This trip was the trip that got our family into owning a motorhome. We have always wanted to visit Yellowstone National Park. We have always wanted to visit Grand Teton National Park. Once we decided the kids was old enough, Killian being 4 and Jameson being 2, we decided that we could comfortably visit. It was time to look into where and how we were going to enjoy these parks. We knew right off the bat that we did not want to stay in some hotel or air BNB. We wanted to experience these parks from a campsite. Thoughts and dreams of enjoying the cool air, under the star filled sky, roasting hot dogs over the fire filled out heads and we knew that was the only way we wanted to experience the park.

This led us to the long research period of the trip. First, we needed to decide on where all we wanted to go, and what all we wanted to see. I knew that making this drive would be a lot of long days behind the wheel and really wanted to make the most out the drive and give the boys a nice reward for the long drive. We landed on wanting to visit the Badlands National Park, Visit Wind Cave National Park, Mount Rushmore, and Devils Tower, visit Cody Wyoming, then finally make our way to Yellowstone followed by Grand Tetons. We were going to try to fill all these goals in a 2 week stretch since that is all I can get off for work.

Now all this planning was actually happening in 2019. We knew that it was going to take a year to be able to get all our reservations in place, money put aside, plans worked out. Once we knew the agenda it was time to figure out where we could rent a motorhome for the trip. I remembered traveling down the road and seeing these small Class C motorhome with a beautiful landscape on the side of them and huge letters screaming RENT ME, I thought this would be the best bet for us so I jumped online and started looking for this company. I did not find much around me in the St. Louis Area, but I was able to find the company that I was searching for.

Looking up some prices and much to my surprise this was going to cost me most of the vacation fund we had put away. Not realizing we would be charged for the amount of days we rented the unit, the number of miles we drove was a separate charge, the number of hours we ran the generator was a separate charge. I knew we would want to run the generator as much as possible while traveling to run the rooftop air conditioner and keep the kids cool in the back of the unit. When I added all this up the amount it would cost us to rent a new unit, it seemed more financially responsible to just buy a used unit (at least it did in my mind). So now the search is on for a used Motorhome that we could afford.

Jameson taking the old girl for a spin

After just a few weeks of looking at the local dealerships and looking online. We found a motorhome that we were happy with. It’s a 1999 Coachmen Mirada 300qb. 28,000 miles on it and it needed some work. Work that I could do and get it up and running for our trip. So off we go, we bought it and took it to the local lake for our first night in the new home away from home for us. The kids instantly fell in love with it, and so did we. After a few months of short weekend trips, one breakdown in Kentucky, and some fixing up the camper we are all ready to go to Yellowstone for a Bucket list trip that we knew was going to be amazing!!

We ended up really being blessed with what we thought was going to be extensive repairs ended up being very easy and cheap. The shower was not working, a simple change of shower head fixed that issue. Next was the toilet, it would not hold water and had a stench to it. I know I could have changed the seals but I wanted a new toilet that only we have ever used. So, we bought a new toilet from amazon and installed in 20 minutes. Boom that was fixed. Next was the horrible vibration over 45 mph.

Looking over all steering components and driveline components, I found it was the tires. Hey showed good life but looking at the dates stamped on the tire we found these where 15 years old. Replaced with a new set and no more vibration. Last was the generator, it would not start at all. Looking over the system I found there was a solenoid on the carb that a mouse had chewed through. Replacing the solenoid, the generator started right up. I am going to have some follow up post later on with more in depth look at the upgrades and repairs we made to the old Mirada, just to maybe help others that are getting into RV lifestyle.  I still have some issues with it here and there, but it works. With that it was good enough to start enjoying, not perfect but good enough.

If you are prepping for Yellowstone I recommend planning a route from your home to the Park. Along the path make sure you are stopping frequent enough to not over exhaust yourself. After all the journey is just as fun and important as the destination. Never miss a opportunity to visit a National monument, or forest along the way. It will make the journey so much more memorable for your children and yourself. Take plenty of snack and of coarse the tablet/portable dvd player for the kids. Check for good hikes everywhere you stop and make an itinerary. You will need to book campsites about a year in advance since this destination is so sought after. Check out more of our blog post on the journey to Yellowstone and all the stops we made.

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