Planning a Month Long Trip Across the US

Are you dreaming of traveling across the US?

What travel destination are you dreaming of? A beach trip or hiking through a beautiful mountain? Wherever you are dreaming of going I encourage you to make the plans and take the trip. My motto: Dream it, then do it!!

Since I work during the school year I can only travel for an extended period of time during the summer months. Although summer is not ideal since it is often hotter and there are a lot more people, it is what works for us. There is so much planning that goes into a long trip across the US. I typically start planning a year in advance. I pick a location such as west coast, east coast, midwest or other destinations such as a visit to National Parks or to see the mountains. The options are endless and each is exciting in its own way.

Before I start my research I create a Google Doc. This is where I list every state in the US and below each state I list things to do in each state that I would be interested in visiting. I also add camping locations below that for each state. I am going to show you how I create my list of ideas and make the plans for our trip. This guide will help you plan your next big trip.

First - Make a travel goal

I start my planning by thinking of destinations I want to visit. This could be a broad list such as “west coast” trip or as stated above it could be a trip to see the mountains, or to camp on the beach and more. There is no right or wrong way to chose a destination. This will give you an easy way to plan without getting overwhelmed. It is all in your preference. Here are some ideas of trip destinations to get you started:

• West Coast

• East Coast

• Midwest

• National Parks

• Mountains

• Beach

• Skiing

• Mountain biking

• Waterfalls

• Ghost tours

• Cruise

• Disney

• Caves

• Wine tour

• Fishing

• Historical tours

• Museums

• Sporting events

• Aquariums

• Zoo

• Food tours

• New York

• Hiking

• Horse back riding

• Staying at a cabin in the mountains

• Camping

• Amusement Parks

• Visiting with family/friends (as the destination or along the way)

These are a few ideas to get you started.

Second - Search for destinations

Once I have an idea of my travel goal then I start researching what there is to do at each destination and along my route (if I am driving).

Two options:

Option 1: If I only have time to go to one destination, I begin to look at everything there is to do at that location. Ex: my destination might be to visit a beach. I will decide what state I want to visit a beach at (Ex: Florida, Texas, North Carolina). Then I will find things to do while in that area, say Clearwater Beach in Florida. I will search for good restaurants to eat at while in Florida (Frenchy’s Rockaway Grill) or other things to do in the area such as Clearwater Marine Aquarium, take a boat tour or parasailing and much more.

Option 2: (This is how I plan trips) I plan where I want to travel to that includes certain destinations (Ex: Pikes Peak in Colorado, then 4x4 tour in Moab, Utah, then Bryce Canyon National Park, then Joshua Tree National Park in California and more) I Look at each state I will pass through on our travels and might want to stop at. Example: During the summer of 2022 I wanted to see the above attractions. I started planning our trip through those states and found more to do in each state along our journey. We ended up going from Florida to Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, then back toward Florida through Texas and then Louisiana. I chose something to do within each state and added it to our Google Doc list.

I then go to Pinterest (or Google search) and type in the search bar “things to do in Colorado” or “best beaches to visit in Florida”. I save each pin to my Pinterest board (saved under each state name) that has information about a destination I am interested in. I then take that information from Pinterest and add it to my Google Doc (Ex: Under by Colorado tab I might add things to do such as Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods, Mt Evans, good restaurants to eat at near Pikes Peak, camping locations near my destination and more). I continue to do this for each state I will visit along my path. Even if I am unsure if I want to visit a certain place I still add it to my notes, just in case, this way I don’t have to figure out later where that information was.

*Tip: You can also cut and paste the website link into your Google docs for reference later if needed. Create Pinterest boards for each state and Pin each idea you like to your board. Check out my Pinterest boards HERE for more travel ideas.

Third - Narrow down destinations at each location

Once I have my list of things to do in each state, and have done a ton of research for each location, I look over the list again and narrow down the places I know for sure that I want to visit. I highlight them or put them in bold for easy reference.

