Now that travel, especially domestic travel, is opening up, a lot of folks are thinking about a long overdue vacation! However, not everyone is ready to forego social distancing and get on an airplane just yet. If wanderlust has gripped you, but you still feel like you need a little space, then the traditional road trip may be a great option for reintroducing travel back into your life!
In this article we will share a few tips for preparing for a road trip, as well as a few example itineraries that take in some of North America’s most iconic national parks and historic sites.
Quick Tips for Preparing for Your Trip
• Decide Where You Want to Go
Obviously, you need to decide where to go. However, to do that you have to determine how much time you can devote to your vacation. Can you be gone a month or more, or do you only have a long weekend? Once your time frame is established, then you can decide what destinations are within a reasonable driving distance.
We love exploring beaches, hiking in national and state parks, as well as visiting historic sites. So, most of our road trips involve a lot of outdoor activities. You may prefer something completely different. Perhaps you would like to travel to cities and take in all that they have to offer. There are so many wonderful things to do and see. The world really is your oyster. All you have to do is choose!
• Prepare Your Vehicle
It probably goes without saying, but you really do need to give your vehicle a ‘once over’ and make sure that it is ready for a long trip. Schedule your car for any needed maintenance and be sure to check your battery, tires, fluids, air conditioner and heater. Trust me when I say, the last thing you want is to break down during your trip! (More on that later.)
Consider bringing along some things that you can use to clean your car during your trip. Depending on where you travel and the weather conditions you encounter, you may find that your vehicle is really dirty and has to be cleaned just so that you can see out of the windows. It is not always easy to find a full-service car wash, so be prepared to do it yourself. Here are a couple of links to items that are really helpful for keeping your car clean, and they do not take much space. Wash Wipes Waterless Car Wash
• Map Your Route
Now that you know where you are going, you will need to map your route. Typically, we consider a 10-hour day behind the wheel to be quite a long day. So, we recommend not scheduling any long days if you can avoid it. If time permits, we aim for about 4 to 5 hours of driving each day. That more leisurely pace allows us to stop and see sights along the way to our final destination.
Another reason to plan ‘short’ driving days is that no matter how well you plan your trip, something unexpected could happen. For example, literally 2 hours after leaving for our 5-week cross-country road trip, our brand-new vehicle broke down. The entire transmission had to be replaced. We were actually very fortunate that we were close to a dealership and they were able to replace the transmission the very next day. All of our travel plans, including our hotel reservations were carefully mapped out and our entire trip could have been upended by the unexpected delay. However, since we had only planned to travel 4 to 5 hours per day, once we got back on the road, we simply doubled up our driving on one day and we were right back on track. So, the moral of the story is to build contingency into your schedule, especially on long trips.
• Plan Your Accommodations (Hotel, B&B, Short Term Rental)
You might be tempted to ‘freewheel’ it and just look for your overnight accommodation whenever you are ready to stop driving. That may work just fine, but we recommend researching the options and making reservations well ahead of time. We find that we are a lot less stressed when we have definitive plans for where we are spending the night.
If your trip is lengthy and you are spending a lot of nights on the road, try to plan your trip so that at least some of the time you spend multiple nights in the same location. Instead of a regular hotel, you may want to consider renting something a little larger than a normal hotel room. For a long trip, its kind of nice to, at least some of the time, to have a little room for stretching out, not to mention having your own kitchen and laundry facilities. VRBO and Airbnb are great sources for short term rentals of anything from a studio apartment to a standalone home.
• Packing for a Road Trip
If you are on an extended trip and need to take a lot of different types of clothing, remember that not all your clothes have to be packed in an actual suitcase. On our cross-country trip, we packed a couple of plastic bins with the clothing that we needed throughout the trip. We used 2 small suitcases to carry just what we needed into our hotel each day. That way we were not schlepping a lot of useless stuff in and out of the hotel every day.
• Be Aware of Local Festivals and Events
Take a little time to research all the places through which you plan to travel. You might be surprised to find that local festivals and special events are scheduled while you are in town. Depending on your level of interest, such events can be either good or bad. If you are interested in the event and want to participate, then it could be fortuitous. However, if you are not interested, you may find unanticipated crowds and higher prices for your overnight accommodations.
