"The Extra Mile" - the Tracks & Trails blog

I just saw this quote today and it seemed quite appropriate for our blog.  Dr. Wayne Dyer said, "It's never crowded along the extra mile".  We hope that with our posts to this blog, you can get a chance to find out how we can help you get to that "extra mile". 

We absolutely love it when our clients have a great time on their Tracks & Trails vacation.  As we have said in the past, many of our clients have used the Internet to document their trip and have used many different ways to show friends and family how things are going on their trip. 

A little too chilly where you are?  Too cold for too long?  How about just tired of putting on and taking off all those layers?  Ready for a break from winter?  Even Florida is cold right now.  Check it out - Phoenix and Tucson are right around 70 degrees for highs - so is San Diego.  Wanna go?

In light of the Dec. 25 incident on a U.S.-bound flight, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration is mandating that every individual flying into the United States from anywhere in the world traveling from or through nations that are state sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest will be required to go through enhanced screening effective Jan. 4.

While the photo of the Christmas Tree Cluster at the right is not the traditional image for a Christmas tree, we at Tracks & Trails hope that it's just as beautiful as your tree at home.  We sincerely wish everyone a wonderful holiday season. 

At this time of year we have a few clients that are trying to create a truly unique present for their families.  There are many great itineraries to choose from on our re-launched website.  The new Trip Finder helps you find the trip you are looking for by choosing a destination, trip length, time of year and travel mode.  And we have included much more destination information to help you decide where you want to go.

Good morning everyone!  Here in Grand Junction, Colorado, we have been dumped on!  I just shoveled 9" of snow off my driveway and the roads are a mess.  The big winter storm you've been hearing about has closed schools, created power outages and made many roads one-way with problems with street lights to make things worse.  So we are declaring a SNOW DAY and will not be in the office.

So, Black Friday is here and gone.  Cyber Monday has had its moment in the sun, too.  And while it appears that folks are spending less this holiday season, more are out there looking for bargains and deals.  So where does Tracks & Trails fit in to that?

It's great to see when our clients use the power of technology to document what a great time they've had on their Tracks & Trails driving adventure.  Many use personal blogs, Flickr, Picasa or other sites to create personal journals of their trips.  Some even include video.  From time to time, we'll be posting client experiences here in our blog in order to give you an idea of what you can expect while on the road. 

Welcome to our new website!!!  We've been working feverishly over the summer and fall to bring you an updated and upgraded website that we hope you find useful in planning your next western driving adventure!

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.

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

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.

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. And while you're there, be sure to have a peek at pictures from their 2008 trip to Yellowstone, too.

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!).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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!

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.

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).

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.

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.

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 ).

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:

Well, yesterday was the 15th of March - can't you hear the whispers of "beware the ides of March" tracing back to the murder of Julius Caesar?

And it was the date where campsites in Yosemite National Park are available for another 30 day reservation window, five months in advance. That means that you now can make reservations up to August 14, 2009. This rolling five month window continues throughout the year and March 15th is one of the most popular dates for making reservations due to the peak of the camping season in Yosemite.

Last October we told you about bargains in Canada and guess what? They are still around!!!

We are seeing the availability RVs drying up around the end of July and beginning of August, but there is plenty of opportunity to take a fabulous vacation at a 20% discount when compared to last year. The currency exchange rates are still VERY favorable for Americans wanting to travel to Canada and we have the itineraries made just for you!

We just thought we'd give you a quick update on RV rental rates for summer travel. Some RV rental companies are offering daily rates that are 20% less if you choose the first couple of weeks of June to travel instead of the first two weeks of July. That's the type of savings that can make a huge difference in your total travel budget!

We have been seeing that Las Vegas is an incredible bargain this year and that's good news for you if you are considering our most popular trip that starts in Las Vegas: Bryce, Grand Canyon and Zion National Parks. It's a great place to start your Tracks & Trails RV vacation to see some of the most beautiful geography in the western United States and see three National Parks!

For many intrepid campers out there, Yosemite is the pinnacle of the great outdoors. The vistas made popular by Ansel Adams are there for millions of visitors each year for hikers, climbers and photographers. And there are many choices of where to stay while visiting the park. From the classic Ahwhanee Hotel and campgrounds in the park to accomodations that just outside the park, there are choices for just about any budget. Some are definitely more luxurious and some are offer great value even inside the park.

We understand that many statistics show that around 80% of all United States citizens do not have a passport. We're not here to say whether that is bad or good. We'll leave that to someone else. And it currently takes about 3 weeks to process a passport application (a good thing to know if you're planning to take advantage of the dollar's exchange rate compared to last year). That still leaves many Americans that want to take a vacation this year with the awesome possibilities of seeing more of the United States.

The family summer vacation has been steeped in the culture of the United States for many years. It seems that only recently (and I mean in the last 20+ years) that the spring break vacation has become required to battle the stresses of modern life. With all the teeth-gnashing stress of our current times, we have been keeping our collective ears open and listening for signs of which trip will suffer and which will benefit (and hoping that both are not sacrificed).

Sorry that we haven't posted anything yet this week. It's been a bit crazy around here.

