Cross Country Itinerary #3

This itinerary is for 9 people, in an RV, from July 25 to August 12, starting and ending in Utah. LDS and Historical sites emphasis.
Total trip cost $12,000.
RV rental: $4500
Fixing it back up (broken driverside mirror): $1300
Gasoline: $1200
Mileage: around 6,200 miles
Oil change: $52

Where it's easy for me to find the record, I've added where we gassed up. Before we started out, I was wanting to know how long we would go in between gas stations. So this gives you an idea. We checked and filled the air in the tires at every couple gas stops. 

Monday July 25
Leave 10:30am

Gas at
LOAF N JUG #0154 Q
515 E. FLAMING GORGE W, WY 82935

Slept at North Platte Flying J, no hookups or wifi, just parking lot
101 Platte Oasis P
North Platte NE 69101

Tuesday July 26
Gas and Showered at Grand Island Pilot Bosselman
3335 Wood River Rd
Grand Island, NW 68801
308-382-2288

Gas at
LOVE'S COUNTRY STORE #
4601 S. LEONARD RD., MO 64507

Arrive at Liberty Jail

216 N Main St
Liberty MO 64068
816-836-3466

Arrive at Independence MO
Ate dinner at Updog in the center of town (delicious, gourmet hot dogs)
114 N Liberty St,
Independence, MO 64050

Spent night at Campus RV Park,

full hookups and wifi, showers, laundry, 

$32.03/day, 9am-9:30pm
406 S. Pleasant
Independence MO 64050
888-254-3750
816-254-1815

This park is in walkable distance to the LDS Independence Visitor's Center. It was VERY hot and muggy. Independence holds a walking tour of 14 different historical sites. But there are just plaques in the ground that you see. We decided to just to go the LDS Visitor's Center and then see Temple Mount (which is across the street from the Center) and then head out. I wouldn't have stopped here if I had known how little there is to see. You can visit the Community of Christ temple for a nominal fee, but not much else to see.

Wednesday July 27
Head to Independence Visitor's Center (while husband worked)

Visited Temple Mount

Gas at
SHELL

514 W. Main

Monroe City, MO 63456

Headed to Carthage Jail

310 Buchanan St,
Carthage, IL 62321
9am-5pm


We thought it was open till 9pm, like Independence and Liberty. But it wasn't. And it took forever to arrive! We didn't take into account driving an RV slower than a car. We didn't arrive till 6pm, so we never got to see Carthage Jail. We then headed to Nauvoo.

Arrive Nauvoo Illinois late at night. Stayed at Nauvoo State Park for 2 nights
Address: 980 S Bluff St, Nauvoo, IL 62354
Phone: (217) 453-2512
Management: Illinois Department of Natural Resources

Thursday July 28

Dropped youth and Dad off at LDS Nauvoo Temple

Headed to Nauvoo Visitor's Center 8am, 217-453-2237

Picked up all the info we needed, instantly regretting we only have one day here!

Picked up family from temple. Then:

Oxen Wagon Ride

Wagon Ride

Gunsmith shop

Store

Drugstore

Bakery

Explored Nauvoo town, bought t-shirts

Ate at Nauvoo Mill & Bakery

Bought groceries at Nauvoo Store

Looked all over for the Post Office, but it was closed

Country Fair

Watched the awesome Pageant

Slept another night at Nauvoo State Park

Friday July 29

We have family in Wabash Indiana, so that's where we headed next.

Gas at

MCCLURE OIL #65
21575 US 31 SOUTH, IN 46034

Arrived at 3pm in Wabash. Got an oil change and explored the city. 

Spent night with family

Saturday July 30

Spent day with family

Visited an Amish store

Sunday July 31

Left early headed to visit friends in Virginia Beach, Virginia

Attended LDS church in St. Mary's Ohio

Arrived at our friends in Virginia Beach very late at night

Monday August 1

Went to Virginia Beach. Fabulous fun! (make sure everyone brings swimsuits, it's expensive to track down a pair in town! If you have boogie boards, that was extra fun too!)

The road to the beach was a small two lane without a shoulder. A truck passed too close to us and its mirror slammed into our mirror, shattering it. We turned around and looked for the truck, but couldn't find it We fixed it so we could see out of it, and continued the rest of the trip with a patched together mirror, but it ended up costing us $1300 to fix! And a month to track down the parts. So hopefully that happens to no one else in the universe! 

