Texas to Glacier

[Beverly]

Trying to map out our trip from Texas to Montana. To all the well traveled RV'ers which route have you taken, and which route don't you recommend? Any RV parks that do not handle the Montanas length that you can recommend for us to avoid? Thank you !!!

[jeffba]

Well depending on the time you have, I would make it a loop NM, CO, WY, and then MT then back WY, SD, NE, KS, OK and TX

Denver is not as bad to drive though as Dallas. Bad but not as bad.

We have stayed at a campground West of Amarillo on 40 for the night. it has a buried travel trailer. Good over nighter. Eagle Nest KOA spent a few night there. Would stay again. Loveland CO we stay at Riverview. Have stayed ar RockSprings KOA for a few nights to see Flaming Gorge. Would stay there again.


Rocksprings and Amarillo are gravel parking lots with a stray tree or 2 with hookups. Neither were chosen for aesthetics.

DW thought I was nuts for Rocksprings until we did the loop around Flaming Gorge. Then I got high marks.
Haven't quite made it to MO yet.

[jeffba]

Oh when going up that way I try to get as close to getting out of TX as I can in the first day of driving.

I am hoping at the rally folks do not mention running generators to cool off camper while going down the road. If they do I will know what the next project will be.

[Beverly]

Jeff,

Thank you soooo much. As a matter of fact we picked that RV park in Amarillo. We were thinking of going through Silverthorn instead of going through Denver and then heading north on Blue River Parkway towards Rawlings. Still researching the road though to make sure we wont be aggravating the other drivers by driving slow. Will def research the Flaming Gorge... thank you soo much for your input


Well depending on the time you have, I would make it a loop NM, CO, WY, and then MT then back WY, SD, NE, KS, OK and TX

Denver is not as bad to drive though as Dallas. Bad but not as bad.

We have stayed at a campground West of Amarillo on 40 for the night. it has a buried travel trailer. Good over nighter. Eagle Nest KOA spent a few night there. Would stay again. Loveland CO we stay at Riverview. Have stayed ar RockSprings KOA for a few nights to see Flaming Gorge. Would stay there again.


Rocksprings and Amarillo are gravel parking lots with a stray tree or 2 with hookups. Neither were chosen for aesthetics.

DW thought I was nuts for Rocksprings until we did the loop around Flaming Gorge. Then I got high marks.
Haven't quite made it to MO yet.

[twindman]

Flaming Gorge is not a difficult drive area. Nearby Vernal has a very nice campground with shade, space and best wifi I ever had. Do not drive north from Silverton. Difficult drive from what I have read. Even getting to Silverton may not be easy. I haven't driven thru Dallas, so can't comment; BUT I think Denver is awful. I have driven thru at 1:30 pm, 10 am, anytime and it is stop and go at least for several miles. I would loop around thru Aurora on 225??.
Texas is big, so don't know if you are starting from the west or east side which makes a difference on route to get away fast. Good luck.
Oh, use rvparkreviews.com to check out parks that are good and have long enough sites. I find it very helpful. It has parks that are not even listed in some books.

[jeffba]

In Denver you get on 25 and stay there. In Dallas, on 35 you snake around and while staying on 35 you actually change hiways a few times to go through it. Plus the only thing worse than a Texan's ego is their driving.

[BB_TX]

Going thru the DFW area on I-35 it is best to take I-35W thru Ft Worth rather than I-35E thru Dallas.

[Mikendebbie]

Beverly - I grew up in Henderson and DW in Tyler. The traditional route to Amarillo was IH20 to LBJ-635 to IH35E to Denton then Wichita Falls etc. on US 287.

I have recently driven IH20 and it is a bumpy roller coaster like it has always been...the reward is a stop at Bucee’s in Terrill. 635 is no problem between 10 am and 3 pm and I have done it pulling the Monte. I think IH35E to Denton may have several construction zones I have not driven it with the RV however. My last trip to glacier was in 1994 in a Coleman pop up with 3 kids and a dog - so my campground reviews would be a bit out of date.

