Eight months and two weeks, üover 35,000 km and 42 states: these are the figures for Dirk and his wife Brigitte’s trip to the USA – a camping trip in the truest sense of the word.
They traveled to the USA in 2018 with their economy off-road tent trailer and a special tractor unit.
Dirk and his wife Brigitte gathered so many impressions on their journey that they decided to write down their experiences on their way through the “Land of the Free”.
Update: Attention wanderlust! We have added a video of Dirk’s trip at the bottom of the article for you ▶ Just take a look!
CampingRoad trip through the USA: The route
The itinerary of the two folding caravan fans took them from Florida along the east coast to the northernmost states.
Then they continued their camping trip through the USA about the Great Lakes steadily westwards.
We continued through the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific.
Once there, we continued through California, always heading south.
The route back east took Dirk and Brigitte through the desert states on the border with Mexico.
However, because a special highlight awaited them in the capital of the USA, they didn’t head straight back to the Sunshine State of Florida, but first took the via Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and the Virginia states in the direction of Washington DC.
Camping in a special caravan
Cities with millions of inhabitants, forests and sheer endless, deserted expanses: As special as this trip was, so was the vehicle that Brigitte and Dirk chose for their personal camping adventure in the USA.
And so it was inevitable that their ARO M461 C, a Romanian off-road vehicle from the 1960s, regularly attracted fascinated glances.
It even made the local news for Dirk and Brigitte.
But the couple’s home on wheels also received no less attention.
“Thanks to the CAMPWERK off-road trailer I’ve already been on guided tours like in a museum.
The Americans are completely infatuated with this little miracle of space,” writes Dirk in his travel diary.
But of course, such a journey in an off-road senior doesn’t always go smoothly.
Wear and tear and stress made themselves felt time and again.
That meant having to stand still for eight weeks at times.
Waiting weeks for spare parts and repairs – and simply experiencing everyday life on the ground.
Impressions and experiences from the USA
Over 35,000 kilometers of camping through the USA the two of them gathered countless impressions and filled their travel souls with unforgettable experiences and stories.
For example, how they drove 150 km straight through corn and grain fields in the Great Plains.
The next petrol station: almost 100 km away.
Apart from the occasional giant agricultural machine over five meters wide or a truck with three trailers and a length of overlength of a good 50 meters the travelers did not encounter another vehicle for hours.
Not forgetting the towns in the southwest, whose population was listed as 79 on the town entrance sign.
Or the Moki Dugway in Utah, where Route 261 winds its way up a 335-metre-high cliff face for almost five kilometers – narrow, unpaved and without guardrails.
Camping USA: Feel the power of nature
But storms, tornadoes, forest fires and the El Nino weather phenomenon, which caused unusually cold temperatures and masses of rain at the end of the trip, are now also part of Dirk and Brigitte’s travel memories.
One of the best was probably the overnight stay at the John Wayne Ranch.
Or the visit to the White House and the Capitol (a highlight that Dirk had secretly planned to surprise his wife with).
But you don’t just bring home experiences from such a trip.
You also bring back material mementos.
So many that the couple’s luggage became a challenge on the way back.
“We would now need three fridges to hang up all the magnetic signs,” explains Dirk with a grin.
Camping round trip USA: Pitches and accommodation
In the vastness of the USA, the two often pitched their tent in the wilderness.
But even though this is possible in many parts of the “Land of the Free”, caution is advised: Bears in the north and northwest, alligators and snakes in the south – animals that the pair would rather not get too close to.
Therefore the two spent the night not only in parking lots in national parks and RV parks (there is also a dense network of these in the USA), but also – in consultation with the responsible parties – in parking lots of large supermarket chains.
The good thing about it: night-time police protection was included.
A good starting point for campsites in the USA is Campgrounds of America.
KOA lists over 500 campsites, which must meet fixed standards and are accordingly well equipped and maintained.
Travel report USA road trip: A mammoth task
They published their experiences in the seemingly boundless expanses in an extensive travel diary in the Folding Caravan Forum.
Dirk has now written down every stage, every sight and every experience along with lots of useful tips.
The result is a comprehensive guide for anyone planning a camping road trip through the USA.
You can read the entire travel report with lots of photos and all the accommodation and pitches in the Folding Caravan Forum.
The round trip as a video report on YouTube
You can find even more impressions in the six-part report that Dirk has published on his YouTube channel.
We hope you enjoy watching it and wish you a good dose of wanderlust!
