22 States in 26 Days: Our Cross-US RV Trip
In August of 2022, myself, my wife Raina, and our two children Rain (12) and Keira (14) went on a grand trip across the US in our RV. I’ve posted a few images on social media here and there and given a few water-cooler highlights to colleagues, but I wanted to provide a more in-depth blog post here for those who like details!
(If you are interested in just the overview on costs, food, gas mileage, etc, feel free to skip to the bottom for a summary. For photos and all the other details, read on!)
Planning the Trip
We actually started planning the trip last fall. It started with some casual conversations with some friends of ours who live in Vancouver. It was over a wine-fueled night, reminiscing on the trips we’ve taken in the past. Soon our discussions lead into the question “Hey wouldn’t it be cool if we each bought a trailer or an RV and did a crazy trip together across the US with our families?” And the plan was born.
So with my wife and I in Edmonton, and our friends in Vancouver, over the course of a few weeks and a dozen zoom calls, we mapped out our route and booked our campsites.
Ok.. when I say “we”, I should really mean my wife Raina. With her impeccable skill at planning adventures, she was pretty much the brains of the operation and ensured we were in for a super efficient trip. Since we were driving from Edmonton, our plan was to cross the border in Saskatchewan and drive east through North Dakota. Our travel friends, who were coming from Vancouver, were crossing in Washington. We made a plan to meet up in Minneapolis and continue the rest of the trip together. We’ve known each other for over 15 years and they have 2 kids about the same age as ours, so we knew we were in for a great time and all our kids would enjoy the time together. For the campsite bookings, we were lucky enough to book spots right beside each other for most of them.
What to Buy – RV or Truck & Trailer?
Once our route was mapped out and campsites booked, we started the long arduous task of deciding what to buy – should we buy a truck and trailer like our travel friends? Or should we buy an RV? We looked at practically every model of RV and trailer available, weighed all the pros and cons, and watched hours of youtube videos on the subject.
Ultimately we decided on a 2018 Gulfstream Conquest C-Class RV. We thought that since we would be staying at a different campsite almost every day of the trip and spending a lot of hours on the road, it would be more convenient with an RV. The RV we chose was 24 feet long – big enough to have a push-out and comfortable sleeping room for the kids, but still short enough to make it easier to maneuver through tight roads and parking lots.
After a few weekend camping test-runs to Jasper and some local lakeside campsites, we were ready for the big trip.
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Day 1 – Leaving Alberta
On July 29th we left Edmonton around 8am and headed east. This was probably the most boring part of the trip. Our first destination was Moosejaw, Saskatchewan, which entailed an endless drive through the Saskatchewan prairies. Since it was over 1400 kms to our first US destination (Jamestown, North Dakota), we knew we would have to make a stop for a night before crossing the border. So River Park Campground in Moosejaw was the lucky spot.
We arrived in Moosejaw around 5pm. I was pleasantly surprised at the charm of the town, however the campground had a lot to be desired. Once we got to our campsite, we discovered the water hook-up was on one side, the power hook-up on the opposite side, and the sewer hook-up even further away located under the picnic table. I wasn’t too concerned though since we regarded this stop as just a jumping off point before the real trip that starts in the US.
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Day 2 – Crossing the Border
We were up at 6am and ready to go. I was able to hook up the water and power the night before, but since our sewer line couldn’t reach the sewer hookup, I had to pull the RV out, turn around, and drive back into our stall forward-facing so I could dump the sewer. Not a good start, but luckily the rest of our campsites weren’t this ridiculous.
The road to the US border was probably the most long and boring road I had ever driven. I kept thinking to myself, “how is it possible to literally have no turns in a road for 2 hours??” It was just straight…flat…forever. I started thinking that maybe I was in some type of purgatory. Or is this hell? Was I dreaming? It was remarkable just how much of nothing surrounded us.
To add to this, I was becoming more and more anxious as we approached the border. Three months before our trip we applied for a new passport for our daughter Keira – and it STILL didn’t arrive. However, I knew that for kids 15 years and under, when crossing the US border by land, a birth certificate is sufficient. But, you never know if the border agent will be working with different information. Also, from researching other people’s experiences travelling with RVs, we’ve heard all types of stories. Some have said you need insurance coverage of at least $5 million. Some said you needed to provide your bill of sale, warranty, insurance and registration. Other tales provided conflicting information, everything from random covid testing to refrigerator searches for meat, fruit, and vegetables. But really, my only concern was if they were going to accept my daughter’s birth certificate. Everything I read on official websites pointed to the fact that it was fine, but it still didn’t stop me from mentally preparing a backup plan of pivoting to an eastern Canada trip in case we were denied entry. We already spent over $2000 on campground bookings, most of which were non-refundable.
