My girlfriend and I are hiring a small RV and start a 25 day trip on the 22nd November. Here is the plan so far. Any comments, routes, places to stay would be appreciated. We are from the UK and need help.

Week 1: LA, driving down coast to San Diego. Week 2: Palm Springs, Flagstaff, Grand Canyon (Hoover Dam).
Week 3: Las Vegas and Yosemite.
Week 4: San Francisco and back to LA along the coast.

You need to provide more information about what types of things you want to do, how much money you want to spend....

Driving from Los Angeles to San Diego takes 4 hours - what kinds of things do you want to do on the way?

Have you searched this Forum for previous posts? This comes up constantly. There are whole websites devoted to these trips. How much research have you done already? Sounds a bit minimal.

Your requests are very vague. Where to stay...? There are over 100 cities that make up the greater Los Angeles area, and a lot of campgrounds and RV parks. What do you want to see?

I hope you're not thinking the LA-SD journey is some great adventure. It's a 2 to 3 hour drive. Some of it is beautiful, but it's not a thrill ride by any means. And FYI, our fall has been unusually wet so far, so count on a small amount of rain here and there (anything over 1/10 inch of rain is a deluge here).

I usually think of combining Hoover Dam with Las Vegas, not the Grand Canyon. Is my geography off...?

Driving SF-LA on the coast will be very nice, and you'll be on the ocean side, so the views are a little more vivid.

We like beaches and seeing 'stuff' (Hoover Dam, views) rather than museums. We've paid for the rv and have a decent budget (150 dollars a day). The itinerary is not set and is up for adjustment.

rjw_lgb_ca - thanks for your comments. The Hoover Dam is kind of in the wrong place on the itinerary. Obviously my American geography isn't great but then if I asked you to point to my home town on a map I wouldn't expect you'd be able to.

We have a motorhome and have done most of this area.

It's been to many years since we camped in San Diego to recommend the place. We've never camped in Palm Springs, but have camped nearby in Joshua Trees National Park. Stayed in 3 different locations and all were nice. No hookups.

Not sure why you would want to stay in Flagstaff. If you don't mind traveling on backroad highways, you might take I-10 to Hwy 95 (either on California side or Arizona side) and go drive up to Lake Havasu City and visit the London Bridge! It might be hard to find a campsite at Lake Havasu because the snow birds will be there this time of the year.

In the Grand Canyon there are two campgrounds. The Trailer Park has full hookups and you will need to make reservations as soon as you know what dates you will be there. If you don't need hook ups then I recommend Mather Campground. I doubt you will need to make reservations at this time of the year, but you can do it just a day or two before you get there to make sure you have a spot. I've never been to the Grand Canyon at this time of the year but they do get snow in the winter.

You are already doing a lot of traveling, but if you find the time, you might exit the Grand Canyon via Hwy 64 to Cameron and take Hwy 89 to Page, AZ and on to Hwy 9 and drive thought Zion National Park. I don't know if you will run into snow in these area, so check the weather before you head out. The only other warning is you will have to pay a $10.00 escort fee to drive thought the Zion Tunnel. They stop the traffic from going both ways so RV's can have the whole tunnel. There are two campgrounds in Zion. South is first come first serve and Watchman has electrical hook ups only. You can make reservations at Watchman. Both are very nice campgrounds right next to each other. If you want full hookups there is a campground in Springdale, but it's always my last choice.

There is only one campground in Las Vegas that is on the strip. It's the one at Circus Circus. It is a parking lot with hook ups! There are other campgrounds in Las Vegas that are nicer, but none on the Las Vegas Strip.

The Tioga Pass from the east side of Yosemite is closed for the winter so you will not beable to enter Yosemite this way. You will have to drive I-15 down to Barstow, then take Hwy 58 to Bakersfield, Hwy 99 to Fresno and Hwy 41 into Yosemite. Please keep an eye on the weather. The do get snow on the Tehachapi grade between Mojave and Bakersfield. And in Yosemite the roads can close for snow. If you drive in Yosemite in the winter you are suppose to carry chains! You have been warned!

Some RV rental places will give you a camping director to use. If they don't, I recommend buying one. I like Trailer Life Campgrounds, RV Parks & Services.

There are many areas I don't know about and you might try asking over on:

http://www.rv.net/forum/

Utahtea

You'll be in an RV, huh?

I drove to San Diego from Milwaukee in June of '03. I approached Las Vegas from the westbound freeway exit at Kingman, AZ. At that time, there were several large billboards and electronic signs saying that trucks and RVs were not permitted across the dam. I suppose this is a terrorism related thing. They do have enforcement on both sides. About 4 or 5 miles away from the dam on the Arizona side they were diverting traffic off the highway for an inspection. My own inspection was very easy since I was in a sedan with my family. Others didn't look quite that simple (truck towing a fishing boat). If you're going to approach Vegas from the south you may have to drive in on the California side rather than the Arizona side.

BTW, it looks like construction is proceeding with a new bridge that will route traffic on that highway (AZ to Vegas) away from the dam. I suspect that this new bridge is a couple of years away from completion however. Currently, the highway is on top of the dam.