Welcome to Best Way West! We created this site as a place to collect and share our knowledge to fill what we see as a huge gap in RV travel information; how to decide where to go and how to get there. There are hundreds of resources for desinations, some for travel advice and a few for route planning, but all of them expect you to know where you are going, what you want to see and how you want to get there. All of these are next to impossible to know if you haven't been there before! What ends up happening is, you follow the GPS fastest route to a destination you hope will be worth it. That isn't good for your RV or your budget. Everything along those routes is made for truckers and over-priced for tourists. If you bought an RV to see the country, get closer to nature, and save money on food and lodging, you quickly realize mainstream RV travel doesn't get you any of these. Viewing the country from the interstate is boring, RV parks are expensive gravel lots, and driving is nerve-racking and hard on your rig and your MPG. Many people who got into RVing during the pandemic quickly got out because everywhere they went was crowded, expensive, and didn't get them anywhere near nature or real camping experiences. We found a better way and want to share it with you.
After years of traveling cross-country, and living in the West, we have tried about every main road, back road, and side road finding the best routes to take and places to stay, to make RV travel as cheap, easy, and hassle-free as possible. We just completed a full west-coast loop with 3 kids (2 teens and a pre-teen) in a 30 foot C-Class. We did 13 states in 11 days and got to see and do just about everything we wanted to; including paddle boarding, kayaking, hiking, biking, spa days and sight-seeing. We stayed at beautiful mountain lakes, the Pacific shore, gorgeous mountain towns, and breath-taking valleys for around $35 a night. We could have easily pushed that average lower if we had a couple more days to work with. I wouldn't advise that aggressive a travel schedule on a regular basis, but it shows what is possible if you know what you are looking for, and have some experience with RVing in Western States.
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