This blog has been moved!

Hi all! With the launch of our new website, we've moved our blog to our website. So if you want to get the latest updates in our world, go to http://tracks-trails.com and check out the Travel Blog tab. All of the entries here at our Blogspot address are now there too!

Thanks for supporting us here and make sure to change your bookmarks and favorites!!!

New website is on the way!

First, I have to apologize for the lack of posts over the past few weeks. We've been extremely busy (still!) through August along with a few staff members that have been on vacation. We also are in the process of creating a new, more fully featured and fabulous website. We are hoping for a launch of the new site at the end of September. That being said, we have a ton of work between now and then creating new content and testing the functionality of the new site.

Our website partners, Newfangled.com, have been working feverishly all summer, do a great job of making our vision a reality. We see this partnership as one that will be prosperous for a long time to come.

We'll be updating you as we get closer to the launch date. Our goal is to have it up and running before the Ken Burns series on the National Parks airs on PBS September 27th-October 2nd.

Hope you've had a great summer! We have!!!

Sometimes we do go "the extra mile"

We just received a survey from one of our clients that talked about what we were able to do for them while they were on the road.

The Duff family was on a custom trip that took them through the Black Hills, Devil's Tower, Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park. When Mrs. Duff experienced severe symptoms of altitude sickness, we were able to help out with a rearranged route on the fly. Mr. Duff's comments in the survey said it all.

This is going above and beyond for a client - very much appreciated. We will definitely use Tracks & Trails for future trips we may plan for RV vacations.

A big thank you to Karen, the Duff's trip consultant, who was the point person on their trip and made sure that we not only acted fast in coming up with a solution, but was compassionate towards Mrs. Duff's suffering.

We realize that stuff happens on vacation. For those of you that haven't experienced our top drawer customer service, this is a great example of what makes Tracks & Trails great! Not only is it great for our clients and but it's also great to be part of something where we truly care about our folks on the road. We're here to help.

Feedback from client surveys

First off, sorry we haven't been posting regularly the past couple of weeks. Besides being crazy busy, I have been on vacation for a chunk of that time and haven't been connected for blogging.

With the summer season about half over, our clients are starting to send in evaluation forms that cover all aspects of their vacation, especially our quality of service. We learn so much from these surveys, including both the good and the bad of what happened on our clients' vacations. We take all the feedback we receive and pile it back into our systems and processes for creating the best possible vacations for our clients.

I wanted to share one client's feedback we just received. The Poderski's from Florida took a 13 night adventure that covered Zion, Bryce, Grand Canyon and Lake Powell in early June:

"I want to thank you for our best-ever family vacation. This was our first RV experience and it won't be our last. I never expected it would be so fun, relaxing and de-stressing.
We are very impressed with Tracks & Trails. Everything you suggested and planned was perfect. At first we were slightly concerned about potentially being "overscheduled". Actually the schedule was the best. What a time saver to have activities lined up ahead. Having everything already set up made the trip more relaxing. I would never try to do this on my own - I would always use Tracks & Trails."

Thank you Robin for such glowing remarks! And thanks to Lisa, the Poderski's trip consultant, for taking such good care of them and helping to create a memorable vacation for client's that are ready to plan their 2010 family vacation. As we get more surveys back from our clients, we share more of their experiences of what it was like to work with us. If you'd like to talk to Lisa or one of our other trip consultants, give us a ring toll free at 800-247-0970!

A National Park RV Trip in Pictures

We love it when our clients share their family vacation experiences with us through photos, blogs, video and survey responses. The Brot family just completed their second Tracks & Trails driving adventure -- this time to the Grand Canyon area. Ilene Brot posted her family's photos at Shutterfly and invited us to share them with the rest of the Tracks & Trails community. (Thanks, Ilene!) Just click the title above. Adn while you're there, be sure to have a peek at pictures from their 2008 trip to Yellowstone, too.

So if you want to picture your family taking an RV vacation in one of our fabulous National parks, the Brot's photo albums will show you just what to expect.

Our clients are out there traveling!

With all the new technology these days, we have a unique ability to follow along with our client's adventures. And now that the summer is here and our client's are hitting the road, many will be keeping journals, updating family blogs and taking tons of pictures and video. We will be posting most everything that comes to us in the coming months, both here and on our Facebook page (if you are on Facebook, just search for "Tracks & Trails" and become a fan!).

