Hi, we are from Australia and planning to take our family to the USA for a holiday in March / April 2010. We have 3 childeren aged between 6 and 11. Our plan is to show the kids a bit of the "real America" and therefore travel by RV from LA to ultimately Nashville. So the trip is quite exciting. My expectation is along our travels in the smaller cities / towns we will find a number of great RV Parks but I am concerned about RV Parks in the big cities like LA where we will plan to visit Disneyland & Hollywood / Universal Studios. In LA for instance we are thinking of staying in 2 parks so we don't have a large daily drive from 1 side of the city to the next. Now our only exposure to US "Trailer Parks" is in the movie 8 Mile and with a young family I want to avoid taking them into unsafe areas. I am sure there are many wonderfull RV Parks but would appreciate assistance in suggested Parks. Thank you
QUOTE(kjb3stop @ Feb 2 2009, 12:02 PM) [snapback]15025[/snapback] Now our only exposure to US "Trailer Parks" is in the movie 8 Mile and with a young family I want to avoid taking them into unsafe areas. I am sure there are many wonderfull RV Parks but would appreciate assistance in suggested Parks. Thank you "8 Mile?" By chance..... is that the Australian version of the movie "RV" with Robin Williams? Or was it a different movie? I don't know much about the RV parks along there, but try to map out Route 66, and then see what towns you are near. Then use this site to help you. I also hope others have suggestions. I will be travelling to Albuquerque New Mexico in April and I want to go back home via part of Route 66. JJ
Could you add a little information on places or cities you would like to see or tour from LA to Nashville? Lots of roads to travel on over here and most will get you from point A to B. You have tons of people here that has been on most of them. Do you plan to visit our Nat. Parks as well? On this web site you have large numbers of places RV people have rated. Look at map on first page and click on state, then click on towns or cities to see what we have here. LA and Hollywood have places as well or close by.
Hi klb, For starters, Route 66 doesn't really exist anymore. The original "Mother Road" went from Chicago, IL to Santa Monica (LA area), CA. Although there are small stretches of the original path in some areas, it is basically parts of Interstate 15 from LA to Barstow, CA, Interstate 40 from there to Oklahoma City, OK, Intestate 44 from there to St. Louis, MO, and Interstate 55 from there to Chicago, IL. Since your final destination is Nashville, TN, I would guess that you would be leaving the Route 66 path at Oklahoma City and continuing east on Interstate 40 all the way to Nashville. In the 1400 mile stretch from LA to Oklahoma City, the only "big" city is Albuquerque, NM - about 500,000 people. Except for Amarillo, TX (200,000) everything else along this path ranges from small towns of a few thousand to a few small cities (Barstow, CA, Kingman, AZ, and Flagstaff, AZ) of 20-60,000. As for RV parks along this route, check the listings on this site under Barstow and Needles, CA, Kingman, Williams, Flagstaff, and Holbrook, AZ, Gallup, Grants, Albuquerque, Santa Rosa, and Tucumcari, NM, Amarillo, TX, Clinton and Oklahoma City, OK. The upper right of those listings will show additional parks nearby towns. The reviews in those listings will show you what the park has in the way of services and facilities as well as the opinions of people on this forum. Only you know what you want in a park - full hook-ups (water, electic, sewer), WIFI, cable TV, playground, pool, etc. As far as your families safety is concerned, I don't think you will have to be concerned about camping in an area that is inherently unsafe. That of course is a subjective statement. Some people don't feel safe in any area that is beneath their economic level and/or full of people who are not like them. As long as you don't get lost in one of the bigger cities, you should be fine. Unless you find a park full of reviews about the park being in an unsafe area, you shouln't feel overly concerned about staying almost anywhere along this route. You didn't mention how long this trip would be. The direct route from LA to Nashville is well over 2,000 miles. With everything there is to see and do just along that route, I am hoping that you have at least a month. The only significant (consuming an extra day or two off the route) side trip I would consider a "don't miss" would be the Grand Canyon in northern AZ. Others might suggest Las Vegas - even with kids and no interest in gambling, driving or walking down the "Strip" can be quite an experience. One concern I have is the timing of your trip. Once you get into northern AZ and head east through NM, TX, and OK, I am not sure how many parks will have pools open as early as March or April. I am sure that 3 kids, 6-11, would like to have an open pool available. I am just not certain that this will be the case this early in the year. Actually, it is not too late to get not only cold weather, but even snow as you cross the mountainous areas of northern AZ and NM. Since you are planning well ahead (a year), I won't even get into the Oklahoma City to Nashville portion of the trip. Personally, I have not been in CA or Az for about 7 years, but I have stayed in a number of parks between Gallup, MN and Memphis, TN along Interstate 40 in the last year or two. If you could give us a few more specifics (length of trip, sights you want to see, what you want in a park, etc.), the people here will be able to give you some on target suggestions on where to stay. A bit of goofy advice: The term "trailer parks" has a less than desirable connotation. You are probably better off refering to "RV parks" rather than "trailer parks" as to where you want to stay. Good luck with you planning and feel free to ask the people here anything about your trip.
