Get Out and Explore More
It's been seven months since our first RV road trip and once again the call of the open road was beckoning us back. There is something so freeing about loading your life possessions into a vehicle and hitting the road with the person you love, a map, and a wandering heart. Experiencing new things , freeing yourself from the monotony of a routine, and being able to truly spend time with your partner and enjoy life's simple pleasures are priceless.
Planning A Route
There are lots of factors that go into planning a trip. I think the three most important factors to consider are: weather, budget, and what you're interested in exploring. Always keep your plans flexible when traveling and have an open mind. Some of the best moments of our trip were complete accidents or unplanned stops. Travel is about the journey, not the destination....To get an idea for mileage I mapped our route and stops through Roadtrippers.com This is a nifty website and app that anyone can use to plan a trip. I liked it a lot because it automatically brings up points of interest along your route, calculates gas expenses and mileage, and the app for your cell phone is very helpful on the road.
Another resource we relied on was good old fashion road maps! Let me tell you, these were invaluable when we were in areas with no cell reception or internet. One of the perks of being a AAA member is you can order road maps for free. My husband ordered a selection of maps for the areas we would be traveling through and we ended up using them every day. It's also how we discovered some of the campgrounds we decided on using. We ordered maps for driving and then others that showed campgrounds with all the information on the back.
For our trip we spent 9 days exploring the Eastern Sierra Nevadas. Driving from Las Vegas to Lake Tahoe and back; traveling about 1,250 miles in total. We spent most of our time along US395 taking in the incredible views, snow capped mountains, and tucked away lakes. We live in a big city so a vacation for us is to get far away from cities, shopping, and touristy stuff. "Thousands of tired, nerve shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life." - John Muir (1838-1914)
We centered our trip around the things we love to do... Finding places to let our puppies run and swim, areas for gold prospecting, trails to hike, scenic stops, quiet places, and lots of photography.
Renting an RV
We had such a great experience our first time renting through elmonterv.com we decided to use them again. They have great customer service and roadside assistance. Both of which we used on our trip. They also offer a large selection of RV's, two locations in Las Vegas as well as across the country, and most importantly they are dog friendly! You don't even have to put down a pet deposit. We signed up for their free Monty Perks program so every trip we take we accumulate points towards free miles or a free night and you get special deals.
We also looked into a few other RV rental companies here in Las Vegas and we would also highly recommend Road Bear but this is only for people traveling without pets :/
El Monte was offering a May deal through their Monty Perks program so we figured this would be an ideal time to set off due to the discount and weather. Having learned many lessons from our first experience we were a little more prepared this go around and also ready to try new things.
For this trip we graduated from a Class-C 25ft to a Class-A 32ft RV. We wanted to see how we liked having a bigger rig and how it would be to travel in as well as drive. I left all the driving to Matthew who is an excellent driver and I am a great navigator so we make the perfect team.
First off, the extra space was awesome. We could comfortably live in one of these with our two large dogs. We had all the comforts of home and plenty of storage. The kitchen space is well thought out and I was able to cook three meals a day in it for nine days straight without a single issue. Having a kitchen saves you a ton of money on food expenses.
All the campgrounds we looked into took up to a 40ft RV so most campgrounds were not a problem. Finding a gas station with high enough clearance was tricky and it drank a lot of gas chugging up and down the Sierra Nevada mountains... As fate would have it every driving day was super windy. My husband said it was like driving a shoebox with a sail on top and decided from here on out we would stick with C-class rigs. It was so windy on a few occasion it felt like we were in a boat in rough waters, rocking back and forth.
We did have a few mechanical issues with our rental this go around on our last day. I can't recommend their roadside assistance enough and El Monte was very accommodating to our situation and concerns. They even gave us a night free to make up for the mechanical trouble we encountered which were resolved by trouble shooting and problem solving over the phone. Hats off to El Monte's technician Robert for his great patience and phone coaching of the needed repairs to get us back on the road!
Selecting a Campground
We are knew to RVing so we planned to stay at RV Campground resorts but we quickly discovered the best campgrounds are found on BLM land or National Forest. Since we travel with two large dogs our first priority is finding a place that accepts dogs and we often find not all RV resorts do. Not only that but everyone is so jammed together there is usually nowhere quiet to walk the dogs anyway. The RV resorts have a lot of perks that may be better for some people though. In a RV resort you usually get full hookup, laundry, convenience shop, cable, restrooms, Wi-Fi, level site, etc... The downside is you are usually packed in like sardines, you feel like your in a neighborhood rather out in nature, and there are lots of rules... Not to mention they can be pricey usually around $35-$60.
What we have learned so far is camping in USFS campgrounds or public campgrounds is the way to go! They are much cheaper, usually have water and restrooms, are dog friendly, and the spacious layouts are set up to enhance each person's camping experience. For a small fee you can also dump at various campgrounds too. During our trip we ended up staying at three RV resorts and three USFS campgrounds.
We stayed at the following places:
1. Brown's Town- Bishop, Ca
2. Zephyr Cove- Lake Tahoe, NV
3. OH RIDGE! USFS- June Lake, Ca
4. Silver Lake Resort- June Lake, Ca
5. Silver Lake Campground USFS- June Lake, Ca
6. Chris Flat Campground USFS- Ca
Useful tools to plan out your campgrounds is http://www.uscampgrounds.info/ -this is an excellent resource for anyone looking into public campgrounds. You can make reservations and check out campground layouts at http://www.recreation.gov/
Inyo national forest and Mono County are a treasure trove of scenic places and areas to explore. Definitely get out there and check out US395 and get lost in nature!
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