After the long drive through nothingness, we finally approached the border. It was super quiet and we were the only ones there. As I approached the gate, Raina got the passports, birth certificate, and a stack of information ready. Any proof of anything we thought they might ask for, we printed and had ready.
I handed our 3 passports and 1 birth certificate to the border agent.
Stone cold and stern-faced, he asked me if I had any weapons.
Any alcohol.
Any kiwis, limes.
I said no, but then remembered I had a banana.
This made him upset. He accused me of with-holding information.
He gave the documents to another agent. He now wanted to look inside the RV.
With the side door open he stood outside, scanned the interior of our RV and asked where we were going.
I rattled off our itinerary.
His eyes widened.
He asked me if this was my RV. He asked again.
He asked how much cash we have.
Satisfied with my answers, he went and collected our documents from the other agent and handed them back to me.
“Welcome to the U.S.”
Our trip had officially begun.
After a brief stop to collect ourselves, we plugged in our destination into the GPS: Lakeside Campground, Jamestown, North Dakota.
However, the long road out of Saskatchewan drained our gas tank and it was soon time to fuel up. We found a small little farming village with a gas station. As I pulled in, the pavement was a bit uneven and our RV lurched to the side quite abruptly. Just then I hear a loud CRASH behind me. Our large Brita water jug decided to go careening off the sink counter and smashed to the floor. Water was everywhere. That was our first lesson: things will eventually fall over no matter how heavy they are. Well, according to Raina, actually the lesson was that I should slow down when turning.
Just like Saskatchewan, the drive through North Dakota was also quite flat, however it was interesting to see so many windmills dotting the landscape. Since our GPS directed us to use secondary highways away from the interstate, we enjoyed a relatively quiet drive with rarely a sign of civilization.
Since we made sure not to bring too much food when crossing the border, we stopped at a Walmart in Minot, ND to restock. A few hours later we arrived at our campsite in Jamestown, ND. The lakeside campground was thankfully a bit better laid out than the one at Moosejaw. It was situated beside a small picturesque lake with various boat launches scattered about. It had a bit of a small town beach community vibe; it seemed to be the go-to spot for locals to go boating and camping. I always like to check out other camper’s license plates just to see where people are from. At this site it seemed we were the only ones from out of state.
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Day 3 – Jamestown, ND to Minneapolis, MN
Before leaving Jamestown we decided to check out the popular tourist spot – the World’s Largest Buffalo. We discovered the area also included the popular Frontier Village – original buildings of the prairie pioneer days of the late 1800s, complete with antiques and artifacts of the time.
After spending about an hour or so here taking some goofy photos, it was time to hit the road for Minneapolis, Minnesota.
But first – gas. Again.
At this point I was starting to see that we would be needing to fuel up at least 2 to 3 times a day. Typically I’d put in anywhere between $100 to $150 USD of fuel at a time, depending on how confident I was that there would be an easy to find gas station if I needed one. North Dakota had some of the lowest prices for gas at $3.24 USD / gallon (approx. $1.14 CAD / litre). I soon discovered that I’d have to start getting used to the dollar exchange rate. Every time I put around $150 of gas in the RV, I’d get surprised at seeing the amount on my credit card statement showing that it actually cost a bit over $200 CAD.
It took about 6 hours to get to our next campsite: Baker Campground – located just 30 minutes west of Minneapolis. Once we got to our site and got set-up, we took a quick walk down a trail that opened up to a beautiful lake. There was barely anyone around, and it almost felt like it was our own private lake. The sun was setting and the water was incredibly warm. Raina and Keira decided to head back to the RV while Rain and I spent over an hour playing about in the water, realizing this was the first time we went swimming since before the pandemic.
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Day 4 – Minneapolis
This was the first day where we didn’t need to leave super early, because this was the first destination where we booked two nights instead of just one. Our plan for the day was to head into the city of Minneapolis and go exploring. However, since we had to drive there in our RV, we still had to pack everything up to go. Which wasn’t too much of an issue – we secured anything from falling over, unhooked our power, water, and sewer lines, and off we went.
