Bucket List Trip

[Shutzee]

In less than a month, my 8 year old grandson, daughter and myself will be taking a road trip with my 64 Shasta Compact. Starting in Minnesota, then to Yellowstone, Half Moon Bay in Santa Cruz, CA, Big Sur, CA, Morro Bay, CA, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde National Park and Durango, CO. Only have camping reservations made in California because of the 4th. We're winging it the rest of the trip. Any and all suggestions are welcomed. Just bought a Ford Flex with the towing package (sway control, oil cooler, etc) for the trip. Tried it out last weekend for a short trip and it seems sweet. We are looking for some unusual places to see along the way, so if you know of any, please let me know.
Thanks! ;D

[harrison429]

omg, wow, awesome! I have no suggestions but am excited for you, it will be a marvelous and memorable trip. (gotta say, jealous about your flex...i think they're pretty sweet looking

[pennyg]

Great Sand Dunes National Park in Coloradoi s the coolest place! It has these huge sand dunes and real nice campsites.It does have bears though! It is in SW Colorado not far from Mesa Verde

[Vintageshopnut]

Sounds amazing! I've only tent camped around Big Sur so don't have any goood suggestions on trailer sites but Big Sur is one of the most beautiful spots in the world. As you make your way to central Cal, (Morro Bay), make sure you have reservations especially if you'll be there on a weekend since it gets pretty busy in the summer.

[offspringin]

No suggestions but that sounds great to me. I have also started to pre-pre plan some bucket list trips, researching parks and places to see. I love that your using a Ford Flex, i like the look of those and the size, i was curious how they do for towing, your 64 should be very similar in size/weight to our 70 compact so i suspect if its working well for you it would work pretty good for us too.

Take a bunch of photos to share with us :0

[Shutzee]

Thanks for the suggestions and encouragement. I've never taken a long road trip without my husband so I'm a bit nervous about it. Offspringin, I love the Flex. We wanted something with a retro look but without repair problems. Towing capacity is 4500 lbs with the towing package installed. Ours is blue with a silver roof, reminds us of a Travelall or station wagon. Yes, I do have camping reservations made for Morro Bay State Park. I'll take a lot of photos and am thinking of doing a travel blog while on the road. Can't wait for school to be out and get the final preparations made.

[dragonfly]

I'm so excited for you. Please consider starting a blog and taking lots of pics and journeling. You don't even have to make it public.
When I was married, we traveled extensively every winter for 3 weeks at a time. The memories are wonderful, my kids loved it and still talk about our travels. Both ot them, in their 20s now still camp and are very self sufficient.
We boondocked for 4 or 5 days at a time, then pulled in to a cheap motel. Usually we just camped out of a full size van and used tents. I would have been in heaven to have had a little trailer like my Astrodome or a Compact.
If you want a resource for boondocking and doing this cheaply, try a site I am a member on www.cheaprvliving.com
I'm sorry, this turned out to be about me, I just get so excited with my own memories sometimes.
Make sure you go to Grand Canyon Deer Farm. Its well worth the admission.
Dragonfly

[dragonfly]

One other thing, my personal opinion, don't go into the mountains without a brake controller and good brakes on your Compact. Maybe others have different thoughts.

[lamacki1]

What a cool trip you have planned! We drove from Illinois to the Grand Canyon and then to California and up 101 from Santa Monica to San Francisco and them home when the kids were little. We didn't camp though. I want to do road trips with my granddaughter now. I am jealous.

I try and remember some of thecool places we stopped.

[schweetcruisers]

I highly recommend Monument Valley ut, also Bryce Canyon ut. I have been to pretty much everyplace place on your list, all very nice but Southern UT has some spectacular sites.

[cowcharge]

I've only been to the Grand Canyon once, at this time of year in '03, and I hit the North Rim coming down from Utah (After Bryce Canyon, with all the beautiful pink rock). It was beautiful of course, and a lot fewer tourists than at the South Rim, I hear. I tent-boondocked just North of the canyon in the Kaibab National Forest, for free. There is a nice-looking campground there surrounded by fields, with herds of deer frolicking about, but being on a low budget, I drove off down the ranger roads in my little Subaru. There's a ranger road that goes West above the canyon to a bunch of free tent sites literally on the rim of the Canyon (don't get drunk and stumble out of your tent or you'll end up doing an unintentional base jump). I camped in this narrow, wooded canyon with a natural meadow in it, in this lonely campsite that looked like it had been used forever, and had this fat little grey owl share my campfire all night You wouldn't make it all the way down to the tent sites towing a camper unless you're really hard core (the road turns into an exercise in one-tire-on-the-middle-hump-one-tire-on-the-edge driving), but you could make it a couple of miles in and park the camper, then explore with the truck. There's a North Rim Campground, too: www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/cg-nr.htm

[Gone Kayaking]

Hi Shutzee
Sounds like a great trip. We did our entire 8000 mile (similar trip) completely without reservations. Especially once you are in the west all the National Forests allow camping whereever you are. I also beleive there are numerous first come first serve campgrounds in teh National Parks. Don't miss the oppty to go to the Grand Tetons as long as you are in Yellowstone. It's south but not to be missed. In fact I prefer it to Yellowstone for wildlife, hiking and grandeur. DO get a National Parks Access Pass--free admission to parks, discounts on campsites. I don't have a good picture of your route. If you are traveling from Yellowstone direct to California, recommend going through Idaho, through Bend and then stopping at Crater Lake in Oregon as you head into California. From California, take 120 through Yosemite, Tioga Pass and down to Mono Lake then down Hwy 395 to hook up with 15 on your way to Grand Canyon. Around Santa Cruz, recommend getting up to the Redwoods near Felton, Big Basin State Park is a great place to camp. I am going to disagree a bit about reservations in California...I think if you are willing to consider less developed campgrounds and private campgrounds or better yet undeveloped national forest sites you should be okay with the exception of Big Sur. My recommendation would be to get to wherever you are going to be for a weekend by Friday morning and you should have no trouble.