In the links section on the left side of our blog, we've just added a link to the Justices' personal travel journal. They are using www.mytripjournal.com to chronicle their adventure this month. They will be heading out this Friday for Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.

Keep checking back here to see what our clients see and do on a Tracks & Trails National park driving vacation! And we are still talking to folks about trips later this summer and fall as well as in 2010. So if you want to have as much fun as our clients after you see examples of what a great time they have, check out our website and pick a trip that's great for you!

What we do for you!

We get this question (or some version of it) all the time - especially during these tough economic times - how much are you charging us for your time and what do I get for it?

Sometimes folks think that all we do is reserve campgrounds. We do so much more than that!

We have been planning RV road trips for over 10 years and know the best places to stay at the right time of year and customized to your family's wants and desires. We work with over a dozen different RV rental companies, over 400 campgrounds and over 300 outfitters so that we can create an amazing once-in-a-lifetime vacation for you and your family.

Above all, we listen. In the planning phase we take into account who you are and what are your interests. Behind the scenes we discuss what would be the best route and what will be the fun experiences you will want along the route. All that information ends up in your Adventure Kit. You'll get tips about traveling by RV, a detailed day-by-day custom itinerary, vouchers for all the components of your trip, hand-traced maps of your route with highlights of things to see and do, and folders of each major destination with our proprietary More Abouts (detailed mini-travel guides) including brochures and magazines of the area (we have tested and researched this extra material so that it is not only informative but relavant to your trip).

Many of our clients have told us that their Adventure Kit is their "bible" on their trip. That's a great compliment and tells us that between the planning efforts and the Adventure Kit, that we more than earn our extra charge. A Tracks & Trails road trip adventure is self-guided and we do our best to provide you with all that you'll need to have a great trip to a National park, state beach or other amazing destination.

If you have any questions, don't give it a second thought and call 1-800-247-0970 and talk to one of our trip consultants to find out if a Tracks & Trails custom road trip is for you!

Happy June! Summer is here!

As Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer, we're knee deep in the summer vacation season. May was another great month for Tracks & Trails and now we get to the time when most of our clients are hitting the road! Over the next three months we'll be shipping out our client's Adventure Kits, checking road conditions, looking at weather reports and providing assistance to our clients as they embark on their self-guided driving adventures.

We have a number of websites that we check regularly for road closures, construction delays and wildfire updates. While they are too numerous to list here, it's safe to say that we can get the latest information at short notice for our clients while they are in the midst of their trips. Also, each and every RV rental company that we work with provides 24-hour road assistance. So that way, someone is there to help with any problems with the RV along the road.

We also provide assistance with re-routing when necessary. Many of the destinations have remote roadways that can be impacted by weather, rockfalls, flooding and other natural impacts. We can help with changing routes, checking availability with campgrounds or help with notifying excursion outfitters with new information. One thing that is difficult once trips have started is to cancel stuff mid-trip. Cancellation policies kick into effect. This is why we strongly recommend trip insurance for all of our clients. We just had one client who had a child break an arm and this caused a major restructuring of their trip. If it wasn't for trip insurance, they would have lost much of the cost of their trip.

So, as we say to many of our clients (and to those on the road this summer!), "Happy Trails" and we hope to be able to help out if you run into troubles while on a Tracks & Trails road trip adventure this summer!

Progress on bridge near Hoover Dam

Currently a bridge is being built across the Colorado River to bypass the road that takes traffic over the Hoover Dam. To follow the progress, check out their website www.hooverdambypass.org. I had a friend pass along some pictures, albiet from January, but the one I've included here shows some of the massive scale of this project (Thanks, Debbie!). We always tell our clients that there will be delays in crossing over the dam because of security checks and traffic.

The planned completion of the bridge and associated road construction is June 2010. So another year of delayed traffic is ahead of us, but you still get to see the spectacular progress on the bridge and the engineering marvel that is the Hoover Dam.

Tracks & Trails on MSNBC.com!

Our friends at WeJustGotBack.com wrote an article titled "Of Geysers and Grizzlies: The Best of Yellowstone for Families" and we were mentioned prominently throughout the article. It also showed up on Frommers.com and MSNBC.com. Here are the direct links - all the articles are the same so pick your favorite:

http://www.wejustgotback.com/default.aspx?mod=yellowstone_bestof
http://www.frommers.com/trip_ideas/family
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30563277/

A big thank you to Suzanne Kelleher for writing the article and getting it published on great websites. Our web traffic doubled yesterday!