Our first stop was the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. This place featured collections of contemporary and modern art featured in the setting of an urban park. Among the most famous sculptures here was the iconic ‘Spoonbridge and Cherry’, a sculptural fountain designed by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen.
The next stop was the well known Stone Arch Bridge. After finding a convenient street-side parking spot nearby, it was a quick walk over to this old railway bridge. The bridge featured great views of St. Anthony Falls and great panoramic views of the city where you can really see the collision of old world architecture and modern design. I brought along my DSLR camera and started snapping photos, imagining future artworks I could create with the images. We spent a few hours exploring the architecture in the surrounding neighborhood and paid a visit to the St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam visitor centre which was also a pretty cool place to experience.
After this we visited the Cathedral of St. Paul. This Roman Catholic Church cathedral is apparently one of the most distinctive cathedrals in the US. It was amazing to quietly explore its halls – the giant marble statues and the artistry of detail was truly awe-inspiring.
At this point we felt we had done enough exploring for one day, and after a quick bite to eat, we made our way back to our campsite. Our travel friends finally arrived! They got set up in the campsite next to us and we enjoyed our first dinner together before taking another quick walk down to the lake at sunset.
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Day 5 – Minneapolis – Mall of America
I’ve always loved shopping malls. I don’t know why, but I’ve always been attracted to the world of retail; in awe of how corporate strategists seem to find ways to make these monolithic shopping structures relevant in today’s age of online shopping.
So how could I possibly visit Minneapolis without visiting the biggest mall on this side of the planet – Minneapolis’s Mall of America.
The Mall of America hosts the giant indoor amusement park Nickelodeon Universe. We were barely in the mall for 10 minutes before the kids were begging for tickets for the rides. We bought them day passes and before we knew it, they were running off, not to be seen for another 2 hours.
Once we were finally able to collect our kids, it was time to hit the road again. Next stop: Chicago.
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Day 6 – Chicago
We got to our campsite quite late the night before, and it was another early morning for us. The campsite was called Camp Bullfrog lake, and was located just 30 minutes away from downtown Chicago. We had booked 2 days at this spot as well, so the plan was to spend the day exploring the city. The good thing about the location of this campsite was that it was close enough to call an Uber to get a ride into the city. Our first stop was the famous Millenium Park, home of the picturesque ‘Cloud Gate’.
Chicago is amazing. I wished I had more than one day to explore this city. We toured around Millenium Park, stopped for some classic deep dish pizza at Giordano’s, and made our way over the Chicago River and towards the Navy Pier. The Chicago River was a sight to behold, with towering modern skyscrapers lining the river with a beautiful blend of old-world classic American architecture. We got caught in periodic down-pours, which saw us running to seek shelter where available. Ultimately the sky cleared and we were able to take in the sights of Chicago’s skyline from the pier.
As the day was coming to an end, we called an Uber and made our way back to our campsite. We enjoyed a delicious barbeque supper with our friends, and as our kids ran off and explored the campground, we sat back with drinks in hand and took in the colors of the evening sky. We were finally settling into our rhythm of being on the road.
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Day 7 – Chicago to Pennsylvania
We had a long day ahead of us. Our main destination was Boston but it was over 1600 kms away. So that meant staying for one night halfway. This was Bellefont KOA holiday Campground in Pennsylvania.
We travelled through 4 states on this day – Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. One thing that we found confusing was the difference in road toll procedures between each state. One state would show signs about going online to pay the toll. Another state would have a posted phone number. Another state would take cash upon entering the interstate. One toll had a broken ticket dispenser, which had me trying to communicate with a help service attendant via intercom, shouting over the noise of the traffic, learning that somehow they would be mailing me instructions to pay..? It was all a bit ridiculous.
We finally rolled into our campsite around 6:30 pm. We discovered that our reserved site was very uneven with tight corners and a sloped entrance-way. As I was maneuvering the RV into position, I heard a loud CRUNCH from outside. I seem to have backed too closely into an embankment and snapped my sewer line clean off!
After a few colorful words, I tried to think about what I could do. There was no way I would be able to dump our sewer now.
But, luckily our travel friends packed along some super glue for the trip that I was able to borrow. I spent 30 minutes holding that stupid pvc sewer pipe on to our RV ensuring the glue would dry and hold properly. Then, after a bit of caulking and duct tape, it was as good as new. Crisis averted!