[Gone Kayaking]

As far as brakes for your compact....I would say they are less important with a long wheel base vehicle like the flex--if you are good about using the gears in your vehicle and efficient management of the gas pedal --rather than your defaulting to your brakes while driving. If you have them great, but if you don't I wouldn't go to the expense of adding now (which could be costly)...and would instead get a sway bar.

[Shutzee]

Thanks again for all the encouragement. Gone Kayaking, I remember your trip and yearned for the same. I am not too worried about the brakes for the trailer. My Flex has the factory towing package which includes the engine oil cooler and sway control. My compact is pretty true to the approximate 1200 lbs, and we still camp pretty lean, so we should be fine with the 4500lbs towing capacity. There is also a button on the shift knob to use when going downhill which will lessen the braking. I do plan on getting a National Parks pass too. We actually used to live on the Central Coast of California so I am familiar with the area. I'm ok with no hook-ups at campgrounds, but appreciate a shower after a couple days, which is why I made reservations in Big Sur and Morro Bay, CA. I will get my map out and check out your recommendation for a route. I did a backpacking trip to Mono Lake a few years ago and loved the natural beauty of the area. My grandson and I are reading lots of books about the history of each area we plan to visit so we are both able to absorb the history we see. We are considering adding Bryce Canyon to our list. Wish I could be gone all summer. Only five days of school left, which means only five days of work left for me. YEEHAW!!!

[Hamlet]

We are history buffs, and one place we will never get within 50 mils of without stopping is Little Bighorn. Another must do is anywhere in the Sierras - Gold Country and Lake Tahoe (via the Donner Party Memorial) if you're heading east through Sacramento on I-80, Yosemite if you're heading east further south. If you're heading through the middle, then stop off at Mammoth Lakes (eastern side of the Sierra) and Mono Lake to see the tufa. Oh, wait, you already know all that!

[Shutzee]

Update: we have been to the Badlands, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Big Sur, Morro Bay CA, Santa Margarita CA, Zion so far. Ford Flex and Shasta both doing well. Over 3,000 miles so far and headed East to Minnesota!

[offspringin]

Im jealous of all the folks that live out West. Lots of places out there i have never been but would love to go. Guess thats going to have to wait. Work gets in the way. This year we took a week long trip in march to south GA and Central FL. Next year we are heading east from Atlanta to a park in GA we had never been to and into SC to two parks near Charleston. We have a bucket list to be certain but some of those items are a long ways away (both in distance and reality). We are trying to knock out small fun trips every year. We do that week long trip and then 8-9 other trips in the spring/fall to more local places (within a 3-4 hour drive).

We always try to plan our trips around other things we want to see and do as well. Some people go to camp, and stay in the campground the entire time. We like to do that but also like to use it as a mobile base, from there we can camp and explore the area around the campgrounds.

Wish i were in Shutzees back seat to enjoy the ride. I think its so awesome, the trip they are taking.

[hellonwheels]

Where did you stay in Big Sur? That's one of my favorite places! We stayed at Fernwood last time, but the driveway to get to the campground is very steep.

[Shutzee]

Over 4500 miles on my 64 Shasta Compact and man she held up well. We stayed at the Riverside Campground in Big Sur. It also had a steep driveway with Redwoods in the middle and then had to cross a small bridge. It was my favorite place to camp. I had the urge to buy another trailer to fix up and then decided I really wanted to use the one I had. Absolutely NO REGRETS, it was a wonderful time. My grandson and I counted "old trailers" just sitting on property along the roads we traveled. Well over 200, so there's plenty out there waiting to be saved. Made it back to Minnesota in two weeks. Will post pictures soon. I even drove Hwy 1 and the Tioga Pass in Yosemite! YEEHAW!

[Hamlet]

Glad your trip went so well. What a great wealth of memories you tallied up along the way!

[Shutzee]

Put together a quick video regarding the road trip. Few pictures of my trailer and a bunch more.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ot1ElGhJo&feature=g-upl

[Gone Kayaking]

Wow, bringing back great memories of my son's and my 8000 mile road trip last summer. Looks lik you all racked up some great times! Is the music in the background courtesy of the Chinander boys? Great to have music like that in the family (watched a couple of your other videos too.

[Shutzee]

Gone Kayaking-The Chinander boys are all musicians. Husband, son and grandson is working on it. My husband and I love to go camping at Bluegrass Festivals (keeps both of us happy). He said "now if we could just organize a vintage trailer rally and a bluegrass festival at the same event". I like that idea.

[Gone Kayaking]

Shutzee, you should check out the Strawberry Music Festival out here in California (near Yosemite) ever Memorial Day and Labor Day. Plenty of vintage trailers (or at least a dozen scattered about) and some say it is the best player's festival in the country. Jams go all night and happen at camps all over the festival. Main Stage, workshop stage and Lake stage have something for everyone.

[Shutzee]

I would love to but----- I work for the public school system. It's "all hands on deck" once the school year starts and they discourage any time off during the year. So no Minnesota to California trip during Memorial Day or Labor Day. We usually fly out for a week at Christmas, that's why I have my eye on the lookout for a trailer out there. We would prefer to have a trailer to stay in than pay for a vacation house.

PS: There is a photo of a 50's Shasta in the video I made. It was at a KOA in Los Banos, CA. They had it set up to rent out at $39 a night. I wanted to look at it, but the owners weren't at the campground, just some grumpy old guy. Good to see old trailers getting utilized.