2017 Cross USA trip

[CUMMINZ]

We just returned home after 90 days of touring the USA. We drove 14,000 miles. Our trip maker program shows the trip as 10,000 miles which means we made 4,000 miles worth of side trips without the RV in tow. Most of our days towing were about 300-325 miles in length. We did have a final leg from Hersey to the NC mountains at 517 miles mainly down I-81 which I love to drive. We think our favorite spot was the BearTooth Hwy. Other great spot was small mouth bass fishing with a guide on the Manistee River, Manistee, Michigan.

If the photo here does not load well try this link : http://www.cumminz.com/2017-Trip/2017Trip.gif

 

[Lynx0849]

Wow. What a great trip.

Looks like 3 campsites near Yellowstone? In the Black Hills it looks like near Custer State Park. No New Orleans?
What was the loop in Washington?

 

[jhenderson]

Just the sort of trip I look forward to when semi-retirement finally comes. Glad you folks enjoyed it.

 

[CUMMINZ]

Wow. What a great trip.

Looks like 3 campsites near Yellowstone? In the Black Hills it looks like near Custer State Park. No New Orleans?
What was the loop in Washington?

We stayed in only one campground in Oregon and Yellowstone. Oregon was Warren, OR and Yellowstone on the west side. We drove many times out as far as 150 miles to get to sites we wanted to see. We also went into Washington and Oregon from the south and exited the northeast side. We have been to New Orleans several times. After leaving YS and going to Glacier we went to OR. We came back thru MT to Red Lodge and drove the BearTooth and while doing that we went into the NE side of YStone. We stayed at Spearfish and visited Black Hills, Custer, Sturgus& Deadwood. OR we visited where Columbia dumps into Pacific, Tillamook, Mt. St. Helen, Mt. Hood and Mt. Ranier and Portland.

 

[Lynx0849]

Definitely jealous!

Two more years till the toy hauler (and wife retirement)

 

[kthaxton]

You missed good part of Utah....of course the good part is pretty hot right now.

 

[mwilson]

Looks like a great trip!!

I can't help but notice you didn't make it to Maine.......

 

[zb39]

Awesome trip. Was just at the Bear tooth a few weeks ago for the second time. I hope to retire in 10 years or less. WE NEED MORE PICS here.
I would love to go on a long trip like that some day. Best I have done is 5 weeks in 03 when we drove to Alaska. I look forward to retirement.

 

[CUMMINZ]

Looks like a great trip!!

I can't help but notice you didn't make it to Maine.......

Nova Scotia will be our trip next fall.

 

[CUMMINZ]

You missed good part of Utah....of course the good part is pretty hot right now.

We visited the southern portion at Moab several years ago.

 

[CUMMINZ]

Our total trip.

Trip 2017

Home
Georgia (Hamburg State Park) Mitchell, Ga.
Florida (Emerald Beach RV Park, Destin, Pensacola)
Louisiana (Lafayette, Bayou Wilderness RV Park) stop for Cajun seafood
Texas (Dallas, Sandy Lakes RV Park) Visited Healy Plaza
Texas (Amarillo RV Park) overnight
Colorado (Pueblo, Penrose, Colorado Springs) visit with friends. Visited Air Force Museum
Wyoming (Cheyenne) overnight
Utah (Century RV Park in Ogden, Salt Lake City, Provo, Antelope Island, Promontory Point, location of 1869 meeting of both continental railroads.)
Montana (West Yellowstone KOA) touring central/western YStone. Hebgen and Earthquake Lake. Grand Tetons and Jackson Hole.
Glacier National Park (West Glacier KOA)
Oregon, (Bayport RV Park, Warren, Astoria, Mt. St. Helens, Pacific Ocean) visited where Columbia River dumps into Pacific. Mt. Hood & Mt. Rainier.
Montana (Red Lodge KOA, travel Bear tooth Hwy. into East YStone. Cody visited
South Dakota, (Spearfish KOA,) Visited Black Hills, Sturgis, Deadwood, Devil’s Tower, Custer National Park, Mt. Rushmore, Badlands
South Dakota (Kennebec, SD) couple days resting and driving around farms photos of ring neck pheasants. Visited the town of Pierre and Lake Oahe on the beautiful Missouri River.
Minnesota (Minneapolis KOA) over night
Wisconsin (Irma) visit with friends
Michigan (Lake Shore RV Park- St. Ignace,) Visited Sault Ste. Marie and drove north along Lake Superior, Mackinac Island and crossed Mackinac Bridge several times
Michigan (Twin Oaks RV Park, Manistee) visited the town of Manistee and saw where Manistee River dumps into Lake Michigan. Fished for small mouth bass on Manistee River below Tippy Dam. Very large steelhead and salmon runs.
Indiana, (Granger, IN.) Visited Cedar Creek factory at Topeka.
Pennsylvania (Erie) KOA over night
New York (Houghton KOA) Visited Elmira, NY Civil War Prison site, Visited Fort Niagara and Canadian side of Niagara Falls. Visited Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant
Pennsylvania (Hershey) Chocolate factory
North Carolina (Glen Ayre, Lil Rock Creek RV Park)
North Carolina (Spruce Pine, Bear Den Campground)
Home
11,983 miles towing and 3,000 miles visiting and sightseeing without RV. We spent 90 days on the road. The road map I posted in NO way shows all the side routes we took to visit sites.

We tried to statically find RV parks that were center of areas we wanted to visit. Many times we drove up to 150 miles one way to visit sites and return back to RV Park. We also spent time at some RV parks resting for several days between long runs to next site.

 

[Wayne M.]

Bucket list stuff here. Hoping to do with the kids before they take off for their own adventures. Impressed with the ground covered and at the same time, surprised at where you chose not to go. Will there be a revisit to the southwest?
Thanks for the report!

