Yosemite fire update & LA road conditions

As of 10:15 this morning, the Telegraph fire is 20% contained, yet firefighting is difficult due to the terrain. Hwy 140 is partially open. The lastest maps show that this road is the most threatened and CalTrans is suggesting motorists to use alternate routes. All of our clients visiting this area do not use Hwy 140 because of damage from a landslide incident that occured some time ago. Hwy 120 that enters Yosemite from the west (Groveland and the SF Bay Area) and Hwy 41 that enters from the south (Fresno) are both open. The park is open as well despite smokey conditions.

We do not see any reason to reroute any clients at this time or change campground reservations. Here's a live webcam from the Evergreen Lodge. They are located on the western border of Yosemite on Hwy 120. http://www.evergreenlodge.com/halfdomeview1.html

The earthquake in the LA area yesterday did not appear to do any damage to freeway bridges or other roads. Any of our clients traveling in the LA area should only have to deal with the normal traffic congestion that occurs daily.

More pictures from the road - Team Harper

As our clients come back from their trips, we occasionaly get pictures. The Harper's took a 13 night trip that started in Billings, MT. They traveled the Beartooth Highway into Yellowstone, then through the Grand Teton National Park, on down to Jackson, WY and back to Billings. This family was really adventurous. They took a scenic float trip in the Tetons and had a private, guided, all-day, lunch included hike in Yellowstone (the most popular excursion with our clients). They did unfortunately miss out on a fishing trip due to high water (real bummer) and a chuckwagon dinner (reservation snafu by the outfitter).

They sent us a couple of pictures showing how much fun they had and awesome scenery. We get asked quite often what it's like to be in the outdoors RV camping in the National Parks. Well, it doesn't get much better than this! Not only does a family like Team Harper see some phenomenal sites, they get up close to them. And they get closer to each other.

Summer time staff picture!

We thought we'd get at least a partial staff picture here so that you could put a name with a face. I'm taking the picture and Dan & Sheri are out and about, so we're not in this one. And that's okay, since most of our clients will be interested in who they talk to the most. From the left, it's Nancy, Karen, Shannon, Lisa and Ann.

Nancy is currently performing product development and trip consulting. If you traveled with us this past year, chances are that Nancy had a big say in how the itinerary was planned.

Karen and Shannon are both trip consultants. Shannon is also known as a "Travel Guru". Their primary function is to be the main contact for our clients. They do their best to make sure that your trip is fun and exciting!

Lisa fills two roles in that she is an "Adventure Advisor" and "Reservations Diva". In addition to providing clients with trip consulting, she makes sure that everyone's travel plans actually happen when and where they are supposed to happen.

Ann is our office manager and bookkeeper. She has been filling two roles as well. First and foremost, she pays all the bills and there's a ton of them in the course of a year. She also has been very instrumental in creating each Adventure Kit. For more on the Adventure Kits, check out our website.

We'll put more pictures up on the blog soon! Including a big group shot from our company trip to Moab last April!

Talking "green" when taking a road trip

So how do you reconcile driving a big, American-style RV that gets around 10 miles per gallon of gasoline in the current energy and environmental concerns in the US? We could talk about this subject for a long time and will probably revisit this in later posting. For today, I thought I would tell you about two of our recommended RV rental companies and what they are doing that point to your concerns about greenhouse gas emissions and overall cost of your trip.

The first company is El Monte. Based in the Los Angeles area, this RV rental company just recently offered their clients the ability to purchase carbon offsets right on their website through a provider called TerraPass. TerraPass is a carbon offset provider that takes the voluntary offset purchases and invests them in projects that are designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The projects are clean energy produced by wind power; farm power which makes good use of animal wastes; and landfill gas capture, which reduces the impact of our own wastes. And it's pretty cheap! For a Class C RV, the cost of a carbon offset is currently only $7.32 per trip. If you want more information, I would suggest googling "carbon offset providers". You can also go to http://www.elmonterv.com/ to learn more about green RVing.

The second company is Go West. This Canadian-based RV rental company is offering a new RV for rental, a 22' Dodge Sprinter van conversion. This vehicle has a Mercedes diesel chassis and can get up to 25 miles per gallon. It's designed for two people with a double bed in the rear, A/C, furnace, bathroom, propane stove, microwave, inside and outside showers and many more amenities. Here's a picture at the right. We feel that this is the beginning of a new trend in the RV industry that is directly responding to the recent increase in fuel prices. (Hint: they've been doing this in Europe for years.) To see more details, go to http://www.go-west.com/. We have itineraries that cover beautiful areas of western Canada including Jasper and Banff National Parks and Vancouver Island and Whistler. Check out the trip catalog on our website, http://www.tracks-trails.com/ for more information or call us toll-free at 1-800-247-0970!

Booking early for 2009

A recent NY Times article discussed how many travel/tour operators are taking bookings as much as 18 months in advance in order to lock in today's rates for a variety of travel options.


At Tracks & Trails, we can also help facilitate making your vacation arrangements for 2009. Many of our approved RV rental companies have already posted their rates for next year. And here's some inside information - while some companies have fixed rates based on the season, some vary their rates based on their inventory. And between now and the end of the year, the rates are the cheapest you will see. So, the key to keeping your costs down is to book next year's trip before December 31, 2008. We find that as soon as the wrapping paper has been tossed out and the last piece of pie has been eaten during the holidays, that's when many of our clients start planning their summer vacation. If you can get ahead of the crowd, not only will you get a better rate on your RV rental, but you'll also have a much better chance at getting to see and do exactly what you want.

Worried about the cost of an RV road trip? Fear not!

