Heading to the Southwest

[BillandKathy]

We are fairly new to fulltiming, just over a year. We spent our first winter on the road in the Carolina’s, Georgia and Florida. This winter we want to go to the southwest.

 

We are currently in NE PA and after stops near Chambersburg, PA, Spartanburg, SC and N Alabama we’re planning to head to the southwest in mid to late November. What would be the best route and what kind of weather should we expect.

 

Also, this is our first trip west and any suggestions about places to go or things to see are appreciated. We are not limited for time and plan to be back in PA in late spring. We want to visit as many National and State Parks as we can while we’re in the west.

[2gypsies]

From northern Alabama the end of November you should have o.k. weather going across. It depends what states you want to drive in as to the initial route. You could take I-20 or I-10 across to where they join in Texas. I-20 would take your through Dallas which is awful unless you pick up a state highway before getting to Dallas. You could pick up 31 around Kilgore, TX or 79 at Marshall, TX and take either to I-35 south. You would then be in the Texas Hill Country around Austin if you want to stay and check the pretty area out. You can skirt around Austin which is another hectic city to drive through. Texas has great state parks. Work you way to Johnson City and tour LBJ's ranch. Then on to Fredericksburg which is a neat small town then work your way to I-10. Just about any Texas state highways are very good for RVers.

 

If you're ready to stop around Balmorhea, TX at Jct of I-10-I-20, Balmorhea State Park is very unique. You could even tour Fort Davis easily from here. Fort Davis state park is also great and a night tour of McDonald Observatory is very interesting.

 

Take I-10 across New Mexico and into Arizona - not much to stop for. There are many RV parks in Deming, NM including an Escapees park and the museum if great - a little of everything and well organized. Stop at Benson, AZ and stay at the Escapees Saguaro park for $50/week for first-timers - full hookup. It a lovely Escapees park. From there you can tour Tombstone, Bisbee (take the mine tour - very interesting) and nearby is Kartchner Caverns which is a great tour.

 

Then it depends if you're planning to move around for the winter and try out different areas or stay in one spot. For winter the best places are Tucson up to Phoenix and over to the Colorado River up to Lake Havasu and south down to Yuma. Each area is different. There's an Escapee park in Congress, near Wickenburg to perhaps drive up to Prescott without the RV - it gets cold in Prescott but it's a pretty area. The greater Phoenix area has awesome Maricopa County parks. The campsites are large and lush with vegetation - nice hiking, too. Also, the far east end of Mesa is Apache Junction and you'll want to stay at Lost Dutchman State Park - beautiful.

 

You won't want to go any further north than Phoenix and across in the winter. Start heading to the Grand Canyon and the great southern Utah national parks in March/April.

[markandkim]

Do you have reservations or are you just taking it a day at a time?

[pegwillen]

We are fairly new to fulltiming, just over a year. We spent our first winter on the road in the Carolina’s, Georgia and Florida. This winter we want to go to the southwest.

 

We are currently in NE PA and after stops near Chambersburg, PA, Spartanburg, SC and N Alabama we’re planning to head to the southwest in mid to late November. What would be the best route and what kind of weather should we expect.

 

Also, this is our first trip west and any suggestions about places to go or things to see are appreciated. We are not limited for time and plan to be back in PA in late spring. We want to visit as many National and State Parks as we can while we’re in the west.

I don't have any suggestions, as this is going to be my first winter snowbirding. I'm tentatively heading from the NE to the Escapees park in AL so I can take in some gulf coast ocean before heading to AZ. Thanks to 2gypsies for the great info! Let's hope we both have safe travels and great weather.

[HamRad]

Include a stop over at Quartzsite, AZ around the middle of January. You can join tens of thousands who dry camp for a few days or weeks or find a commercial park in town. Either way it is a grand adventure.

[Pat & Pete]

I don't have any suggestions, as this is going to be my first winter snowbirding. I'm tentatively heading from the NE to the Escapees park in AL so I can take in some gulf coast ocean before heading to AZ. Thanks to 2gypsies for the great info! Let's hope we both have safe travels and great weather.

