5479 miles. 21 days. 7 states. 6 national parks. 12 hikes. 10 cities. Countless small towns. 8+ hours of drone footage. 573 photos. Unlimited buffalo.
Wildlife Loop, Custer State Park, South Dakota
In the time of the 'rona season, I didn't realize just how much my hubby, our spoiled mut and I would appreciate hopping in and out of our Mazda CX-9 to explore the Great American West. After all, we had been quarantined in our house in Austin, Texas for over 121 days (minus a few weekend trips home to Corpus Christi, 4th of July in the Texas hill country and a secluded birthday getaway with the family to Arkansas). Like most Americans, we were getting restless and we wanted to feel a sense of control amidst all of the chaos. So, what did we do? Planned a three-week road trip across the good 'ole U.S of A to fulfill our wanderlust and have the opportunity to remove our face masks and breathe in some fresh mountain air.
Blue Bell Lodge at Custer State Park Resort, South Dakota
"Three-weeks!?! How, where, what, when and why?" As my husband, Matthew, and I prepped for the adventure, we eagerly shared our road trip plans with friends and family. With each conversation, many of our framily (Yes, you read that right. friends+family=framily) shared a deep level of curiosity of how we were able to make a trip like this possible. I've found myself feverishly sharing the trip planning tips with others, so figured this might be a great opportunity to share our experience in making an epic road trip possible. Matthew and I share additional commentary on road trip planning and creating content on the road on episode 17 and 18 of our podcast,
Creative Moonlighting. You can listen to it for free on
Apple Podcasts or
Spotify.
Creating the itinerary
First things first. As with any vacation, we went back and forth on creating an itinerary that fit our time frame and budget. So, how did we ultimately decide on a three-week adventure? Matthew and I each made a list of the places we wanted to explore while on the road. The ground rules? The lists could be a "free for all" and each of us could include places that we've always wanted to visit, regardless of time or budget. Once we both had our lists created, we sat down together and compared the two lists. At the same time, we pulled out a map of the US (well, we pulled up a Google map of the US) and looked at the distance between each of the locations that were on our lists. From there, it was easy to see that some of the locations were too far away (and those places were crossed off the list), while the remaining locations naturally created a path that made sense in terms of time and distance.
Here's the map of what we ultimately came up with (starting and ending from home in Austin, Texas. As I created this, I found that the maximum destinations you can add in Google maps is 10. Just fyi.):
Road trip destinations starting/ending from Austin, Texas
To summarize, we included the following destinations:
- Amarillo, Texas
- Boulder, Colorado
- Custer State Park, South Dakota
- Billings, Montana
- Whitefish, Montana,
- Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
- Jackson, Wyoming
- Moab, Utah
- Santa Fe, New Mexico
- Marfa, Texas
Realistically budgeting for the adventure
Since the itinerary and budget were heavily dependent upon one another, the agenda changed several times throughout the planning process. I am a heavily left-brained thinker (aka, OCD) and pulled out my pencil and paper and went to work to find out just how much a three-week road trip might cost. The categories I considered were:
Trip Budget Categories:
- Lodging + Pet Fees
- Gas
- Food
- Entertainment (National Park Fees, Museums, etc)
- Shopping & Miscellaneous
When creating a trip budget, it is likely that lodging and transportation will comprise the majority of your expenses. To minimize the lodging costs, many people choose to camp or sleep in their cars along the way. (Let's be real. I'm 40 years old and the closest I'll get to camping over a three-week period is if it's "glamping"in a yurt with a/c, a toilet and a hot shower. I actually looked into it in Moab and Yellowstone and it was more expensive than a rustic cabin. Needless to say, we did NOT camp or glamp and chose to set aside enough of our budget to sleep comfortably every night. To each his own, right?)
Throughout the trip, I kept a running total of the cost for gas. We filled up our Mazda CX-9 gas tank a total of 18 times (mid-grade gas) over the three week period. A full tank of gas cost anywhere in the range of $26 (Sheridan, MT) - $44 (Pueblo, Co), and our grand total for gas was $568.63. (That's a steal given the going rate for roundtrip airfare into Jackson, Wyoming and out of Glacier Park International Airport in Kalispell, MT is around $600-$800/person. Car rental fees for a two week period are about $800. Ouch!).
The last two categories in the budget will differ depending on how much you want to set aside for entertainment, shopping & miscellaneous expenses along the way. I'll comment later in the blog post on how we budgeted for food (see "Small ways to cut costs along the way" and "Staying healthy and engaged in your adventure").
If you're planning on visiting two or more national parks, the
America the Beautiful National Parks pass is the way to go. It's only $80 for a year membership into any of the national parks. A one-time visit to a national park is $35. You can do the math. :)
For our trip, we visited the following parks:
- Custer State Park, South Dakota
- Glacier National Park, Montana
- Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
- Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
- Arches National Park, Utah
- Guadalupe Mountain National Park, Texas
We planned to visit Canyonlands National Park in Utah, but we were mesmerized with Arches National Park that we decided to skip it.