Hi, Thanks for the feedback. I will sit down with my wife to get more specific as to what we want to see. Thanks. QUOTE(John Blue @ Feb 3 2009, 04:39 PM) [snapback]15033[/snapback] Could you add a little information on places or cities you would like to see or tour from LA to Nashville? Lots of roads to travel on over here and most will get you from point A to B. You have tons of people here that has been on most of them. Do you plan to visit our Nat. Parks as well? On this web site you have large numbers of places RV people have rated. Look at map on first page and click on state, then click on towns or cities to see what we have here. LA and Hollywood have places as well or close by.
Hi, Thank you for the thorough feedback. You raised a number of good points which have been very helpful. We are planning the timing of the trip to fit in with kids holidays in Australia plus (much to my wifes torment) the kids and I want to catch some basketall games. So we realize weather will not be ideal with swimming out but the carrot I have for my kids is we are spending 1 week in Fiji on the way back home to Australia. As for the snow on the mountains I think I might keep that one quiet from my wife as she would trade off warmer weather for basketball any day of the week!!! While I appreciate at least a month may be required for the trip, we will have only 21 days. Logic would say then don't go as far but we balance this with the need to try and appease all family members requirements. A very broad outline of our plan is LA, Vegas, Grand Canyon, Albuquerque, Amarillo, Oklahoma City, Memphis and Nashville. We understand there will be may towns / sights in between that we may visit but we are not at that level of detail yet. We obviously have a lot of planning to do however I have found this site to be extremely helpful in feeling comortable that an RV holiday will be a great time. (I shoud add that we own a caravan ourselves with our biggest trip up the east coast of Australia in 2006). Thanks. QUOTE(Jerry S. @ Feb 3 2009, 05:59 PM) [snapback]15034[/snapback] Hi klb, You didn't mention how long this trip would be. The direct route from LA to Nashville is well over 2,000 miles. With everything there is to see and do just along that route, I am hoping that you have at least a month. One concern I have is the timing of your trip. Once you get into northern AZ and head east through NM, TX, and OK, I am not sure how many parks will have pools open as early as March or April. I am sure that 3 kids, 6-11, would like to have an open pool available. I am just not certain that this will be the case this early in the year. Actually, it is not too late to get not only cold weather, but even snow as you cross the mountainous areas of northern AZ and NM. A QUOTE(DXSMac @ Feb 3 2009, 10:31 AM) [snapback]15028[/snapback] "8 Mile?" By chance..... is that the Australian version of the movie "RV" with Robin Williams? Or was it a different movie? JJ Hi, Thanks for the response. "8 Mile" is the movie with the rapper Eminem which is quite different from the movie "RV". Reading RV Park feedback on this site has addressed any concerns I had. Thanks.
