We’ve completed one epic three-month family RV road trip around America in our rented C-Class RV (28ft) and I can’t believe it’s over. Here is a round-up of our family RV road trip around the US with links to related posts, costs, facts, figures, highlights, our itinerary in PDF and a YouTube video series.
WATCH THE SERIES ON YOUTUBE
Click on the links below to watch our road trip in more detail on YouTube. We’re total amateurs and are just having a bit of fun with the footage recorded on our smartphones, but we do hope you enjoy it.
- Episode 1: RV Road Trip USA – Yosemite to Yellowstone
- Episode 2: RV Road Trip USA – From Cody to Cherokee
- Episode 3: RV Road Trip USA – North Carolina to Florida
- Episode 4: RV Road Trip USA – Homosassa to New Orleans
- Episode 5: Texas, Beach Camping, Space Station & Forth Worth
- Episode 6: Amarillo to Mesa Verde
- Episode 7: Canyons & Monuments, Cortez to Page
- Episode 8: Page & The Grand Canyon, Arizona
- Episode 9: Bearizona & The Best of Route 66
- Episode 10: Las Vegas & Death Valley with Kids
- Episode 11: Driving from Death Valley to Big Sur via Los Angeles
- Episode 12: Big Sur, California
- Episode 13: San Francisco
Listen to this post as a podcast by clicking on the following link.
We’re Back – Hello & Happy Holidays!
I’m frantically typing away to get 90 days of personal diary entries into words that you might enjoy and find useful if needed for your own road trip planning.
It was a wonderful experience to discover so much about the United States and doing it in an RV for extended trips with three kiddos can be unforgettable fun, if it’s right for you.
Stay tuned and keep following along on our blog where we’ll tell you all about it!
RV Road Trip Related Posts
- RV Road Trip Q&A with our thoughts on specific RV related questions.
- Download in PDF our 90 Day Itinerary with excursions and costs included
- Planning our USA RV Road Trip
Scroll to the bottom of this post for a summarised itinerary and diary entry links.
Travel Update December 2018
We’re now in Spain, staying at Benal Beach near Malaga and after the
If you celebrate Christmas, we wish you a merry one and if you’re spending time with loved ones, we wish you a blessed time indeed.
We’ll chat again soon in the new year.
Cheers!
Lindsy & Brendan
Ps: Please do us a favour and share the posts that you enjoy?
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If you’re wondering if you must have insurance on a travel trailer, read HERE
USA FAMILY RV ROAD TRIP 2018
USA Road Trip Facts & Figures
- Duration: 90 Days
- Distance: 11 000 miles / 17 700 km
- Driving Time: 220 hours / 9,2 Days approx,
- States (California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Albuquerque, Colorado,
- National Parks (Yosemite, Craters of The Moon, Tetons, Yellowstone, Badlands, Smoky Mountains, Everglades, Mesa Verde, Grand Canyon, Death Valley)
- State Parks (Thermopolis, Myrtle Beach, Homosassa, Manatee Springs, Bayou Segnette, Goosenecks, Hearst San Simeon, Pfeiffer Beach – Big Sur)
- 11 Junior Ranger Programs
- 1 Zoo (Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo)
- 2 Aquariums (Omaha, Tennessee)
- Attractions & Excursions (Incl.: Chicago Skydeck, Ripleys Combo, Walt Disney World, The Ark Encounter, Manatee Sanctuary Florida, Manatees Kayak & Swim, Everglades Swamp Ride, Mississippi River Paddlewheeler Historic Cruise, Houston Space Station, Billy Bob’s Honky Tonk, Historic Fort Worth Bull Riding & Wild West Show, Historic Fort Bluff, Glen Canyon Dam Tour, Upper Antelope Canyon Tour, Bearizona, Hearst San Simeon Castle Tour, Elephant Seal Rookery, Alcatraz Tour)
- Landmarks & Monuments (Incl.: Devils Tower, Mount Rushmore, Aztec National Monument, Four Corners Monument, Cadillac Ranch)
- 37 RV Campgrounds (National, State and Private Parks)
- 60 RV Campground Nights
- 26 Boondock Nights
- 4 Hotel Nights
Road Trip Firsts & Highlights
- First national park in the world: Yellowstone
- Explore one of the largest supervolcanoes: Yellowstone.
- The world’s largest natural mineral hot spring: Thermopolis, WY
- First national monument US 1906: Devils Tower National monument, WY
- Lied Jungle – Omaha, Nebraska. World’s largest indoor rainforest (or so they claim)
- The 2nd highest building in the Western hemisphere – Willis Tower Skydeck on the 103rd floor. Lift 18mi/ hr. Up in 60 sec.
- The world’s largest timber structure: The Ark Encounter, Williamstown – Kentucky
- Visit the first KFC in Corbin, Kentucky; where Colonel Sanders first began.
- The world’s largest and most popular Walt Disney World: Orlando, Florida
- The world’s warmest place on earth: Death Valley.
- Drive the mother road; Historic Route 66
- Drive on one of two American musical highways in New Mexico
- Drive Big Sur
- Drive US Route 1 in Florida along famous beaches
- Drive the Overseas Highway Miami to Key West on US Highway 1.
- Cross the beautiful Seven Mile bridge in the Florida Keys.
- Reach the Southernmost Point of the Continental US in the Florida Keys
Itinerary And Shortcuts to Diary Entries
Follow along day-to-day as we travel around America in a 28ft motorhome for three months. Read about our epic USA family RV road trip in our daily diary entries.
San Francisco To Yellowstone National Park (2 Weeks)
Day 1: Getting There. From Dublin, Ireland to San Francisco, USA.