If you are going to visit a national park, you MUST...I repeat, you MUST download the
Gypsy Guide app and use it during your travels through the park. We have used the app previously in Maui, and it's like having your own tour guide (that you can mute when you feel like it). The guide is GPS activated, so you don't need a cellular connection for it to work. Be sure to download it when you have a good internet connection. It usually costs $5 for each park. If there is an app that has two parks in one, it will cost $9.99. It's worth every penny spent!
Clever ways to save money on lodging
Once we had come to consensus on the itinerary, I created an agenda that included the date, destination, driving time and distance and set out to tackle the lodging plans first. Although I wasn't willing to camp or sleep in the car the entire trip, I did try to get as creative as possible to minimize the hotel and Airbnb fees along the way. So, what did I do? I did my research on different credit cards and tried to find ways to earn and use points to pay for lodging. Luckily, (pre-covid era) I traveled often for work and stayed in Hilton hotels for each trip. Since I was already earning Hilton points for each of my work stays, I looked more closely into the benefits of opening an
American Express Hilton credit card. When I did the math, I realized that despite the annual fee for each card, the bonus point incentives and free night certificates were worth the cost of opening the credit card. Considering that the average cost of a night anywhere in the US was around $175 night, after taxes and fees, and in locations such as Jackson, Wyoming, the average cost of a night is $400 + tax, it was a no brainer that the card would pay itself off in less than 2 stays.
Ultimately, here's the chicken scratch document that I created and revised (and revised again and again!) to help track our plans:
[Full disclosure. I opened the credit card at least 6 months prior to our trip. I used the card to pay for everything I could possibly pay for with credit and at the end of each billing cycle, I made sure to pay off the balance in full so I didn't pay any interest fees. In doing so, I watched the hotel points rack up and was able to secure at least one or two free hotel nights per billing cycle.
When all was said and done, I was able to save and use a total of 363,000 Hilton points and two free night certificates to pay for 10 of the 21 nights we were gone. If I hadn't opened the American Express Hilton credit card, I would have never been able to save as many hotel points over a six month time period! And most importantly, the credit card earned enough points to cover the lodging costs for half of the trip. (You're probably wondering what the total amount would have been for those 10 nights at Homewood Suites, Home2Suites and Hampton Inn, right? Drumroll please......we saved $2762 - give or take a few)!]
However you choose to go about your planning, I encourage you to find ways that can help cut the costs down. In this particular experience, by opening the credit card at least 6 months prior and saving (hoarding) hotel points, we were able to extend our road trip from two to three weeks and see so much more of the US!!
For the remaining locations, I booked pet friendly cabins directly through the National or State park, as well as found cute guest houses through Airbnb. We loved every location we stayed at. If you're interested, here they are:
Pet Friendly Cabins and Airbnb
Oh, and one other very important consideration about lodging. If you want to avoid hauling dirty clothes across the country for more than a week or taking time out of your vacation at a laundromat, try to be strategic and book at least one lodging each week that is equipped with a washer and dryer within the unit. For our trip, I alternated between hotel suites and Airbnb, and made sure to have access to a washer and dryer at least once every 7 days. I also made sure the last property we stayed at on the trip had a washer and dryer so we could return home with all clean clothes. It made unpacking much less painful!
Other considerations before embarking on the journey
Prior to leaving, I also considered safety and comfort while on the road. For peace of mind, I joined
AAA just in case we had a flat tire or needed the car towed or repaired along the route. Since travel is limited right now, AAA was offering a substantial discount on membership, and I was able to purchase a year-long premium membership for only $58 (and it also covered an additional household member, so I donated that membership to my mom as a bonus!). Additionally, AAA offers hotel and travel discounts, so I always look for or ask for the discounted AAA rate for lodging or entertainment.
I also wanted the car in tip-top shape, so I made sure to get the tires rotated and the oil-changed before our trip. Of course, we found out that the car needed new brake pads the week prior to leaving, so that was an expense that we weren't anticipating. Why am I sharing this? For two reasons. In hind site, I would have gotten the car serviced at least a month or two prior to our trip so I could've accounted for the repair and service fees. We use a mobile mechanic that is very reliable and considerably more cost-efficient than our neighborhood auto shop, so next time we prep for a road trip, I will definitely budget for car repair fees and get the car serviced at least one or two months before we leave. If I would've had the car serviced further in advance, I could've booked the repair with our mobile mechanic and saved money. Lesson learned!
The "2-2-2" Rule
As I did my research on each city prior to the trip, I took notes in a journal that I planned to carry with me along the way. I reserved two pages for each city that we planned to visit. One page was for notes I'd taken prior to leaving (mostly of locations we might want to visit when we got there), and the other was a blank page to take notes on once we arrived.