 

Be sure to take a rain coat as the Farmers Almanac forecasts A wet Winter for the Northern gulf coast .

[Al F]

The southwest is a great area to spend the winter. We have a fair amount of winter travel in the SW USA. However before I can provide much specific advice I have some questions about your interests and how your RV is set up

 

-- Do you like to explore by auto? That is drive around on less used roads and or gravel roads which don't require high clearance or 4 wheel drive.

-- Do you like to hike? If so, do you readily hike on fairly level trails 1-2 miles long? Will you hike trails 3-5 miles round trip with elevation gains of 600-1000 feet? I am not meaning you need to be able to hike 3 miles in 45 minutes, but to take a 3-5 mile hike in 2-6 hours.

-- Do you have experience in your RV in cool weather? That is with temps which may drop to 20* for 3-4 hours in the morning and yet warm up to 55*-60* with bright sun in the afternoon. In the desert country of the southwest this can be very enjoyable weather. 45* to 65* temps with little wind and bright warm sunshine is actually very enjoyable, and great for hiking.

-- Do you dry camp or boondock? That is camp w/o electric, water and sewer hookups for 4-7 days at a time?

 

The above questions strongly lean toward staying in NF, NP's BLM and other outdoor areas, mostly dry camping or boondocking.

 

On the other hand you may prefer staying in RV parks where you socialize with other RV'ers who like staying in RV parks.

 

Or you may really like both styles of RV'ing.

[coachmac9]

Great advice above, especially from 2gypsies. I am a life long Texan and the fall and winter is a great time to explore our state. The weather is almost always nice with very few worries about snow and ice and most small towns have fairs, jamborees ect that are great to enjoy the local atmosphere and I promise you won't find more friendly, helpful people. The hill country is absolutely beautiful as well.

If you are going on out west I would warn you about one stretch of road and that is 285 from Pecos to Carlsbad...avoid it at all costs...the road is in terrible shape because of the high volume of oil and gas trucks that go that way and the traffic is terrible 24/7.

I would also echo the quality of Texas state parks. All we have stayed in have been very nice and clean and this time of the year there are very few campers. We spent the winter last year at Atlanta state park in Atlanta Tx and it was heavenly!!! We would highly recommend it if you are going near Texarkanna Tx. (northeast corner of Tx.) and need a stopping place.

[bobsallyh]

If I was leaving the Keystone in mid to late November I would go south to I-10 as quickly as possible and the most direct way. Where did you stay near Chambersburg as that was our hometown before going full time 13 years ago?

[Zulu]

We are currently in NE PA and after stops near Chambersburg, PA, Spartanburg, SC and N Alabama we’re planning to head to the southwest in mid to late November. What would be the best route and what kind of weather should we expect.

 

This average temperature map may help.

[Al F]

What I use for all my trip planning, both for where we are going to travel through as well as where we plan on staying for a while is the Weather Underground History Calendar.

 

Since you are going from the NE to the SW and one good route is I-81 to I-40 then west on I-40, I-30 to Dallas and then anywhere you wish in the SW.

 

To see the actual weather you can expect as you travel you can look at the weather history for the following cities in that route:

 

Roanoke, VA

Memphis, Tn

 

What the links will display is the actual weather for Dec 2015 in those cities. Also by simply clicking on the year field you can click back each year, for several years to get an excellent feel for what your realistic chances of getting ice or snow for the time you will be traveling through this area.

 

Weather Underground makes it easy to see this same history calendar for any good sized city in the USA & Canada.

 

Part of the reason I love this type weather history, is I repeatedly see strong statements about not traveling through an area in late fall or early spring, or even in the winter because you will run into ice and snow. These statements imply that you will have a 60-100% chance of hitting snow and ice on the highway for the time you are traveling through that area. However by looking at the weather history I most times see 1 or 2 days of snow in the whole month for the area in question. And that 1 or 2 day chances are consistent for a several year period.

