Family Road Trip From California To Tennessee In A Van

coolfeet

Mark Keeler
My wife and I are planning a 3 week road trip from the Bay Area in California to Tennessee and back this July 2015. I traveled the Appalachian and Ozarks as a kid, but never as an adult. I do remember that the evenings were hot. We traveled a lot of back roads in the Ozarks and Appalachian mountains in Kentucky. I loved it!

I am looking for pros and cons of camping in the south during the summer. I have not been to the 'Zarks or Appalachia in 30 years. Can I still experience that special slice of rural America for wife and kids?

I am looking for stealthy free/low cost camping ideas. We travel in an old Ford Club Wagon that looks like every other white cargo van on the road. Plain ordinary vanilla with a lot of dents and wear. It's got only 105k on the clock and runs like a champ. We usually disperse camp in the national forest, blm land, or pull over on gravel roads with little or no traffic. I am talking about the open west where land is wide open and few people. Never have attempted this in more crowded areas east of the Mississippi.

Is the weather going to be too hot to camp inside the van? I plan on installing a Fantastic Fan roof vent. We have camped in this rig for 3 years without the fan in high elevation cool areas like Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana, etc. Not much of an issue.

We sleep 2 in the back and 2 in the front on folding platform beds. All the gear goes under the beds. It's not pretty, but it sure is functional. Both beds are easily removed.

idystandingbyVan.jpg


img_3288.jpg

frontplatformbed-nggid03622-ngg0dyn-320x240x100-00f0w011c010r110f110r010t010.jpg
 
Last edited:

dieselsdad

New member
Without airconditioning it will be brutally hot inside the van and out in July here in Arkansas. Humidity is something you need to consider too. I might be wrong but I'm not sure you experience anything like the heat and the humidity combined on the west coast like we have here in the Deep South. For what it's worth I love the vehicle choice though. I took my family of 5 deep into Mexico and back this past December in our E350 diesel van.
 

coolfeet

Mark Keeler
Without airconditioning it will be brutally hot inside the van and out in July here in Arkansas. Humidity is something you need to consider too. I might be wrong but I'm not sure you experience anything like the heat and the humidity combined on the west coast like we have here in the Deep South. For what it's worth I love the vehicle choice though. I took my family of 5 deep into Mexico and back this past December in our E350 diesel van.
We recently picked up an E350 6.0 PSD and are taking it to the Ozarks and the Appalachian mountains in mid to the end of May. The middle of the summer in the deep south is too high hot for my Filipino wife.

We did a 4 week trip through the Oregon, Montana, Idaho, and the Canada. Here is a photo of one of our best free campsites at Horse Shoe Lake in British Columbia. We sure enjoyed Canada until we go to Banff and Jasper as these parks are so famous and crowded. The developed campgrounds are like city apartment blocks.

bgzachHorseshoeLake.jpg

NakuspHotsprings.jpg

bgzachArrowheadLakeFerry.jpg

We may install a roof fan inside the van to sleep better at night.

I would like to hear more about your adventures in your van to Mexico. Where did you go?
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,783
Messages
2,878,184
Members
225,329
Latest member
FranklinDufresne
Top