If you missed it, I shared tons of details from our RV trip last week.
WHAT WAS YOUR ROUTE?
This was our planned route...
IOWA --> SOUTH DAKOTA --> WYOMING --> MONTANA --> WASHINGTON --> ORGEON --> IDAHO --> UTAH --> IOWA
This is where we ended up going -- you have to be flexible!
IOWA --> SOUTH DAKOTA --> WYOMING --> MONTANA --> IDAHO --> UTAH --> NEVADA --> UTAH --> IOWA
I HEARD YOUR ROUTE CHANGED, WHAT HAPPENED?
Ugh! It was all planned out to the hour -- drive time, sleep time, fun time, etc. but COVID threw a wrench in the Glacier National Park stop. Once Montana was off the table it made sense to skip Washington and Oregon {when we go back to Glacier NP we will tag WA and OR on to that trip} since they were kind of out of the way once MT was plucked from the map. That gave us about 3 days to play with so we decided to add in Las Vegas. Adam {likes Vegas and} wanted his parents to experience it, but knew they would never take themselves, so he convinced us to go. I thought the kids would love the lights and 'magic' of it all {spoiler alert -- they hated it!} In their defense, it is not the time to visit Las Vegas. It was d.e.a.d! Most table games were closed. Tons of restaurants were shut down. No shows were operating. Just a sad time to be in Vegas. That being said, as a mama, I am not sad that they don't want to go back! ;)
HOW DID YOU PICK WHERE TO GO?
Well I had a list of places I thought would be fun. Originally it was just SD, WY and it just morphed into more. I was kind of going with the idea we may never RV again, so we might as well go all in! Eventually we decided we wanted to see Yellowstone NP and the Grand Canyon and threw as much as we could in between the two! It always helps me to plug the destinations into Mapquest to see it visually -- this also helps prevent any backtracking!
WHAT WAS THE BEST NATIONAL PARK?
Everyone would probably pick something different. My favorite was Arches National Park. I know my MIL's favorite was the Grand Canyon, second was Grand Teton. Cullyn loved the Badlands. I didn't ask, but I'm pretty sure Adam and his dad liked Yellowstone or the Grand Tetons the best. Jordyn didn't seem partial to any of the parks. I know my mother in law and I were super bummed we weren't able to see Glacier National Park!
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART?
Every.single.thing! Except when things got off track and we wasted a half of a day heading up to Glacier via Bear Tooth Pass before realizing our RV was too big to drive on Going-to-the-sun Road and the free shuttle wasn't operating due to Covid. I might have thrown a little hissy fit that night! I believe at one point my mother in law may have said 'okay, we all just need to calm down' haha!
HOW MUCH DID IT COST?
It's kind of hard to calculate because money some was paid ahead of time, all gas and lodging went on our card, and we used cash too, but I would say roughly $7000 all in. {6 people for 12 days, so ~ $100 per person per day}
The RV rental with mileage overages and generator usage was about $3100.
Gas, KOA fees, and hotels were about $3000. *this could be significantly less if you don't stay at any hotels.
Plus park fees, souvenirs, food expense, excursions
WHERE DID YOU RENT YOUR RV FROM?
We rented from VanKo Camper Rentals and I couldn't recommend them more. They weren't too far from our house and they were extremely helpful and accommodating.
Some of you remember we tried to take this trip two years ago, and our RV rental {a different company!!} was cancelled less than 2 weeks before the trip, so I was pretty nervous it would happen again, but VanKo was a complete 180 from our previous experience. {thankfully!}
HOW BIG WAS YOUR RV?
If I remember right it was 36'. It had two slide outs {one in the 'living' area and one in the back bedroom}. It slept 6-8 {a queen bed in the back, the table converted to a sleeping area, the futon pulled out, and there was a bunk up top}. It was about perfect for the six of us.
WHO DID YOU TRAVEL WITH?
It was our family of four plus my mother in law and father in law. I'm so glad we convinced my in laws to go with us. I really treasured that time with them and I think the kids will too.
WHERE ARE YOU GOING NEXT?
Adam and I are both itching to get out East, preferably in the fall. However, we likely won't take an RV for that trip. I would say our next RV trip will either be to Montana/Washington/Oregon/California or Utah/New Mexico/Arizona. Perhaps in 2022?
WHAT WAS THE BEST STOP?
If I had to pick just one state to go to, I would say Utah. I was super impressed with it! They have 5 National Parks, who knew?! Everyone loved our KOA in Moab, Utah! We really to go back just to explore Moab sometime. We were all underwhelmed with Salt Lake City.
WOULD YOU RECOMMEND IT FOR A 'NON CAMPING' FAMILY?
Without a doubt! I was a little nervous since we aren't campers {by any means!} but it's super easy! Our RV was self leveling which was GOLD! The worst part is probably what you're thinking -- emptying the holding tank & gray water. And that really isn't that bad {says the girl that never did it -- ha!} but honestly Adam said it was super easy.
WILL YOU GO AGAIN?
I hope so! Adam actually mentioned buying an RV! It was such a memorable trip!
I answered all the questions I got on Instagram, but feel free to leave any other questions below and I'll follow up.
