West Coast Road Trip Itinerary

We set out this summer on a massive 4-week long RV road trip. Our travels took us through 11 different US states and we had the opportunity to see many awesome sights and attractions during our trip. During our drive, we relied on our Magellan RoadMate RV9365T-LMB GPS we received to review to get us to our destinations and to help us find different things we needed while we drove. This is their latest GPS made specifically for RV’ers to bring you all the things you need for a road trip easy to access.

There are options that let you find campgrounds, dump stations, rest areas, nearby gas and food options, tourism spots and many other points of interest. You can start your search for something like fuel and the limit the results to show only those along your route, near a city, near your current position, or near your destination or address.

This feature was so helpful when we were trying to get from one city to our next stop without going out of the way for gas or food. We could easily look up to see how far the next gas services would be if we didn’t fill up in the upcoming city and know if we had enough fuel to keep going or need to stop.

The RoadMate has a huge screen at 7” wide which makes it easy to see the screen and know what steps we have next on our path. On the screen it’s easy to see the next turn you need to make across the top banner with a big clear arrow showing your turn direction. Right below that, there is another indicator showing you which direction the following turn will be.

I am a pretty timid driver, especially away from home. Being able to see which direction I would need to turn for the following turn let me know which lane to be in and made it so much easier to navigate my way through towns I wasn’t very familiar with.

Another feature I used frequently is the OneTouch feature that lets you set up preset address that you visit frequently. Then, you just tap the OneTouch button, click the stored address and the GPS will calculate your path and you’ll be on your way.

A lot of times, we would have a path already set and would add in a stop somewhere along our route. A simple click to “optimize” your trip would rearrange our new itinerary in the most efficient order or we can use the arrow keys to rearrange our stops as needed. Finally, you can sync your phone using the Bluetooth settings to be able to accept hands free calls while you drive. Best of all, the GPS comes with lifetime map updates.

Overall, the Magellan RoadMate RV9365T-LMB GPS is easy to use, loaded with features, and the large screen makes it much easier to see and follow the directions. It made our road trip a breeze and simplified our route with the on screen features to add destinations as we traveled such as gas, food, dump stations and rest stops. I couldn’t imagine trying to manage directions during our recent eleven state RV road trip without having this GPS on board.

West Coast Road Trip Itinerary

Here is the basic itinerary we followed on our road trip this summer. You can use our itinerary as a starting plan and customize it to meet the stops and starting locations based on your needs. Hopefully, this can inspire some of your own fun travels to come!

1. Our Start was: Phoenix, AZ
2. Las Vegas, NV – Take a walk down the strip or stop to see a show
3. Reno, NV – Stop here for a night en route and see the city. Be sure to make a stop on your way out of Reno and on to Oregon in California to mark another state as a visit.
4. Bend, OR – Spend a few days or a week here. Bend is a beautiful city with lots of things to do no matter the season or the weather.
5. Portland, OR – Stop here for a night en route and see the city
6. Seattle, WA – We stayed a bit north of Seattle. There are so many awesome things to see in do, I love this city! Visit Pike Street Market, Space Needle, Tillicum Village or the Experience Music Project. If you want to head a bit north, you can visit the sound and the islands or cross just over the Canadian border and hop on a ferry to Vancouver Island.
7. Athol, ID – Stay for a day, if you love roller coasters, and go to Silverwood Theme park. They have both a water park and a roller coaster park connected for one admission price.
8. Whitefish, MT – Head up to Whitefish mountain and enjoy a quiet day outdoors. Ride on the gondola and alpine slides or go for a bigger adventure with a zipline tour.
9. Lewis & Clark Caverns – Head towards Bozeman and stop for a few hour tour through the caverns. The caverns are awesome and educational, too. There are campgrounds here or you can get a bit further on your trip and stop in Bozeman for the night.
10. Yellowstone, WY – Plan a few days in Yellowstone to explore the geyser basins and check out the wildlife.
11. Salt Lake City, UT – Visit Temple Square, one of the many trampoline parks, or try the Ancient Life Museum.
12. Arches, UT – Pick a hike or two that range for easy to difficult and see the amazing natural arch formations.
13. Four Corners Monument at the corner of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. Stop and take your pictures being in four places at once.
14. Explore the Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, or Sedona on the return trip to Phoenix if you haven’t seen any of these beautiful locations, yet.

I received product samples and/or compensation in exchange for this post. The opinions expressed above are my own. Any claims should be verified on the sponsor’s site.