Spent the evening with our friends (delicious food! And Telestrations was never so fun as this evening!).

Tuesday August 2 

Headed to Washington DC. We were parking the RV on a military base (Fort Belvoir) with other friends. We got to wear badges with our pictures on them.

Arrived, said Hi, grabbed their older kids and headed to the LDS Washington DC temple.

Wednesday August 3

We drove the RV to a Target and parked in their parking lot. We called two Ubers and they dropped us off at the Smithsonian of the American Indian. Cost us $11.55 for the morning trip ($17.68 for me, because I had a car seat).

Target
3101 Jefferson Davis Hwy,
Alexandria, VA 22305

We had called our Senator's office and set up a tour of the Capitol. There was a lot of construction going on, but it was absolutely worth it.We even got to ride the underground train that connects the Senate offices to the Capitol (Thanks Senator Mike Lee's office and staff!!)

After the Capitol tour we went to Union Station to eat (it's a food court). Outside Union Station was a kiosk for DC Old Town Trolley tours. It was 4pm (last pick up is technically 5pm). Considering they don't kick you off at exactly 5pm, and we were tired from walking a lot it was a great introduction to the city and helped us make plans for the next day.

We took Ubers back to the RV and played with our friends that evening. That cost that evening was more, because it was a high demand time. Cost $21.28 and $21.96 per Uber.

Thursday August 4

We parked at the Target again (we bought some things at Target before we headed out, so we'd not feel guilty about taking their parking, although the parking lot is huge).

We took Ubers to the Smithsonian Air & Space museum (amazing!). Then we caught a bus and rode around DC, finishing what we started the afternoon before. We ate at Union Station.Then we visited the National Archives--we went straight to the line for the Constitution and Declaration of Independence (not a whole lot of individual time, but pretty special to me!). Then we looked over the Magna Carta downstairs before we walked (and walked and walked) to the Holocaust Museum. We made it when it was almost closed, so we only got to appreciate the Children's Section of the museum (which was worth it--sobering and powerful).  

Our devices were almost out of juice--and we needed them to call an Uber. So we found an outside plug on the Holocaust Museum (which had now closed) and hung out there for a bit until we could call Ubers. 

I wanted my kids to see the White House so directed the Uber that direction before taking us to Target. Big mistake. Traffic was terrible in rush hour and it was an expensive ride with barely a glimpse of the White House. Don't do that. :)

Friday August 5

Drove to New York. Be prepared for toll roads.

We'd left a bit late and were concerned the kids wouldn't get to see New York City that night. So we parked at a Target in Hoboken so Dad could take all kids (except the two youngest and I) into the City. I stayed behind because we felt this parking lot wasn't a place we could leave the RV without getting towed.

Note that there is a low bridge to get to this Target. Make sure you know your RV height--including air conditioning unit!!

Target

100 14th St

Jersey City, NJ 07310

They were able to move faster without the littles, and they hit a couple highlights (including Strand (bookstore!!)) and rode the Metro in (the Hoboken Metro stop was a 2 minutes walk from this Target). If I hadn't been so concerned that we'd be towed in this parking lot, I would've taken the littles to the nice playground around the corner while we waited. As it was, when they olders returned, my husband took me to see this awesome view of the city (this is the view on the way to the Hoboken station:

 

We decided we would park the RV at the Croton Point RV Park and take the train into the city. This was a great idea, and we'd do it again, but driving from Hoboken to Croton was terrible! We discovered there are a lot of low bridges that we hadn't planned on! Use the truck route from the beginning, and you will do better than we did. We finally pulled into the park very late (we called on the way to ensure our spot wasn't taken, and it worked out fine). But it was a tense drive, with a lot of turn arounds or pull offs near low bridges. 

Croton Point Park
Phone: (914) 862-5290
$55/night, full hookups
1A Croton Point Ave
Croton on Hudson NY 10520
westchestergov.com

Note: The walk from the Park to the Croton-On-Hudson Metro station is about 2 miles. That isn't a big deal, unless you're carrying a baby and/or returning from a long day walking in the City. We used a taxi one day: J&S Croton Harmon Taxi & Car Servie 914-271-3333. Another day, we drove the RV and parked it in the station lot. We took two parking spaces (there are only a few spots where this works) and paid for both (I think $20 total). I don't know if this would work for overnight, but it was SO MUCH better than walking with littles and a baby. 

