A little background…
Did you know that many car & RV rental companies sometime have special “relocation” deals when they need a vehicle moved? This was something I discovered when planning my Campervan trip around New Zealand last year. However, for that trip I had some fixed constraints I was working with so was unable to take advantage. But now that I’ve been bumming around the US, I decided to keep an eye out. (The folks over at ThriftyNomads have a great post covering relocation deals).
On a bit of a whim, I grabbed an RV from Cruise America Billings, MT to Phoenix, AZ. Why this route? Short answer is that I wanted to visit Sedona, do the Utah Mighty 5, and hey, why not throw in Yellowstone while I’m “in the neighborhood”? The constraint is that I only had 7 days and 2,000 miles to accomplish this. So what did that itinerary look like? Here’s the overview:
Itinerary
To start my trip I flew up and spent 24 Hours in Billings, Montana (where I did a mini brewery tour and stayed at the amazing Dude Rancher Lodge). Then I picked up the RV and picked my Dad up from the airport (who like a total cowboy decided to accompany me in this malarky) and we hit the road.
- Day 1: Billings to Yellowstone (3 hours)
- Day 2: Yellowstone to Jackson, WY (6 hours)
- Day 3: Jackson to Grand Tetons to Price, UT (Stopped for lunch in Park City, UT)
- Day 4: Price, UT to Arches / Canyonlands (2 hours) to Capitol Reef Park (2 hours)
- Day 5: Capitol Reef to Bryce Canyon (2 hours)
- Day 6: Bryce Canyon to Zion (1.5 hours) to Grand Canyon (3.5 hours)
- Day 7: Grand Canyon to Sedona (2 hours)
On the final day, we drove from Sedona to Phoenix (2 hours) where I spent a really fun 24 Hours in Phoenix before flying to spend 1 Week in Seattle!
Recap
Was it a whirlwind? Yes. Did we go over our 2,000 mile constraint? Yes. Did we seriously get our money’s worth out of our brand spankin’ new National Parks Pass? You betcha. (7 of America’s best National Parks in 7 Days!)
Here are a just a few of the highlights!