The notebook was a lifesaver, especially when we got to Billings, Montana. Our server at the
Uberbrew brewery was an avid hiker and mountain biker and he gave us several great recommendations for hiking locations and restaurants outside of Billings. The recommendations he gave us led us to our favorite hike of the trip in Roscoe, Montana on
East Rosebud Trail. As he passionately shared trails and pictures off the AllTrails app, I took copious notes in my journal so that we could research more when we got back to our hotel that night.
After revisiting my notes, we decided to hop in the CX-9 early the next morning and make our way to Elk Lake. One of my favorite memories of the trip! (We did have to trek our SUV 12 miles on a dirt road to get to the trailhead, but it was worth every bump and rattle!)
Elk Lake off East Rosebud Trail, Roscoe, Montana
In addition to my two page journal rule, I also stumbled upon the "2-2-2 Rule" that most RVers use to make trips more fun and less exhausting. The rule is:
- Stop every two hours to stretch your legs.
- Don't travel more than 200 miles per day.
- And, finally, once you arrive at a destination, stay there a minimum of two days.
I'll be honest. We didn't follow the "2-2-2 Rule" exactly, but we did abide by the two-night minimum rule. When traveling over 5,000 miles round trip, it was nice to not have to pack/unpack/repack the car every day of the trip. We did it once in Yellowstone, but everywhere else, we stayed at least 2 nights at each destination.
Sometimes we stopped every 2 hours and other days we forged ahead since we were eager to get to our destination. I did take into account driving distance and driving time, and the longest drive we made over the three week period was an eight-hour trek between Moab and Marfa. Otherwise, I tried to limit the driving time/distance to under six hours between destinations and/or less than 400 miles.
The 2-2-2 Rule will help define the timing of the trip as well as where you will stop for breaks and for the night, so thought it might be helpful to share as you map out your adventure!
Small ways to cut costs along the way
In the past few years, Matthew and I have learned to travel light. I am a huge
Rick Steves fan and abide by his rule of, "If you can't carry it, you don't need it on your trip." We almost never check bags when we fly (the exception is when we go snowboarding) and we can always make our way with two bags each. This road trip was the first time in five years that we were able to liberally pack our suitcases and SUV with things that we might want on the trip, not just need. It was so refreshing to not worry if the bags would fit in an overhead bin (or better yet, if my five foot body could lift the darn suitcase into that overhead bin!).
As a result, I was able to pack more than just the essentials and it definitely helped us cut costs along the way. Here's what I'm glad we packed:
Road trip essentials for the car
- Thule cargo box (Major space saver for inside the car! We used the cargo box to put our two main suitcases of clothes and shoes, as well as a full 5-gallon gas can, 2 fold up camp chairs, hiking poles, clorox wipes, and dog toys. It freed up space inside the car for perishables, Matthew's film equipment, and toiletries. Full disclosure - we borrowed our neighbor's Thule cargo box, so we didn't account for this expense in the budget. If we go on another road trip and we can't borrow it, I will definitely spend the money to purchase one.)
- Two coolers (one large cooler that served as a "mini-fridge" between cities and one smaller cooler that fit all of our beer and wine. We probably could've used one more small cooler, but we made due with what we had. Also, I preferred a soft-cooler, but you could avoid loading/unloading with a hard-sided cooler since it stays cold for multiple days.)
- Various sized hydro-flasks and Yeti cups (for water, wine, coffee, etc)
- Travel hat box (This was a lifesaver! It kept all of our hats organized and uncrushed!)
- Bread, sandwich meat and/or PB&J (We pulled over for a picnic in every park we stayed in and saved money on lunch and avoided the crowds!)
- DIY cleaning spray (I made two bottles of this spray and used to wipe down light switches, desktop surfaces, pillows and remote controls. This recipe can kill viruses in 10 seconds. Don't leave home without it!)
- USB plug-in fan for the pup (Our pup, Bodhi, doesn't prefer the car, so it was a must to have a fan that circulated air in the back of the car. Get one that can plug into the USB. It will circulate air better than a battery operated one).
- Face masks (lots of them! We ended up purchasing a few neck gators from Upslope brewery in Boulder and used them the whole way. I hand-washed and air-dried them each night so they were clean the next day).
- Packable daypack (We have two packable daypacks that never leave our suitcase. We used these on every single hike and on most outings in town. They fold up so small, but they are durable and handy too!)
Staying healthy and engaged in your adventure
With every travel adventure comes unexpected experiences. As tempting as it might be to cram as much as you can into each and every day, we learned quickly that travel can be equally as exhausting as it can be exhilarating. In order to avoid getting sick along the way and on "vacation overload", we were cognizant of including downtime and rest on a daily basis. Our routine after arriving at a destination was to unpack and kick up our feet or take a nap for at least a few hours. This routine also helped us to avoid the daytime heat and sight-seeing crowds. We left all of our hiking and exploring to early morning sunrises or late evening sunsets which also allowed us to capture the brilliant colors and sights of each location, without a million people in each image or video!
