If there’s one lesson that we’ve learned from helping hundreds of people plan RV trips, it’s that slower is better.

RVs are at their best when used as a mobile base camp for enjoying the outdoors.  While they do have nearly all the conveniences of home, they are actually less comfortable for long days on the road than your car or SUV.  At highway speeds they are noisy, unstable in cross-winds, and consume fuel in a hurry.  From our experience, we consider anything over 800-1000 miles per week to be excessive.  Nearly everyone who plans a trip out here on their own makes the mistake of overestimating the number of miles that they can drive comfortably.  Your fondest memories of your trip will be of time spent outside the RV, not of endless hours behind the wheel.

As Edward Abbey, author of Desert Solitaire and other great books about the American Southwest says, “You can’t see anything from a car; you’ve got to get out of the #%&$%*$&# contraption and walk — better yet crawl, on hands and knees — over the sandstone and through the thorn bush and cactus.  When traces of blood begin to mark your trail, you’ll see something.  Maybe.”   You don’t have to go to quite that extreme, but you and your kids will remember the things you did together like seeing that big bear or bison in Yellowstone, rappelling down that canyon wall, or just hearing the wolves howl one night from your campsite.

When you’re traveling in an RV, an average of 150 miles per day (or less) is plenty. (Unless it’s unavoidable due to travel distance from one park to another.)  Out here, you don’t have to go any further to discover another breathtaking place worth staying for a couple of days. If you only have a week, it’s better to really get to know the area around Zion National Park than it is to start in Denver, roar over the Rocky Mountains, skim over Mesa Verde, fly through southern Utah, stick your head over the rim at the Grand Canyon, and whiz across Hoover Dam before collapsing in Las Vegas. Really. It is.

RV suppliers mostly rent for round-trip excursions; they require the motorhome to be picked up and dropped off at the same location. One-way rentals are few and therefore need to be booked quite early in the season, run in only certain directions, and require an additional “drop fee”.

All RV rental offices are closed on Sundays and holidays, making the pick-up or return of your RV impossible on these days.

The RV drops off times are usually from 8:00 AM but no later than 10:30 AM. Leave time to get to the airport and pass through security for your flight home. We suggest booking return flights for no earlier than 1:00 PM.

Many national parks have shuttles that serve the campgrounds and the attractions in the area. When these are available, we suggest you use this convenient transportation. Many of the Optional Activities will also provide transportation. Otherwise, you just pull the power cord, unscrew the water hose, and go. Your Tracks & Trails “More About” documents will have all the details.

Internet can be spotty. Many National Park Lodges will have Wifi, but they are not reliable. You might also have the option of purchasing WiFI for your RV at your rental company at check-out.

There are many variables when looking at Optional Activities. We take into account how long you will be at a location as well as group and individual interests. In general, we suggest one additional activity in every location you visit. We want to make sure you have time to visit the parks and sights, rather than spending your time in activities.

Unfortunately, fishing is one of the sports that is hard for us to arrange ahead of time. Fishing is very dependent on hatches and current river and weather conditions. Because of this factor, we aren’t able to organize fishing ahead of time. If you are interested in fishing while on your vacation, we can suggest locations and an outfitter for you to contact independently.

Currently, we only offer trips in the Western United States and Canada.