It's been a little crazy around here!

Just thought I'd let y'all know that we haven't fallen off the face of the earth - we're just very busy right now. It seems that many of our clients have waited to book their summer vacations. So April was a very busy booking month! We are very happy with the additional business and we are getting to the point in the season where we are building Adventure Kits for our clients. These 2 inch thick, 3-ring binders have travel tips, custom itineraries, vouchers for all components of the trip, hand-traced maps with routing and points of interest, our More Abouts (custom mini-travel guides), hand-picked brochures and other destination information.

We'll be back with some more tips, travel ideas and road information in the coming weeks as we get a chance to come up for a breath or two. In the meantime, there is plenty of availability for that great summer vacation that we can help create and make affordable for you and your family. Great destinations like Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and Yosemite await!!! 800-247-0970!!!

Best prices in the summer for RV rentals

If you are trying to stay within a budget for an RV trip this summer using a rented RV, consider that the best prices are either in June or the second half of August. You could save 20-40% on the cost of one of the larger components of your trip. With airfares cheaper than they have been in years in combination with a great rate on your RV, you can really save a bunch if you travel in the right time of the summer. And the crowds may be a little bit more manageable!

It's not too late to consider a National Park vacation out West. While we are seeing that some popular campgrounds are booked for certain dates this summer, we have had no problem getting rental RV's for our clients. Availability in Canada may be a little dicey during the peak of the summer, but there are still plenty of great dates available for visiting our neighbors to the north. And the exchange rates continue to be fantastic compared to last year.

So give our trip consultants a call toll-free at 800-247-0970 to find a great destination and a great time to save a lot of green with Tracks & Trails!

Looking for ways to save on Tax Day? Take a road trip!

This just in: From WBAL-TV11 Baltimore - According to the Energy Information Administration, regular gasoline is expected to average about $2.23 per gallon this summer, which is more than $1.50 cheaper than last summer. A recent AAA poll via the Internet reported that people are more likely to take a road trip this summer since fuel prices are lower than last year.

So what does this all mean? If you're from the eastern half of the United States and are looking to create a magical trip to the great outdoors of the western half of the continent, you couldn't pick a better time to travel. Airfares are at the lowest prices they have been in quite a while. Hotel rates in major cities are at bargain rates. Half the adventure of getting to a place like Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon or Yosemite is the first leg of your trip. And with gas prices at a more reasonable level, that's just one more component of your trip that will be cheaper than next year.

And how can Tracks & Trails add to that savings? We research the best deals we can find for RV rentals while maintaining a high level of quality in the vehicles our clients will drive. We look out for our clients to ensure that their expectations are not only met but exceeded. And that means staying within your budget and creating magnificent trips to the most beautiful locales for all types of vacations. Give us a ring toll-free at 800-247-0970 or check out the website to start your adventure!

Great place to watch Old Faithful & a call for photos!

Looking for a unique place to watch the regular eruption of Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park? This picture is from a trip I took in September, 2007. On the second floor of the Old Faithful Inn, there's a large deck viewing area with benches. If you get there early enough like the folks in the picture, you can get a great picture of the geyser while sitting on a bench with a seat back (unlike the metal benches that form a half circle around the geyser). If you time it right, you can grab a bite for lunch either at one of the restaurants at the hotel or back in your RV.

Just thought I'd share a picture from a wonderful trip to our country's first National Park. We are in the process of redesigning our website and we're looking for great photos! If you have recently traveled to the national or state/provincial parks of the western US & Canada or Florida, please send them to us. To share your great shots, comment on this posting or send us an email through Contact Us on our website.

Affordable family vacations, part 2

by Sheri Ballard

Even when you rent an RV, we’ve found it to be more economical and affordable than renting a car and paying for hotel rooms and all those meals out. On a recent trip to Florida, 2 nights hotel, transportation, and one day at a theme park including all those meals out, cost us over $700. After we picked up our rental RV, our costs dropped to less than $250 per day, including transportation, a place to sleep, food and gas. It left money over to do really cool things like take a surfing lesson, visit a hospital for rescued sea turtles and go snorkeling. The kids remember these activities and talk about them more than their day at the theme park.