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Day 8 – Onwards to Boston
The route to Boston took us out of Pennsylvania and into New Jersey, through New York (the state), Connecticut, and Rhode Island. We left our campsite so early that we were able to make a quick stop in Westport, Connecticut. With a bit of googling, we learned that Westport is one of the top ten wealthiest communities in America. Westport has a very sparse suburban feel; the air of a sophisticated NYC suburb with the laid-back vibe of a beach community. It almost felt like we were in some type of private town, reserved only for New York elites escaping to their summer cottages. It definitely had a strange vibe, as if I was in a recreation of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. All eyes felt like they were on us – outsiders who didn’t belong.
A memorable moment occurred when I was fueling up. One of the locals approached me, pointing to our RV, and exclaimed “I love this! This is my dream!” She went on, “I love this.. I just want to sell it all and go!” before getting into her Range Rover and driving off.
We arrived at our campsite (Boston / Cape Cod KOA Holiday) just outside of Boston around 6pm. It was pouring rain. KOA is a large franchise of campsites located all over the US. Each one has a kid’s area, swimming pool, and free (but spotty) wifi. This KOA in particular was massive and packed. It almost felt like we were moving into a wooded village – kids everywhere, all types of campers and trailers with gazebos, families watching their TVs outside, music, singing, everything.
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Day 9 – Boston
This was the day for touring Boston. We all piled into our friend’s truck and drove a short 2 miles to the train station. We took the commuter train right into downtown Boston, and from there we called an Uber to hit our first destination: Harvard University.
After touring around Harvard campus, we stopped over at MIT. It was our hope that by visiting these campuses, our kids could see that they were real places, and not some abstract concept of an unattainable goal. Rain already has a passion for computer sciences, and as we explored the grounds outside MIT, he kept repeating “I want to go here… I’m going to go here!”
For a late lunch we visited the Union Oyster House. Established in 1826, this restaurant has been designated a national landmark, as it is the oldest continually-operating restaurant in the United States. The food was great however they had originally forgotten our order and we had to wait over an hour to eat.
After lunch we found a cool little shopping district and let the kids loose for some clothes shopping. The commuter train back to our campsite area ran just once every hour, so we had to keep an eye on the clock. We called an uber for a lift to the train station, but the Uber rides kept cancelling or being delayed. We started to panic a little that we would miss our train, so we ended up hailing a taxi and got to our train with only minutes to spare.
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Day 10 – Old Silver Beach, Falmouth, Massachusetts
Today was Beach day. We had a total of 3 days booked at our Boston campsite so it was nice not to drive our RV anywhere for a bit. Our destination was Old Silver Beach and it was about a 45 minute Uber trip. It was one of the most enjoyable drives for me, to be able to sit back in a comfortable SUV and just take in the scenery.
The beach was fantastic, minus the wind from hell. We brought our beach tent, but the wind was so fierce, it needed at least 2 people at all times to sit at the corners to ensure it wouldn’t fly away. The wind was absolutely unrelenting. Other than the wind, it was an amazing day. The kids had a blast playing in the water.
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Day 11 – New York
Today was the day for our drive to New York. Our campground was the Liberty Harbour RV Park, located in Jersey City and directly across from Manhattan. My main concern with the drive on this day was to avoid any low underpasses and low-clearance tunnels, which I knew New York has many. Our RV is exactly 11’4” high, and some low clearance underpasses ranged between 10 ft to 12 ft, making things a little too close to comfort. Luckily the RV park offered specific directions on their website, and even though the GPS kept trying to tell us to take different routes, we stuck to the directions as best as possible. At one time we thought our GPS was cooperating with us, but it suddenly recalculated and sent us to a different exit. We were greeted with huge signs warning “LOW CLEARANCE. TURN BACK. MAY INCUR FINES. CALL 911.” This was enough for me to not even try it. We got off the road right away at the next exit. We parked on the side to recalculate the GPS while having another spirited discussion about the directions.
We soon got back on track towards our destination. This led us through the infamous New Jersey turnpike. With its snarl of overpasses and maze of exits it really took the both of us working together – Raina calling out directions and exit numbers, and me making sure I didn’t run into anyone as I veered across multiple lanes of traffic.