Hi agin kjb, Just curious about your interest in "hoops". Do you want to watch, attend, play, or all three? I would guess that you are familiar with "March Madness" (our national collegiate basketball tournament) which begins in March and ends in early April. From the time the post regular season conference tournaments start until the field is whittled down to 16 teams, there is basketball on TV almost daily. To see these games you will need to be near a big city (LA, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, etc.) to get good local TV reception, have cable TV at the RV park, or have satellite TV capability in your rental RV (I do not know whether or not the typical RV rental has satellite TV). While a lot of RV parks have cable TV, the service can vary from maybe 10 channels to 70+. This depends on what level of service to which they subscribe. While the later tournament games are on network TV (CBS, I believe) you will be able to get a lot more games (conference tournaments and pro games) if you have cable channels like the ESPN channels and others. I can't help you out if you are hoping to attend ball games during your trip. If you and the kids want to shoot hoops at RV parks, some RV park websites do show "Basketball" as an amenity. This, however, can range from a bent hoop nailed to a post or tree surrounded by dirt, gravel, or grass to a cement half-court with an good basketball standard. The latter are few and far between. You are lucky if you get a level rim, sturdy backboard, and a flat playing surface. I didn't mean to scare you with the comment about snow. I just want to let you know that there is that possibility. Even if there is a little snow, it should be no more than a slight incovenience in your travels. Saying that I hoped you had at least a month was wishfull thinking - 21 days should be fine. If you had said that the trip was only two weeks, I would have been concerned. At least you seem to realize that you are not going to be able to see every little attraction along your route. Your general itinerary sounds good to me. Personally, I can't give you any advice about RV parks in the Disneyland area. I would, however, recommend the Circus Circus KOA in Las Vegas. It is expensive and there are better parks in the Las Veas area which others would probably recommend over Circus. Like many of our overseas visitors, I am guessing you will be travelling without a car. If that is the case, I think Circus is your best bet. It is located at the northern end of the "Strip" and you can access the 3 miles of the "Strip" to the south and the Stratosphere Tower one mile to the north by foot or bus/monorail. Additionally, Circus Circus Casino is considered by many to be the most kid friendly spot in Vegas for tourists with families. The RV park outdoor may even be open in March. Again, as you refine your plans, ask the folks here for advice/suggestions.
QUOTE(Jerry S. @ Feb 7 2009, 09:40 AM) [snapback]15082[/snapback] Hi agin kjb, Just curious about your interest in "hoops". Do you want to watch, attend, play, or all three? Hi Jerry, Really appreciate your feedback. Our interest in basketball is from playing and watching basketball (4 out of 5 in the family play and the youngest would also play but he is too young!!) However, for this trip we will want to attend. The logic I originally had was to take the kids to a high school game, college game and then an NBA game. I am familiar with March Madness. However, March Madness (depending where the games are played) may mean we miss out on a college game. I will have to play that one by ear once we get our plans finalised. You haven't scared us with the snow as I did not realize there could be snow so we will have to pack a few warmer clothes. Bye.
Hi Steve, I hate to be so negative, but you may want to do some research on high school basketball in the areas you will be visiting. Here in Illinois, the final high school tournament weekend (there are 4 finals weekends covering boys, girls and several levels of schools based on enrollment) is March 21 & 22. You might want to "google" something like "(name of state) high school basketball" to try to get this information. If these tournments are still going on when you are here, you can also find out where (what city) the games are being played. By the time you get here, many states' high school tournaments may already be over. Good luck with this part of your research. Pro games (LA Lakers and Clippers, Oklahoma City ???, and the Memphis Grizzlies) shouln't be a problem except for potential sellouts - especially the Lakers, unless one of the other teams becomes great next year.. As far as the weather is concerned, I would only worry about the Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, AZ, and Albuquerque when the nighttime temperatures could be in the 30s(F) in March. These places are at fairly high elevation (5-7,000'). Hopefully, any potential snow will be while you are the road climbing over mountain passes during the day. Daytime temperatures should be, at worst, chilly (50s(F)). Once you are east of Albuquerque, you are likely to run into much warmer temperatures due partly the drop in elevation (Amarillo-3700', Oklahoma City-1200') as you head east. Your trip could be one wild temperature rollercoaster. Keep planning. Jerry
Hi again Steve, Couldn't help but think about you as I sit here watching the final high school championship game (of 8 over the past 4 weeks - each gender has 4 classes by school size). I am also ocassionally switching over to CBS for 2nd Round "March Madness" games. I hope you have been able to find out whether or not there will be high school games still being played along your route when you are here next March. I think Las Vegas hosted a couple of 1st round NCAA games. I would think that timing, location, and ticket availablity would make the chances of your catching a "March Madess" game slim. Again, keep planning. Jerry S.
Trailer parks are not the same as camprounds or RV parks in the USA. Completely different things! We stayed at a KOA in Williams, Arizona that was right off part of the origianl route 66. It was treed and rustic and cool even in the middle of August (because of the elevation, I guess?), a welcome change since we had come from Nevada which was sweltering hot!
