Continuing Saga of Camping the National Parks

By Donald Bates-Brands

We bought our Jayco 19 about a year before I retired. The plan was to see our country without the constraints that family and work had previously placed on us. We would leave home and only come back when we felt like it. For the first trip, we spent a month touring the Grand Circle of National Parks in Utah and Arizona. This was to be the second trip. Now we were reaching higher north to the Tetons, Yellowstone, Glacier and the Badlands. We spent a month on this trip as well, and were beginning to fine tune our method of traveling in this manner.

Our plan was first, to have no definite plans. We had the time and intended to use it. Such a plan as we had was to spend about a month each year touring a different area of our country. The rest of the year is largely being spent writing about the experience and organizing our photography so that others might be able to experience some of this grandeur vicariously for themselves. Or even better, to use our trip to help plan their own.

Our trailer, being only 20 feet long, is certainly not one of the largest travel trailers on the road, but this is mostly by plan and not by accident. I wanted a small rig to be able to get into some of the smaller places and travel more easily. We have been freely modifying the interior of the trailer to make better use of the limited space.

Our unit is small enough to squeeze into a lot of places that the larger units can't use. Many of the campgrounds that we are using will not accept trailers larger than ours. We are traveling by whim and not by planning ahead. The small size of our trailer enables us to see more on our trips and enables us to make needed rest stops in places where the larger units wouldn't be allowed at all.

It has been a good activity which has opened our eyes to just how much this country has to offer. It's one thing to know about something and quite another to see and experience it. This is the only way to really feel how much is out there. Possibly the biggest thing that I have learned is just how large a land this is and how much empty space we have it. I am still having trouble fully comprehending it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Donald Bates-Brands
• Release date: Feb 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463553046

Donald Bates-Brands

Boats and the sea have been my life. I think I was about eight years old when I got my first boat, a dilapidated canoe. A few years later I graduated to a healthier canoe with a lateen sailing rig. This was my first sailboat. I capsized it a lot, but had thoroughly caught the boating bug. I started racing sailboats by the age of 12. In 1968 I joined the Coast Guard at the age of 17 and was discharged in 1975 with the grade of First Class Quartermaster. My first tour in the Coast Guard was an oceanographic trip to Africa on the CGC Rockaway. It was a three month tour with most of the time at sea, but it was my first adventure out of the country and I loved it. My second oceanographic tour on this ship took me to the Barbados, Trinidad, the Bahamas, and Puerto Rico. Later in this hitch I was transferred to the CGC Lilac, a triple expansion steam buoy tender, a fugitive from museums built in the early Thirty’s. I believe it is now being refurbished in NY City for display in the near future. I returned to the CGC Rockaway to finish my first hitch and made a Cadet cruise to England. Discharged from the Coast Guard on Oct 22, 1971, I returned to England for a 3 month tour by bicycle. In January of 1972 I rejoined the CG and reported aboard the buoy tender CGC Firebush at Governors Island NY. In the summer of 1972, I took leave from the CGC Firebush and enjoyed a two week cruise along the south coast of England with a British friend on his 27’ Trident class sloop. This was a bilge keel rig that proved to be fairly important in an area with 30 foot tides. Many times at low tide we were aground, but vertical resting on the two keels. After returning stateside to the CGC Firebush, the wanderlust hit me again and I requested and received a transfer to the CGC Gallatin which was making a cadet cruise through Europe. On this trip I got to Gibraltar, Portugal, Germany, Denmark and England. In 1974 I bought the Chesapeake Skipjack "Pale Moon" and sailed it from Maryland's Eastern Shore to NY for Opsail '76. Throughout this period I was involved in one design racing. Since my discharge from the Coast Guard in January of 1975, I have been working on large seagoing tugboats and currently hold a 1600 ton Ocean Master's License as well as Unlimited Third Mate and an Unlimited Radar Observer endorsement. I have written extensively on marine safety for Offshore Magazine and other publications. I have now retired from going to see and am pursuing my writing full time. On my free time, I enjoy cruising with my wife on our Catalina 22 on Long Island NY's Great South Bay.

Book preview

Continuing Saga of Camping the National Parks

or

Hiking Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Glacier and the Badlands

Published by Donald Bates-Brands at Smashwords

Copyright 2019 Donald Bates-Brands

Photography by Donna Rae Brands.

Copyright 2019 Donna Rae Brands

***~~~***

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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***~~~***

Table of Contents

Preface

The Trip Out

Grand Teton National Park

Yellowstone National Park

Taking another Look at Grand Teton

Traveling to Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park

Heading for the Badlands

Little Bighorn National Monument

Mount Rushmore

Badlands National Park

Wall Drug

Sod Home of Mr. & Mrs. Ed Brown

The Long Trip Home

Summation

About Donald Bates-Brands

About Donna Rae Brands

Other Ebooks by Donald Bates-Brands

Back to the Top

Preface

We bought our Jayco 19 about a year before I retired. The plan was to see our country without the constraints that family and a job had previously placed on us. We would leave home and only come back when we felt like it.

Camping the Grand Circle of National Parks was the first of our cross country trips. It took us through Utah and Arizona. We saw Bryce Canyon, Zion, Escalante, the Grand Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands, and Capital Reef National Parks. The trip lasted for one month. We learned about the Southwest, its history and many tips for taking extended camping trips. This book details our second trip. Now, we were reaching higher north to the Tetons, Yellowstone, Glacier and the Badlands. We spent a month on this trip as well and were beginning to fine tune our method of traveling in this manner.

