Where do you plan to tow?

[Cueva del Osos]

Been busy putting together a month long trip for 2020 hitting 4 national parks and several states that I've managed to miss visiting in my 58 years.

4,450 miles, 11 states and 15 RV parks over 32 days. Was originally hoping to make the trip before the kiddos are out of the school for the summer, but mountain passes frequently like to stay snow-bound thru May so we moved forward into June.

I'm posting a map of the route and, while I've already booked most of the stops already, would be interested to hear from anyone who's towed these roads. We have a 22' Keystone Passport ultra lite with a tongue weight of around 470-500# when loaded for a real trip. Have my gas stations mapped (more important than the rv parks imo) and most of them have mid-grade! (I was stymied by the lack of mid grade on our midwest trip this year).

When we're 'living the dream' I'll update this post with mileage/truck performance and maybe a pic of two of going head to head with a bison or bear ( no officer, I did NOT feed them, and I did NOT challenge them...they came to me...honest!)

Where do you plan to tow in 2020?

 

[Richard320]

I hope you aren't planning on doing Palm Desert to Lee Vining in one shot, because that is a long, long haul.

89 Octane shouldn't be a problem in California. Everyone has it. I have noticed on my trips that in parts of Utah and Colorado, Regular is 85 octane. So pay attention at the pumps that 87 isn't midgrade. And then there was this....Something for everybody. They also had a separate pump with some ethanol-free high octane off to the side.

 

[Cueva del Osos]

LOL..now THAT's a gas pump! LOL More times than I liked, the gas in midwest was either 87 or 91. I tried the 91 and got no boost on mileage. I tried pure gas (no ethanol) and go no boost on mileage, I tried 85 when that was the only option (they were out of 91) and my mileage took a big hit. Valero, Cenex, Conoco, Phillip's...bad mileage for my truck/tow. Exxon, Shell, Mobil...OK mileage for my truck/tow...Speedway 89 has given me the best, most consistent results.

Yes, we're doing Lee Vining to Palm Desert in one day (it's the longest day on the entire trip by far @ 380 miles). We did 400-425 miles per day on the midwest trip and yes, that sucked bad...after 5 days in Lee Vining I can handle one overly long day...and at least it's downhill to Bishop!

On the flip side...Palm Desert will be 3 days laying at the pool!

 

[tobyw]

What in the world are you going to see in Moses Lake, WA? I live about an hour from there and, well... just keep driving

 

[devildodge]

This is where we tow every weekend from April to October

 

[devildodge]

I will definitely be tagging along on this journey. Really interested in hearing about the trip.

We have been researching state to state to state travel.

I read an interesting rule of thumb for full timers. The 3 2's...travel no more than 2 hrs, stay no less than 2 days, arrive by 2 pm.

I figure when we hit the road our plan is to be on the road 4 hrs, stay for 4 days, be there by 4pm.

Anxious to here how well the reservations, travel time, setup, tear down, and towing in general goes.

 

[NDanecker]

My bucket list kind of vacation. I wish you great success, be safe and most importantly report back about the trip with pics.

 

[Zeronet]

We’ve done a few long trips with our camper. Longest was 2-1/2 months to the desert Southwest. We average 3-4 nights per stop.

On travel days we like to leave by 9 am and travel no more than 300 miles. We generally stay as long as we want. Once we’ve arrived we’ve always been able to extend our stay if needed. When we’ve seen everything we want in that area then we make a reservation for our next campground and move the following day. We seldom have advance reservations unless we’re staying in a National Park or there’s a holiday weekend coming up. With our smallish camper we’ve always gotten a site. State parks, county parks and national forest campgrounds are generally sparsely populated during the week.

We just stayed in a Florida state park for 3 weeks visiting with family. We only had the first week reserved before arriving. We had to move a couple of times within the campground (needed to dump the tanks anyway) and needed to go to a nearby private campground for Columbus Day weekend. Finding a spot really isn’t an issue.

That’s how we roll.

 

[Cueva del Osos]

What in the world are you going to see in Moses Lake, WA? I live about an hour from there and, well... just keep driving

Yeah....the Moses Lake stop is more a case of needing a stop based on distance than a desire to see anything. Sometimes you’ve just gotta get there.

 

[Cueva del Osos]

I will definitely be tagging along on this journey. Really interested in hearing about the trip.

We have been researching state to state to state travel.

I read an interesting rule of thumb for full timers. The 3 2's...travel no more than 2 hrs, stay no less than 2 days, arrive by 2 pm.

I figure when we hit the road our plan is to be on the road 4 hrs, stay for 4 days, be there by 4pm.

Anxious to here how well the reservations, travel time, setup, tear down, and towing in general goes.

We have friends who swear by the 2/2/2 rule. We’ve tried 3 hr drives and felt they were too short. We’ve tried 8 hr drives and swore never again. We’re targeting 5 hr drives on most of this trip. On the spans between the main attractions, we’re just trying to avoid more than 2 days driving in a row by adding some extra days for down time. We alter departure time to try getting the arrival time as close to ‘check in’ as allowed. Having an hour or three to relax, stroll or whatever before dinner really makes you feel you’re on holiday instead of feeling like an OTR trucker!

Reservations have been ‘interesting’ so far. One park doesn’t open 2020 reservations until Dec 1, another Jan 1 and the park we’re using for Yosemite doesn’t taken reservations until Mar 1. Other than that, all parks are booked. Most were very accommodating when I asked for specific spots (give me an end spot with shade every time!).

