain Driving Guide for Truckers, RV and Motorhome Drivers

Also, Coach-Net - Plans for towing & roadside assistance

Have a great trip...

Originally Posted by hurricane05

Hi everyone, I have been reading threads, and replies and thank all for your replies to these concerns us newbies have.
We have a 2005 class A 29' Thor Hurricane V10 gas with a toat 06 TJ rubicon jeep.
We are both retired, and planning a 3 or 4 mouth trip.
Leaving California central coast, heading north on 101 and into Oregon,spending as much time in each state to enjoy some sites,we realize we won't see all that each state has to offer.
Then off to Idaho, Montana, Washington, No. Dakota, So Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, little gambling in Nevada, then back home to California.
My questions are, which roads to stay away from,best roads to take, best places to see, sugestion on camp grounds, and or places to boondock.
I thank you ahead of time for any help/info that would help us enjoy the trip and stay safe, best to you all.

[Firebug5]

Welcome to the forum!

Like you, we have a 33' class-A and tow a jeep. We spent the first 10 years just seeing all of the Colorado state parks, NF CG's, and Nat'l parks. So, I could really, really spend a lot of time just giving advice on Colorado!

Here is a good site to check on the weather and road conditions in Colorado:

Road Conditions, Speeds, Travel Times, Traffic Cameras, Live Streaming Traffic Cameras, Road Closures and Road Work Information provided by Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) a branch of Colorado Department of Transportation

Depending when you visit, any of the mountain passes are subject to winter conditions in May. Heck, we have seen it snow somewhere in Colorado in every month of the year!

Give us some ideas of the type of camping you folks enjoy. What are some of the activities you are looking for? We enjoy most water activities, biking, hiking, rockhounding, and mostly the mountains. You will have to cross the continental divide somewhere, so the mountain driving guide George suggested is a good place to start.

Bruce

[mccsix]

You're too broad for good info. I recommend you do a search in the appropriate forums, list the cities, roads, interesting sights you're interested in. Then follow up with specific questions.
You can just about plot your trip off what has already been written on your route.
You also have a number of sites that will generically plan your trip for you ie FMCA.
You might want to reduce the number of places you want to visit to spend more time seeing the real area you're in than trying to pile up miles getting there.

[hal1phx]

We use Good Sam Trip Planner ... suggests routes as well as show a lot of camp areas, not all but a good amount ... you mite check that out l....

[twogypsies]

Your planned trip sounds great. I would advise that you reverse your trip for a couple reasons:

You will definitely want to include the southern Utah national parks and they are very hot in summer. Also nearby is the Grand Canyon if you haven't been there. Work your way from south to north and return via the Oregon coast.

It is also better to drive the coast from north to south because all the scenic pull-outs will be on the ocean side and it's easier to pull in and out for the traffic.

With your RV set-up you'll have no problems with driving to any of the areas and you'll definitely have fun with the Jeep!

I'd suggest purchasing the 'Mountain Directory - West - for Truckers and Rvers'. It's a great reference for the secondary roads.

Buy a road atlas and highlight areas that interest you for each state. Then connect the dots to see what route you might take. Then you can research the highways better. Don't be afraid of secondary roads. That's where the scenery is and they are great roads to travel.

When you have your route in place then would be a good time to ask questions about particular places of interest to you for each state. Without your definite interests and routes, it's hard to give you the answers you want. Also, what kind of camping do your prefer? RV parks, state parts, various public parks (national, national forests, etc.).

For the national parks, go to their direct site for excellent information on things to do in the parks and camping information.

The Oregon state parks are great. Planning the trip is part of the fun of the trip. Have a good one! Gotta warn you though - we full-timed for 16 years traveling mainly in the West and still haven't seen it all. Be ready to plan another.

[TonyDi]

Glad to have you here with us.

I am a member of FMCA and recently called them as I was planning an extended trip to several western states this summer. They had two different routes for me to take, which was good. They also included a 38 page description of the trip with cities to vist and places to go. It came in a PDF format. Obviously they have done this before.

Happy Trails!!!!

[hurricane05]

I would like to thank all members that replyed to my tread, I received great information we can really put to work for us.
We are so glad we found RV2, retired and newbies we are even having fun making mistakes ,and LEARNING NEW things. THANK YOU ALL.

Henry and Veronica Guerrero