Great USA road trip 2020

[Gaston aires]

About 1 year ago we bought an Winnebago RV from some Australians who have since become our good friends. They owned it for 7 years and extensively travelled the US and our intentions were to do the same.
We started off in fine fashion touring Arizona, Nevada, and Utah taking in wonderful places like Monument valley, Grand Canyon, Route 66, Las Vegas, and organ pipe national park, all fantastic places. We stayed on some campsites some aires (BLM land where you can legally stay) even some Walmart stores. We met some great friendly people on the way and despite what some people think the average Americans are extremely nice.
For the first 6 weeks all went well until the dreaded Covid started to rear it’s ugly head and all the national parks, campgrounds, and parking spots started closing. It became obvious things were getting bad. We found a campsite in Hemet, Southern California which was the only place we had pre booked for later in the trip and we arrived early and as it happened had the place virtually to ourselves. In normal times it would have been a wonderful place to be except that all the amenities were closed off, no swimming pools, tennis, golf, nothing except sanctuary and the best citrus fruit we have ever tasted, there for the picking. Fortunately some local shops were still open and Home Depot included.With time on our hands we really gave ”Pricilla” a thoroughly good makeover, fixed the broken awning, re floored, and re painted all the decals etc. We became a bit of a local attraction and were known as the Brits who couldnt get home. Eventually after three flight cancellations we managed to rebook on BA actually on my 70th birthday at great cost but arrived back in Blighty after a virtually private flight home on a Dreamliner, both LA and Heathrow airports were almost empty an experience never to be forgotten.
Because of the storage and insurance costs, and it was broken into during the recent BLM riots (fortunately not trashed) and coupled with the Covid situation we decided to try and sell the RV, not easy in the circumstances. With some help from America friends as of yesterday, Pricilla, has been sold to someone, albeit at a knockdown price but we still have all the memories of this incredible trip.
Altogether an Amazing experience we will always remember fondly.

Phil

 

[KiwiKampers]

I am green with envy. We promised ourselves we would do a year-long USA road trip when we retired but somehow we got side-tracked and did Europe instead. Now, I fear we have left it too late. Even if this COVID-19 is cleared-up we probably won’t be able to get there before my husband turns 70 and then the insurance will be very hard to get.
Lovely photos. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Figaro]

Fantastic story and definately a trip on my list to tick off hopefully at some point.
Did you buy the winne unseen or travel to the states and look whilst there ?
Just trying to figure the logistics of doing such a great trip

 

[Gaston aires]

Fantastic story and definately a trip on my list to tick off hopefully at some point.
Did you buy the winne unseen or travel to the states and look whilst there ?
Just trying to figure the logistics of doing such a great trip

We bought it unseen but from the description given by the Aussie Funsters
and after meeting them at the Old bush music festival we shook hands on the deal.
Definitely a great thing to do but only when things get considerably better.
Phil

 

[DiggerJon]

What wonderful memories and I feel so sorry for you that your lifetime trip was cut short. I was much luckier in 2009/2010 when I bought a fifth wheeler and pick up from my sister's neighbour in the UK but the rig was being stored in Rhode Island and needed to be off the site in May 2009. I wanted it to be in California in 2010 for a 6 month tour of the Western states with a long term friend, and was extremely fortunate to have friends in CA who agreed to look after it for me if I could get it there. Consequently I collected the rig in Rhode Island (a real saga in itself!!) and drove it across the northern states with Niagara, the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, Craters of the Moon and the Devils Tower (of ET fame in the film) amongst others taken in. What a journey! In 2010 it was the usual tourist spots and a few other "unknowns" thrown in like Crater Lake, Lasson National Park, Mt St Helens, Mount Hood and and and ........ Brilliant country, lovely helpful people and over 1500 photos! To finish off, my travelling friend and I caught a train from San Francisco back to New York taking four days and three nights; an experience I'd describe as "interesting"!
Thank you OP for letting very happy memories resurface for me! Now, where's that blog that I did and printed out!

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[Figaro]

Definitely a great thing to do but only when things get considerably better.

Of course.
Was motor insurance straight forward ?

 

[bobnick]

Great experience. Thank's for sharing.

 

[Mikey RV]

Fantastic, well done. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Gaston aires]

Of course.
Was motor insurance straight forward ?

I used Progressive. I am lucky to have my sons USA address, so it was straight forward for me. The aussies before me used them as well and found them the best. Expect to pay 700/800 $
Phil

 

[Howard B]

We visited those areas a good few years back, though we did it in style on a Honda Goldwing.

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[Rjcamper]

Did route 66 a couple of years back, but SUV and motels, was meant to do another USA road trip this year, but covid stopped that. Still have it planned out and reading your post might do in a motorhome.

Always found the USA full of really friendly people who are always happy to chat, think the accent helps

 

[Gaston aires]

What wonderful memories and I feel so sorry for you that your lifetime trip was cut short. I was much luckier in 2009/2010 when I bought a fifth wheeler and pick up from my sister's neighbour in the UK but the rig was being stored in Rhode Island and needed to be off the site in May 2009. I wanted it to be in California in 2010 for a 6 month tour of the Western states with a long term friend, and was extremely fortunate to have friends in CA who agreed to look after it for me if I could get it there. Consequently I collected the rig in Rhode Island (a real saga in itself!!) and drove it across the northern states with Niagara, the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, Craters of the Moon and the Devils Tower (of ET fame in the film) amongst others taken in. What a journey! In 2010 it was the usual tourist spots and a few other "unknowns" thrown in like Crater Lake, Lasson National Park, Mt St Helens, Mount Hood and and and ........ Brilliant country, lovely helpful people and over 1500 photos! To finish off, my travelling friend and I caught a train from San Francisco back to New York taking four days and three nights; an experience I'd describe as "interesting"!
Thank you OP for letting very happy memories resurface for me! Now, where's that blog that I did and printed out!