Saturday August 6

Took the train into Grand Central Station. The train takes around 45 minutes to arrive from Croton-on-Hudson to Grand Central Station.

We looked around NYC, ate at a restaurant, and then the olders lined up for Les Miserables on Broadway, while the youngers and I headed to the American Museum of Natural History. We used Uber to get around the city. 

The youngers were so tired after, that we headed home separately. We took a taxi into Croton-on-Hudson (because it turns out Dad had the RV keys!) and ate pizza at Capriccio Pizza 4 maple St. Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520.

It was a fun day, but everyone was very tired from all that walking! Make sure you bring water bottles or are prepared to buy water bottles. Touring is thirsty work.

Sunday August 7

We took the train into Harlem and walked from the station to the LDS church there. We were meeting family members there too. We picnicked in Central Park with them after church (it was such a lovely day!!).

Monday August 8

We had plans to go to Boston next. But our kids set us down and explained that they were tired out of all the walking and touring and seeing sites. Our eldest had just become unofficially engaged (and the fiance was in Utah), which might have affected this family meeting as well. They proposed we started for home now, so we'd have more time to stop driving and see things, rather than have a huge driving rush at the end of our trip. So...we started driving west.

Something that we should've planned for is a down day in-between 2 touring days, so that people didn't get so tired of the sightseeing and walking. Swimming, relaxing with movies, things like that would've helped, I think. We crammed in too much walking/sightseeing, at least for our crowd. 

Our first stop was Palmyra, NY. We headed to the Hill Cumorah Visitors' Center 653 State Route 21, Palmyra NY 14522 (315) 597-5851. Dad was working, so I took a couple of kids up the Hill Cumorah (the others just wanted to sleep). It was a beautiful view of the valley and there's a neat monument on top of the hill. Sadly, the pageant had ended so we couldn't stay and watch that. The visitor's center gave us some tips for seeing the area. 

Then we drove to the LDS Palmyra temple, took pictures out front, and then toured the two Smith houses (our guide was fabulous, we learned a lot). Even though our kids were weary of sightseeing, they enjoyed the Log and Frame homes. Then we walked to the Sacred Grove in the back and just sat, rested and enjoyed the beauty and spirit of the place. For one of our children in particular, this place was the highlight of the entire trip. 

We drove until we spent the night at:

River Trail Crossing 

1597 STATE ROUTE 97, OH 44822

rivertrailcrossing.com
(419) 883-3888

$30/night

Tuesday August 9

Drove all day. Stayed at the Wilmington Trailer Park for the night, because it was 25 miles away from Kings Island.

Wilmington Thousand Trails
1786 State Route 380, 

Wilmington, OH 45177

937-382-5883

$50/night
rvonthego.com

Wednesday August 10

Time for some fun! We headed to Kings Island, Ohio for some roller coasters.

Use their online system, that was cheaper for parking and for entry fees.

Kings Island

6300 Kings Island Dr, Mason, OH 45040
visitkingsisland.com
(513) 754-5700
There was parking for RVs.

Stayed at Interstate RV Park

8448 N Fairmount

Davenport, IA 52806

www.iowarvpark.com

Thursday August 11

Drove West.

Gas:
Loves Country Store #3
7880 N. Old US HWY. 42, IN 47272

Gas:.
Becks 18
1581 E Main ST, IL 61401

Spent the night at Holiday RV Park

601 E. Halligan Dr

North Platte, NE 69101

308-534-2265

www.holidayparkne.com

Friday August 12

Drove west and arrived home in Utah around late dinnertime. 

Crossing the Nation Itinerary #2

This was an itinerary sent me by a family member. This was an RV based trip to see LDS Church History sites (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). The dates were June 11-June 26, and it was for three motorhomes traveling in a caravan.