Example: I might decide to visit the state of Utah. My list might look like this:

Utah

• Bryce Canyon NP. Open 24 hours. FREE with National Park pass. 1 hour 19 minutes to Zion NP.

  • Sunset Point hike. 1 mile round trip hike.

  • Queens Garden trail. 2.9 mile round trip hike.

• Zion NP. Open 365 days a year. FREE with National Park pass.

  • The Narrows. Walk through water. Some waist deep spots along path. Need water shoes. 10 mile hike but can turn around at any point.

    • Take the shuttle bus from the Visitor Center to Temple of Sinawava to the start of The Narrows. Restrooms at trailhead. Last shuttle back to Visitor Center is 7:15pm in the summer.

  • Angel’s Landing. Need permit.

• Toadstool Trailhead. 2 mile roundtrip hike. Restroom at trail head. FREE

• Dead Horse Point State Park. $20 entrance fee.

• Camping in Utah

  • Lava Point Campground. FREE. Vault toilets. 1 hour from Zion NP

  • North Creek dispersed camping on BLM land in Virgin, UT. FREE. Dry camping. No amenities. GPS: 37.22033, -113.16161. Found on Campendium app.

I like to add a lot of details such as cost, if any, road conditions, amenities, how far from next destination, how long the hike is and the difficulty level and more. Any detail you think is important, add it. I also include the app name that I found my camping locations at for future reference.

Fourth - Narrow down again

Now that I know for sure which places I absolutely must visit, I do my research again. I search again on Pinterest or Google, “Zion National Park” or “Camping on the beach in Texas” or “Magnolia Market in Waco”.

Then under each destination on my Google docs, I continue to add details of each destination that I found on Pinterest.

I add the details under each category on my Google docs such as:

• cost to enter

• miles to next destination

• extra gear I might need (rock climbing gear, what shoes to wear, life jacket, etc)

• hours of operation

• if they are closed on certain days or during certain times of the year such as winter months

• Places to eat

• hiking distance

• temperature of location

• maps of trails

• other bloggers comments that might be important to know such as beware of _______, or not recommended for children under the age of ____, etc.

• Camping locations near destination (see below for more details)

  • GPS coordinates and what app I found the camping spot on

  • What amenities are at each location

I then put a star ** by each destination that I for sure am going to visit on our trip. You can highlight them in any way so they stand out or you can copy and paste into a new document such as “2023 trip to Utah” and paste all the details in that doc. You figure out what way works best for you.

Fifth - How to find camping locations at each destination

Find camping locations using these APPS

After I know exactly where I want to go I need to search for camping locations in each area (ex: camping near Zion NP). My goal is to find FREE boondocking locations. Check out my list of FREE camping spots HERE. I will take the destination and use apps such as Campendium, iOverlander, FreeRoam or The Dyrt to find camping spots near by.

This video shows the iOverlander app which is one of my favorite apps for finding camping locations. You see me zoom into the location near Zion National Park. Once I find an area I want to camp at, I click on the green moon and it takes me to the reviews. I can see pictures of the spot (if there are any), I can see what amenities this spot has, if any, and see the reviews. I can also copy the GPS coordinates so I can look at it on my iPhone maps.

See below for another app description.

This video is from the app FreeRoam. What I love about this app is that it also lists the temperatures in each location which is helpful for me since we do not have air conditioning in our van once I shut the van off. You can also see pictures, reviews, GPS coordinates, cell service and cost, if any.

Final thoughts

Planning long trips has become a passion of mine. It is a lot of work but I am always in awe at all of the amazing views and unique destinations along the way.

I know this post contains a lot of information. I hope you find it useful in planning your next travel destination. It can be overwhelming when you first start searching for things to do at each location but it will be worth it.

Let me know in the comments below if there’s anything else that you feel would be helpful to know so I can add it to this blog post. Also, if you have any questions at all about planning a month-long trip, I would be happy to help guide you through that, just feel free to reach out to me via social media or through my email in the link below.

Enjoy your journey,

Follow me on social media for more travel ideas

@adoptinglifesjourney