If you’re willing to rough it more, and rent some tenting equipment, it gets even more affordable, but you’ll want to go in the best weather months. Many outdoor sporting goods stores like REI and MEC (Mountain Equipment Coop) offer gear rentals, as do many Outdoor Programs in universities. If you own some of the gear, you can ship your equipment via UPS to meet you in your gateway city. (You’ll need to have a very clean camp stove and don’t even think about shipping the gas for it.)

More tips to save money?

1. Try traveling in the early season to a summer destination park, before summer peak travel and prices hit. You’ll have fewer crowds, but you might have to put up with some inclement weather. Or go over the winter break to places like Death Valley or Joshua Tree National Parks. It’s prime season there, but demand for RVs is lower, and so are the prices.
2. Don’t plan on driving, and driving, and driving. Pick a couple of key parks and stick to those, spending multiple days in each. You’ll really get a feel for the park and it will allow you to take in the ranger programs, films, campfire talks, etc, and just hang out fishing or playing in the creek or ocean for a day.
3. Pick a couple of exceptional activities to do, ones that will really be highlights. Our boys still talk about the whitewater trip from 2 years ago, where we dropped into the Big Kahuna wave, with Gabe (then 4) hanging “face” in the front of the raft. What fun!
4. Even visiting out of the way places can be memorable. The date farm outside of Death Valley is a good example – almost 3 years later, the $4 date milkshakes are still a topic of discussion, and the boys wonder when we can go back there, along with the hot springs soaking in Yellowstone (which was free).
5. Let’s face it, when you live in a city, there are plenty of great places to eat out, so why spend your money and your time in line, waiting for food that isn’t that great while you’re on your vacation. Try a campfire cookout instead. It’s inexpensive, a great way to spend time with your kids in a positive way (rather than trying to corral them into table manners in a hotel dining room), and fun. From starting the fire together, to sticking a hot dog or marshmallow on a stick, to burning the paper plates in the fire, there’s something everyone in the family can do.

So the bottom line, getting your family outdoors for that summer vacation can be fun, educational and reasonably priced. And all of these things matter considering all the pressures we're all under today. We say, "Get Outdoors!" and you'll see what we're talking about!

Affordable family vacations, part 1

by Sheri Ballard

Looking for ways to have a great affordable family vacation? Over the year, we've taken a lot of trips and some of our best vacations are the ones where we camp, either taking our own equipment or renting an RV when we arrive. Those trips have also been some of the boys' best memories, from seeing elk walk through our campsite to splashing in the creek next to the camper to having hot chocolate inside the RV after a very wet and chilly hike in the rainforest (where the youngest one fell in the creek).

What makes it so affordable? It's a combination of things:

1. Hotels in many areas have a legal maximum of 4 people per room or do not have rollaway cot options, which means for a family of 5 or more, you're looking at paying for 2 rooms. The average price of a hotel room is now $100, and that's not in the peak seasons or in the national parks. In the popular areas like Jackson, Wyoming, even the least expensive hotel in the summer can be over $150 per room.
2. Then there's a rental vehicle cost, which can run you up to $75-$80 per day for a minivan that can hold your family plus all your bags.
3. Meal costs can be very expensive as well. The lodges within the national parks have several dining options, but they are all costly. Even if you plan on taking a cooler and eating lunch out in a picnic area or on the trail, you'll still need to have dinner and some sort of breakfast at the hotel. Dinner entrees in the park lodges' dining rooms can start at $20, with very limited choices for kids. Kids are almost always hungry and when you start having to buy those in-between meal snacks, drinks, etc., these costs definitely start to add up per day. Prices outside the park in the adjacent communities are high too. The quality of food can vary wildly as well. We like to eat out on our trips a few times, and we don't mind paying for good food, but it's hard to pay high prices to mediocre food day in and day out.
   
4. Entertainment costs can sneak up on you. If you go to a theme park like Disney, you can spend up to $90 per person per day just for admission fees. Even with the multi-day tickets, it's still a heck of a lot of money. For as little as $20, you can get a multi-day pass to a national park, where there are multitudes of things to do. Take a hike, have a swim, climb around on some rocks, take part in a ranger program, soak in a hot spring, build sandcastles, watch for wildlife, build a campfire and roast marshmallows. They're all free once you get inside the park and you can do them all over the course of a few days. You can also sign up for guided activities like rafting, horseback riding or bicycling, but you're not committed to doing something every day, over the course of a week you still haven't spent that much on entertainment.

Tomorrow I'll tell you more about some recent outdoors experiences and give you more tips on saving money while have a great time with your family.

