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Discover a great trip through the United States by motorhome. Enjoy the mythical Yellowstone and other national parks through a surprising route led by some good friends from Kucavana.
Before diving into this route, remember that you have a Complete guide to the United States by motorhome with other posts like the checklist of things to prepare and requirements to travel to the United States or the How to rent a motorhome in the United States and how much it costs.
About BonaVidaTravel
We are Manel i Cristina. We love to travel, in any way and any way, to know new places, different people and local gastronomy, wherever we go! We also really like photography and we try to combine all these things and reflect it on our Instagram profile.
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The United States in a motorhome: the video of our trip
Route through the US National Parks
How it all started
For many years we had the dream of visiting Yellowstone National Park, in United States. And doing it in a motorhome was a plus, which turned out to be the best idea to do this route! They were 36 wonderful days.
We started in Las Vegas
The starting point of our trip is Las Vegas. There we rent a motorhome or motorhome (as they call it in the US) with pick-up and drop-off in the city that never sleeps ...
We valued the possibility of returning the motorhome in a different place to the pick-up, to optimize the tour, but the price supplement to do so was too high and finally we opted to return it also in Las Vegas.
Rental details
Most rental companies ask an economical amount when making the reservation (in our case 10%) and the total payment was made 30 days before picking it up.
Heading north
We started our journey north, visiting along the way other parks which we also had on our list: Bryce Canyon NP, Zion NP, John D. Rockefeller Memorial Park, Grand Teton, finally arriving in Yellowstone.
The mythical Yellowstone
We were there for a week, discovering and admiring everything that surrounded us. When the weather started to get worse, we decided to start our “downhill” route, heading to Las Vegas, where we had to return the caravan.
Amazing Grand Canyon NP
During this part of the route we visit DeadHorseState Park, Canyonlands NP, Arches NP, GoosenecksState Park, Monument Valley Navajo, Tribal Park, Grand Canyon NP North Rim, Glen Canyon NP, LowerAntelopeCanyon, Upper, AntelopeCanyon, Horseshoe Bend, Grand Canyon NP South Rim , Lake Mead NationalRecreationArea and Death Valley NP (apart from this caravan route we did 3 nights in San Francisco, 2 nights in Las Vegas and 4 nights in Los Angeles, visiting the city and the Disney parks). So we enjoy a lot of experiences in the United States in a motorhome.
The United States in a motorhome: an unforgettable experience
What we liked the most This route was a mixture of visiting large cities, full of life, and spectacular landscapes.
Surely America's National Parks are everything an example of making things easy for tourists. Thus, they make us feel in the middle of nature while offering a lot of comforts.
The other side: huge distances
What we liked the least was that the distances are enormous and to go from one park to another you have to do many kilometers. In our case, who like to drive, it did not pose any problem except long hours of driving, but it can be heavy on the road.
The ubiquitous hamburger
The little diversity of the food can be a point against for those of us who like gastronomy… In large cities we will find a huge and varied cuisine, but in small towns it is something else. There the gastronomic variety is scarce, and we are not going to deny that greasy hamburgers are the star dish. Luckily, traveling by motorhome allows us to cook to our liking.
Motorhome and home exchange
The motorhome has been our house on wheels most of the route, but the accommodations In the big cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles we do them with a system that we have used for years to travel: the home exchange.
Of the 36-day motorhome tour of the United States, we only stayed 4 days in hotels: Jackson (Wyoming), Las Vegas and in Orange County, right next to Disneyland.
Where to stay
There is still more about our trip to the United States by motorhome. With the car we carry the house with us, but most days we establish it in campsites or government camping areas. Forget the idea of free camping anywhere in America. It is true that you can find corners where you can park and spend the night with the motorhome, but usually the best areas are forbidden or are paid.
The campsites, a good option
During our route we slept in some open space on the shoulder of the roads, and even the parking lot of a Walmart shopping center, but We mostly choose the campsites to spend the night.
Once we access the National Parks, it is totally forbidden to camp freely and we have to register in one of the various campsites, if we want to camp, or spend the night in the hotels if we travel by car.
Of campsites, there are many types and budgets. Some offer a lot of services (swimming pool, laundry, supermarket…). The most normal ones have community toilets, showers and electrical and water connections. The simplest (the camping areas of many National Parks) are simply a delimited terrain where to park the vehicle.
Some may also have electricity and water connection, but others do not have any type of service. Here it is important to know the motorhome to know the days that we can circulate without needing any type of connection (remember that the electric batteries must be charged and the dirty water tanks must be emptied and the drinking water tanks must be refilled).
We liked the KOA chain
One of the chains of campsites that we used the most was KOA. It is a franchise of campsites spread throughout the country. They are not the cheapest, but when renting the motorhome they gave us a small discount in this chain, and something that suits us very well during the route is that they have APP for the mobile, and this allowed to make reservations and payments in advance, solving a good part of the problems of looking for a campsite when you are late to a site.
Open route or book accommodation?
This route can be done openlyAll accommodations are not closed and reserved. Yes it is true that In high season (July-August and mid-September) things get complicated and some locations will require a prior reservation and we may find less availability.
In many camping areas it works the "first-come, first-servedsite" system”, That is, it works on a first-come, first-served basis. Whoever first accesses an empty plot, pays the fee and can now occupy the square without fear of running out of space to camp.
Payment can be made at the service office, if they have one. In other camping areas, we will simply find an information panel with a mailbox where we will fill in the data, the number of the area where we will camp and we will leave the cash in a mailbox.
Attention!. They come to check them every day, so be legal! . In each plot there is a simple stick with a clamp where we must leave the proof of payment. This way, if new campers arrive, they will know that this space is occupied. These are some of our tips about the United States by motorhome.
Enter the National Parks
Entrance to the National Parks it's paid, and we will find booths with Rangers at all entrances where we can buy entrance tickets. You can buy the ticket for each Park in particular and that is why if we plan to visit a minimum of 3 during the route, it is much more convenient to buy the annual pass.
Is a ticket that allows entry to all National Parks managed by the United States government for 365 days from the date of entry to the first park. In addition, 2 holders can be defined, with which the pass can be used by another family / friend in the future.
Ah! It must be taken into account that there are accesses to natural and interesting areas that are not managed by the government and have their own entrance ticket.
The United States by motorhome, without a doubt a great trip highly recommended for anyone who likes nature. And if it can be done in a motorhome, much better!