We try to keep you informed of useful travel tips when we hear about them and here's a good one!

Dan and I just got back from the 2009 Go West Summit in beautiful Albuquerque, New Mexico. We spent a couple of days in a 15 minute "speed dating" format, meeting with representatives of various visitors & convention bureaus, hotels and outfitters from throughout the western United States.

We have been busy bees here since the holidays as many start to plan their summer vacations, particularly folks that are big planners because they want their trip to go just right or they have big families (takes a lot to coordinate 6-8 calendars, right?).

We are already seeing limited availability of campgrounds along the California coast around the Fourth of July holiday. We expect to see a continuation of the trend of vacationers staying closer to home, so it's not surprising to see California campgrounds booking up (there's a ton of people living in California!).

We know that you have many choices in where and how to take your summer vacation so we thought we'd give you a quick comparison that may help you make a decision for this year's trip. We've tried to keep these comparisons as "apples-to-apples" as possible. We have not included the additional costs of airfares or optional excursions in our comparisons either. Click on 'read more...' to see prices below for a family of four.

In spite of our faltering economy, National Park vacations are expected to be a hot ticket in 2009. We are urging you to book now to be sure you get the best that’s available! If you are considering putting off a decision to book your vacation, here's a couple of good reasons to not procrastinate:

If you're at all interested in visiting Yellowstone this year and have been searching the internet, you may have seen what amounts to a fake US Geogolical Survey website calling for the evacuation of Yellowstone and the surrounding areas.

We have seen these fake reports and wanted to let you know that the real USGS website has not changed their alert levels based on the recent earthquake activity in the park over the past couple of weeks.

Last year, many of our clients started their Tracks & Trails adventures in Las Vegas. It's a great jumping off point for the National parks in Utah, Arizona and California. And here's the good news, airfares right now are just fantastic to Las Vegas from many cities in the eastern half of the United States. And even better news: there are screaming deals for hotel rooms in Las Vegas! The economic situation has had a big impact on tourism in southern Nevada and many hotels are using discounted prices to lure travelers that may be on the fence - wanting to travel but trying to stay on a tighter budget.

Big families have to plan ahead all the time. If you have more than three children in your family, you know that as a parent you have the equivalent of a degree in logistics. Getting the kids here and there between school, play dates, soccer practice, shopping, family stuff, more sports, band practice and tons of other stuff qualifies any parent to organize a major symposium.

I'm sure that we could all use a better 2009 than 2008. With all the bad news out there, here's some good news - Tracks & Trails had another record year! Thank you so much to all of our clients, especially the ones that took second, third or fourth trips with us and those that referred new clients. It's your experiences and word-of-mouth that helps us continue to create exciting, fun-filled and affordable vacation packages.

Travel to destinations outside of the United States will be more attractive than earlier in 2008 because of the stronger dollar. Currently, there is a 20% discount in the cost of the Euro but there is no guarantee that the exchange rates will stay this favorable. We hope that you will stay closer to home and see the magificence of our National Parks.

The price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States is averaging around $1.65 right now and seems to be headed lower. Many forecasters are expecting that this will not hold through next summer's driving season, but it's expected to stay well below the record prices of 2008. This should be favorable for you to choose a Tracks & Trails driving adventure since 2009 gasoline prices may be half what they were in 2008. And don't forget that when traveling by RV, you save by buying your own food - and it usually tastes better, too!

Most of our clients at some point during their Tracks & Trails driving adventure spend a significant amount of time in a National Park or other Federal recreation area. If you are going to be spending time in 3 or more places overseen by the National Park Service on your trip or back home over the course of one year, a National Parks Pass is a great investment.

Support your National Parks, learn, and have fun with Monopoly: National Parks Edition. Imagine a world where wooden tents and ranger stations replace houses and hotels, and where wagons and bears take the place of cars and dogs.

Instead of traditional properties like Boardwalk and Park Place, in this version you'll find Yellowstone, Yosemite, and 26 other properties of the National Park System. The game board is divided into eight sections that include Spirit of America, Early Cultures, The Earth Alive, Hallowed Ground, Ancient Creatures, The Water's Edge, Nature's Great Variety, and Majestic Landscapes. The makers and sponsors of the game hope to promote this customized edition as an educational tool to increase awareness and provide information on the national parks. A portion of the proceeds from game sales will be used by the National Park Foundation to benefit our nation's parks.

Unless you've been under a rock, you know about websites to book airfares such as Expedia, Travelocity and Priceline. As you can imagine, we have access to a ton of industry information, including some that still comes from magazines (I know it's hard to imagine...). Now that we're in our off-season, we get a chance to get caught up on our reading. One of our regular reads is Travel and Leisure magazine. One of the few things that we do not include in our road trip adventure packages is airfare. So here are a few sites that were in an article from T&L earlier this year:

While we are all hearing about doom and gloom in the economy (and it may be worse for some than others), we are hoping that would-be travelers are seeing the economy of a Tracks & Trails vacation. One portion of a total vacation, in addition to what we provide on the ground - either RV or car-based National Park vacations - there is another significant cost to most of our clients: airfare.