Yosemite valley report

According to the National Park Service, Tioga Pass will remain closed until late May. There is no specific date when the road will be passable. The current snow line is at about 6,000 feet and the pass is just over 9,900 feet. At the right is a current picture at Tioga Pass. They are planning to begin clearing the road on April 15th. To see a webcam of Tioga Pass and other keys locations in the park, go to the Yosemite Association's website. Tioga Pass is the main east entrance to the park and many of our clients that are taking a one-way RV trip from Las Vegas to San Francisco use this road.

There also is a report from the NPS that a sizable rock fall has occurred. According to the NPS, "The southern portion of the Mirror Lake Loop is closed due to a rockslide. (Access to Mirror Lake and Snow Creek Trail is still available, as usual.)".

As always, if you are concerned about conditions at any of our popular destinations during the time of your planned vacation, just give us a call. Trip consultants are standing by!!! 800-247-0970!

Education outdoors and the National Parks

The growing trend in homeschooling has spawned many resources for creating valuable learning and life experiences for all ages. The internet has become an indispensable resource for many parents for research and sharing information. In that spirit, we want to point out a great resource for education, the National Park Service website.

From park-based curriculum (Kindergarten to High School) to distance learning information to suggested reading lists, nps.gov offers a wide variety of resources that are free. Families can create a number of lesson plans for all of their children that learn primarily at home. And this is a fun way to combine schoolwork with vacation. Many parks have Junior Ranger programs as well.

Remember that Tracks & Trails can help with creating this one-of-a-kind trip! Whether it is RV-based or by rental car, we can have you staying in a National park campground or in a park-based lodge so you are close to all the action and activities.

Can't make it to the great outdoors this year? Try becoming a WebRanger on-line! You can play more than 50 games while learning about the National parks.

New travel insurance coverage

For those that are interested in purchasing travel insurance, we have a link on our website that will directly connect you to Travel Guard. We have had very positive feedback from our clients about the cost and the customer service. They offer a toll free telephone number if you have any questions (1-800-454-7107 ).

What's new from Travel Guard is that they have announced coverage for involuntary termination or layoff. All four of their core plans now include this trip cancellation coverage. They require one year of continuous employment with the same employer and doesn't have limitations on your departure date.

We have been hearing that many folks have either postponed or canceled their summer vacation plans due to uncertainty about the future with the economy and their jobs. We hope that the announcement of this new coverage will help those feel more comfortable with starting the process of planning a great summer vacation to our National Parks in the western US or Canada. As always, if you have any questions for us at Tracks & Trails, give us a call on our dime at 800-247-0970.

It's not too late to book your Spring Break vacation!

If you can give us two weeks notice and you have a pretty good idea of what you want to do, we can help create a fun getaway. Popular destinations for spring break vacations are Florida, Arizona and Southern California. Here are some choices from our trip catalog that may work for you:

Central Florida and the Space Coast - This trip starts in Orlando and heads into Old Florida where cool springs flow into rivers that are lined with mangroves, and are home to alligators, river otters and all types of birds. You'll visit the oldest European settlement in the United States at St. Augustine, and then tour the modern technology at the Kennedy Space Center. Get active with kayaking to see manatee and dolphins, try surfing, or just grab a boogie board and play in the surf.

Tucson, Tombstone and the Sonoran Desert - This trip is perfect for spring break (we have clients there right now). Visiting Tucson and the surrounding area will give you a taste of the wild Sonoran Desert, home of the giant Saguaro cacti. Family-oriented museums feature everything from outdoor wildlife to missiles to the world's largest outdoor airplane display. Wandering movie sets, visiting Tombstone, "The Town Too Tough To Die" or going underground at Kartchner Caverns round out the adventures.

San Diego, Palm Springs and the Anza-Borrego Desert - This is a perfect mix of city adventures & wilderness for those who want a taste of both. Start with visiting parks like Legoland and Seaworld. Spend a day at the San Diego Zoo & Wild Animal Park, then try surfing, kayaking, boat touring and bicycle riding. Head into the largest state park in California, amidst the desert where you can hike or tour by jeep. Pass the Salton Sea (before it shrinks) enroute to Palm Springs, where you can ride the Aerial Tram through 4 climate zones. Return to Los Angeles for more theme park action, or simply to fly home.

Give us a call before it's too late! 800-247-0970!! We can make that last-minute trip happen!!!