June 11, Sat
Depart Moapa 7am (PST) 199 miles= 3 hours 45 min
Cove Fort 11:45 am (MST) Lunch and a Break
12:30pm (MST) Back on the road. 235 miles= 4 hrs 15 min.
4:45 pm (MST) Rabbit Valley Recreation Area near Grand Junction Colorado. Dinner


June 12 Sunday
Depart 6:45 am (MST) 169 miles 3hrs 5 min
9:50 am (MST) Church 155 Nottingham Ranch Rd CO
1:15 pm (MST) Depart. 220 miles. 4 hours.
5:15 pm (MST) Dinner in Flagler Town Park, CO. 75 miles 1hr 20min
Exit 383 and 437 have RV dumps (If Needed)
7:35 pm (CST) Goodland, Kansas Sleep at Walmart


June 13 Monday
Depart 7:00 am (CST) 239 miles 4hrs 20min
Exit 97, 131, 224 RV Dump 30 minutes
11:50 am (CST)Lakewood Park in Salina KS Lunch and Rest
12:50 (CST) Back on the road. 186 miles 3hrs 30min
4:20pm (CST) arrive and stay at Kansas City Temple (Sleep at Church Parking Lot)
11:15 pm (CST) Pick up a niece at airport

June 14 Tuesday
Depart 8:30 am (CST) 15 miles
9:00 am (CST) Independence Visitors Center
10:00-12:00 (CST) Independence Walking Tour 14 sites
12:30-1:30 (CST) Lunch
1:30 pm Tour Community of Christ Temple
2:30 Depart 13 miles
3:00pm Liberty Jail
4:30 (CST) depart 28 miles
5:30 Pioneer Cemetery in Richmond MO (Thornton and Crispin street)
6:15 pm Depart 22 miles
6:45 pm Watkins Mill State Park ($13 for Basic Camping Spot)


June 15 Wednesday
8:15 am (CST) Depart 29 miles 40 minutes
9:00 am Far West
9:45 Depart 32 miles 45 minutes
11:00 Adam Ondi Ahman and Lunch
1:00 pm depart 34 miles 50 minutes
2:00 pm Hauns Mill
2:45 (CST) Depart 143 miles 2hrs 40min
5:10 pm Warren Barret Drive just West of Admiral Coontz Armory sewer dump (if needed)
5:30 Hannibal MO Mark Twain and Dinner
6:30 pm Huckleberry Park
8:30 pm Sleep at Walmart


June 16 Thursday
7:00 am Depart (CST) 69 miles 1hr 30min
8:30 am (CST) Arrive at Temple ( Kids play at adjacent park)
9:00 - 11:00 Temple Session
11:00 - 12:00 Temple Baptisms
12:30 Lunch
1:30 Nauvoo Visitor Center and Monument to Women Garden
2:30-4:30 Historic Sites (Heber C Kimball Home, blacksmith shop, Scovil Bakery, the brickyard, the Browning home and gun shop, and the Family Living Center
4:45 pm Nauvoo State Park Camping $20 per night (RV Dump adjacent to site)
5:00 pm Trail of Hope
6:00 Dinner
8:30pm BYU Folk Dancers (For Die Hards)


June 17 Friday
8:00 - 10:30 am Laundry
11:00am Joseph Smith Tour ($4 per person community of Christ)
1:00pm Lunch
2:30 The Promise Movie/Play Amanda
3:30 Explore Nauvoo (wagon rides, children games, theatre, Pioneer Pastimes, etc)
7:00pm Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo play (Free tickets required)
Nauvoo State Park


June 18 Saturday
8:00 am Dump Sewers
8:30 am (CST) Depart 23 miles 30 minutes
9:00 am Carthage Jail
10:30 am Depart for Kirtland (Lunch on the road) 195 miles 3hrs 30min
2:00 pm Gilman, IL (CST) Dairy Queen for stretch and rest
2:30 pm (CST)Depart 144 miles 2hrs 30min
6:00 pm (EST) Dinner Indiana with Grandparents near Warsaw (Municipal Park Center Lake)
8:00 pm Walmart for the night


June 19 Sunday
7:45 am (EST)Depart 107 miles 2hrs
9:45 am Church in Lima Ohio (1195 Brower Road Lima, OH 45801)
1:15 pm Depart 188 miles 3hrs 30min
4:45 pm (EST) John Johnson Farm
5:30 pm Depart 32 miles 45min Eat on Road
6:15 pm Kirtland Visitors Center
8:00 pm Sleep Stake Center Parking Lot