If you don’t want to drive thru Dallas you could follow US69 to Greenville then 380 to McKinney.

As long as you time your trip thru Dallas for mid-day and avoid rush hours you should be fine. It’s summer and school is out! My 30 mile commute into Austin is piece of cake in the summer with no public school traffic and 50,000 fewer tee-sips gone for summer break from t.u.

[jtcurbo]

We left from Palestine, Tx just south of Tyler. In one day we made it to Amarillo, Tx. Our route was Hwy 287 all the way to Amarillo. It goes through Ft. Worth. We stayed at the Overnight RV Park just as get to Amarillo. It is real close to the Big Texan, good steaks. From there we go to Raton, NM on up IH 25 to Colorado Springs, Co. Then through Denver, bad traffic. We went on up to SD to Mt. Rushmore then to Montana's top route HWY 2 all the way to Kalispell, Mt. There were good rv parks all along the way.
We came back through Idaho, Wyoming, Co. going west of Denver to Co. Springs then Raton to Amarillo to Palestine.

[Beverly]

Thank you for the information! We are going FINALLY this year!!! We are in Lindale!

[twindman]

I would NOT take I25 all the way thru Denver. No matter what time of day it always comes to a stop somewhere. Happened at 10 AM, 2 PM, still slow and go. I get off at I225 and sort of loop around Denver. It joins back up on the north side.


And once you go that far, do you have time for Yellowstone? Second busiest National Park in US for a reason. The mountains around Yellowstone and Glacier aren't bad. Oh, by the way, I don't think you can tow thru Glacier anymore. The route around to the south is a nice highway.
And doubt you would think about it, but state highway 49 is closed to larger vehicles - unlike when I drove over it!!! No side rails and road washed out and repaired in several spots!

[jtcurbo]

Beverly, we are in Palestine for the Spring. We are full time and we use our daug's address in Round Rock, Tx We bought our Montana at RV Ranch by Camping World in Lindale or just south of I-20

[jtcurbo]

Twindman, In the future I will avoid I-25 through Denver. That's why I came back another way It didn't used to be as bad as it is now. We stayed in Kalispell, Mont. and drove to Glacier Nat. Park from there. We have a Dodge Ram 3500 Dually. I drove up Logans Pass. Very narrow and hairy in a dually. The Road to the Sun was beautiful. As far as Yellowstone, it is beautiful but very crowded. Been there several times through the years. We are full time so we stayed in Kalispell for two months then in Colorado for a month, In the winter we go to Floridia around the Villages, Wildwood. We have family there. I probably gave more information than needed, but we really like our lifestyle. Happy Trails.....

[jtcurbo]

Beverly, are you going to Montana this summer? How long are you going to stay?

[padredw]

We are going FINALLY this year!!! We are in Lindale!

If you start from Lindale, by all means go on up to Sherman, TX on US 69, then take US 82 on to Henrietta to join US 287 all the way to Amarillo. This route completely avoids the DFW congestion. This is the route we take to Colorado and the mountain west a couple of times each year.

Maybe we have just been lucky, but we have always made it straight through Denver on I-25 (mid day, of course, not peak traffic).

[Hornet28]

In Glacier it depends on how comfortable you are mountain driving. We ran the length of Going To The Sun Road last June in our crew cab dually without any problem whatsoever. I nor my wife ever felt uncomfortable with the truck on the road. No you can not tow over it the length restriction is 21 ft

[twindman]

jtcurbo, we also stay in Kalispell almost every year. This summer we are going a little farther and staying in Columbia Falls. Found a CG with better wifi and cable!!!! Although the scenery at Spruce Park on the River is very nice.
My wife likes the area because there are 3 quilt shops within 20 miles of Kalispell.

[Bill Austin]

Very true...Denton area has a lot of constriction.