Plans for a trip

[Hancoman]

Planning a trip for next year about this time, heading out from the State of Washington to Arizona and then east on I-10 to Florida hitting all the hot spots along the way.

 Any suggestions on things not to miss or things that are overrated. Must does or must not does. Thanks in advance for all your suggestion.

 

Tom

[Old Dog]

If you want to go big and enjoy a little hiking I would recommend Yellowstone, Zion, and Arches on the way down. Minimum 5 days each, so much to see.

[Ted Carbonaro]

Agreed with this previous post. And if you stay in Moab there are good RV parks and there is so much to see and do from there. Arches, Canyonlands, Needles, it’s all beautiful! 

[Tom Cherry]

If you are a 60’s car buff….pick up Route 66 for a while.  Swing over to Salt Lake City….lots there. Checkout the Petrified Forest and Sedona.  Don’t miss the TETONS….But not the back way from West Yellowstone….otherwise you’ll need brakes.  
 

SERIOUSLY….  BUT THE WESTERN version of the RV & Truckers guide to grades before go.  Will keep you out of trouble.  Knowing your time table would help.

 

[Ivylog]

You can forget Ystone and even the Tetons (if you can get there) very cold currently. Moab and Zion look a lot better but still cold at night…no crowds. Not many “hot spots” this early.

Edited April 16, 2023 by Ivylog

[Hancoman]

Being from Washington we have traveled many times through Montana and the Rockies, have not spent any time in The Arches or Zion that will be a trip for another time . 
plan is to leave mid March and travel South through Arizona and take 10 East through SanAntonio ,New Orleans and Florida to the Keys. Then head to Myrtle Beach where we have friends to stay for 10 days or so and be back home for Summer. If you are not familiar with Western Washington summer starts around the July 5th. So kidding aside   2 month trip give or take.                                  

[cbr046]

I heard I-10 is a zero maintenance road, or it would seem so.  Others may verify.

- bob

[Bill R]

Big Bend National Park.  Worth a stop, seems like you will be close to it on I10 east of El Paso.  

[jimc99999]

If weather permits you could take I-40 through Flagstaff, which puts you close to Sedona, Arizona's Snow Bowl (12K ft mountain with ski resort), Sunset Crater, and not too far from the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Also about 2 hours from Page, AZ for Antelope Canyon, passing through the Painted Desert. We enjoyed our 3 months in Flagstaff and would love to go back sometime.

I-40 also takes you close to Santa Fe, NM which is kind of neat but we only spent a couple nights there. 

You might want to spend a few days on the white sand beaches of the Gulf between Pensacola and Destin, FL.  If you're returning late enough in July and you like military air shows, Pensacola Naval Air Station is home of the Blue Angels and they have a show the week after July 4th. 

I've seen people mention I-40 being pretty rough west of Flagstaff, I'm not sure if that's east or west bound. Last time I crossed I-10 was December 2020 and the worst parts were the 20+ miles of construction on each side of San Antonio and Houston. Louisiana seems to have finally covered the old I-10 concrete with asphalt so it was pretty smooth. 

Unless you really have something you want to see on the west coast of FL, I'd recommend I-10 all the way to Jacksonville and then south on I-95. I-75 is terrible* until you pass Naples, the FL Turnpike is not bad though. I-95 is busy from Jacksonville to Daytona and then a nice smooth ride all the way to West Palm Beach. Do yourself a favor and take the FL Turnpike south from at least Jupiter (Indiantown Rd is a good transfer from I-95). 

 

(*) I-75 from I-10 to Naples is heavy traffic of terrible drivers. All those stories you see of 50+ car/truck pileups? All I-75. I-10 to Jacksonville is smooth and pleasant, and I-95 is pleasant from Daytona to Jupiter, except for a short stretch from Cocoa Beach past Melbourne.  If you use the TSD fuel card the TA just west of Jacksonville used to be the cheapest you'll find in FL. If you're overnighting at rest areas along the way the I-95 rest area near St Augustine has a large RV parking area separate from the trucks, nice for an overnight stop.  The Lafayette rest area in Louisiana (near the Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge) is also a nice quiet stop separated from the truck parking, 680 miles from the St Augustine rest area. 