June 20 Monday
9:00 am (EST) Kirtland Temple Visitors Center
9:30 am Kirtland Temple Tour ($3 per person Church of Christ)
11:00 am Newel K Whitney Store
12:00 pm Whitney Home
1:00 pm Kirtland Sawmill
2:00 pm Isaac Morley Farm
3:00pm Depart towards Priesthood Restoration Site 173 miles 3hrs
6:00 pm Olean, NY Church Parking lot (1935 Windfall Road) Forness Park option


June 21 Tuesday
6:30 am (EST) Depart 190 miles 3hrs 30min
Sewer dump Elmira Waste Treatment Plant 600 Milton St
10:30 am Priesthood Restoration Site
12:30 am Depart (eat lunch on the fly) 109 miles 2hrs
2:30 pm Peter Whitmer Farm
3:30 pm Depart 26 miles 40mim
4:15 pm Hill Cumorah Visitor Center
5:30 pm Hill Cumorah Hike
6:30 pm Dinner and Sleep at Church Parking lot
8:00 pm Walk around Palmyra Temple (If you want)


June 22 Wednesday
8:00am (EST) Sacred Grove
9:30am Smith Family Farm, Log Home
11:00 pm Grandin Building Book of Mormon
12:00 pm Depart 108 miles 2hrs (eat lunch on road)
2:00 pm Niagra Falls
4:00 pm depart 110 miles 2hrs 30min
6:30 pm Harborcreek, PA Walmart


June 23 Thursday
6:45 am (EST) Depart 170 miles 3hrs
9:45 am Cedar Point Amusement Park Sandusky, OH ($42 per person group rate)
10:00 am - 6:00 pm Amusement Park 29 miles
7:00 pm Sleep park parking lot/Fremont, OH Walmart/Fremont, OH church 831 Smith


June 24 Friday
7:00 am Depart
7:15 am Sewer Dump Sandusky Fair Grounds 901 Rawson Avenue
7:45 am Depart 175 miles 3hrs 15min
11:00 am Grandparents House in Indiana


Visit on the way home to Nevada:

• Effigy Mounds National Monument
• Mount Rushmore
• Bad Lands
• Yellowstone

Thank you C. Family!!

~HarmonRV

Cross Country RV Itinerary #1

As I prepared for my trip, friends of mine were kind enough to send me their itineraries for driving cross country. While appreciated their information, I discovered that creating an itinerary is a very personal and customized exercise. That being said, I found them useful in terms of driving time and sites important to them.


Here is one itinerary with a military and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints sites emphasis, in a vehicle pulling a trailer, for 10 people, from August 9 to August 27. They began in Southern Oregon and ended after Nauvoo Illinois.

Day 1 Saturday - August 9

Leave Southern Oregon 6pm

Drive to Willard, UT 732 miles ~ 15 hours
Arrive 9am (next morning)

Day 2 Sunday - August 10

Leave Willard 10-11am
Drive to Nebraska, CO 10 hours

We stayed at a rest stop to sleep in west Nebraska

Day 3 Monday - August 11Leave 8am
Drive to Kansas City 10 hours
Arrive 6pm
Stayed at Kansas City East KOA 

This was our favorite KOA: they had miniature golf, swimming, basketball, playground – nice place and were reasonable priced.

Day 4 Tuesday - August 12
Leave Kansas City 9am
Drive to Louisville, KY 484 miles ~ 7.33 hours
Arrive 6pm

We met up with a friend for dinner, so we didn’t stay long at campground.

This KOA was not as nice, but very accommodating. No activities for kids. They have an arrangement with nearby hotel for swimming which we took advantage of. Just one night was fine. Easy to find right off hwy.


Louisville Metro KOA
900 Marriott Drive
Clarksville, IN 47129

Day 5 Wednesday - August 13

Leave Louisville 8am
Drive to Pohick Bay Park 593.24 miles ~ 9.5 hours
Arrive 6-7pm

We loved the drive from Louisville to Virginia. The Shenandoah Forrest/Appalachian Mountain Range is incredibly beautiful.

We loved this campground!!! It is more like a state camping ground with both tent & RV camping. We stayed here 5 nights. Price was good too! It was close to the Mt. Vernon and DC area.

Pohick Bay Regional Park and Golf Course
6501 Pohick Bay Drive, Lorton
Camp Center: 703-339-6104
Golf Course: 703-339-8585
Park Manager: Todd Benson

Day 6 Thursday - August 14

Mt. Vernon – Kids loved this!!!!! Take as many tours as you can. Plan an entire day here.

