Summer Cross Country Road Trip...UPDATE page 3

[WVMomof3]

We did 2 weeks in Arizona/Utah last summer. We flew into Vegas then did Grand Canyon, Page, Arizona, Monument Valley, Moab, Bryce, Zion and back to Vegas. 2 weeks really wasn't enough time to see it all! I cant imagine trying to squeeze all of that into a 6 week trip with a lot of other things. It is hard to judge just how long you will need at each stop. Good Luck! It sounds like a great trip and I hope it all comes together for you. Trip Advisor was an invaluable tool for planning. I know camping sounds like a good idea now, but you have to bring so much stuff and at the end of the day you will be exhausted from driving or sightseeing, I can't imagine you will want to be worrying about putting up a tent.

 

[HeatherC]

We did 2 weeks in Arizona/Utah last summer. We flew into Vegas then did Grand Canyon, Page, Arizona, Monument Valley, Moab, Bryce, Zion and back to Vegas. 2 weeks really wasn't enough time to see it all! I cant imagine trying to squeeze all of that into a 6 week trip with a lot of other things. It is hard to judge just how long you will need at each stop. Good Luck! It sounds like a great trip and I hope it all comes together for you. Trip Advisor was an invaluable tool for planning. I know camping sounds like a good idea now, but you have to bring so much stuff and at the end of the day you will be exhausted from driving or sightseeing, I can't imagine you will want to be worrying about putting up a tent.

That is what I am thinking too! I wouldn't mind camping if we did it and we're able to spend at least three days in a location before we needed to move on. That is why I am keeping my eye open for campgrounds that have cabins. Not having to set up a tent would be nice.

We do have a tipi reserved in Bryce and a cabin somewhere else. But I also have hotels booked as a backup that we can cancel that day if we choose.

 

[OhMari]

LOL

You have described Chicago traffic perfectly, no matter where or what time of day or night.

If you don't "squeeze in", you won't get it. Nobody bats an eye at it around here, it's expected. We watch for it, and adjust accordingly.

OP - please keep us updated! I would love to hear more from you as your trip progresses....DH and I are starting to plan our own cross-country trip (well, Chicago to Arizona to visit my dad and his wife, so maybe that is more of a 1/2 cross-country trip!), but we are taking at least 2 teenagers, possibly 3 if everything works out with DS17's first year of college schedule, and we are so up in the air with all of our plans and have many of the same questions as you!

Good luck!

Our dd and her family live in Nyles-Chicago. I cringe when we have to drive in on 290 to Kennedy. We take a short cut and come in on Golf RD and take Milwaukee street down to Nyles. Most times the trip takes us 2 hours. One Friday we left a noon and roads were backed up to Milwaukee WI. It took us over six hours. That was the worst traffic ever.

 

[HeatherC]

UPDATE:

I thought I would post an update as we are only a month away from our trip! Getting very excited now!

Our plans are now more finalized while leaving flexibility for changes. Route is planned and hotels and campgrounds are all pre booked.

We have spent some time planning out our packing scenario and coming up with a plan to make our minivan sort of like a mini camper. What we did was fold down the back seat. Went to Walmart and bought some heavy duty bins to fit the space. Then we bought a piece of plywood and cut it into three equal pieces that fit over the bins to make a platform. We covered each piece in some cheap outdoor carpeting we got at Home Depot and fit each piece in over the bins. What this does is provide a sleeping platform while allowing easy access to the bins. So when we want to get in a bin, we only have to lift and slide a small piece of plywood instead of moving a huge board.

We then ordered a couple 3” thick foam pads from Home Depot for $25 each and slid them into vinyl mattress protectors. We laid them side by side and now have a comfy spot to sleep or rest while traveling.

I also bought a plug in cooler that we love! Have been using it every weekend and it works great! We are also getting a jump starter car battery pack to keep it running when we turn off the car to go hiking or exploring for a few hours. Also bringing another small cooler for things like meat and veggies that we don’t have to open up as much.

For Mother’s Day, my kids bought me a JetBoil campstove I had asked for. This thing is awesome! We will use it when we are camping...particularly for my morning coffee! It boils water in under two minutes, takes up no space and is very easy to use. Since we are camping in CO, the California Coast and Yellowstone, I know I will love having it.

We also bought an Instant Tent which is great. Literally takes one minute to set up and about three minutes for us to take down and put back in its case. No more connecting pole A to pole b, etc.. Highly recommend if you go camping and are in need of a tent!

DH and my son booked their flights to meet us in CA and then travel with us for two weeks before flying home.

Now I have to take a day to go through all my reservations and cancel some hotels we booked before our plans finalized. I also want to print a list of the hotel cancellation policies for each place in case our plans change as we go along and I need to cancel something.

Oh yeah...and I also just ordered some two gallon ziploc bags to use for packing. Kind of like space bags when you squeeze all the air out. We will each pack things like shirts in a bag, socks in another, etc. Should help keep things a little more organized and save packing space as well.

So that’s where we are right now. We are having fun with all the planning and packing ideas.(Pinterest)

 

[mamamary]

UPDATE:

I thought I would post an update as we are only a month away from our trip! Getting very excited now!

