Lessons from Longest Trip to Date

[mpsgolf]

We just completed our longest trip yet. It is my retirement celebration trip, having traveled from my job assignment in Seattle back to our home in MO (we purposely the long way home). This probably isn't long for many of you but for us it was our longest since we have always been full time employed. Below are some tidbits about the trip and what we learned.

The trip:
Starting in Seattle down OR coast on 101; to Redwood NP and continuing on 101 through Avenue of the Giants; through Sonoma Valley and Napa over to Yosemite; through the CA and AZ deserts to Grand Canyon; Petrified Forest NP, Albuquerque and Roswell (no alien abductions) on the way to Carlsbad Canyons NP; finally through NM and W TX to Ft Worth to visit family then home to the St Louis area.
24 days
3,800 miles
11.6 mpg
8 states
5 National Parks
>500 pictures
1 fabulous and memorable trip

Lessons
- The US is amazing! We haven't seen nearly enough of it. The geography, history and geology of our country is varied and astounding. We learned a lot. Get out there!
- It is better to stay a place for numerous days than to do one nighters and constantly be setting up and tearing down. It was the nature of this trip due to it being our trip home, but in the future we will plan on visiting a smaller number of places on a single trip and staying longer at each to rest and enjoy what each has to offer. That said, the variety we saw was amazing.
- We packed more than we really needed (it would be unwise for me to comment further about who and what)
- We can't wait to go again!

For some reason the site isn't allowing me to post multiple pics so i picked one. This very large bugling bull elk was right on our doorstep just before dusk in Grand Canyon NP.

[SteveSueMac]

Great post - you are my hero! 😀

Retirement won't come fast enough but for you - happy retirement and keep enjoying the country!

[xrvr]

How do you know you weren't abducted? Have you verified the time.? A great trip, glad you had a good time. Enjoy retirement.

[OTRA15]

Great post and congratulations on your retirement and freedom to travel like this!

[joel]

We have an allmost identical picture from a campground in Tuscyan just outside the south gate of the park. Can't wait to go back again.

[64airstream]

Congratulations on your retirement. It is certainly the best job I've ever had. Your lessons are spot on.

Great post and I like your photo choice and your summary (including the number of pictures taken). I may steal that format for future posts of ours.

We hope to cross paths in the future,

Roy and Marie

[StrmyWeather]

Congratulations on the retirement! Hope the great experiences continue.

[STPNWLF]

Great post! My wife and I have come to the same conclusions in our travels.
And, congratulations on your retirement! I have my freedom in about 10 days on the 29th!

[kdickinson]

Great information! Thank you

[GumbyGirl]

Originally Posted by mpsgolf

- We packed more than we really needed (it would be unwise for me to comment further about who and what)

Thanks for taking the time to share! Sounds like a great trip but I agree more time would have been nice with that many stops.

Congrats on your retirement. It gives the rest of us hope.

Cathy

[The Colonel]

Congrats on retirement. It was one of the best things I did. We're getting ready to take a long trip too, from FL up to VT, NH, ME and down to see our son in MA. Then meander home. Good luck and safe travels

[wvstreamer]

Congratulations. Keep us posted.
Dave

[AldeanFan]

Awesome

[Piggy Bank]

I pretty much want to do that trip in reverse when we retire -- got at least another decade to get through before that happens.

Congratulations

Are the Carlsbad Caverns as neat as I remember as a 4 year old?

[PaintedWagon]

We also just returned from our 3rd long trip and the longest to date, 33 days NV to Seattle via the CA and OR coast and Olympic N.P. In the prior two years we have done a cross country, one night stops, MA to NV, and up and around Central Oregon and California. We definitely feel that 3 night stays and longer drives are the way to go. We also think we have figured out the ideal formula, for us. Drive 250-300 miles, stay 2 back to back 3 night stays in a National or State park without hook ups and then drive 200 miles to a one night stay in a RV campground with laundry and full hook-up. We can do 2 back to back 3 night dry camping but after that we really need the convenience of full hook-up to clean, warm shower and do laundry, pick up groceries, etc. We also have concluded that if something of interest is withing 50-80 miles of our campsite, it's better to do day trips from a central spot than moving the trailer to a new campground.