The End

You know the trip needs to end when everyone in the car sees this sign and groans

Image source: Micah Costello

Sadly our trip ended on July 31st with a bang, actually it was a crunch...of my car between two semis on highway in Indiana. We were are all OK physically, we were so shaken we got a rental car and headed straight home. 

How many National Parks?  18 plus Monument Valley (technically it’s not a NP)

First thing we're going to do when we get home?
Rachael & Micah: Binge watch Stranger Things Season 3
Chris: Get her dog

What was your favorite Park(s)?

Rachael: Monument Valley,Glacier and Zion 

Chris: Zion (most spectacular), Wind Cave (most enjoyable)

Micah: Zion, Glacier, Yellowstone 

Image source Micah Costello

What was your favorite tourist site?

Rachael: Oatman, Natural bridge on Oregon coast, San Antonio River Walk, 

Chris: Blue Ridge Parkway, San Antonio River Walk

Micah: Crazy House monument 

Image source: Rachael Costello 

Favorite State?  Oregon 

How many days of trip? 42 days (6 weeks exactly plus 3 days home after accident)

How much did it cost? $ 7,190.08

How much did you spend on gas? $ 957.23 w/ hybrid Camry

How many miles did you travel? ~10,000, I had the oil changed twice on trip

How many nights in hotels/cabins? 18 all in South West

Favorite motel/cabins

Deluxe cabin Goulding’s Campground in Monument  Valley

Worst hotel/cabin?

Tie: Motel 6 in Beaumont, TX also the cheapest $ 44.00 & Watkins Village motel, NY also most expensive at $179.00

How many nights in tent? 24

Favorite campsite?

Blue ridge Parkway, Bledsoe State Park, 

Image source; Rachael Costello 

Worst campground?

Brantley Lake State Park, NM (spiders in bathroom)

Coldest location? Low 40s in Yellowstone at night

Hottest location? 118 degrees in So. CA. 

What did we need that we did not bring?

Binoculars 

What did we buy that we forgot?

2 pillow cases

A fan

extension cord

A metal fork (for making tuna)

State with worst roads? TX & CA 

State with worst drivers? Obviously Indiana

State with best roads? Wyoming 

Friendliest People? New Orleans

Places/sites still on our bucket list...

Rachael: swim in Great Salt Lake, Colorado Sand Dunes NP, Trip to Telluride, soaking in a Hot Spring, sleeping in covered wagon, La Brea Tar Pits, Antelope (slot) Canyon, 

Chris: Olympic NP, Northern Cascades NP

Micah: staying on a houseboat, traveling in an RV

Places we want to go back to...

Rachael: Oregon Coast, Zion

Chris: Oregon, 

Micah: Oregon, Yellowstone, 

Image source: Micah Costello

Funniest incidents

Micah going into bathroom with navigation running on phone & Saara telling him “proceed to route.” Other men laughed. 

Rachael cleaning bird poop of rain cover of tent only to have another bird poop as soon as she finished 

Chris looking for her reading glasses only to see them on Rachael’s face. 

Best restaurants/food?

Mulates in New Orleans, LA

Restaurant des Familles, Crown Point, LA 

Solstice in Hood River, OR

KOA restaurant in West Glacier, MT

Wise Cracks (breakfast) in Corvallis, OR

KOA restaurant in West Yellowstone, MT

The Hanger in Casper, WY

Interesting things we noticed...

More foreign tourists than American especially in Utah and California.

Only met 2 groups from New England (1 Maine, 1 Massachusetts)

No self-serve gas in Oregon 

Lots of multi-generational groups traveling

Asian women use umbrella to keep away sun (a lot)

Lots of older couples taking walks while holding hands. 😁

Cattle In Wyoming have own bridges/overpasses across highways. 

In South Dakota sales tax jumps up to 8+ % in summer months.

Tenting is a dying way to camp. Very few tents in all campgrounds. Everyone in West has camper/RV in their yards. I suspect it’s b/c unlike the East where we either have pools or camps/cottages/lake houses there isn’t enough lakes, rivers, streams suitable to own property for all. The west is very dry.

Most children we came across were surprisingly well behaved (even mine).  

Would you do the trip again? Even before the crash we all said no. The trip was grueling. We were all glad we did it, but would never do it again. 

Rachael: NO (3 weeks on road every day is my limit)

Chris:NO

Micah: NO, he didn’t want to do it to begin with. 

Shout Outs...

Elyse for book Moon’s USA National Parks by Becky Lomax 

Mike Stevens for advice on scenic boat trips in NPs and KOA campground suggestion. 

Liza Brackbill for NP advice & introduction  to Roadtrippers App

Rachael for buying Eli (portable Wi-Fi hotspot)

Micah for being Sara’s (navigation App) assistant. We would have WASTED FAR MORE TIME w/o Saara the navigation App. 

Christine for saving us so much money with her NP senior pass and doing half the driving. 
KOA's for always having clean bathrooms, and usually kids for Micah to play and many had basketball courts. :-) 
Jessica Raspa for all the Blog support and checking-in. 


 All Pictures are updated to the Dropbox 
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3dsnlo1clw9woli/AAAxWbXtNqPfcu2vDGk9scOxa?dl=0