North Florida to Montana Trip Request

[DonH]

If anyone has a trip planner showing routes from N. Florida/New Orleans area up to and through Montana Don & Darlene would appreciate it!

Please don't go to a lot of trouble but we would like to escape the searing heat of Florida in July through September.

We thank you in advance, and if you have other suggestions please feel free to let us know.

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by DonH

if you have other suggestions please feel free to let us know.

Living in South Texas we get plenty of that searing heat, in fact we've seen 100 temps already this week.

Anyway, to escape the heat we head for higher elevations anything above 7000' is usually good enough. And we look for places that aren't quite so far away as Montana.

Our favorite is Durango, CO. The town sites at 7200' and where we camp it's 8300'. Once or twice a year it gets to the 80's but rarely higher and it always cools at night.

Surprisingly, Montana can get quite warm. We spent a weekend at Flathead lake in July once when it was 100 everyday and barely cooled at night. It's fairly far north in Montana, but only 3,000' in altitude.

The Durango area is endlessly interesting and a fun small town to make a home base, too.

While it's farther west it's no where near as far north as you're planning to go. It's about 900 miles closer to the Tampa area overall.

[DonH]

Hello
Thank you for this information. It's 90s here north of Tampa on the Gulf Coast. I hadn't thought about Colorado. I would have been disappointed if we had gone to Montana and it was 90s-100s there!

I will follow up with planning using your advice.

[creativepart]

Other choices that are closer and while very nice are not as varied as Colorado would be Ruidoso, NM and Santa Fe, NM which are both above 7000' altitude.

Lots of places in Colorado would give you the cool weather you're looking for. Just look for places above 7000'.

Not only does the temperature drop with elevation but so does humidity. And without water in the air the temps feel cooler on the skin and the air can't hold on to the heat. So, evening temps start dropping right away.

[Scotty B]

Not sure what kind of rig you have, but we just made a trek through that area and here are some campgrounds that you can look at:
Ruidoso Motorcoach Ranch - liked our site 29
Santa Fe Skies - liked our site Yuca 18
Angel Fire Resort
Outdoorsy Bayfield (Durango) is OK - liked our site 64
The Views in Dolores - liked our site 10
Most would disagree I think, but we liked Dolores better than Durango. Heaps of National Parks around and Cortez for meals and provisions. We would go back there again to see what we missed this time.
All of these places have God awful wind in the spring. Not sure when it ends and transitions into monsoons.
Pics from sites in Ruidoso, Santa Fe, Bayfield, and Dolores

[creativepart]

Scotty's list is all of my favs as well. Been to all but Angel Fire and we've had reservations twice but wild fires curtailed those visits each time.

We love Delores, CO. and the Views campground is a gem. We've also stayed further up the highway from there right at Deloris River RV Park on the Delores river. Great craft beer and Pizza place in Delores. It's a nice day trip to the ski town mecca of Telluride from Delores and the Mesa Verde National Park is a real treat. Durango is 50 miles east of there, too.

[DonH]

Originally Posted by creativepart

Other choices that are closer and while very nice are not as varied as Colorado would be Ruidoso, NM and Santa Fe, NM which are both above 7000' altitude.

Lots of places in Colorado would give you the cool weather you're looking for. Just look for places above 7000'.

Not only does the temperature drop with elevation but so does humidity. And without water in the air the temps feel cooler on the skin and the air can't hold on to the heat. So, evening temps start dropping right away.

Thank you. I'm interested in NM. I've heard it's great, especially in the higher areas.

[DonH]

These are great suggestions. Thank you.

We have a 2018 Minnie Winnie, about 33' with the rear slide out. Have less than 30,000 miles on it.

[DonH]

Thank you to all that have replied. Darlene and I appreciate it.

Everyone be well and try to survive this already brutal weather. I don't remember as many tornadoes as have been reported this year. We live north of Tampa on the Gulf Coast. I am really concerned about the upcoming hurricane season. That's why I asked about other areas, especially higher elevations to combat the heat and tornadoes.

Don & Darlene
2018 Minnie Winnie

[Fanrgs]

Take a look at the "Introduction" and "US 160 West of Pagosa Springs" sections of my Colorado Mountain RV Camping blog HERE.. I have lived in Colorado for 60 years and worked, camped, and RVed all over the state. The blog discusses routes, inexpensive potential campsites and RV dumps, not-to-miss scenic attractions, fall color, and weather. I also include a bit of information on Colorado history, fly fishing, tourist railroads, and geology because those are things that interest me!