Day 2: Picking Up The Rental motorhome from Elmonte RV
Day 3-4: From San Francisco To Yosemite National Park
Day 9 – 13: Yellowstone National Park
Cody To Chicago (10 Days)
Day 14-15: Cody, Thermopolis and H16 through Big Horn National Forest to Gillette – Wyoming
Day 18: The Badlands of South Dakota to
Day 19 – 23: Nebraska to Indiana and Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo
Day 24: Chicago
Chicago to Savannah (10 Days)
Day 25-27: From Chicago to Williamstown, Kentucky, The Ark Encounter
Day 28-29: Harland Sanders Cafe & Museum in Corbin, Kentucky -The first KFC, to Tennessee’s Pigeon Forge (Dollywood) and Ripley’s Believe it or Not attractions in Gatlinburg.
Day 30-31: The Great Smoky Mountains National Park and a visit with friends at Lake Wylie in Charlotte, North Carolina
Day 32-33: Camp at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Day 34-35: From Myrtle Beach to Sullivan’s Island in Charleston for lunch and Savannah, Georgia.
Florida (3 Weeks)
Day 36-38: Drive Florida’s Coastal Highway along the scenic A1A and US1 roads to Beverley Beach, Daytona Beach,
Day 39: From Miami Beach to Everglades National Park to camp at Flamingo Campground
Day 40-43: The Florida Keys
Day 44: From Florida Keys to Orlando, via the Tamiami highway and an airboat ride in the Everglades swamp.
Day 45-53: Walt Disney World, Orlando
Day 54-56: Florida’s Nature Coast. Homosassa, Crystal River, known as the Manatee Capital of the world and Manatee Springs State Park.
Day 57: The Forgotten Coast. Florida’s panhandle and the destruction of Hurricane Michael.
New Orleans To Mesa Verde National Park (2 Weeks)
Day 58-60: New Orleans, Mississippi
Day 61-67: Beach Camping, Houston Space Center and Fort Worth, Texas.
Day 68-69: Roadside Attractions from Fort Worth and Route 66 from Amarillo to Santa Rosa, New Mexico.
Day 70-71: Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado
Four Corners Monument To Las Vegas (1 Week)
Day 72-74: Four Corners Monument; Bluff, Utah; Monument Valley, Goosenecks, Antelope Canyon, Glen Canyon, Page – Arizona.
Day 75: The Grand Canyon, Arizona
Day 76-78: Bearizona in Williams, Arizona; Route 66 Seligman to Kingman & Las Vegas, Nevada
Death Valley To San Francisco Via Los Angeles & Big Sur (10 Days)
Day 79-80: Furnace Creek, Badwater Basin and Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley, California
Day 81-87: California’s scenic coastal Highway 1 from Los Angeles to San Francisco via Santa Monica Pier, Malibu Beach, Santa Barbara, San Simeon, and Pfeiffer State Park – Driving Big Sur!
Day 88-89: Explore San Francisco around Pier 39 and a boat trip to Alcatraz Island, aka The Rock.
Day 90: Our family RV road trip is over! Fly Home
FOR YOU TO PIN
Tips to visit Yellowstone National Park 
RV Road Trip USA: Cody and Thermopolis, Wyoming
Nice
Thank you Brendan
Now this is epic and amazing! What a wonderful experience and memories to make together. I love it!
Thank you. We certainly have great memories from this trip. I’m so glad you enjoyed it Elisa.
I can’t wait to read the whole 90 day account! This is something we too want to do as a family in the future so thank you very much for posting your adventures.
fournomadics.com
You’re very welcome Fanuel. I so badly want to get the whole trip written up and posted, but it takes so much longer than I think each time I sit down and start writing because there’s just so much to tell.
Don’t you find that editing photo’s, which I dare not leave out, always take longer than planned!
Now I’m even more eager to get the trip posted and up to date for your families’ own adventure. Back to work!
Love this as it really resonates. We have a class C motor home which we bought sort of by accident whilst we lived in Canada a couple of years ago. We kept it when we moved back to the UK and since then have done several road trips through Canada and the US, usually for about 10 weeks. Admittedly though it is just the two of us! We head off again next week, Toronto to BC and will take in Yellowstone so i am going to checknout your post on this for all the tips i can get about camping there in a 28 foot rv! You have a great itinerary here so will look forward to following along and comparing. What a brilliant experience!
Thank you Jane. We’d love to get a RV to keep in the US to do exactly what you do; go on trips when we can. Oh, I’m so jealous to think you’re going next week! Take me with you!!!!! You must enjoy it and I hope you’ll share the trip and lots of pics.
What a fantastic way to see the USA, in a RV! We did a similar round trip many years ago but in a car and we never got to New Orleans, as from Dallas we rushed straight to New York.
It was such an exciting trip and your blog is giving us some fun flashbacks,
How awesome you did it with your family.
Thank you for checking in Oli and it’s great that our trip replays some of your own happy roadtrip memories for you. I’m still working my way through your blog for posts on Thailand for our upcoming trip Nov-Dec so I look forward to reading more tonight.
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wow! looks like an absolutely amazing road trip!! i’m happy that you visited so many national and state parks along the way 🙂
Hey Lani, sorry for the late reply! Hope you are well wherever you are in this Covid-19 world of ours. You’re right, it was an amazing trip and we’d do it again in a heartbeat. The parks were the best and I only hoped we could see more of them. America is a beautiful country.
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Nice; inspiring. However: RV rental, petrol, and food makes the trip cost 3x stated values. Oh, well.
Hi, Glad you found the content inspiring. Just makes my day to hear it! Isn’t it crazy how much things have changed in only 5 years? I agree, everything is atronomically more expensive now than when we did this trip in 2018. Budget travellers, like us, have to be so much more savvy now.