Tag: 2016

Road Trip Safety on the National Park to Park Highway

National Park-to-Park Highway

We’re heading out for Stage 1 of our National Park to Park Highway Tour in just one week! The original Park to Park Highway Tour in the 1920s had to carry all their own spark plugs, tires, tools, and gasoline for those long stretches without gas stations. Luckily we won’t have to bring the service station with us, but that doesn’t mean we won’t be prepared.

We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about Road Trip Safety in preparation for our big trip. I wanted to share the top three things we’re doing to make sure we stay safe on the road this summer.

Lifeline Road Kit

It’s always smart to have emergency equipment. Our truck comes with a spare tire and jack, but we wanted something more. That’s why I reached out to Lifeline First Aid to request their Truck Road Kit. It comes with safety triangles, jumper cables, road flares, work gloves, a safety vest, a flashlight and even a first aid kit. I love that the first aid kit is stocked with plenty of bandaids. Sometimes that’s all my kids need for an owie to feel better. The sleek carry case is nice, but a bit large for our luggage limited truck.

 

In addition to the Truck Road Kit, Lifeline sent us the Lifeline Trail Light 5 First Aid Kit – a light weight first aid kit with enough supplies for our family of five when we’re out on the trail. It weighs less than 12 oz! Too bad the iodine prep pad leaked in its packaging on its way over so we had to throw those out. I feel much better prepared for our seven week road trip bringing these along.

Urgent.ly
After hearing about our National Park to Park Highway Tour a blog reader suggested I look into Urgent.ly, an Uber-like app for car maintenance. You download the app to your smart phone and if there is an emergency it’s easy to get help. Authorized mechanics and tow truck companies come to your aid on demand, you can track their progress on the app and even connect with family members in case of emergency.

It’s pretty cool to know that no matter what part of the country I’m driving in, I will be able to contact a tow truck with the press of a button on my phone. I especially like that there is no fee to join, I only pay if I need roadside assistance. Thanks to Urgent.ly I won’t have to carry all of my car maintenance supplies like the drivers of the 1920s National Park to Park Highway Tour.

Before You Go

There are plenty of things you can do before leaving home to prepare for road trip safety. Have food and water in your vehicle. Know how to change a tire. Make sure you start out with a full tank of gas. The one that I struggle with the most is perform scheduled maintenance.

This time since we’ll be gone for seven weeks I made sure to contact our mechanic for a automotive check up. We’ll be taking the truck in to get lubed, rotated, refilled, and checked out before we put five to six thousand miles on it. It’s just one more way to prepare for Road Trip Safety.

 So readers, I’m curious who has road trips planned this summer. Where are you going? What do you do to prepare? Leave a comment or contact me on instagram, twitter or facebook. We’d love to hear from you!

See how our National Park-to-Park Journey went in this exclusive photo ebook:



 This post includes affiliate links. I receive a small commission if you purchase something by clicking through these links. Thank you Lifeline First Aid for sponsoring gear for our 2016 National Park to Park Highway Tour.

Celebrating The National Park Centennial

We’re getting excited for the start of our National Park to Park Highway adventure. One way that we’re preparing is by getting the word out! @MountainMomTots will be co-hosting next week’s #outfam twitter chat with Outdoor Families Magazine. The theme is Celebrating the National Park Centennial with an Epic Overland Trip and we’d love for you to be there.

Join me Wed May 25, 2016 at 2:30 MST to talk about road trips, national parks and exploring new things.

If you’ve never done a twitter chat before it’s easy! Just search for the hashtag #outfam (short for outdoorfamilies) from 2:30 – 3:00 MST next Wednesday. It’s the best part of twitter.

We’re not the only ones planning a special trip for the National Park centennial this year. These other outdoor bloggers have some pretty spectacular adventures planned as well.

59 National Parks
Shelly and Don Hafner accomplished their goal to visit 59 parks in 59 weeks in June of 2015 but that hasn’t stopped their adventurous spirit. As the host for #campchat Wednesday evenings on twitter, @59NationalParks continues the National Park love. He’s planning an awesome road trip for the Centennial with fellow blogger Missouri Howell.

Missouri Howell
Jeff and Don will be traveling #arch2arch in August in honor of the actual 100 year anniversary on August 25, 2016. Their National Park Service Centennial trip begins at the Gateway arch in St. Louis and continues until the iconic Roosevelt Arch in Yellowstone.

National Park Quest – A Journey of Artists
Karla and Andres began their journey to visit all of the National Parks in April of 2016. Their goal is not only to visit all of these outdoor places, but to create artistic maps and posters for each of the 59 National Parks.

OurVie
A young couple travels to all 59 National Parks in their 1989 Toyota Motorhome named Vie. Along for the ride is their cat – the adventure kitty!

Ranger Doug – The WPA National Parks Poster Restorer
As a retired park ranger and artist, Ranger Doug is traveling through all of the National Parks speaking about his artists’ work restoring and reproducing National Parks Posters. In the 1920s and 30s the Works Project Administrations created promotional posters for the National Parks. Very few are left, but from those Ranger Doug has remastered the look and created unique posters for many more National Parks and Monuments.

59 Before 18
This outdoor adventure family had a goal to visit all of the National Parks before their kids turned 18. As an outdoors mom I can get behind that! They reached their goal in the summer of 2015.

Switchback Kids
Cole and Elizabeth are traveling to all 59 National Parks on their own dime. They’re taking the journey in sections, returning to their home base in Kansas City between weeks of adventures and exploration.

The 100 Years Tour – Visiting more than 400 National Park Service Sites
This young married couple wasn’t satisfied with just visiting the 59 National Parks. Ryan and Jenn included all of the National Monuments, Historic Sites and areas that come under the National Park Service jurisdiction on their itinerary. The adventure begins in Florida in June 2016.