As we approached our RV park we stopped to take a quick tour around Liberty State Park which happened to be right next to the RV park. Eventually we arrived at our destination safe and sound. We got in about 11:30 am – our earliest arrival time so far. We were spending just one night here, so we only had the rest of the afternoon and evening to see as much as we could of New York. We researched the ‘Big Red Bus’ tours, but a lot of them had some pretty negative reviews, with stories from riders who waited hours at crowded bus stops. We decided to see what we could see by subway, Uber, and a lot of walking.
It was a quick 5 minute Uber ride to the Exchange Place train station that took us straight into Manhattan to the World Trade Centre train station. I marveled at the architecture of the train station; my kids and I took note that it looked like the skeletal inside of the Founding Titan – a reference to one of our favorite Anime shows.
From the World Trade Centre we did a marathon walk across Brooklyn Bridge and made a stop at the picturesque ‘Dumbo’ area.
Once we finished snapping about a million photos and were ready to leave, we noticed at this point our Uber app stopped working. We hailed a taxi and went back into Manhattan to Chelsea Market. Chelsea Market is an indoor marketplace renowned for its wide range of shops and eateries, but actually it felt a bit like a big fancy food court.
After a quick bite to eat (pizza of course!), we crossed the street to the Starbucks Reserve Roastery. If a regular Starbucks coffee shop was a church, the Reserve Roastery would be akin to the Vatican. Only six locations in the world, they are described as “Theatrical, experiential shrines to coffee passion” where “master roasters, mixologists and baristas ply their craft to coax perfectly flavorful, often unexpectedly artful expressions from our rare, single-origin coffees.” Definitely a must-visit for the Starbucks fan.
From here we took a taxi to Central Park. After roaming around the park for a while, we began the pilgrimage to Times’ Square.
It was hot, we were all hungry and exhausted and the sun was almost setting. As we approached the famed gathering spot of neon billboards and lights, we really wanted to sit down somewhere for a proper meal, and I was starting to worry that everything would be either street food or full restaurants needing reservations. I was almost going to give up and lead us to the nearest McDonalds, but as luck would have it a restaurant appeared right in front of us, with only a 10 minute wait time! The restaurant happened to be Juniors Restaurant, famous for their cheesecake.
The satisfaction we felt to finally sit down and eat in an air-conditioned restaurant – well, Keira’s face says it all:
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Day 12 – Cherry Hill Park, Maryland
Out of all the spots we had booked for the trip, I was probably the most apprehensive about New York, mainly about navigating our RV into the city. To me it also felt a bit like ‘the main event’ of the trip. Now that New York was behind us, I felt a sense of relief that we were done with the urban cluster of roadways that snaked around us during the last couple of days. Plus, we were starting our west-bound leg of our journey, and it now felt like we were working our way back home.
We headed towards Washington, DC. We were booked for 2 days at the Cherry Hill Park campground right outside the city. We got in to our campsite around 4 pm. This was probably the nicest campsite I had ever seen. Family owned for over 100 years, it had a resort-like feel to it. Keycard gated entrance, perfectly paved roads, swimming pool with hot tub, arcade, and a coffee bar. It even had a mini-golf course. The place was near perfect, and the absolute nicest staff I had ever encountered while travelling.
Since we got in a bit late in the afternoon, we decided to relax for the evening and just sit by the pool as the kids enjoyed themselves.
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Day 13 – Washington, DC
Today was the day to tour Washington, specifically the National Mall. The National Mall is not an actual shopping mall, but rather the term that is used to describe the entire area between the Lincoln Memorial on the west and the United States Capitol grounds to the east, with the Washington Monument dividing the area near the midpoint. Our RV park had a dedicated bus stop, where a bus would take us into the city to the nearest train station. It was only about a 20 minute ride on the bus, then another 15 minutes on the train until we arrived at the National Mall. The RV park bus stop had extremely helpful staff that explained the whole bus and train system to us as well as provided maps and departure times. For $12 each, we got a transit card that would enable us to ride the bus, train, and the ‘hop on, hop off’ circulator bus at the National Mall as many times as we needed.
This was the most exciting destination for me. It was almost surreal to see these famous landmarks in real life; I’m so used to seeing them in movies being attacked by aliens or national disasters.
We visited the White House (from afar), The Washington Monument, The Capitol, The Lincoln Memorial, and toured inside the Library of Congress. But for me the highlight was the National Gallery of Art. Works by Pollock, Calder, Picasso, Klimt, and Matisse were amazing to see in real life. It was overwhelming to experience just how much art was here; a vast network of rooms that one could get lost in for hours.
