Caravan From Florida To Yellowstone

[Gypsea]

I'm a fairly new RVer.

I'm hoping to get a group together to caravan to Yellowstone, Glacier, Tetons, etc. in 2013. I've taken a few 3-week, 1500-mile trips, but not yet ready to tackle a 5000-mile round trip.

Any interest? Suggestions? Warnings, etc?

Thanks!

[oscarpower]

We are on our way to Glacier, from there down to Yellowstone, Gran Tetons and so forth. On your way up, be sure to stop at Moraine Park, at the North West Rockies of Colorado. It is a beautiful park, breathtaking views and if you tow a car, great side trips within the park.

We even went to the Alpine area of the Rockies that have an elevation of over 14,000 ft. Great trails too. We stayed 3 nights.

From there, we went to Cody, Wyoming and stayed at the Absaroka Bay RV Park which is at Cody's entrance on HWY 14-16-20. Nice place, full hook-ups and even free WI-FI. If you like cowboy movies, you'll love the town with Buffalo Bill's huge museum, Old Town, rodeo and gunfighters.

From there, we drove about 6 hrs north to Great Falls, WY. If you like history, the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center is very interesting, don't bother driving 20+ min. out of town to the falls. We are staying at ****'s RV Park. The place is nice, everyone helpful,full hook up and free wifi for less than $35/night but very difficult to find. Of course, once you know it is OK....

Hope this little bit helps your planning. Safe Travels and Good Luck!

[tbutler]

If you have done 1500 mile trips, you can do a 5000 mile trip. The basics are really quite simple. You drive to a destination that interests you, park, enjoy what you want to see then move on. Drive, stop, drive stop, etc. Tired of driving? Take a break and just sit around a park for a few days. Take it one day at a time. It is difficult to put together a caravan because you have to have people who have similar interests and who want to travel at the same rate. People do it on a commercial basis for trips that are notoriously difficult such as Alaska, Mexico and a few other places. Sometimes RV clubs will travel together to a specific venue such as a NASCAR race or the Balloon Festival in Albuquerque, NM.

We have avoided traveling with caravans because we prefer to make our own decisions about where to go and how long to spend in a given place. We have been in the Olympic Peninsula for just over a month. We just decided to extend our stay in Forks because there are still things to see in this area. When we leave here we'll continue on toward our next destination in California. We don't know exactly what route we will follow. When we get started we'll make decisions each step along the way.

Some people plan their trips and reserve parks all along the way. We travel without reservations. We don't like having a schedule we have to follow. Sometimes we leave in the morning with a definite destination in mind. As we travel and get close to our destination we will call ahead to a park of our choice to see if space is available. We have seldom been told no. If we don't get close to our destination, we will pick an alternate overnight location, sometimes a park, sometimes we boondock at Wal-Mart or another location. That way if we decide to stop along the way to explore a point of interest we hadn't anticipated we don't have to rush on to get to a park where we have reservations. We spent a month in British Columbia on the way to Alaska because we found British Columbia so interesting. This is why we don't caravan.

[hermanmullins]

Gypsea,

Welcome to the Forum and RVing.

Tom has the right idea. One day at a time. When we got our first coach we made lots of mistakes. The biggest being going full bore to the destination and back. We would drive 450 to 500 miles a day and die that night and do it all over the next day. We now set a distance we want to go in one day. It's now 200 to 250 miles. That gives us time to stop and see the sights. When we get to a place of interest we stay 2 nights. We spend the night take the next day to visit the local area and relax. The next day we do the same thing again. I think we need to change what RVing means, not Recreational Vehicle, but Relaxing and Visiting. So go on your trip.

Relax, visit the sights. You will meet so many wonderful people along the way.

Herman

[tbutler]

Well said Herman. I gave my response some thought overnight and have to add that we have traveled with friends on several trips. It would be a kind of mini-caravan I guess. We do compromise our travel habits on those trips because we enjoy being with our friends. We had a group of three that lasted for about a week before one couple had to return home. The longest we have traveled in tandem is about 3 weeks.

So if you want to find someone who is interested in traveling together, posting here is one good way to link up with someone. If you are compatible then plan a short trip together to see how comfortable you are with others. Then go ahead and plan your longer trips. Another way to link up with people for trips is to join a local group and participate in their activities. You will get to know a number of people and form some friendships with motor homers from your area. Then you may find others who like to travel together and be invited to join their group or you may recruit others to form a group for traveling together. I think that friendship is the best platform to build your travel group from. Friends are willing to give and take and a little compromise is worth a lot when you travel together. Friends are also those who will stand by you when you have problems with your rig and have to spend a couple of days getting something repaired.

Where do you find a local group? Check out the FMCA list of chapters under the heading chapters/areas on the right side of the menu line on the FMCA home page. You might attend rallies of several groups this fall and see if you find yourself comfortable with one or another. Join one you like or join several, there is no limit on how many chapters you can join. Chapters are good excuses to get the motor home on the road and you will make friends and build the relationships that lead to caravans.

[hermanmullins]

Side note to traveling with friends. Be sure the person leading has a DW that can read a map, knows when the GPS it is right and when it is wrong. Been the and done that, it makes for some senic trips and bad roads.

Herman