Our National Park to Park Highway adventure fits right in with these other epic journeys. Each of these bloggers have different circumstances and pressures on their time, but they’ve found a way to enjoy the outdoors and celebrate the National Park Centennial.

That means you can too! Even if your National Park Adventure is to visit ONE place you’ve never seen before – GO DO IT! And be sure to tell us all about it when you do.

Happy Adventuring!

Camping on the National Park to Park Highway

Camping on the National Park-to-Park Highway

When I tell people I’m taking a seven week road trip to follow the National Park to Park Highway one of the first questions they ask is, “Where are you going to sleep?” 

Other than a visit to Togwotee Mountain Lodge near Grand Teton National Park, we’ll be sagebrushing along the route like many early travelers did.


 Why Would You Do That?

My brother-in-law is NOT outdoorsy in any sense of the word. To him anywhere without air conditioning is the equivalent of a prehistoric cave. So when I said we would be turning our truck into the ultimate camping vehicle for this trip his response was:

“What’s the appeal of Voluntary Homelessness?”

 

 
 

Normally sleeping in your car is considered a bad thing, but we’re excited for the adventure of camping on the National Park to Park Highway this summer.

See how our National Park-to-Park Highway tour went in this FREE photo ebook:

Campsites


We’ve reserved campsites in many of the National Parks through recreation.gov. This website is the one stop shop for reserving camping spaces on federal lands. There are some great resources there, including an article with Tips for Camping with Kids.

Reservations are important, especially at popular National Parks like Yosemite. Sites there are snatched up six months in advance, the instant the dates are made available on recreation.gov.

I found this out when trying to reserve a campsite there last month and finding ABSOLUTELY NOTHING available.

 

If you’re like me, just a little spontaneous, don’t worry. Every campground in the National Park system has a First Come First Serve option, with campsites set aside for those last minute travelers.

 

Ultimate Camping Vehicle


When we first dreamed up this trip, Mountain Dad and I debated about where we should sleep. Normally we are tent campers, throwing sleeping pads and bags into a nylon and mesh shelter that gives the illusion of protection through a thin fabric cover.

 

But setting up and taking down a tent every night for seven weeks straight wasn’t what we wanted.

Image from www.americanautoglass.com

Nor did we want to tow a camper 5,000 to 6,000 miles. The logistics of towing, parking and maintaining a vehicular accessory was not what this National Park to Park Highway Tour was about.

Instead of buying or renting an RV we decided to turn our current truck into the Ultimate Camping Vehicle.

 

Shelter


Our newest sponsor, Sam T Evans Trailers of Salt Lake City, hooked us up with a discount on a LEER DCC Truck Cap. It’s a commercial truck topper normally seen on construction sites that we are converting into a sleeping shelter for me, Mountain Dad and Baby L.

We decided on a truck cap so we could leave our beds unmade and not have to take so much time setting up and taking down camp every day. We want enough head room that we can sit up comfortably and something that might be useful after this trip is over. Hence the commercial series.

Big E and little g will have the option of sleeping on the bench seats inside the cab or in a nifty popup tent from our friends at Lucky Bums. It sets up instantly, but can be tricky to fold down. And since it’s not waterproof we’ll only use it when the chance of rain is minimal.

Baby L will have her own little baby tent attached to the tailgate as well. The KidCo PeaPod is the perfect size for a little one and with its easy popup feature it’ll be great for our littlest camper.

 

Storage


Since we’re sleeping in the back of our truck the next obvious question is, where will you put all your stuff? I’m glad you asked.

First we got a discount for a DECKED Truck Bed Organizer. Pullout drawers in the truck bed keep our tools/gear/food all organized. The waterproof top can support 2,000 pounds so we can still use it as a regular truck bed too.

Second, Yakima sponsored the perfect bike storage solution with the SwingDaddy 4 Bike Hitch Rack. With space for four bikes mounted to a swivel arm, the rack moves out of the way for easy access to the back of the vehicle WITHOUT UNLOADING THE BIKES EVERY TIME. Can you tell I’m excited about that?

Finally we’re getting a Yakima LoadWarrior Rooftop Cargo Basket to mount on top of the truck cap for all of those cumbersome items that won’t fit in the DECKEDor the cab.


 Camping on the National Park-to-Park Highway


We’ve thought through how we want our National Park-to-Park Highway trip to go, but who knows if it will turn out how we expect. Camping is always an adventure whether it’s in a tent, an RV or in the Ultimate Camping Vehicle.

We’re always open to suggestions and tips.

Have you ever camped in your car? What worked and what didn’t?

Let us learn from your experience and hopefully we can make our National Park to Park Highway tour a total success. Leave a comment here or connect with us on twitter, instagram and facebook.

This post includes affiliate links. I receive a small commission if you purchase something by clicking through these links. Thank you to our 2016 National Park to Park Highway Tour sponsors, several of whom are listed here. Check out our Sponsors page for more info about them.

Yakima to Sponsor our National Park to Park Highway Tour

We have some exciting news about our National Park to Park Highway Tour. We’ve just confirmed our newest sponsor for the trip. Drum roll please…

Yes! Yakima racks has joined Burley and Woom Bikes as an elite sponsor of our National Park to Park Highway Tour. Just in time for National Bike Month!

I’m really looking forward to biking in the National Parks on our route and it wouldn’t be possible without these great sponsors. To see all of our trip sponsors head over to the Sponsors page.

Psst…New Design
Some of you may have noticed our new Mountain Mom and Tots website design. We liked the cleaner look and style, hopefully all you readers enjoy it too!