Hancock Hill Desk, Alpine Texas
Giant Reata Art Installation, Marfa Texas
Taggart Lake, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
Corona Arch, Moab Utah
View from the Double Arch, Arches National Park, Moab Utah
Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park
Matthew filming at Avalanche Lake, Glacier National Park
We also used the downtime to upload photos to our
Photo Circle (a great way to share your adventures with friends and family back home) and Matthew would offload and organize his drone footage so that he could delete unnecessary files and brainstorm how he would cut together each of
the vlog videos when we returned home. The first week of our trip, I worked remotely, so this also gave me time to catch up on work emails and take zoom calls.
Also, we were mindful of our consumption along the trip. We chose to eat out only once a day (usually for happy hour) and made coffee and breakfast in the hotel or Airbnb. On really busy park days or long drives between cities, we'd pull over to a nice picnic spot and make sandwiches and take a load off in our camp chairs. The weather is glorious in the Northwest, so it was a welcomed pit stop with beautiful scenery and cool breezes. We also both tried to stay hydrated the entire time. We definitely enjoyed many Hazy IPA's along the way, but made sure to get a good night's sleep and daily exercise to stay active and healthy.
The Post Brewing Co, Boulder Colorado
Mt. Rushmore Brewing Company, Custer South Dakota
The Grizzly Bar, Roscoe Montana
Pounding Fathers Restaurant, Custer South Dakota
Snake River Brewing Company, Jackson Wyoming
Traveling with a pup
A big factor in our planning was the decision to bring our four-legged fur baby, Bodhi, with us. Although she is a very low-maintenance pup, we still had to consider a few things throughout the trip and on our daily excursions.
First and foremost, we had to account for the additional pet fees that would accompany our lodging costs. For the three week period, we anticipated paying an additional $375 in fees for pet friendly properties (included in the advertised additional pet fee for each property we stayed in). In reality, we only ended up paying $85. Why? Given the current situation with Covid-19, most of the hotel properties included virtual check-in/check-out using the hotel app. In doing so, we never interacted with the front desk personnel and were able to avoid the additional fees. (Shhh...don't tell!)
The next consideration was that most national parks do NOT allow dogs on hiking trails (for safety purposes). All I can say is hallelujah for that! Most people are escaping from quarantine and heading to national parks. One day on an early morning hike to Fairy Falls in Yellowstone, Matthew and I encountered two buffalo eating right off the trail! I was already scared out of my mind of being gored by one of those giant animals, so I am thankful we didn't have Bodhi with us at that time. Given that none of us have seen a buffalo face to face before, I can only imagine how Bodhi might react. I repeat, SAFETY FIRST!
Finally, the two best hikes of our trip were the hikes that were outside of the national parks and were pet friendly. Since most of the tourists are headed straight for the park trails, we were able to explore the same landscape and avoid the masses of people. It was a pleasant benefit of bringing our pup with us. And even better, we got to experience each location as a family! Hands down, the best part of the trip was having her with us the entire time.
Bodhi hiking on East Rosebud Trail, Roscoe Montana
Hancock Hill Trail, Alpine Texas
Corona Arch Trail, Moab Utah
Picnic and ukulele session, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Prada Marfa, Valentine Texas
I was a bit obsessive with making sure that Bodhi's paw pads were taken care of on a regular basis. Since she wasn't used to hiking over rocky terrain and up and down mountain sides, I was worried that the constant gripping and hot sand would take its toll on her paws. I packed up a Bodhi arsenal kit and doctored her paws before and after every hike. Over the course of the three weeks we completed 12 intense hikes and tons of in town walking - and she handled it like a true mountain goat! I think a big key to her recovery from each hike was that we made sure to give her a day of rest in between each hike.
Bodhi's pup arsenal kit
The puppy kit included:
- Lubrisyn Wound Gel (Antiseptic and antibacterial gel with hyaluronic acid that promotes healing)
Take it in, Take it all in!
The most common question we've been asked since our return has been, "What would you do differently if you could do it all over again?" I've found myself pondering my response, and ultimately, keep coming back to the same gut reaction. I would go for a longer trip, of course!
I'm so thankful for the experiences that Matthew, Bodhi and I had during our three-week adventure. I wouldn't change them for the world. However, given the time and resources, I would've loved to stay in Montana longer (at least 5 nights) and explore all 5 of the national parks in Utah. Next time we embark on a 5k road trip, I'll definitely go for at least a month!!
5479 miles later. Home sweet home!
Happy trails!!!
You only live once, so what are you waiting for? Get out there and explore!!
xoxo,
Denise