3200 Mount Vernon Memorial Highway,
Mount Vernon, Virginia 22121
Hours 9am-5pm

Day 7 Friday - August 15

Our son is a Marine and was graduating from Officer Candidate School in Quantico, VA. So we visited this museum just outside the base in Quantico, VA. It is probably my favorite war history museum. It has the Iwo Jima flag there, which was a highlight for me.

About 30-45min south of Pohick Park.
USMC Museum
9am-5pm
18900 Jefferson Davis Hwy.
Triangle, VA 22172
1.877.635.1775
info@usmcmuseum.org

From I-95 heading north, take Exit 150 (Jefferson Davis Highway); turn right (south) onto Route 1; travel approximately ¼ mile; the Museum's entrance is on the right.

Day 8 Saturday - August 16

Washington DC – This was a very aggressive schedule

- Library of Congress
- US Capital Bldg Tour (be there 15-20min early)- schedule in advance with US Rep office – easy to do online.
- National Archives Museum 10am-5:30pm
Constitution Ave. NW, Between 7th & 9th St Washington, DC 2040
- Smithsonian Air & Space, American History 10am-7:30

A few notes on DC – The metro is so easy to use!!! Drive to a park & ride and take the metro into DC. It is worth it. If you want to park, allow a lot of time to do it and bring money for meters. On this day we drove (not too bad on weekends), but we wished we would have used the metro.

Day 9 Sunday - August 17

Washington DC – We did Arlington first. Be sure to go to the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. War & President memorials close at dark so it is fun to do those later afternoon/early evening.

Because of young children, we decided not to do the Holocaust Museum. I have been there previously and it is difficult (a lot of emotions) but done beautifully.

- White house visitors center (no tour available the days we were there, so we just saw it through the outside visitors center)
- American History Museum (allow a lot of time)
- War Memorials
- President Memorials
- Arlington National Cemetery – Iwo Jima Memorial (1 ½ mile from Arlington)

Metro right at Arlington. Pay to park there and do DC – be back by 6:45pm to get car.
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington, VA 22211
Hours:
7 Days a week: 365 days
8am - 7pm (April - September)
8am - 5pm (October - March)
Parking garage closes 1 hour after cemetery
Phone: 877-907-8585

Day 10 Monday - August 18

Leave Pohick Campground 9am

We parked our trailer at Arlington and took the metro to the Zoo. There is no parking at zoo. Even with the metro there is a short walk to zoo. We passed a food mart and bought treats for the walk.

National Zoo
3001 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008
10am-noon
You could have easily spent more time here – but we were under a tight time schedule.

Drive to Baltimore, MD/Ft. McHenry 41.67 miles / 52 minutes

Fort McHenry
2pm-5pm (9am-6pm)

We loved Fort McHenry!!! A quick stop but very powerful. Kids loved this stop!

Drive to Philadelphia (Clarksboro, NJ) 92.72miles / 1.31hr

We enjoyed our stay at Timberlane. Nice campground. Has a swimming pool and other simple amenities.

Day 11 Tuesday - August 19

Philadelphia 9am-5pm – go online for information about visiting Philly to find out schedules & activities. Plan on a full day in Philly!

These are some of the things we saw:

• Visitors Center (where you get tickets for Independent Square tour)
• Liberty Bell museum
• Independence Square
• Graff House
• Ben Franklin house/museum
• Printing Press, Old post office (we sent ourselves a postcard) 
• Sony’s Philly Cheese Steaks (a Philly tradition that we had to do)
• US Mint (we went late in day and nothing was happening there so go earlier)
• New Hall Military Museum
• Carpenters Hall
• Cemetery where Ben Franklin and other notables buried.

Day 12 Wednesday - August 20

Leave Philadelphia 8am

Drive to Valley Forge – we didn’t give ourselves nearly enough time here. You can bike or drive it. We drove but felt rushed going to different sites. So beautiful!

Drive to New Jersey

Stayed across the bay from Manhattan at Liberty Harbor RV. This was not the nicest of places – like a parking lot for RV’s with a Marina. But it was close and we were not going to spend a lot of time here anyway. Not easy getting RV through traffic though! etc.

