RV in America
A Kiwi makes a flying visit to America in a class B motor home
In mid September 2009, I spent a couple of weeks in America with my partner, mostly travelling in a camper van. This is a basic travel log.
A trip of 2827 miles (4523Kms) in eleven days. Across five States and back.
Being shown how to dump the tanks during pre trip inspection.
On day one of the camper part of the trip, we arrived at the camper hire place in San Leandro, California at around 11am. By about 1pm we were on the road. At this point I will mention that where I am from, the right hand side of the road is the wrong side of the road and the right hand side of the vehicle is where the steering wheel lives. Any way straight onto the San Francisco freeway is probably as good a place as any to get the hang of it. We made our way onto I-80 and headed east.
Start: 13:00
Stops made during the day: Rest stop: 15:30-15:40
Fuel/groceries: 17:55-19:05
Coffee/tea break: 20:15-21:15
Finish for day: 22:40
Stopped for the night at Winnemucca Wal-Mart
At 10:40pm we stopped for the night at a Wal-Mart in Winnemucca, Nevada. Distance covered on the first day: 388 miles.
Being my fist visit to America, it was somewhat intriguing to see about ten different RV’s, bus’s etc, already parked there for the night, as if it were a regular RV park.
We ate some food, worked out how to set up the bed and how to work the shower, and then we went to sleep.
Day two
After waking up and packing away the bed, having tea and coffee and exploring Wal-Mart, we fuelled up and headed on our way.
Start: 10:45
Stops made during the day: Rest stop: 12:05-12:20
Rest stop: 14:05-14:15
Bonneville international speedway detour: 15:00-15:20
Rest stop: 16:10-1700
Fuel: 17:15-17:30
Truck stop: 19:45-20:20
Finish for day: 22:10
Rest stop Nevada
Driving through Nevada, towards Utah
Still in Nevada
Just entered Utah and headed towards Bonneville
Bonneville
Bonneville International Speedway/Salt Flats
We were there!
Rest stop in Utah. Not the most inviting sign for those of us not familiar with dangerous fauna.
Rest stop in Utah
Rest stop in Utah
Rest stop in Utah
Rest stop in Utah
They sure don't want you to accidentally take the wrong way out of this rest stop.
An earlier days finish at 10:10pm saw us in the Wal-Mart car park in Rock Springs, Wyoming.
Distance covered on day two: 544 miles.
This time there were about 30 campers, caravans, buses, house trucks, plus about four commercial tractor-semi trucks. They appeared to take up about a third of the car park.
Day three
After a slightly earlier night to bed, we managed an earlier start.
Wal-mart Rock Springs, WY after most of the RV's had left in the morning.
Same as above
We were one of the last to depart in the morning
Start: 09:30
Stops made during the day: Fuel: 11:20-11:35
Coffee stop: 14:40-14:50
Finish for day: 17:25
Heading east through Wyoming on I-80
At 5:25pm we had reached our initial destination of my partners sisters house in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Distance covered on day three: 420 miles.
We spent the next three nights and days with my partner’s family and while there visited the Celestial Seasonings factory in Boulder, took the cog railway to the top of Pikes Peak and visited the Garden of the Gods.
Cog rail station at the bottom of Pikes Peak
Cog railway heading up
Still going up
Looking down, while going up
About to pass another train on our way up
End of the line, at the top
It really is the end of the line!
Tundra, going back down
More tundra
An old tree, leading the younger ones up the mountain
Colorado Aspens, heading back down. Can you guess what season we visited in?
Balancing Rock, Garden of the Gods
Self explanatory
It was a spectacular place
Where we were parked outside of my partners sisters home, you are only allowed to have an RV parked in any one place for 24 hours, so we moved a couple of vehicle lengths each day we were there. I also took the camper to a dump station while we were there, as we didn’t know how often we would need to empty the waste tanks and refill the fresh water tank.
Day six
A quick evening run.
Start: 22:00
Stops made during the day: Finish for day 00:20
After a quick run up to Cheyenne, Wyoming, we stayed at another Wal-Mart car park. This one even had a sign with directions to the right place to park, for RV’s.
Distance covered on day six: 173 miles.
Day seven
We spent the day with my partner’s mother in Cheyenne.
This guy was in a park in Cheyenne, Wyoming
This lake is in the middle of the park
This is a bit more of the park
Start: 19:35
Stops made during the day: Fuel: 22:10-22:25
Finish for day: 00:20
Another night in the Rock Springs, Wyoming Wal-Mart car park. It felt very familiar this time.
Distance covered on day seven: 265 miles.
Day eight
After a good sleep in and a relaxing start to the day we headed off at 12:30pm.
Wind farm from gas station in Wyoming
Another shot of a wind turbine
Yet another shot of the wind farm
Start: 12:30
Stops made during the day: Fuel: 13:40-14:00
Rest stop: 15:00-15:50
Groceries: 16:30-17:10
Family dinner: 17:45-20:45
Finish for day: 00:20
Rest stop in Utah
From rest stop in Utah
Outside Indian restaurant in Salt Lake City, UT
Outside restaurant in Salt Lake City, UT
Approaching a hill, heading west though Nevada
Inside the hill
Out the other side of the hill
We stopped and went to an Indian restaurant with my partner’s brother and his family, in Salt Lake City, Utah, for a few hours. Then finished the night at our final Wal-Mart, in Elko, Nevada.
Distance covered on day eight: 415 miles.
Day nine
An earlier start this morning, after fuelling up.
From a rest stop in Nevada
Rest stop Nevada
Another shot from the rest stop
This was a lush rest stop in a dry area
Start: 10:30
Stops made during the day: Rest stop: 12:00-12:45
Rest stop: 13:45-14:00
Finish for day: 18:25
The unpleasant sight of a badly damaged, rolled truck
After taking crawling past a rolled over truck and trailer unit, on I-80, outside of Reno, we headed through Reno during rush hour and onto Lake Tahoe, to the Tahoe Valley Campground. The first RV Park we had stayed in. We stayed here for two days, walking around and seeing the sites.
Distance covered on day nine 351 miles.
Tahoe Valley Campground
The Grounds
Happy little fellow
A little manic though
And a little hungry
Picturesque spot
Not particularly inviting though
This feels more free
Lake Tahoe
Lake from a car park
A less than inviting part of the lake
Tahoe wild life has a slightly wooden feel about it
More wooden wildlife
More wooden wildlife
Not quite the sort of wildlife I was expecting
It is impressive though
Day eleven
We started the day looking for petrol. It was all very expensive in Tahoe so we only put a little bit in before leaving at 11:05am.
Start: 11:05
Stops made during the day: Rest stop: 13:40-14:30
Fuel: 15:45-16:00
Finish for day: 17:40
We spent our last night in the camper van at the trailer park “Trailer Haven” in San Leandro, California, just a few blocks away from where we rented it.
Distance covered on day eleven 244 miles.
Trailer Haven, San Leandro
Trailer Haven, San Leandro
Trailer Haven, San Leandro. Where we spent our last night in the camper.
Day twelve
We spent the morning cleaning out the camper van, dumping the tanks etc. Then we returned it to the rental place.
Total distance covered 2827 miles (4523 kilometres).
We left it with a bit more than the three quarter fill gas tank that we received it with, but based on the amount of fuel that we put in (217.8 gallons), we averaged about 13 miles to the gallon, or 5.5 kilometres to the litre). Which is a bit better than the 10-12 mpg suggested in the manual. We used a combination of 89 and 91 octane petrol. 89 was the minimum grade allowed.
According to the manual the camper van weighed 5054 KG (11,118.8 lbs)