We read the papers, watch TV news and read many articles in the travel trade and the general media and it's obvious that the nation is worried about the economy. And yet, many believe that taking a vacation every year is their "birthright". So how do you consider all the options for a vacation and try to pinch a few pennies? We consistently see and hear that RV vacations are not only cheaper but bring together a family in the great outdoors. We just received an email from our friends at Cruise America with some great information:

• A travel research firm reports that a typical family of four can save anywhere from 23 to 70 percent on vacation costs when they travel in an RV, depending on the distance and duration of the trip.

We find that the savings occurs because: 1) you are cooking for yourself as opposed eating out in restaurants and 2) the cost of hotel rooms in and around the National Parks versus the cost of renting an RV and staying in campgrounds.

• The benefits don't end with your family budget. 70 percent of RV owners said they were more physically active on RV vacations than other trips, while 60 percent said they eat healthier.

While this is true of RV owners, we can say that this is definitely the same for RV renters as well. Our clients report to us through surveys and even their own blogs that they were very active through a variety of excursions including hiking, rafting, canyoneering, horseback riding and fishing. And remember what I said above about cooking for yourself? It seems pretty obvious that if you shop for your own food, you won't eat fast food for sure! And in the National Parks it's hard to find any fast food restaurants anyway!

Traveling in the Fall

If you have the time, want to miss the crowds and like the weather a little cooler, then maybe you should be thinking of taking that "summer" vacation in September or October. Both are great months to travel to beat the crowds, beat the heat and feel like you have the National parks all to yourself. We have found that for families that homeschool their children, traveling after Labor Day is a great time to create an awesome field trip and a vacation at the same time. And for those folks that would be traveling without children, most campgrounds are a bit quieter and hiking trails are a bit more deserted. While there may be a few outfitters that have closed up shop for the year, we think that you'll find a wonderful experience just waiting for you.

Last year I was in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks for 11 days in September. Yes, it was a little chilly at night, but warmed up nicely to still be able to wear shorts, hike, whitewater raft or just relax by the river. Or you could take a great picture of a bull moose hanging out at Ox Bow Bend in the Grand Teton National Park.

We also have found that Yosemite and the Grand Canyon are also great destinations in September and October (althought the North Rim campground at the Grand Canyon usually closes by mid-October). And if you're looking for the Wild West, check out our trip to Tucson and the surrounding area (http://www.tracks-trails.com/trips/trip.cfm?Region=3&Len=2&Trip=33). There is amazing history to be seen first-hand.

And don't forget the California coast line! Just a little secret from the staff: the best weather all year in this area is between Labor Day and Halloween.

If you need help creating the perfect educational driving adventure or just want to be in some of the most beautiful places on earth when they are less crowded, just give us a call 800-247-0970 or check out the website at www.tracks-trails.com.

Big Sur Fire Update and a helpful link or two

Many gorgeous places in the West are very susceptible to wildfire during the summer months. Unlike last year at this time when many fires were burning in Idaho and Montana, it's been Northern California's turn.

At Tracks & Trails, we watch a number of websites daily to see if we need to reroute any of our clients that are currently on the road. Particularly the past month we have been watching the fires close to Big Sur in California. Luckily, we have heard that the local campgrounds that we like to recommend are now open as well as picturesque Hwy 1 (subject to closure to allow for emergency vehicle traffic). In fact one campground host mentioned that with the onshore breezes you wouldn't know that there has been a fire. Clear skies and no smoke in the campground was the report. We are still waiting to hear about the status of Andrew Molera State Park (we have many clients take horseback rides in and near this state park).

Here's a great blog about what's happening right now in Big Sur: http://bigsurthescoop.blogspot.com/

If you want to check out detailed information about the status of fires in the United States, here's a good link: http://www.nifc.gov/nicc/sitreprt.pdf. This is for the National Interagency Coordination Center that reports on national fire activity.

Sharing one client's pictures

This is the time of year for us at Tracks & Trails where most of the planning and reservations are complete for our clients' summer trips. And we get feedback on how much fun everyone has had. Including pictures! This is great for us in the office to see through our clients' eyes what they liked and didn't like. We use this information for planning future trips and talking to prospective clients about the type of trip they would like to take. Here's a couple of pictures from our clients, the Guidry's.


They took the Jasper & Banff National Park trip for 9 days. The first picture on the left is a male bull elk they came by while hiking around Jasper. The picture on the right is from Horseshoe Lake. We were just amazed at the color of the lake! They tell us that they had a great time and highly recommend the 'scary' catwalk at Johnson Canyon, taking the gondola up to Sulphur Mountain, hiking with a guide at Mt. Edith Cavell and hiking up to the Mt. Agnes Teahouse at Lake Louise.

As we get more pics from our clients, I'll post them here along with any other news that's fit to 'print'.

My first blog entry

Well, here it goes...

At Tracks & Trails, we're trying to find out how to best set up a blog so that we can post a variety of information that while separate from our website, will compliment it. We plan to put staff ideas and information on the blog as well as client pictures and comments, and a bevy of other things that we haven't even considered.

If you don't know who we are, check out our website at http://www.tracks-trails.com/ or call us at 1-800-247-0970. We create custom driving adventures that focus mostly driving RV's to the National and state parks in the Western United States and Canada.

New things to look for in the next few months:

• New itineraries in our new Florida region starting in Orlando and Miami
• New modes of transportation and lodging to our most popular destinations - SUV's and lodging as well as RV's and campgrounds
• Great vacations to the Black Hills and Colorado that start in midwestern cities such as Minneapolis/St. Paul, Chicago, Kansas City and St. Louis.

If you are a client of ours, we hope that you'll give us feedback on some of the fun details of your trip, including pictures.

If you have questions, post them here and we'll do our best to answer them so that everyone can benefit. Remember that this is new for us and we'll continue to make it better for you!