 

[DaveHess]

That is a beautiful 5-er!

 

[CUMMINZ]

Bucket list stuff here. Hoping to do with the kids before they take off for their own adventures. Impressed with the ground covered and at the same time, surprised at where you chose not to go. Will there be a revisit to the southwest?
Thanks for the report!

Yes in the next year or so we will travel the southern toward the South west.

 

[Jim W]

Great trip! How did your Cedar Creek hold up? Have you changed out your diffs yet?

We will be in your area of the woods in late Sept. and early Oct. Going to Asheville NC and Williamsburg VA.

 

[CUMMINZ]

Great trip! How did your Cedar Creek hold up? Have you changed out your diffs yet?

We will be in your area of the woods in late Sept. and early Oct. Going to Asheville NC and Williamsburg VA.

CC did well. RAM is in shop right now. 4.30 gears going in. Will get finished noon tomorrow.

 

[Buffalo]

CUMMINZ,
I noticed that in answer to the question of whether you will make it to the S/W in the future, you said that possibly in the next year or two. If you get to Northern New Mexico and are a member of the NRA, they have a large facility with shooting ranges, and a nice museum and you get in for free. It's worth the stop and, if I'm not mistaken, they may even have camping sites, available. Google them to find out, for sure. This place is located off I-25 just south of Raton, NM. on Hwy. 64 that heads towards the S/W off I-25. If you stay on 64, you will go thru Cimarron. At the western side of town you can turn to the south and go just a short distance to an old, haunted hotel. It is actually a beautiful, old hotel in great shape and much of it is now a museum. Just about anyone famous that came West using the old Cimarron Trail stayed in that hotel. The restaurant is great especially for Mexican food. Go into the old saloon and check out the ceiling, which, is metal and has bullet holes in it from when things got a bit more exciting after a night of drinking. Lots of shootouts in that saloon. They would lay the guy that got shot out on a pool table and if he died, they would take the killer out to the hanging tree and eliminate him. A lady that owns a Western Clothing Store on the main road told me about the restaurant and it was great. After dinner, I had a beer in the saloon and the clothing store lady was having a drink with her friend. I stopped to thank her for the recommendation for dinner and she told me about the history.
I asked my waiter about the reputation the hotel had for being haunted and he told me that he had never seen any ghosts but, the cook had. Just so happened that the cook was having his dinner at the same time so, I went to his table and talked to him. He had seen a ghost along with the security guy while having a drink outside the restaurant.
Stay on Hwy. 64 to Taos, NM. Its a beautiful drive and a wonderful town. On the west side of town they have a lot of free parking for RV's and it is an easy walk to the center of town. The town is small enough that you can pretty much walk most places. On the main north/south road thru Taos, and just a block or two north of where the town square is, and on the west side of the road there is a fantastic restaurant for breakfast's (probably other meals, also). I had a couple of breakfasts there and they were to say the least, memorable!!!! My waiter in the hotel in Cimarron told me about this place. It was a man's name, I think Dave's Restaurant. It's a bakery, also.
If you like old steam locomotive train rides, head out from Taos, to the northwest to Chama, NM where they have the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic R.R. that goes up into Colorado and then back to Chama in a day. I haven't taken that trip but I hear that it is really nice. If you keep going up into CO. you might hit Durango and take the Durango/Silverton Narrow Guage R.R. I have taken that ride, twice, and would do it again in a heartbeat!!!! Remarkably beautiful country!!!! Take the round trip, also. Otherwise, you take a bus back to Durango. If the weather is nice, take the open car's as you will sit facing out. If you take an inside seating car, you will be looking to the side for hours and have to pay a Chiropractor to straighten out your neck!!!!
If you are going to come out to the AZ. area in the end of January, look into going to the Quartzsite, AZ. RV Show. It's free and so is the camping if you don't mind remote camping with no services. Just get there with full fresh water tanks and empty black water and grey water tanks and if you don't have a solar system, a small generator to create electricity. There are RV Parks where you pay but, if you can dry camp, it won't cost you a dime. There is so much to see and do in Quartzsite that you will not be bored. Quartzsite is just off I-10 & Hwy. 95 about 18 miles East of the California border. It's all desert and very nice and beautiful in the winter months. Google the Quartzsite RV Show for dates. It usually lasts for about 8 days and draws hundereds of thousands of RV'ers. You just can't believe that there are that many RV's in the country and they all seem to be in Quartzsite. Many folks from Canada come down for the show since, there is no place in Canada that is warm during that time of the year. Anything you could want for your RV is available somewhere in that town and the prices are usually pretty good. It's like Disneyland for older folks!!!
I live in Phoenix (originally from Detroit) and love it out here. There is so much to see in AZ. it's impossible to mention everything. The S/W has a lot to offer to visitor's. Great place to come visit. Most likely, you will love it out here. Hope you can make it.
Joe

 

[CUMMINZ]

Great trip! How did your Cedar Creek hold up? Have you changed out your diffs yet?

We will be in your area of the woods in late Sept. and early Oct. Going to Asheville NC and Williamsburg VA.

Where are you staying in Asheville?

 

[Jim W]

We are staying at Rutledge Lake Park in Fletcher NC. We tried to stay at Mama's Gerties campground but the place was full during the time we wanted to be there. We plan on being in the Asheville area 17-Sept-2107 until 22-Sept-2017.

 

[CUMMINZ]

We are staying at Rutledge Lake Park in Fletcher NC. We tried to stay at Mama's Gerties campground but the place was full during the time we wanted to be there. We plan on being in the Asheville area 17-Sept-2107 until 22-Sept-2017.

We have a summer home in Arden just up the street.