3 Itineraries for Western Road Trips
We wanted to share a few examples of itineraries from trips we have done in the past. All of these itineraries include national/state parks, as well as historic sites. Since folks, at least in the U.S., seem to be hitting the road this summer, be aware that some of these destinations are likely to be more crowded than usual. The National Park Service has even implemented a reservation system for at least 6 national parks. These reservations are necessary for entry into some exhibits within the parks and even for the parks themselves. Here is a helpful article that details the parks involved and how to make reservations.
• Rapid City to Glacier National Park/Waterton Lakes National Park
Rapid City, South Dakota was a huge surprise for us. We knew there were several things to see there. So, we scheduled a few days in Rapid City on our way to Glacier National Park from our home in North Carolina. After being on the road for about 6 days, we thought it made the perfect place to hang out for a few days and rest up for the rest of the trip. Little did we know just how much there is to do in Rapid City. This area is chock full of all our favorite types of places to visit. National parks, state parks, historic sites – this area has it all. You can easily spend an entire week in this area, making it a destination unto itself. Want to know more about Rapid City? Check out this article we wrote a while back. We think you will be pleasantly surprised!
From Rapid City, continue on to Bozeman Montana. This drive will take about 8 hours, so it’s a little bit of a longer day in the car. In order to break up the drive and take in some history along the way, we recommend stopping at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. This historic site is located right off I-90 near Crow Agency, Montana. Crow Agency is also the governmental headquarters of the Crow Native Americans. You can spend anywhere from an hour to 3 or more hours depending on which activities you choose to do.
From there, continue on to Bozeman and spend the night there. Bozeman is a sizable town by Montana standards and you will find all sorts of familiar chain hotels and restaurants.
In the morning, continue your drive to Glacier National Park. It will take about 5 hours to reach the eastern entrance to the park and a little longer to reach the western side. Take a look at this article we wrote about our visit to Glacier National Park. Glacier is truly a ‘bucket list’ destination.
TIP: If you have more time and the Canadian border is open, be sure to cross the border to visit Glacier’s Canadian cousin, Waterton Lakes National Park. Learn all about our visit to Waterton Lakes in this article.
We recommend a minimum of 10 days for this itinerary and that does not include driving time from wherever you may be starting from or your return trip home. If you have less time and are not averse to flying, then consider flying to Rapid City, renting a car and then beginning this itinerary. At the end of your visit, you could drive back to Rapid City to fly home or return your car to Glacier Park International Airport in Kalispell and fly home from there.
• Grand Tetons – Yellowstone -Glacier/Waterton
This itinerary begins in Jackson, Wyoming. There, you can easily spend several days or more exploring Jackson Hole and Grand Tetons National Park. Take a look at this article, to discover some of the interesting things to do there.
After your time in Jackson Hole, it is just a 2-hour drive north to the southern entrance of Yellowstone National Park. Lodging inside the park may be a little difficult to obtain, so we recommend staying either in West Yellowstone or the town of Big Sky, just about 45 minutes from the western entrance to the park. Learn about some way to spend your time in Yellowstone in this article.
From the Yellowstone area, drive north to Bozeman, Montana and then on to Glacier National Park as described above.
We recommend a minimum of 11-12 days for this trip, not including your drive time to and from your home. If you would like to fly and drive, we recommend flying into Jackson Hole and out of Glacier Park. However, that of course is an ‘open-jaws’ itinerary that could be more costly for both flights and car rental. An alternative to consider is to fly both in and out of Bozeman, Montana. Since Bozeman is located between Yellowstone and Glacier, it is a reasonable approach that will allow you to take advantage of potentially lower prices for your flights and car rental.
• Banff – Jasper – Waterton – Glacier
This itinerary begins in Banff, Alberta. The town of Banff is located within the Banff National Park boundaries, and is close to both Jasper and Yoho National Parks. This area of Alberta offers some of the most spectacular scenery of anywhere in North America, and there is an enormous number of things to see and do. Plan to spend at least several days, and hopefully more, visiting all the sites within these 3 national parks. If you would like to find out more, take a look at this article detailing a week that we spent in the area.
From Banff, it is a relatively easy 5-hour drive to Waterton Lake National Park. And, as we talked about earlier, once you are in Waterton, take the time to cross the border and spend a few more days in Glacier National Park.
We recommend spending at least 12 days on this full itinerary. If you would like to make this a fly-drive trip, consider flying into and out of Calgary. Calgary is a large international airport and there are a lot of flight options available.
We hope that you found this article and the others on our website helpful! More importantly we hope this article has given you a few ideas for putting together your own road trip. Whatever you do and wherever you go, relax, enjoy and stay well!
Safe Travels!
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