Liberty Harbor RV
From the South
Take the Garden State Parkway to exit 129. Follow signs for I-95/NJ Turnpike North. Merge onto I-78 East via Exit 14 towards Jersey City/Columbus Drive. After paying the toll stay drive straight until you come to the first stoplight. After the first stoplight begin to merge to the farthest right lane. At the last stop light, make a right onto Marin Blvd. Follow this road until it ends; the office is on the right.
- See more at: http://www.libertyharborrv.com/directions#sthash.kyxgOeWq.dpuf

After we got settled for the evening we headed to Carlos Bakery (from Cake Boss show). It wasn’t very busy compared to daytime hours. It was fun, but dessert was just ok. It was purely an ambiance stop.

Day 13 Thursday - August 21

New York

​Ellis Island – Statue of Liberty 8:30am (go early!) A lot less crowded then. You can ferry close to RV park over to where you buy tickets for Ellis Island & Statue of Liberty and to take the ferry over. We were there until noon – could have been a little longer.

Ferried to Manhattan (part of the fee already paid), ate at food carts =), and walked to 9/11 Memorial – very moving.

Took Subway to Times Square (that was crazy trying to maneuver that with 10 people – not fun!)

It was easy to take the subway back over to NJ and we had to walk approx. ¾ mile back to RV park.

Wish we had another day to spend in NY

Day 14 Friday - August 22

Leave New Jersey 11am
Drive to Palmyra, NY 314 miles 5hours
Stayed at Canadaigua KOA south of Palmyra – a lot of activities for kids, but a lot of them had additional cost so we swam and played on their jump pillow. A lot of mosquitoes.

Canadaigua KOA
5374 Farmington Town Line Road
Farmington, NY 14425
Reserve: 800-562-0533
Info: 585-398-3582

Day 15 Saturday - August 23

Palmyra – we drove trailer into Palmyra and had no problem with parking (but it was the off season also). If pageant was going on we would have stayed an extra evening and left in the morning.

• Temple baptisms 8am (make appointment in advance)
• Visitors Center/Smith Home/ Sacred Grove
• Hill Cumorah –the pageant was over =(
• Peter Whitmer home and Visitors Center

Drive to Niagara Falls 109.5 miles 2 ½ hours – fun, quick stop! Refreshing!

Drive to Kirtland, OH (4 hours)

Pulled in late to a Walmart parking lot near Kirtland and slept there.

Day 16 Sunday - August 24

Kirtland, OH – we drove into Kirtland with the trailer. There was plenty of parking available
Went to Sacrament meeting at local ward (very close to visitor center)

• Whitney Store and surrounding area tour – we all enjoyed this!
• Kirtland Temple (small fee – I think $3 per person)

Leave Kirtland drive to Troy, OH to visit some friends (broke up drive to Nauvoo)

Day 17 Monday - August 25

Leave Troy, OH
Drive to Nauvoo, IL - 8hrs

Stayed at Camp Nauvoo – very nice people running it. Simple accommodations, but we were hardly there. Playground. They were good about when we could leave the next day so we didn’t have to drag trailer around.

• Trail of Hope
• Nauvoo – 8am Temple session 

- Start your time in Nauvoo at Visitors Center. You will get maps, and - - suggestions as to how to navigate Nauvoo while you are there.

• Carthage Jail
• Rendezvous in Nauvoo play – FUN!!!

Day 19 Wednesday - August 27

Nauvoo

We left Nauvoo that afternoon and drove several hours. Pulled over at truck stop or rest area to sleep for the night

The rest of the trip was getting back home with stops to see family & friends along the way we did not get to see Independence, Liberty Jail, Adam-on-diamon , etc. which would have been great. It was a very aggressive schedule, but we saw some amazing places and did some amazing things! We could have been gone another 20 days easily!

A few notes:
- food: The trailer had a kitchen with small refrigerator and freezer we traveled with a menu, crockpot and cooler for van (to carry day meals/snacks with us). We would restock as needed. We also carried snacks with us everywhere, especially on our long days. We rarely ate out.

- We did a lot of evening driving so we could maximize our daily activities.

- If you want to do temple baptisms or endowment sessions call in advance

- I called most of the RV places we stayed instead of online reservations.

- Our teenage daughter made a fun travel book with pages for each state, road games activities and a travel journal. We bound these and each child had their own. It was so great!

Best wishes on your travels,

A. E. Family