 

Armed with the above type history information, I can access how much risk I am willing to take to avoid driving 500 miles or maybe even close to 1000 miles out of the way to avoid a minor risk of being stopped in an RV park for a couple or 3 days while the winter storm passes.

 

All this is not to say it wouldn't happen that you could get trapped in unusual weather where the temps could go down to 10 degrees or even 5 degrees. Just that your odds are that you won't get trapped.

 

We all have to know our travel preferences and act accordingly.

 

I like to act on verifiable information, not a statement like, "Oh no don't every do such and such, it will be a disaster".

[Al F]

Now to get off of my "high horse" about travel route selection based on weather warnings!!

 

If you haven't spent time along the Gulf Coast, going directly from PA to Louisiana is a great option, if the the Cajun country and food interest you.

 

I did a search for "cajun" in this forum and found this topic about a place near Lafayette, LA that a lot of people just love. There are more topics about the New Orleans and the gulf coast you can find by searching this forum.

 

We have traveled this area several times in the last 30 years and find it very interesting.

 

From the Lafayette area, you can follow the coast line on SR-82 to the Texas border and then follow the coast line to Galveston, TX and on to Corpus Christi. From Corpus it is a interesting and fun route to the Big Bend National Park area and on to the southern part of New Mexico and then on into AZ. A great way to spend the winter.

 

If anything about this area interests you, feel free to start more topics with questions about specific areas and routes.

 

There have been a number of topics about this whole area over the last 2-3 years with a wealth of information.

[Second Chance]

... Then on to Fredericksburg which is a neat small town... While in Fredericksburg, the National Museum of the War in the Pacific is a must-see on our list. Jennies Smoked burgers is where we had the best sandwiches we've had in our lives (not really a hamburger - so much more!).

 

Take I-10 across New Mexico and into Arizona - not much to stop for. Being a native of Las Cruces, I beg to differ... just the best Mexican food on the planet (the mom-and-pop dives that the locals frequent are the best). Hacienda RV resort is a bit close to the highway (noise), but a very nice place to stay. White Sands National Monument is only an hour away and you could hit Carlsbad Caverns on the way to Las Cruces if you felt like going a bit out of the way. The caverns are well worth it.

 

 

Rob

[BillandKathy]

Wow, that’s a lot of responses and a lot of great advice especially from 2gypsies. Thank you all.

 

We plan on going south to I-10, then heading west. We’ll stay in an area long enough to see the sights, but we don’t want to spend the winter in one spot.

 

We’ve done dry camping - we’re not big fansthough, we prefer full hookups.

[coachmac9]

If you are going to use I-10 let me make a suggestion for a side trip that will allow you to miss the absolute nightmare that is Houston...at Beaumont take 96/287 up to Woodville Tx and hit US 190...very nice Indian Reservation halfway between Woodville and Livingston if you want to learn about the local culture, they also have a new casino and camping facilities or continue on to Livingston that is the home base of The Escapees Club or you can go to the State Park outside Livingston located on Lake Livingston that has very nice facilities. Continue on 190 to Huntsville where you can hit Highway 30 to Bryan/College Station where you pick up Highway 21 which is a beautiful drive all the way to San Marcos...there are many small towns along the way and lots of beautiful trees that don't start changing colors till November so they will still be very pretty in December...at San Marcos you can drop down to San Antonio and pick up i-10 again and continue your journey west!!! If you decide to go that route I have lots of recommendations for great eating places and some interesting sites along the way, just let me know and I will send them to you!! ( I grew up in that area!!) Have fun and safe travels!!