Our plans are now more finalized while leaving flexibility for changes. Route is planned and hotels and campgrounds are all pre booked.

We have spent some time planning out our packing scenario and coming up with a plan to make our minivan sort of like a mini camper. What we did was fold down the back seat. Went to Walmart and bought some heavy duty bins to fit the space. Then we bought a piece of plywood and cut it into three equal pieces that fit over the bins to make a platform. We covered each piece in some cheap outdoor carpeting we got at Home Depot and fit each piece in over the bins. What this does is provide a sleeping platform while allowing easy access to the bins. So when we want to get in a bin, we only have to lift and slide a small piece of plywood instead of moving a huge board.

We then ordered a couple 3” thick foam pads from Home Depot for $25 each and slid them into vinyl mattress protectors. We laid them side by side and now have a comfy spot to sleep or rest while traveling.

I also bought a plug in cooler that we love! Have been using it every weekend and it works great! We are also getting a jump starter car battery pack to keep it running when we turn off the car to go hiking or exploring for a few hours. Also bringing another small cooler for things like meat and veggies that we don’t have to open up as much.

For Mother’s Day, my kids bought me a JetBoil campstove I had asked for. This thing is awesome! We will use it when we are camping...particularly for my morning coffee! It boils water in under two minutes, takes up no space and is very easy to use. Since we are camping in CO, the California Coast and Yellowstone, I know I will love having it.

We also bought an Instant Tent which is great. Literally takes one minute to set up and about three minutes for us to take down and put back in its case. No more connecting pole A to pole b, etc.. Highly recommend if you go camping and are in need of a tent!

DH and my son booked their flights to meet us in CA and then travel with us for two weeks before flying home.

Now I have to take a day to go through all my reservations and cancel some hotels we booked before our plans finalized. I also want to print a list of the hotel cancellation policies for each place in case our plans change as we go along and I need to cancel something.

Oh yeah...and I also just ordered some two gallon ziploc bags to use for packing. Kind of like space bags when you squeeze all the air out. We will each pack things like shirts in a bag, socks in another, etc. Should help keep things a little more organized and save packing space as well.

So that’s where we are right now. We are having fun with all the planning and packing ideas.(Pinterest)

Hope you keep doing updates. Will love to hear about your trip.

 

[aprilgail]

We did 2 weeks in Arizona/Utah last summer. We flew into Vegas then did Grand Canyon, Page, Arizona, Monument Valley, Moab, Bryce, Zion and back to Vegas. 2 weeks really wasn't enough time to see it all! I cant imagine trying to squeeze all of that into a 6 week trip with a lot of other things. It is hard to judge just how long you will need at each stop. Good Luck! It sounds like a great trip and I hope it all comes together for you. Trip Advisor was an invaluable tool for planning. I know camping sounds like a good idea now, but you have to bring so much stuff and at the end of the day you will be exhausted from driving or sightseeing, I can't imagine you will want to be worrying about putting up a tent.

We just flew into Salt Lake City last month and did a 2 week trip through Utah, Vegas and AZ. Two weeks was plenty of time for us to do that area.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Be careful about storing food in your vehicle in Yellowstone. Bears have been known to tear a vehicle apart trying to get at the food in the car. Read up on bears in Yellowstone (and bison as well - they can be extremely dangerous),

 

[WVMomof3]

We just flew into Salt Lake City last month and did a 2 week trip through Utah, Vegas and AZ. Two weeks was plenty of time for us to do that area.

We would have loved to do more hiking. We hiked to Skeleton Point and back up at Grand Canyon but would love to have gone all the way down and stayed the night. I know there was a lot more of Arches and Canyonlands that we missed. We only drove through Capital Reef and Grand Escalante no hiking in either of those places. We only had one night at Bryce, we did the mule ride but would love to have hiked some. We did 2 nights at Zion, mostly just one day though and would absolutely love to see more of it. I guess if you are not into hiking at all then 2 weeks would be plenty. I don't know if my body could handle a lot more hiking, lol, but it was so beautiful I think my head would have won over my body! Next time I think we would just concentrate on certain parks. Bryce and Zion are 2 that I definitely would like to spend more time at.

 

[aprilgail]

We would have loved to do more hiking. We hiked to Skeleton Point and back up at Grand Canyon but would love to have gone all the way down and stayed the night. I know there was a lot more of Arches and Canyonlands that we missed. We only drove through Capital Reef and Grand Escalante no hiking in either of those places. We only had one night at Bryce, we did the mule ride but would love to have hiked some. We did 2 nights at Zion, mostly just one day though and would absolutely love to see more of it. I guess if you are not into hiking at all then 2 weeks would be plenty. I don't know if my body could handle a lot more hiking, lol, but it was so beautiful I think my head would have won over my body! Next time I think we would just concentrate on certain parks. Bryce and Zion are 2 that I definitely would like to spend more time at.

We actually couldn't get out of Bryce and zion fast enough LOL- we got there June 1st and it was freezing cold and snowing one day and hailing the next!