Later that afternoon we got on the train again to go eat at Ben’s Chili Bowl. This famous restaurant has been regularly visited by tons of celebrities, most notably Anthony Bourdain and Barack Obama. A storied history adorned the walls in photographs, and the food was pretty amazing too.
After a quick walk in the rain to do some more exploring, we hopped back on the train and returned to our RV park.
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Day 14 – Washington to Kentucky
Our next campsite was Cummins Ferry RV Park in Kentucky, and the route led us out of DC and through West Virginia. West Virginia’s landscape was mainly dense forests including mountainous hills which really put a strain on my gas mileage. The countryside was so lush and green. Our RV park was a private and secluded spot at the end of a long harrowing road in the middle of nowhere, that opened up to an amazing riverside park that included a keycard-gated entrance, swimming pool, and free wifi. I asked the office staff how they managed traffic coming in and out; I couldn’t imagine how two giant motorhomes would negotiate getting around each other if they met on such a narrow road. The office staff explained that they strictly control the entrance and exit times of vehicles: in-flow traffic is only allowed after 3pm for check-in, and out-flow traffic only allowed in the morning.
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Day 15 – Mammoth Cave, Kentucky
Mammoth Cave National Park is the longest cave system known in the world. No Uber this time; we secured everything in our RV and drove about an hour to get to the entrance to the park. Once there, a fleet of buses greeted us and the other tourists to transport us out into the middle of the forest. Next, we were led off the bus into a giant sinkhole in the woods. I kind of felt like we were being led into a southern version of the movie Battle Royale. We soon came upon a tiny steel door which seemed even more foreboding. Once inside we began an immediate descent down hundreds of stairs through narrow crevices. The 2 hour cave tour that followed was fantastic.
(swipe to view)
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Day 16 – Missouri
We had another long drive ahead of us this day so we packed up and left at 5am surrounded by an eerie mist enveloping the RV park. The drive out of Kentucky was fairly uneventful. Our route took us through the city of St. Louis where we got a chance to see the surreal St. Louis Arch from the roadway.
Before arriving at our campsite we had a plan to visit the Ha Ha Tonka state park in Missouri. Its main feature was the Castle Ruins – the remnants of an early 20th century stone mansion that was modelled after European castles of the 16th century. From the ruins we had a great view of the heavily forested landscape with a sprawling lake below.
We spent another hour exploring the trails, but with the temperature above 35 degrees celsius plus the intense humidity, it was soon time to escape back to our air-conditioned RV and head to our campsite.
Our campsite in Missouri was another KOA campground called Lake of the Ozarks / Linn Creek Holiday. Rain and I ventured over to the swimming pool, but after 30 minutes of tolerating loud belligerent campers and strewn beer bottles around the pool, we decided it was best to just hang around our campsite. At least the wifi was good.
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Day 17 – Kansas
Another long drive. It was a harrowing early morning drive out of Missouri as our GPS led us through densely forested back roads with tight corners, blind hills, and no signs of civilization. We would catch glimpses every now and then of run-down yards full of auto-wreckage and ominous looking farm shacks nestled amongst the trees. It felt a bit like being in some type of horror / thriller movie, where an ordinary family on vacation goes missing and is later found to have met their demise in some cabin in the woods. We eventually found ourselves on the interstate, and spent another 7 or so hours heading west, watching the landscape change from hills and forests to farmland and fields, reminiscent of our first day driving through Saskatchewan.
Before getting to our campsite, our plan was to visit the Monument Rocks. Also known as the Chalk Pyramids, this tourist attraction is a series of large chalk formations that were formed about 80 million years ago. They’re not located within a state or national park, so getting there meant travelling about 40 kms down dirt roads in the middle of absolute nowhere. It was 39 degrees and I kept having thoughts on what we would do if we suddenly broke down out here without cell service and no people or homes in sight.
But as the pictures show, it was definitely worth the trek.
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Day 18 – Colorado Springs, Colorado
Our destination for the evening was Raina’s friend Yeonsoo’s home in Denver, but we had time to stop by Colorado Springs. (Our travel friends took their own route and we would meet up with them again later in Salt Lake City, Utah). We visited the Garden of the Gods, spending hours exploring the amazing geological features and taking in the views of the surrounding city. We kept remarking that it looked almost fake as if it was a hollywood-movie set; the rock formations could only be described as almost too perfect and unreal.