[pegwillen]

If you are going to use I-10 let me make a suggestion for a side trip that will allow you to miss the absolute nightmare that is Houston...at Beaumont take 96/287 up to Woodville Tx and hit US 190...very nice Indian Reservation halfway between Woodville and Livingston if you want to learn about the local culture, they also have a new casino and camping facilities or continue on to Livingston that is the home base of The Escapees Club or you can go to the State Park outside Livingston located on Lake Livingston that has very nice facilities. Continue on 190 to Huntsville where you can hit Highway 30 to Bryan/College Station where you pick up Highway 21 which is a beautiful drive all the way to San Marcos...there are many small towns along the way and lots of beautiful trees that don't start changing colors till November so they will still be very pretty in December...at San Marcos you can drop down to San Antonio and pick up i-10 again and continue your journey west!!! If you decide to go that route I have lots of recommendations for great eating places and some interesting sites along the way, just let me know and I will send them to you!! ( I grew up in that area!!) Have fun and safe travels!!

 

Thanks for this advice, I'm also planning on I-10 and was wondering how to negotiate Houston after visiting Sea Rim SP.

[coachmac9]

Any time!! You guys can come west on I-10 till you get to Hwy 146 and that will take you right by the Escapees park just outside Livingston!!

[soos]

As you head west of Houston, Caverns of Sonora are really incredible. Not too far off the highway and they have a small inexpensive RV park with easy to navigate pull thrus.

Well worth the stop

 

http://www.cavernsofsonora.com

[Al F]

Thanks for this advice, I'm also planning on I-10 and was wondering how to negotiate Houston after visiting Sea Rim SP.

If you are going to visit Sea Rim SP, which I do recommend, instead of going though Houston, take the following route to Galveston:

 

When you leave Sea Rim go north to SR-73. Follow SR-73 to Winnie, then S on SR-124 to SR-87. Follow SR-87 to the free state operated ferry to Galveston. Galveston SP is a nice place to stay. There are two camping sections in Galveston SP. One very close to the beach and one on the bay. We like the bay side better. Not as much wind as on the beach, and you don't get the salt spray. On the bay side you can see birds feeding in the marsh from your campsite. There is quite a bit to see and do in Galveston. A lot of history as well.

 

From Galveston, you can follow the beach to Freeport and then inland a few miles to SR-35 and follow it to Corpus Christi and Padre Island NP. There are a number of places to visit between Galveston & Corpus.

[Vladimir]

Do California during the winter. No crowds and the weather is generally pretty good up to 4000 foot in elevation. Yosemite Valley is about as high as I would go in winter.

[2gypsies]

Definitely follow Al's suggestion given above of taking the Port Bolivar free ferry from Hwy 87 to Galveston. It's a nice way to get away from Houston if you want to go to the coast. It's a very easy on/off short ferry. Many RVers take it.

[pegwillen]

If you are going to visit Sea Rim SP, which I do recommend, instead of going though Houston, take the following route to Galveston:

 

When you leave Sea Rim go north to SR-73. Follow SR-73 to Winnie, then S on SR-124 to SR-87. Follow SR-87 to the free state operated ferry to Galveston. Galveston SP is a nice place to stay. There are two camping sections in Galveston SP. One very close to the beach and one on the bay. We like the bay side better. Not as much wind as on the beach, and you don't get the salt spray. On the bay side you can see birds feeding in the marsh from your campsite. There is quite a bit to see and do in Galveston. A lot of history as well.

 

From Galveston, you can follow the beach to Freeport and then inland a few miles to SR-35 and follow it to Corpus Christi and Padre Island NP. There are a number of places to visit between Galveston & Corpus.

 

 

Thank you!

[coachmac9]

Yes, that is a great route also! Especially this time of the year, beach traffic is low and wait time at the ferry should be minimal. Also if you continue your trek to Corpus the Rockport-Fulton area is fantastic!!

[Al F]

If you need to go through Houston, the Saturday/Sunday 8am to noon time frame is an easy drive on I-10. Afternoon get busy and any weekday can be a mess.

[vermilye]

As you head west of Houston, Caverns of Sonora are really incredible. Not too far off the highway and they have a small inexpensive RV park with easy to navigate pull thrus.

Well worth the stop

 

http://www.cavernsofsonora.com

 

2X on the Caverns of Sonora. I've been to caverns all over the US & this is by far the most beautiful as well as a great tour.

 

Some photos.