I was blown away by the scenery. It’s hard to pick a winner but Organ pipe national park blew our minds as didTucson Tombstone old Wild West area. Grand Canyon at minus 22 degrees with people camping in tents next to us freaked us out as well.
Phil

 

[Gaston aires]

We visited those areas a good few years back, though we did it in style on a Honda Goldwing.

Hi Howard. The experience will stay with us for ever, normally amazing but incredible with Covid.
Hope the van is performing well. Phil

 

[James-Alex]

Lovely read, great to hear of some nice times in these challenging ones. Thankyou very much

 

[davidbaldam]

My youngest daughter lives in Albuquerque New Mexico so we had hope to hire an RV to do the Crater site then the Grand Cannon then Painted Valley then on to Monument Valle, ah well maybe next year.

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[PG’s trips]

Great photos and experience.....gives me food for thought, just need a bridge across the Atlantic (or a tunnel)!

 

[Gaston aires]

My youngest daughter lives in Albuquerque New Mexico so we had hope to hire an RV to do the Crater site then the Grand Cannon then Painted Valley then on to Monument Valle, ah well maybe next year.

When you eventually do it, make sure you go see organ pipe national park and Biosphere two (near to meteor crater area). Need a day at least. Tucson film studios is a great full day experience, one of our favourite fun days. Tucson is a great place as well. Everywhere is easy for parking an RV.
PHIL

 

[Don Campbell]

In 2008 my wife, who is a Floridian but now a Brit, said "I've never been west of the Mississippi"when we were both retiring. I had been all over the world in the Army but not a lot in America so we decided to fix that. We bought a Winnebago (a demonstrator) sight unseen from a lot that was going out of business in Florida and took off. We thought we might do it for a couple of years but the experience was so fabulous that it lasted 6 years. We would go over there 3 or 4 times a year for 4 or 5 weeks and all we had to do was store the RV in a city with a direct flight back to UK. It was easy as America is full of excellent storage facilities. Someone on the site recommended Progressive Insurance and we would agree with that as we used them all the time. A few tips. If you are buying an RV buy in a state that doesn't charge sales tax like Montana where we bought. Get an address for insurance purposes - most sellers are happy to "loan" you an address via one of their salesmen, although we didn't need that. The least populated states have the cheapest insurance. The National Parks are exceptional and all should be visited. State Parks are also excellent although we have heard recently that some in California are suffering from reduced funding and are not as good as they used to be (probably still miles ahead of a lot of UK sites).
The main thing is , once this horrendous episode in our lives is over, if you fancy doing it, don't hesitate for one minute, just do it!! You will never regret it. Loved all the pictures in the report as they brought back many memories - all good. Happy to answer any questions you might have. We did 76,000 miles and visited many places twice.

 

[Howard B]

Hi Howard. The experience will stay with us for ever, normally amazing but incredible with Covid.
Hope the van is performing well. Phil

Its all fine at the moment, SORNed and cleared out for the moment. Taking the opertunity to do a few mods on it.

 

[ceejayt]

Brings back the memories of our 2017 6 month trip when we shipped our motorhome over - unforgettable - glad you had a great time

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[Gaston aires]

In 2008 my wife, who is a Floridian but now a Brit, said "I've never been west of the Mississippi"when we were both retiring. I had been all over the world in the Army but not a lot in America so we decided to fix that. We bought a Winnebago (a demonstrator) sight unseen from a lot that was going out of business in Florida and took off. We thought we might do it for a couple of years but the experience was so fabulous that it lasted 6 years. We would go over there 3 or 4 times a year for 4 or 5 weeks and all we had to do was store the RV in a city with a direct flight back to UK. It was easy as America is full of excellent storage facilities. Someone on the site recommended Progressive Insurance and we would agree with that as we used them all the time. A few tips. If you are buying an RV buy in a state that doesn't charge sales tax like Montana where we bought. Get an address for insurance purposes - most sellers are happy to "loan" you an address via one of their salesmen, although we didn't need that. The least populated states have the cheapest insurance. The National Parks are exceptional and all should be visited. State Parks are also excellent although we have heard recently that some in California are suffering from reduced funding and are not as good as they used to be (probably still miles ahead of a lot of UK sites).
The main thing is , once this horrendous episode in our lives is over, if you fancy doing it, don't hesitate for one minute, just do it!! You will never regret it. Loved all the pictures in the report as they brought back many memories - all good. Happy to answer any questions you might have. We did 76,000 miles and visited many places twice.

We intended to do much more but when we had a buyer lined up we sold it. We used our sons address for the insurance (progressive) It was registered in Montana and had a lifetime tax. I would have loved to spend a few years touring the US but if things calm down we may resurrect the idea. The lady who bought it said we could use it anytime.
Phil