Taking a three-month RV trip comes with plenty of planning. So how do you begin? Honestly, there is no right or wrong way to go about the process. For my wife and I, we had a dream to go cross-country. Living in New Hampshire meant going as far west as we desired. We started by creating a list of places we wanted to see, determined a route based on this list, and set off for an adventure we will never forget.
First on our bucket list were Yosemite and Sequoia. Utah was second on our list. Having visited the Mighty Five in UT during a family vacation in 2016, we told ourselves we would return someday. If you have been to UT, you understand why. There is so much to see and do. Oh, and the landscape is unlike anything we have ever seen. These destinations became the foundation of our trip.
With the foundation in place, we started filling in the gaps. The gaps would be filled in with places we dreamed of visiting, places read about in blogs, seen in YouTube videos, locations of friends and family, and places seen on Instagram (yes, I’ll admit it). Here’s the list.
- Pawhuska, OK – Home to the Pioneer Women and her flagship store the Mercantile.
- Ouray, CO – We had seen plenty of YouTube videos and wanted to see them for ourselves.
- Denver, CO – I have family here and have not been that way in over 25 years.
- New Mexico – Specifically, Santa Fe and Albuquerque.
- Sedona – You can’t go wrong, so beautiful.
- Gunnison & Crested Butte, CO – We added based on a recommendation. These were unexpected highlights.
- Death Valley and Joshua Tree – If we are going to CA, why not!
- Monument Valley – 100% Instagram influence. It did not disappoint.
- Lone Pine, CA – I read about it in a blog.
With the destination list in hand, determining the route was the next objective. I opened Google Maps, entering and saving each location under my “Starred Places”. Now I had a visible map offering some idea on how to plan my route.
In addition to Google Maps, I entered each location into RV Trip Wizard (Affiliate Link). RV Trip Wizard is a web-based RV trip planning tool. This software quickly became my most trusted resource. In the Trip Setting Tool, you can enter gas mileage, average driving speed, the driving distance by average hours per day, or up to three specific distances in miles. Once the data is entered, the Map View will show a radius on the map based on a starting point. With this, I was able to determine potential destinations for each leg of my trip. With over 20,000 campgrounds and reviews built into the software, I was able to find campgrounds while building out my route. The screenshot below provides an example; My Trip Distances are in miles, 200 (Green), 300 (Yellow), and 350 (Red). Now I can see where I would end up given an average speed of 65 miles/hour and identify campgrounds and gas stations along the route. For a first-time RV’er planning a cross-country trip, this was invaluable!
The image below shows my route, campgrounds, and gas stops for the entire trip.
This software is hands down a must for RV travel planning. I will write a specific blog on this software in the future. I am such a big fan that I requested an affiliate link and will be paid a small commission if used. I will only promote tools I use and find helpful. Learn more here: RV Trip Wizard
After months of planning, our destinations and route were now complete. Let the adventure begin!
The complete list of places we stayed during our trip:
- Pawhuska, OK
- Sante Fe/Albuquerque, NM
- Farmington, NM
- Moab, UT
- Torrey, UT
- Escalante, UT
- Bryce, UT
- Virgin, UT
- Springdale, UT
- Barstow, CA
- 29 Palms, CA
- Lone Pine, CA
- Three Rivers, CA
- El Portal, CA
- Bakersfield, CA
- Needles, CA
- Sedona, CA
- Holbrook, CA
- Monument Valley, UT
- Ouray, CO
- Gunnison/Crested Butte, CO
- Aurora, CO
Our National Parks list:
- Joshua Tree
- Death Valley
- Sequoia & Kings Canyon
- Yosemite
- Petrified Forest
- Rocky Mountain
- Black Canyon Of The Gunnison
- The Mighty Five National Parks in UT
State Parks:
- Cherry Creek Aurora, CO
- Goblin Valley Green River, UT
- Dead Horse Point Moab, UT
- Goosenecks State Park Mexican Hat, UT
- Escalante Petrified Forest, Escalante, UT
Historic Sites:
Savvy-Traveler 
Hello Brian,
I am wondering how many nights you stayed at each place? Was this something you determined before you left or did you decide while you were there? This was very interesting and especially the maps.
Thank you!
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We determined this before we left. Typically we stayed two nights or longer depending on the location. Yosemite, Sequoia, Lone Pine, Moab, Sedona, Ouray and Aurora were our longest stays. These were five to eight nights.
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