It has been a good activity which has opened our eyes to just how much this country has to offer. It’s one thing to know about something and quite another to see and experience it. This is the only way to really feel how much is out there and appreciate the rich history of our country. Possibly the biggest thing that I have learned is just how large a land this is and how much empty space we have in it. I am still having trouble fully comprehending it.

Our plan was first, to have no definite plans. We had the time and intended to use it. Such a plan as we had was to spend about a month each year touring a different area of our country. The rest of the year is largely being spent writing about the experience and organizing our photography so that others might be able to experience some of this grandeur vicariously for themselves. Or even better; to use our trip to help plan their own. Back at our home base on Long Island, NY; we have been spending our time in much the same manner. Photographing and writing about our experiences once back at home is also a part of our retirement goal.

The remainder of the time is being spent improving and maintaining our two homes - the house on Long Island and our admittedly somewhat cramped trailer from which we are viewing the rest of these United States. Our trailer, being only 20 feet long, is certainly not one of the largest travel trailers on the road, but this is mostly by plan and not by accident. I wanted a small rig to be able to get into some of the smaller places and travel more easily. We have been freely modifying the interior of the trailer to make better use of the limited space.

Our unit is small enough to squeeze into a lot of places that the larger units can’t use. Many of the campgrounds that we use will not accept trailers larger than ours. We are traveling by whim and not planning ahead. This enables us to see more on our trips, but it also makes it harder to find last minute places to stop. Having a small trailer will enable us to make a needed stop for rest in places where the larger units wouldn’t be allowed at all.

At this point I would like to interject some thoughts on driving with a travel trailer. Going over steep grades with a travel trailer can’t be rushed. Of course steep upgrades will slow you down, but even the downgrades are somewhat challenging. You can definitely feel the trailer pushing you down a mountain and it was a factor to consider on some of the curves. I never attempted to maintain the speed limit of 75.

We couldn’t even reach 75 on the upgrades and it was much too fast for our rig on the downgrades. Whether you have an automatic or manual transmission; downshift to slow the vehicle on these long downgrades! There are many signs warning truckers to downshift to save their brakes. With a trailer, consider yourself a trucker. At best, failure to do so will put a lot of unnecessary wear on your brakes. At worst, the brakes could heat up and fail. Just imagine having no brakes on a very steep and winding downgrade with a trailer as heavy as your car in tow behind you!

Our Toyota 4runner had a 236 horsepower V6 with a five speed transmission and a towing capacity of 5,000 pounds. Our trailer loaded was very close to the 5,000 pounds and under normal conditions it handled the rig quite well. I was very careful to avoid exceeding the 5,000 pound limitation. Remember to consider the total weight you are hauling including what you have in your tow vehicle.

I have to admit that on this part of our trip, I wouldn’t have minded having a heftier tow vehicle. Even the weight of the tow vehicle was an issue on these roads. Our 4runner and the trailer weighed just about the same. Ideally we could have used a few more pounds and ponies in our tow vehicle.

I was attempting to drive 55 to 60 mph. On some of the upgrades we dropped down to as little as 35 mph. We could have gone faster, but I just didn’t think it was a good idea to climb up a mountain in second gear with the tach showing 4,500 rpm’s or more. I was trying to keep the tach under 3,600 rpm's.

When you are doing this kind of trailering; that tachometer on the dash is not a decoration. Use it! Some of the large trucks were significantly slower than we were. Frequently we were stuck in the slow lane and couldn’t even pass trucks much slower than ourselves. We just didn’t have the acceleration to complete a passing maneuver before a much faster vehicle was bearing down on us.

The speed limit was 75 and many cars were going faster than that. Many of these overtaking vehicles didn’t demonstrate any intention of avoiding an accident if we didn’t get out of their way. I was in the mood to relax and not fight traffic. So, I just accepted it and stayed in the slow lane no matter how slow it was going. At times it was very slow, but that is just the way it was and besides; it gave more time to see some truly breathtaking scenery.

Another word about speed and trailers. Most ST travel trailer tires made before 2015 are rated for a top speed of 65. Tires manufactured since 2015 will have a speed rating on the sidewall. J for 62; L for 75 and M for 81 mph. You need to look upon car trailers being pulled from a ball on the extreme rear of the vehicle as a sort of sophisticated jury rig. By sophisticated I mean that if you follow all recommendations they will be reasonably safe, but by jury rig I mean that these vehicles were not really designed primarily for trailer towing.

You will see many people moving out at the top posted highway speed limit or even faster. In general the speed limit is the extreme top speed you should even consider. Many times you should be going much slower. Going 80 mph with a 75 mph speed limit on tires rated for 65 is begging for trouble. Most trailers that I’ve pulled will see the handling drop off dramatically when you go over 65. On these mountains I was keeping my rig between 55 to 60 for better handling and dramatically better gas mileage (about 20% better).

I felt a little like a doddering old man (at 68) as many of these snazzy rigs went flying by me, but I knew how my rig handled. The more I have been checking into things since this trip; the more I am convinced that age had nothing to do with it and I was simply driving safely and understanding the difference between traveling with or without a trailer. Most of those snazzy rigs and even some large tractor trailers were exceeding their designed limitations.

It is vitally important to learn your rig, how it handles, how to distribute weight, proper tire sizes, proper weight distribution with trailer hitches and so forth. An accident on the highway is bad enough, but put a trailer behind you and things get very dicey, very quickly. I did blow a tire on my tow vehicle on this trip. I can tell you from first-hand experience that getting safely off the road is a lot more difficult with car and trailer than with only the car by itself.

I recently watched a video on the internet with a large SUV pulling a decent size tandem axle trailer. First, it started weaving a little. The driver did nothing to correct it. He should have at least slowed down. Within moments it started whipping back and forth and before you knew it, the trailer