I keep finding that it's very hard to plan an RV trip. I'm doing it old school. I'll have my start point, destination, and manually find every "night stop" along the way.It kind of stinks because it's starting to feel really limited out there. Everywhere is booked. If I want to go for 14 days from TX to Yellowstone so much is booked in between. I can get the reservation at Yellowstone, but I land much in between....Is there ANY more simple way to plan? I dunno about sleeping at Walmart but I do have a family with me. (In our Travel Trailer - we have several types of RV's). Mainly, I don't want a "knock" at the door by the cops saying "you can't sleep here" or whatever. I have some small children with us and that would really stink to wake them and load up to drive on at 2:07am.I may be missing something.... But all this seems so archaic and manual right now. Is there a better source for "planning"? Or is going to recreation.gov and all the individual state park sites, etc. etc. etc. still the way to go? Tips, pointers, suggestions, experiences all appreciated.EDIT: Has anybody ever been turned away from a campground or whatever and had nowhere to sleep?

Free camp sites.net-compendium, google earth, are sites to start with. Also, we find youtube useful for ideas on travel. Check Cabelas for some stores have good overnight parking--also Cracker Barrel has tight parking. Use Google Earth to check out the possible stops.The Walmart parking trend is being stamped out in some places due to free loaders and "full timers" staying in the lot for days and weeks.There are even "rest areas" that have signs reading no overnight parking. I'm not a trouble maker, but what is a rest area other than to be a place to rest?As a last resort, truck stops can be used. We try to avoid them due to the fact that truckers are having to obey the log book laws more closely now and the truck stops are crowded. Plan on stopping before 3 P.M. if you can to guarantee a spot.We're not cheap, but do try to avoid high dollar RV parks when just going from place to place--we've not had too much trouble getting a stop for the night in most cases. We also try to drive large cities later at night or about 4 A.M. to avoid crowds.

For enroute DW will start searching in the afternoon depending on how many miles/hours we want to continue for that day. Sometimes we have been in some small RV park not on the map and sometimes KOA works. Have always found a spot without too much trouble. But I get it, we did more planning when the kid was young. While travelling we frequently see small half full parks along the way. We like to stop and have a place before dinner. Definitely prefer to have reservations at the popular destinations.

We use rvparky. Tells you campgrounds.COE,state parks,Walmarts, Cabelas,rest stops, Cracker Barrel,. Just about everything you can think of. It's free. You can create and save your entire trip.

To each their own as always but ........ We use several sources but always first check out Freecampsites.net as well Ioverlander.com and then take it from there. We prefer to boondock/disperse camp than booking into CG's so we also will check out USFS MUV maps. We have a rough plan where and when we want to be somewhere but keep it all loose in case of desired longer/shorter stops in an area we thought of, or breakdowns/sickness which can occur of course.Happy travels, we've never not found a spot to spend a night comfortably in over 2 decades.

When I planned my 5k mile Yellowstone trip I used RV Trip wizard, when I did my 2,100 mile Acadia and NYC trip I used Furkot. To me if I was doing another big trip RV Trip Wizard is the no brainier, especially now that you can directly import the trip into the RV specific GPS in the RV Life app for a few bucks for a month pass, no question the route I'd go. It makes it so easy to see reviews, filter by amenities, price, etc and see the distance between stops and about where you'll need gas and check for stations ahead of time.

How do you folks plan travel for long distances?

bob213
Explorer
Jun 19, 2020
We use rvparky. Tells you campgrounds.COE,state parks,Walmarts, Cabelas,rest stops, Cracker Barrel,. Just about everything you can think of. It's free. You can create and save your entire trip.
time2roll
Nomad
Jun 19, 2020
For enroute DW will start searching in the afternoon depending on how many miles/hours we want to continue for that day. Sometimes we have been in some small RV park not on the map and sometimes KOA works. Have always found a spot without too much trouble. But I get it, we did more planning when the kid was young. While travelling we frequently see small half full parks along the way. We like to stop and have a place before dinner. Definitely prefer to have reservations at the popular destinations.
Blazing_Zippers
Explorer II
Jun 19, 2020
Free camp sites.net-compendium, google earth, are sites to start with. Also, we find youtube useful for ideas on travel. Check Cabelas for some stores have good overnight parking--also Cracker Barrel has tight parking. Use Google Earth to check out the possible stops.
The Walmart parking trend is being stamped out in some places due to free loaders and "full timers" staying in the lot for days and weeks.
There are even "rest areas" that have signs reading no overnight parking. I'm not a trouble maker, but what is a rest area other than to be a place to rest?
As a last resort, truck stops can be used. We try to avoid them due to the fact that truckers are having to obey the log book laws more closely now and the truck stops are crowded. Plan on stopping before 3 P.M. if you can to guarantee a spot.
We're not cheap, but do try to avoid high dollar RV parks when just going from place to place--we've not had too much trouble getting a stop for the night in most cases. We also try to drive large cities later at night or about 4 A.M. to avoid crowds.

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