November Honeymoon trip suggestions

[RoyBell]

I got the go-ahead to plan a honey-moon camping trip. We get married Nov 1, and would like to travel west for 2 weeks.

Home base is Chicago. We should have our new Momentum 320G by October which will give us a month to make sure it's ready for the haul.

We have never done much more than a 250 mile trip so looking for some suggestions on how to do this as efficiently as possible.

Option 1 is to travel 200-250 miles a day, every day. That would get us to about Utah and back over 2 weeks. Easy drives, but packing up 14 times over 2 weeks is a lot of setup.

Option 2 is to travel 400-500 miles a day and spend a day in key cities for exploring. This gives us 7 whole days for exploring and not worrying about packing up and moving every day if we plan it correctly.

Option 3 is to put some serious miles in and stay for longer or mix it up. 800 miles one day, 200 the next, etc.

I will keep this post going as a log of where we plan to visit. Any suggestions on scenic sites to visit that will accommodate a 36' 5th wheel?

[ken56]

Going west that time of year is risky and will be COLD in Utah and Colorado. The Grand Canyon Plateau is 6800 ft. elevation. Veil Colorado is at 10,000 ft. elevation. South is where you want to go to be comfortable and not go through 20 tanks of propane. Anything like Savannah, Charleston, the Georgia coast or the Gulf coast and yes even the Smoky Mountains and Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/ Sevierville are decent weather in November. The mountains are beautiful in their fall glory.


I know you really don't want to just drive all the time so research the south and don't try to be so ambitious. It's your honey moon remember. Stop and enjoy an area for more than 2-3 days. Do the Kentucky Bourbon Trail on the way down. Stop in Lynchburg TN to see the Jack Daniels Distillery, a fantastic tour. Nashville is a great place for the honky tonks and live music and good food. I love going out west myself too but it's a warm weather trip really. Think things over aas to what you want to put up with. Cold weather is a challenge to camp in.

[tracyb-oh]

Head south to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It will be beautiful ready for the holidays, the mountains are majestic. Lots of things to do and see in the area. Could also visit places in Kentucky on the way south. The crowds should be a little less as you are behind the leaf peepers but before the Thanksgiving bunch. Weather should be crisp. Plus a pretty easy drive from Chicago. You won’t be spending all your time driving.

[FordDiesel250]

Niagra Falls

[ppine]

You are on the edge for a western trip in terms of time, and also the weather. For a honeymoon, I would want it to be fun without too much travel time. Time for romance and hiking around in the woods.

I would consider northern Wisconsin or Michigan UP. Some place closer to home instead of a driving vacation. If it snows in the Northwoods you can just stay put a day or two because you are close to home.

[RoyBell]

Dick_B wrote:
Alternate plan: How about New Orleans for a week instead of knocking yourselves out on the road going west. Take in the Civil War battleground at Vicksburg, MS either coming or going.
Save the western trip for sometime when you have at least a month.

We will never have a month to travel until we are both retired (30 more years lol).

I can sneak a 2 week vacation because of the Honeymoon excuse.

Next summer we are talking about heading to Colorado area with the kids, so maybe we would be better staying south with the November weather.

We always go to FL over the holidays to visit my parents. We always stop in TN and GA, so not looking forward to going east in November, just to go that way again in Dec.

[RoyBell]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, keep them coming!

We like to explore nature, views, etc. We like the other stuff as well, cities and wineries, food, etc. Those come second when camping to the outdoors. Was debating bringing the Harley with, but again, not sure how the weather will be at that time of the year in states I never visit?

Heading through CO mid November does worry me a little as I am not sure how the weather is. If weather is decent I can see heading west on 70 on the first leg and coming back east on 40. If weather would be questionable maybe drop it to taking 40 west and 10 back home and visit more southern states.

I am also OK boondocking if we have to. With generator and propane I am not too concerned about spending a night not at a CG.

As for travel speed, I hauled my 34' TT around 70mph usually. Seems to be a good speed the truck and trailer liked. It easily pulled @ 80+, but I would back it down so my tires didn't explode, and in an effort to be a responsible adult. Thinking back to earlier this year I did my longest trailer pull with an enclosed car hauler. 1100 miles in one day, but I had a co-driver and we swapped every 300 miles. I think it took us 16 hours. I would not look forward to pulling into an unfamiliar campground after 10 hours of trailing, especially at night time. The next day we loaded up the car, headed back home over 2 days. It really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

[Dick_B]

Alternate plan: How about New Orleans for a week instead of knocking yourselves out on the road going west. Take in the Civil War battleground at Vicksburg, MS either coming or going.
Save the western trip for sometime when you have at least a month.

[agesilaus]

Weather will be a big factor that late in the year. Mid November after last year would make me worry.

What exactly are you looking for? Urban exploration, restaurants ect? Or natural wonders.

I any case you may want to head south or south west for better weather prospects. A 36 ft fiver will exclude most national park cg and a lot of other federal cg with the exception of COE sites.

I'm not sure if you are aware of this but most people hold the speed down to 60 mph or so when towing. Higher speeds can lead to bad surprises. Blown tires if nothing else.

An 800 mile day will make the next day, even if you don't travel less than pleasant. Off hand I don't know of a lot of places to visit within 600-800 miles of Chicago. We strictly prefer natural sites our self and avoid cities. So I would push a couple of 400+ mile days in to get to more interesting areas.

Just an off the cuff suggestion, Big Bend would be good that time of year followed by Southern New Mexico and Arizona. However Big Bend is 1400 miles. If the weather cooperates southern Colorado may work. But Grand Sand Dunes is 1100 miles. Followed by Mesa Verde and the UT parks. Zion BTW is 1800 miles.

[rexlion]

I'd opt to put on some miles (500-550 is plenty for one day) until you reach somewhere you'd like to explore/enjoy, then stay there (or close to there) 2 or 3 nights.

Driving I-70 through Colorado in the first week of November would, I suspect, give you spectacular views of snow-covered peaks. Spend a day at Colorado National Monument. 2 days at Arches. Maybe a day at Canyonlands, especially if you want to Jeep the trails. Loop up to I-70 and west to Hwy 24 so you can visit Goblin Valley SP. Spend a day at Capitol Reef. Then south to Kodachrome, Bryce, and/or Zion (all fairly close together); I've never been to Koodachrome so I don't know how it compares timewise, but Bryce and Zion are each worth at least 1 day. Of course you have time constraints by this time. So at some point you have to break off and head east; go south to I-40 (by then you will surely want the southern route due to weather) and hotfoot it toward home, but plan a half-day or a day in Santa Fe to see the art and the buildings.

All of this assumes that you prefer outdoors and wild scenery. If you would rather spend time in cities looking through museums or checking out wineries or microbrews or shopping, others will have to speak to that.

[wanderingaimles]

We tend a lil bit different than your choices. About 300 maybe 350 miles and stop for at least 2 nites before moving again.
From Chicago, maybe to the Ozarks, down into hot springs Arkansas and further south if you wish.

[the_bear_II]

I vote for Option 1...reason take your time see the sights and enjoy the trip.

Don't worry about the setup and tear down...it's fairly easy and shouldn't take more than a half hour for each.