I should clarify that we treat the TT as a traveling hotel room. We like a park/site that can serve as its own destination if we decide we don’t want to run around/explore elsewhere. After witnessing the actions of other campers at state park dump stations, we always try to book sites with FULL services. We did one tow this year with all tanks at 1/3 full thinking we would dump at the next site. I could feel the tank contents sloshing and shifting and it added a really unpleasant element/feel to the way the Ram drove. Won’t make that mistake again.

Trying to figure out what the ‘upgrade of the year’ will be for the TT. Last year was electric tongue jack (with remotes...best...upgrade...EVER!), porcelain toilet (ultra lites come with plastic everything) and baffled vent covers. Thinking that an extra battery and inverter might be a good choice this year. (TT came with one battery and no inverter, so only thing we can do without shore power are lights, water pump and fridge). Might also consider a backup camera on the TT (if I can figure out an unobtrusive way to mount the screen in the Ram’s cab)

 

[devildodge]

I agree completely with your target drive/arrive times.

It is so tricky with reservations. We have to do a reservation here for next october on the 8th. Literally have to count down the seconds to be sure to get a good spot.

With our planning we stay away from the popular places on memorial day, 4th of july and labor day. The rest of the year we camp without crowds anywhere.

An electric Jack is on our list, and so far I haven't really seen the need for a rear trailer camera, but they sure have become popular.

Thanks for the thread, this will all be helpful info.

 

[foneguy]

everywhere once i get the 2500 CTD! but summer were seasonal

 

[raven_DT]

Spring of 2020: to Fort Wilderness 1400 mile round trip
Summer 2020: to NH and Maine 2600 mile round trip
Need some good advice on places to stay along 81 and 88. Will stop in SW VA and again somewhere near Scranton PA. Scranton doesn't seem to offer many RV parks near the interstate.

 

[runamuck]

we live in the dfw area and typically tow to lake murray, ok (95m) and to wright patman near texarkana (240m). last year we towed to Big Bend (570m) and Palo Duro (360m) for the farthest trips. I see some folks do about 300m per day..have not considered that yet. the run down to Big Bend didnt seem too bad but did take most of the day. we plan to drag our trailer up to near mt. rushmore this coming year and at some point also tow it to Moab, ut. still working out the plan for the trip to Custer, s.d. area. but will probably take two days to get to Moab. Santa Rosa nm is 500m for us and we will probably tow to there the first day. that is also our halfway stop when riding our motorcycle from here to Durango labor day weekends. it's great to hear other folks towing experiences as we have only been doing it for a few years so far. we tow a freedom express 246rks. 28' and a little under 6000# when traveling. cruise at 68-70 and get 8.5-10.5 normally.

 

[Richard320]

....at some point also tow it to Moab, ut. ....

I camped at Canyonlands RV Resort & Campground last year. It wasn't the greatest for tent camping, but it had the nicest public restrooms I've ever been in outside of a Vegas casino. And an on-site laundromat.

 

[Cueva del Osos]

Santa Rosa nm is 500m for us and we will probably tow to there the first day. that is also our halfway stop when riding our motorcycle from here to Durango

ahhh..the big blue hole!

When we were living in Chicago & building our NM house. I drove back and forth too many times and Santa Rosa was a typical gas stop. Exits/Road conditions made me cringe every time I stopped. Then you get the Safety Corridor with double fines for speeding... it contains some substantial uphill grades that slow the truckers (west side of Santa Rosa is one of the worst) and if you punch it to get around the trucks you set yourself up for an expensive ticket. Some parts of the Land of Enchantment are slightly less ‘enchanting’

 

[runamuck]

ya there are a cpl. long pulls in that area. uphill all the way for us..Ft. Worth area is about 650" ASL. we ski at Taos or Red River every year and have looked at buying property in NM for many years but have just not found the right place yet. might at some point get some land up there and put a pad and hook-ups so can park trailer for extended stays..traded our '17 gmc sierra for the ram because the sierra worked pretty hard towing in the hills.

 

[Cueva del Osos]

That's beautiful area to be sure! When we were breaking in the Ram, we did a (too) long drive through Las Vegas (NM), Mora, past Sipapu and into the back-side of Taos (then Santa Fe & home). We weren't towing that run, but the Ram took the winding mountain highways beautifully.

Just a little heads-up for future reference if you DO ever buy land here: RE Taxes are calc'd at a higher rate for vacant/undeveloped land (lower value because it's undeveloped, but higher multipliers for assessment) and crossing a county line can make a BIG difference in the tax rates. We're at the western edge of San Miguel County and our taxes are a fraction of Santa Fe or Taos counties. ( I looked up the taxes on our former house in IL and their taxes went up more than my total tax bill this year...and my NM house is assessed at twice the IL house's value). If you found that Mora County worked for you, you'd save a bucket of cash compared to Taos. Colfax county (I 'think' Red River is in Colfax) is probably between the two.

 

[Cueva del Osos]

As we’re getting closer to the spring tow trip west, I’ve started trying to plan a fall trip east. NM to Chicago is easy (we do try to stick to US hwys and not intestates when the route allows) and Chicago to Gatlinburg isn’t too bad either (that leg requires interstate all the way) but then I get totally flummoxed finding a route back to NM along I-10, 20 or 40 with decent rv parks. With our ultralite TT, boondocking really isn’t a good option for us unless we bring the generator (and that’s rarely something I want to do).

Any of you seasoned rv-ers have any recommendations along any of the east/west routes?

 

[Coopers_Dad]

Heading south to Ocean City MD in July again but this year we're leaving the trailer in OC and coming back for it in August and continuing for a week in the NC Outerbanks.
All told it will be a 2300km trip. Anything else will be sort stuff to Watkins Glen for some racing.