I am so thrilled to be able to report epic progress since my post (many moons ago) that offered a skeletal sketch of our 2024 road trip plans. As a result of Mike’s monumental time and effort spent on the phone and internet, and hours of family bonding time watching youtube videos of National Park hikes, we have our plans solidified for this summer’s epic RV trip!
38 Nights
Our first cross-country road trip in 2020 to South Dakota, Wyoming, and Colorado (and lots of states in between) was awesome. It came together for us easily; go online – book an RV site at Custer State Park for seven nights – hitch up the camper – go make some memories – and have so much fun that you extend your trip and add on another National Park visit. Ignorance is truly bliss, and fortunately for us, the trip not only went off without a hitch, but it turned into 14 magical days.
Convinced we could never recreate a trip so awesome again, we went ahead and attempted it with a 23-day 2021 road trip to Arizona and Utah. And while that trip required a little more effort in planning with more days on the road and more campgrounds to be booked, it was still relatively “easy” to pull together. And to our delight, it was equally amazing.
Planning this 2024 trip, however, has been a doozy! With eight National Parks and the Pacific Coast on our agenda, our trip has blossomed into a 39-day event, requiring 38 nights of accommodations. Those 38 nights include 6 nights of boondocking and 32 nights of campground stays. Mike took on the monumental task of securing all of our reservations, and after hours spent researching, planning, and booking (online and over the phone) we are officially booked at twelve separate campgrounds located in seven different states.
6,700 Miles Minimum
This trip will be the third major road trip we’ve asked of our Ram 1500 pickup truck in the last four years. In that time frame, this truck has also hauled our camper to Cape Cod, MA twice, New Hampshire and the Adirondacks, to Gatlinburg, TN, and to a bunch of closer-to-home destinations. All while hauling our 30′ Grand Design Transcend Xplor travel trailer.
Our 2020 trip logged 4,750 miles. We covered 6,024 miles in 2021. This summer’s trip is mapped out to cover 6,700 miles NOT including any side trips (i.e. scenic drives through National Parks, taking the Needles Highway out to Mount Rushmore again, heading out from a campground to a grocery store and allllll of the many other little tasks that require automobile travel). Our best estimate is that we’ll realistically put well over 8,000 miles on the truck during this trip.
We use our travel tailer so frequently, and enjoy RV travel so much, that we often talk about upgrading our camper. A camper upgrade (heavier) would require a truck upgrade (a 2500). But whoa, prices. And consumerism. And need versus desire. There are so many rabbit holes I could let my brain go down into, but for right now: this trip will be taken with our same 30′ travel trailer, pulled by our same 2017 1500 Ram truck. 2017 is “young” for a vehicle by my standards – but I think the exertion we’ve asked of the vehicle over it’s 90,000+ mile life, adds a little age.
East coast friends, when the wind blows from the west this summer, listen closely and you’ll likely hear my voice, whispering “you got this old girl…you got this.”
8 National Parks
Our 2020 road trip to South Dakota wasn’t borne of some deep desire to visit all of the US National Parks. A global pandemic that forced us to cancel our flight and hotel-based vacation prompted the trip. Mount Rushmore was the trip’s focus. But Badlands NP won our hearts. So much so that as our stay at Custer State Park drew to a close, we called and made a last-minute reservation in Estes Park, CO for a few nights so that we could add a visit to Rocky Mountain NP to our trip! Since that trip in 2020 – it’s all 63 US National Parks or bust, baby!
Mike and I have visited 14 National Parks so far, and the boys have been with us for 12. Our list so far includes:
- Shenandoah NP *
- Crater Lake NP *
- Great Smokey Mountains NP
- Badlands NP
- Rocky Mountain NP
- Grand Canyon NP
- Painted Desert/Petrified Forest NP
- Zion NP
- Canyonlands NP
- Capitol Reef NP
- Arches NP
- Bryce NP
- Wind Cave NP
- New River Gorge NP
Our 5 1/2 week adventure this summer will take us to 7 “new to us” US National Parks, and an 8th NP (Badlands) that will be a repeat for all of us. Our summer 2024 list includes:
- Badlands * (a repeat that we’re SO excited to see again)
- Theodore Roosevelt NP
- Glacier NP
- North Cascades NP
- Mount Rainier NP
- Olympic NP
- Grand Teton NP
- Yellowstone NP
The itinerary is…a lot. And it has sparked many “is it too much?” conversations over the last few months. And of course, we don’t have an answer. We won’t have an answer until we’re in the thick of the travel, or possibly not until we’re reflecting from the other side. But we’ve set alarms on multiple devices to remind us of the date and time many of our campgrounds opened for booking on the dates we needed to stay there. We’ve mapped all the routes and documented how many hours of road travel lie between place a and b (and b and c, and c and d and on and on). We’ve researched hikes and NP entrance points from the different campgrounds we’ll be parked at.
In other words, “too much” aside, we’re committed. No turning back. All in. And we’re really, really excited about it!
If you’ve traveled to any of the “new to us” National Parks we’re planning to explore this summer, please drop us a comment with any tips, tricks, or favorite hikes!