I don't know if you've traveled in the Eastern US before, but you won't find many of those nice big clean mostly empty rest areas you have out west. East of Texas, they're mostly backed up onto the on-ramp by 5-6pm. You'll want to use your diesel truck stop shoes only, because you'll be stepping out of the coach into where many pisspots have been dumped. I'd traveled a lot in the Eastern US by car and motorcycle, never really "seeing" the truck side of rest areas other than noticing they were there. We bought our motorhome in Portland and spent a year bouncing around Northern CA and Oregon and boy was it a shock when we came back to the east coast! Actually most of the rest areas on I-10 and I-95 across FL are not that bad but on I-80 it's pretty bad east of Colorado and the mid-Atlantic to northeast can be terrible. As non-commercial vehicles, we can get away with parking lots and with motorhomes we carry our restroom with us so we at least have more options, but I really feel bad for the commercial truck drivers. So many trucks because there's so many people, the roads are terrible and very few places for them to stop for their required rests. Most trucks stops in the mid-Atlantic to north-east are 75% full in the middle of the day. 

 

[cbr046]

9 hours ago, jimc99999 said:

Unless you really have something you want to see on the west coast of FL, I'd recommend I-10 all the way to Jacksonville and then south on I-95. I-75 is terrible* until you pass Naples, the FL Turnpike is not bad though. I-95 is busy from Jacksonville to Daytona and then a nice smooth ride all the way to West Palm Beach. Do yourself a favor and take the FL Turnpike south from at least Jupiter (Indiantown Rd is a good transfer from I-95). 

(*) I-75 from I-10 to Naples is heavy traffic of terrible drivers. All those stories you see of 50+ car/truck pileups? All I-75. I-10 to Jacksonville is smooth and pleasant, and I-95 is pleasant from Daytona to Jupiter, except for a short stretch from Cocoa Beach past Melbourne.

I drive I-75 A LOT and never seen more than a 3 car wreck.  Mostly one or two, but the wrong time of year can backup for miles.  I'll get caught in a slowdown maybe every 10 trips.  Maybe you're driving during Spring Break or Snowbird season? 

Last trip to Daytona Beach area I missed the exit for I-10.  I detoured and took FL100 from Lake City to Bunnell.  The road was straight as an arrow (mostly), 65 mph fast and only a few towns.  Mileage was shorter but time about the same.  Palatka was the biggest town. There's a pretty nice seafood restaurant (Corky Bell's) on the water that's a good stopping point (plan on a good walk - no room for RVs).   Much better than fighting I-295 around Jacksonville or I-95 to Daytona Beach. 

I will confess, tho.  I'm on the road North of ATL by 5:30am and return trips out of FL typically start Sunday night around 6pm getting back to ATL anywhere from midnite to 3am, so much of my time is off-peak.  The part I have trouble with is why I drive straight through when there's no job to get to?  Oh yeah, daytime ATL traffic sucks!   

- bob

[jimc99999]

15 hours ago, cbr046 said:

I drive I-75 A LOT and never seen more than a 3 car wreck.  Mostly one or two, but the wrong time of year can backup for miles.  I'll get caught in a slowdown maybe every 10 trips.  Maybe you're driving during Spring Break or Snowbird season? 

Fortunately I've never seen the massive pileups on I-75 either, but they happen every couple of years and when you drive on I-75 during the daytime it's easy to see why.  

For the OP heading to the keys, they'd only want to take I-75 to the turnpike. But I-75 + FL Turnpike is only 25 miles shorter than I-10 to I-95, plus tolls on the turnpike and high probability of stop-n-go traffic for a few miles in Orlando even on the turnpike.  I've been both ways multiple times and I-10 to I-95 is a far nicer drive.

[Steven P]

Meaher State Park in Mobile,  AL is right off I10 and a great stop. You can go right down the road and tour the USS Alabama battleship.