We then made the trip to Denver through heavy traffic, dark clouds and rain. We parked for the night in Yeonsoo’s driveway, and enjoyed an evening with her family, content to hang out in an actual home for the first time in over 2 weeks. Raina and Rain decided to spend the night in Yeonsoo’s house, but Keira and I opted to go back to the RV in the driveway to sleep. After 2 weeks on the road, the RV felt like home.
Day 19 – Meow Wolf Exhibit, Denver
We were originally scheduled to travel to Black Canyon National Park and stay at the South Rim campground, but with the pouring rain we decided to spend one more night in Denver at Yeonsoo’s house. It was good to take a break from travelling.
We wondered what we would spend the day doing, and on a whim we decided to visit the Meow Wolf Art Museum.
I had no idea what I was in for. What followed next can only be described as complete unbridled insanity. This 4-floor art experience was an absolute overwhelming of the senses. For more than 3 hours we were lost in this maze of visual mayhem.
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Day 20 – Denver, CO to Salt Lake City, UT
Since we skipped our scheduled campsite the night before, this meant we had an even longer drive to our next campsite. It was over a 9 hour drive from Denver to Salt Lake City which took us north into Wyoming then west into Utah. It really is remarkable how big the United States is and the varied landscape we were experiencing on the road. Wyoming really felt like the classic “cowboy country” and I imagined this was where they must’ve filmed so many movies set in the Old West.
Our RV Park was the Great Salt Lake Campground just minutes outside of Salt Lake City and situated right next to the lake. The thing we noticed immediately was the strong pungent smell in the air. We took a quick walk to the lake but soon had to turn back as the smell was almost unbearable. With some googling we learned that this was normal; a result of a natural process of hydrogen sulphide gas being released from the lake. As it was pretty late anyway, we just stayed inside the RV, sealed up all the windows and spent our time on our devices, doing our best to ignore the smell.
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Day 21 – Bonnyville Salt Flats, Utah
The Bonnyville Salt Flats are the most picturesque spot in Utah and was not to be missed. We wanted to capture the area right at sunrise. This meant leaving our RV park at 5am for the hour-long drive.
It was well worth it.
After a couple hours of taking pictures (and another thirty minutes helping a young woman who had gotten her car stuck on the mushy salt flats), we headed North towards Yellowstone.
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Day 22 – Yellowstone National Park
We were staying at the Grizzly RV Park, located right in the town of West Yellowstone. At a $170 CAD per night, this RV park was the most expensive campsite out of our whole trip. We booked 3 nights here since we wanted to spend at least 2 days exploring Yellowstone National Park. The RV Park had a very upscale, resort-like feel. The roads were newly paved, grass freshly cut, and campsites all featured a cement pad with pull-through lots. We were surrounded by giant motorhomes that dwarfed our own in terms of size and value. Roaming around this RV park had a similar feel of taking a walk through a super rich neighborhood.
We left our campsite around 9am, bought a yearly park pass at the nearby visitor centre, and headed into the National Park. We made frequent stops, making sure we took as many pictures as possible. On our stops we would venture through hidden trails finding overlooked locations rarely visited.
A couple hours later we met up with our travel friends at Old Faithful. Watching it erupt was a pretty underwhelming experience, and I was amazed at the hundreds of tourists that surrounded us to share in this lackluster event. I joked that maybe Old Faithful stopped erupting years ago and the only reason it’s erupting consistently now is because the government installed a series of pipes underground to keep the tourist dollars rolling in.
We spent the rest of the day doing A LOT of walking, exploring dozens of active geysers in the area. The landscape was surreal; it really felt like we were exploring an alien planet.
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Day 23 – Yellowstone, Second Day
For our second day of exploring the park, we took a different road and headed north towards Mammoth Hot Springs. After some more geyser exploring, we continued around the Yellowstone loop to the picturesque canyon known as the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. It was about a 30 minute walk down the steep mountainside to get to the lookout point. Even with the long walk back up in the scorching heat, it was still worth the walk.
Once back at our RV we were so exhausted from walking we decided to continue on the loop by just taking in the sights from the RV. Even more steaming geysers lined the road during the drive. I don’t think I need to see another geyser for the rest of my life.