We have written in this blog in a previous post about airfares being more affordable due to the price of oil falling back to more financially reasonable levels. We have also been reading about holiday airfare sales right around the corner. In the coming days and weeks, there may be discounts up to 25% on airfares to key gateway cities. This is great news since we see an opportunity for families to spend their holidays in new, different and exciting locales such as Tucson, Florida and San Diego. Depending on what you want to do, each of these three destinations has so much to offer.

Many factors will affect travel for pleasure in the next 12 months and we are seeing many reasons to book now for next year's summer vacation. We realize that many folks are watching their wallets very closely and have concerns about their job security. Optimistically, we also see that most people are still working and many still want to show their kids the National Parks.

Sorry it's been a while since we've posted on the blog. We've been taking some time off to recharge, visit some new destinations and reconnect with some of our outfitters, campgrounds and the road itself. We've spent time researching Florida from Orlando, St. Augustine and the Kennedy Space Center down to Key West. We also did some preliminary research on the Canadian Maritime provinces, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

This past week some of us spent time just outside Canyonlands National Park (someone turned 50, eek!), in and around Monument Valley and cruising Lake Powell.

In our first blog entry, we told you that we would have new itineraries in a brand new region soon. Well, today we've loaded on our website two new trips in our Florida region. After extensive research, recent travel to central and south Florida and staff experience in personal travel to these areas, we have created what we think are great trips that incorporate tons of fun and activities.

These Florida RV vacations are ideal for a fun, affordable winter getaway! Dan and Sheri (the owners of Tracks & Trails) spent three weeks this summer combing the areas around Orlando and the Florida Keys. While the theme parks are a great destination for many families, they found that there is so much more to see and do. After their fact-finding mission, they worked with the rest of the team to create two great trips that deliver the outdoor family adventures that Tracks & Trails clients expect but with plenty of kicking-back-on-the-beach time.

As a staff, we just spent some serious time reviewing the performance of many of our excursion suppliers. These are mostly mom-&-pop companies that provide great activities for our clients while they are out visiting the National and state parks. They provide excursions such as horseback riding, whitewater rafting, whale watching, guided hikes, fly fishing, surfing lessons, ATV & jeep tours, jet boat river trips, guided kayak trips and much, much more.

Sorry that there haven't been too many posts to the blog in the past week or so. We're all taking a deep breath after another record setting season! And some of us have been out traveling doing research on new locations as well as some of our most popular destinations. Dan & Sheri have been in Florida, the Atlantic Maritime provinces of Canada and Yellowstone. Karen has been in Montana and Wyoming, while Nancy has been to Bryce Canyon National Park. Early next month, some of the staff will be traveling to Capitol Reef National Park in Utah for a long weekend of hiking and relaxation!

We hear many of our clients talk about how they need to be very active during their vacations. Does this sound like something you've thought of or said:

• "My kids want to do everything - hike, bike, fish, climb, swim..."
• "We are very athletic and we want to do at least two activities every day."
• "We love driving. We can drive 500 miles a day."

Not that there isn't anything wrong with doing a ton of stuff on your vacation and we don't doubt that you could drive 500 miles a day. The question is, "Would you really want to if you don't have to?".

You'll want to keep checking back here in the next few months as we unveil new itineraries and new modes of travel in our online catalog. We have been looking very closely at the economy, fuel prices and the prospect of higher airfares in looking at how to offer new travel options in our travel catalog. While we'll continue to have our many popular itineraries, we plan to offer even more choices to new regions and with new ways to get there.

Boy, if I had a nickel for every time we get asked this question, hmmm...

We keep our eye on many factors when helping to plan a trip. Since most of our clients are families with school-age children, we know that we are working with the timeframe between Memorial Day and Labor Day for most folks. And depending on the school district, it sometimes is between mid-June and mid-August.

Some of our clients are pretty tech savvy and have created blogs detailing their trip adventures. The Wynne's trip started on July 25th and was 18 days long, 16 in the RV from Pierce RV out of Billings. Their custom trip took them to Mt. Rushmore, Custer State Park, Devil's Tower, Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone. I won't even begin to describe their trip. You'll have to read the blog for yourself.

Earlier I had talked a little about our staff and how valuable their experience is when helping to create your vacation. Another crucial component of our knowledge of the West and keeping up to date with everything that happens in the parks, on the road and in the campgrounds is the direct feedback we get from our clients. We include a survey in every Adventure Kit that is four pages long.

Today we're seeing the best exchange rates between the US dollar and the Canadian dollar or the "loonie" that we've seen all year. Still not as good as last year but a far cry better than earlier in 2008. So what's that mean for anyone traveling from the US to Canada? While gasoline is still quite a bit more expensive north of the border, it means your US dollars go a little farther.

What's that mean for RV travel?

One thing that we want to tell you about when considering using Tracks & Trails - the vast experience of our staff. When you look at the area where we offer itineraries, it's pretty big.

Sometimes our clients have no idea how big it is. Just to give you a basic idea - from Seattle to San Diego is 1,255 miles, from San Francisco to Rapid City is 1,395 miles and Vancouver to Calgary is 970 kilometers (or about 600 miles).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

New things to look for in the next few months: