Community Forums

Bryhardin01 · 07-05-2020, 09:24 AM

Hello everyone. My name is Bry Hardin and I hail from Louisville Ky. I do not own an RV but I'm hoping that some of you can help me plan my "family dream trip" for 2021. I am 47 years old and my wife is 44. I'm wanting to take my wife (of 21 years) and my two sons (17 yrs & 19 yrs.) on a 2 week RV trip out west next year. My sons and I are avid outdoorsmen and we all love to fish. My wife does a little bit. I'm just wanting to create a memory (and trip) that my two sons will remember and cherish the rest of their lives.

It has been suggested to me to fly to either Denver or Seattle and then rent the motorhome there, do our traveling, return the motorhome to pick up city, and then fly back home. Any suggestions or advice on that?

I have always wanted to visit the national parks. I especially want to visit Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Oregon, Arizona, and Washington. Again any suggestions or advice on how to go about planning this kind of trip? I'm planning on taking two weeks off work so taking out 2 days for flying that would leave me 12 days for traveling and sightseeing. I'm wanting to rent a large (I guess Class A) motorhome so that we have plenty of space and I want to be comfortable.

Any help or advice from anyone will be greatly appreciated. One more thing, would anyone suggest that I go through a travel agent or should I try to book all of this on my own?

MSHappyCampers · 07-05-2020, 09:29 AM

Hi Bry! Welcome to IRV2! We're sure glad you joined us!

I've never rented an RV so can't be much help there. The one thing I think about is that you may have problems getting a large Class A into many of the National Parks. I would consider a larger Class C. Hope your trip goes well.

Good luck, happy trails, and God bless!

**Spdracr39** · 07-05-2020, 09:54 AM

Welcome !!

There are many good folks here to offer help and advice, glad you could join the party

Safe Travels!!

Bigd9 · 07-05-2020, 10:32 AM

Welcome to the iRV2 neighbor!

Two weeks is a very short amount of time. I like the idea of renting a RV where you want to explore and enjoying your camping time, insteading of spending days driving.

Building memories within the family is very important. My girls still talk about the camping trips we took back in the 80's and the funny and maybe not so funny things that happened. My granddaughter says that we never have problems, we just have a lot of adventures.

Good luck with the trip, come back to Kentucky and tell us all about it!

**TonyDi** · 07-05-2020, 12:53 PM

Hi Bry

Looks like you are planning a very ambitious trip for 12 days on the ground. The biggest problem I see is that you will have a considerable amount of traveling to do to cover all those states. This will reduce the amount of time you will be able to spend at your destinations. If you are outdoors people this may not fit your wants. While there is a lot to see I would suggest that you concentrate on maybe 2-3 states For example Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. Or Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona. You won't be spending a lot of time traveling and you will be more relaxed.

Cruise America has a lot of different RV's for rent. Check to see what they offer and what kind of mileage they allow. You may also find it necessary to rent a car for local transportation. Moving an RV can be a hassle.

Make reservations where you want to stay, and do do it early. Some camp grounds book up early. Especially the ones near the popular resorts like Yellowstone.

Good luck with you plans and let us know if we can help.

momdoc · 07-05-2020, 09:31 PM

Welcome to the forum.

I agree with others that with your time frame you need to fly to probably Denver and rent and RV.

YOu are trying to do way too much in 12 days. Limit your travels to one or two states at most. You can spend a month in the states you mentioned and still not see it all. So spend some time trimming your down and enjoy seeing.

Good luck.