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Day 24 – Drive to Northern Montana
This day was another long uneventful drive. We really took note how the landscape had now turned from lush green forest from a few days earlier to the beige rolling prairies and rocky landscape that now surrounded us. We arrived later in the evening so we just enjoyed the rest of the day with our friends by eating, drinking, and reminiscing, while the kids hunted for a good wifi signal for Roblox and Tiktok.
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Day 25 – Glacier National Park
A few days earlier we were researching things to do in Glacier National Park. In the Park there is the famous Road to the Sun featuring stunning views and harrowing cliffside roads. We learned that you need to register your vehicle the day before if you intend to take the drive. Since our RV was longer and wider than the accepted size, this was not an option. Instead we spent the day touring the dam at the Hungry Horse Reservoir, and found a fun zipline and adventure park for the kids. Later in the evening we entered Glacier National Park and took in the sights of Lake McDonald.
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Day 26 – The Road Home
The road home. We said our goodbyes to our travel friends as they headed west back home towards Vancouver. We had a blast on our trip, but after living in an RV for 26 days we were ready to go home.
After a couple of hours of driving we approached the Canadian Border. Again, we wondered what the border agents might ask us. We threw out any remaining meat or produce we had left, and made sure all our info was uploaded into the Arrivecan App. Once we got to the gate and met the border agent, after looking at our documents, all she asked was if we had any tobacco or alcohol, and we were on our way.
We still had a 5 hour drive ahead of us, but as soon as we crossed the border we already felt like we were home. We left a month earlier as tourists, but were returning as travelers. We all had an amazing time and spent the last leg of the trip recounting our favorite moments from the trip.
As we passed Red Deer and approached familiar territory, I jokingly asked the kids, “So do you guys want to do just one last stop for the night before we go home?”
And without even a pause, they answered unanimously:
“NO!!”
It was good to be back.
Costs and Other Details – 26 Days and 22 States
Gas and Mileage
We spent $5600 on gas and travelled a total of 11,050 Kms. Gas was usually cheaper than back in Alberta. In some rural areas gas would be as low as $3.14/gallon (CAD: $1.10/litre), whereas near the cities like Chicago or New York, gas prices were as high as $4.65/gallon (CAD: $1.63/litre). I was typically fueling up at least twice a day, never wanting to dip below a quarter of a tank. On the few days that we were parked (Boston, Chicago, Washington) we had no fuel expenses, however in total we spent another $620 on Uber rides, trains, and taxis.
Food and Meals
We spent $1100 CAD on groceries. Whenever we found ourselves running low on food, we would search for the nearest Walmart on our route. For breakfast, usually Raina and I would have coffee and granola bars since we were typically on the road thirty minutes after waking up. The kids would sleep in, then later make themselves sandwiches or cereal while we were already driving. For lunch, we would stop at a rest area or service plaza and either eat left-overs from supper the night before, or have noodles or sandwiches. If needed we would fire-up our generator so we could use the stove or microwave. At supper time we were typically always at our campsite. We would use our butane stove to barbeque food outside or make pasta. We almost always cooked outside; we would typically only use our RV stove for boiling water to make coffee or noodles. Many evenings we shared cooking duties with our travel friends, either swapping cooking duties or each making a bunch of dishes and sharing everything together.
Eating out expenses were a bit over $1000 CAD, which primarily consisted of lunches at tourist spots, snacks and coffee. Restaurant meals were few and far between.
Campgrounds
Campsite costs varied between $40 a night to $170 a night. The more expensive campsites were not necessarily better either. The best RV park from the whole trip was the Cherry Hill Park outside Washington. This campsite, with its keycard gated entrance, swimming pool and splash park, arcade, laundry facilities, and minigolf course only cost $60 a night. The Grizzly RV park at Yellowstone was the most expensive ($170 / night), and although clean and quiet, had no other stand-out features other than what was typically expected at RV parks. All our campsites had water and power hookups right at the site, and almost every one of them had the sewer hookup on site as well. Even though most of the lots were fairly level, we still had to use some leveling blocks under our tires to make small adjustments.
Total campsite costs for the entire 26 day trip was $2275.
In total our 26 day trip cost just over $13,000. There were other miscellaneous costs such as tolls and parking, souvenirs, and roaming charges for our phones, but otherwise the bulk of the cost was, as expected – fuel.
