Cross Country National Park Trip

[rockfarmer]

You do not say what type of rv that you have but I did note that you are pulling with an F350 diesel. So I assume that you have a fairly large trailer or 5th wheel. We made a "wild west" tour in 2012 with a 38 ft Cedar Creek and visited 23 national (or state) parks and we discovered that we could not park the 5th wheel in many of them. They were built long before modern RVs and were not designed to handle long trailers. We were always able to find a campground in close proximity to the NP that we could stay at.

[mnoland30]

I have a Power Station combination battery jumper and compressor from Costco. It says it goes up to 140 psi. It jumps instantly, and will pump tires without being connected to your vehicle. It charges from 12v or 120v. Don't leave home without it.

It is hot in the southwest in summer, so we camped on National Forests in Utah and drove to the parks for the day. Very nice. Don't forget State Parks. There are some very nice ones.

Late in the season, try southern AZ and NM. Carlsbad Caverns and White Sands are open year round as are many others.

[NJLOAD]

I have a Forest River Cherokee 29 feet and change. We like State parks on the East Coast as they aren't packing you in like sardines.

[vajeep]

For a reliable, powerful 12v compressor take a look at Viair. Can't go wrong there. Also for this trip take a look at the Ultimate Campground Project apps (Ultimate CG in the App Store). Best catalog I've seen of sites and amenities in state/national parks & forests.

[NJLOAD]

Update: A suggestion from a friend who lives in Florida and travels to Montana, I already was a Good Sam member but he suggested I buy the Roadside Assistance so I got that for 1-year. I also got for 1-year the Passport America for discounted campgrounds. I also bought a Good Sam GPS RVND 7735LM and I'm still not sure about this item. I do like the fact that I can plan my route online with gas and camping stops and download to this GPS but I'm not sure if I like it or not. I've always had Garmin up to this point. It also lists Pilot/Flying J stations and I can get discounted Diesel and use their dump stations if needed.

Edit: Just thought of something. Does anyone know if it's OK to tow with the refrigerator turned on? I was told you shouldn't do it, but I've always done it on my East Coast travels and didn't have any issues.

Thanks for all the great responses.

Dave

[Kels4g]

Originally Posted by NJLOAD

Update: A suggestion from a friend who lives in Florida and travels to Montana, I already was a Good Sam member but he suggested I buy the Roadside Assistance so I got that for 1-year. I also got for 1-year the Passport America for discounted campgrounds. I also bought a Good Sam GPS RVND 7735LM and I'm still not sure about this item. I do like the fact that I can plan my route online with gas and camping stops and download to this GPS but I'm not sure if I like it or not. I've always had Garmin up to this point. It also lists Pilot/Flying J stations and I can get discounted Diesel and use their dump stations if needed.

Edit: Just thought of something. Does anyone know if it's OK to tow with the refrigerator turned on? I was told you shouldn't do it, but I've always done it on my East Coast travels and didn't have any issues.

Thanks for all the great responses.

Dave

It's a constant debate. IMO, it's one of those things that's okay....until it's not Meaning it's perfectly fine until something happens and the rv burns to the ground in literal seconds. I have unfortunately seen that happen a couple times.

[NJLOAD]

Is that in response to the refrigerator running?

[Kels4g]

Originally Posted by NJLOAD

Is that in response to the refrigerator running?

Yes. Have seen it twice both times on I-10 near Houston, Texas ironically. The explanation we were given (it was my parents who had called 911 as I was still at teen at the time) was that the propane had been left on to keep the fridge running and something had happened to sever the lines and cause a spark igniting the propane. Could they have been wrong? Possibly. It sounds like a reasonable cause/effect but I guess there's no way to 100% know for sure.

I can tell you that we travel with our propane off at the tanks.

In both instances that I saw- all the people survived. One was a TT and the other was a fifth wheel. Both trailers were burned to a crisp with just the metal frame left and some random debris. It was absolutely terrifying.

[szabla]

There are some good advice here about traveling. The one thing I haven't seen is, many people travel from sea level such as NJ and are not aware of the elevation here in the west.
If you are going to play around in such parks as Rocky Mountain Nation park you may want to acclimate yourself at a lower altitude than 10000 ft., I would stay around 5200 and work you way up.
Many lowlanders come up here every year and have medical problems because of Altitude sickness, (AMS).
These are great places to enjoy just be aware of the head aches and shortness of breath, at higher elevations.