Hi Everyone - Newbie here....MORE questions :)

If you have a generator, you're now self sufficient and don't even need a campground unless you choose so. And yeah that 4K gems et will be loud, but if you're boondocking and no one close by, then it doesn't matter. Win win. Free camping and use the loud generator all you want.
Hope it's the trip of a lifetime for you all and if you want/ need spots to overnight or camp in northern WI, I can hook you up with a spot on a private lake, plug into the house and hook up the water. Got a boat and some oars laying there too, good fishin!
Same if you're going through Seattle area, can park at our house, plug in, watch the elk in the backyard....maybe lol.
And if you're going thru Colorado on hwy 285 you can boondock on our property just outside of FairPlay. No services, but no neighbors. Just let me know. Maybe it will help with your trip.
Thank your husband for his service.

DrewE wrote:
If this is a contractor-style generator, it will be pretty loud, and using it for long periods of time would not go too far towards making friends at campgrounds. Expectations may be different at other locations or if you're boondocking on public land away from any other people.

i'm betting it's an open-frame contractor-style generator, which is too loud for campgrounds, as it will exceed the park noise rules.

that means it's the type that contractors use, not that you got it from a contractor.

and it will probably weigh at least 100lbs., so that may not work for you.

ask your neighbor for the brand and model of generator and let us know.

Many federal campgrounds have time limits on generator use - a couple hours in the morning and a couple in the evenings. No running it all day and/or night.

Thank you Drew! I know that it is a 30A rv. (I know a few things. Very few) It's not a contractor one as far as I know - it is a neighbors. This is it if anyone has any info -

Now that we have that - it will make things a LOT easier I think. My husband is usually cold, so I don't even know how much we would use the ac - but good to know we have it if we need it. And the microwave LOL Teenage boys eat alot!

I have mapped out general areas for each of our stops - so now to narrow it down.

The 4000 watt generator would be more than sufficient to run the air conditioner...and probably everything else in the RV. It would be essentially like connecting to shore power (assuming this is a 30A RV, which sounds very probable).

If this is a contractor-style generator, it will be pretty loud, and using it for long periods of time would not go too far towards making friends at campgrounds. Expectations may be different at other locations or if you're boondocking on public land away from any other people.

For truck stops and similar businesses (and many campgrounds, for that matter), the most accurate way to find out if they have room is to walk in and ask the clerk. At Wal-Mart stores and similar businesses that permit overnight parking, asking a manager or at the customer service desk or similar is the best rule.

Thank you so much for your feedback everyone! I have been offered a loan from a neighbor of a generator that is 4000 watt. It does have the 30 amp plug in - but being a total newbie I'm not sure will this run the ac? It is a small older RV - not a ton of fancy stuff. Not even a TV (my kids will be horrified LOL) so we are certainly expecting it to be camping, not a luxury vacation. The RV is really just so my husband can lie down while travelling and have access to a bathroom. The kids can sleep in a tent if we are in a campground. I have also hear of the P8ilot and Flying J? truck stops. I guess I am just not clear - If they dont take reservations, then if I know about where I want to stop then what? I am not wording this well (Long day) but we are driving down the road - how do I know if a place has space? I feel dumb asking - again, if it was just me I woulndt really care - but at the end of the day I know my hubby will be very frustrated if we go to a place and there is no room.

From NY to CA we are on a time frame, but if my husband is doing well we are freewheeling it after that. And what exactly is a bait post? Not that anyone cares but this is my husbands bucket list trip because he is terminally ill, so I am pretty sure that whoever asked that should stick it :) Thank again!

If you already have the Disability Access Pass then use this site to find campgrounds along your way:

http://www.recreation.gov/

The pass can be used for free general entry for all the major national parks such as Great Smokey Mtn., Yellowstone, etc.

It can also be used for 1/2 off on camp fees. If a site has electric then you will get 1/2 off on the camp sites plus a nominal charge for electric. The campsites will usually cost you from approx. $8-$15/night.

Not all campsites have electric so you're going to have to do your research on this. However, if you're just spending a night or two in an area and the temperature is cool (mountains or coastal regions), then you can probably do without electric.

The pass can be used at national parks, national monuments, Corp of Engineer parks, BLM campgrounds, Fish and Wildlife and national forest campgrounds.

We have never found a concessionier-run campground that didn't honor it, including Corp of Engineers or national forests.

We have found that if you make a reservation you won't know until checkout when they ask for your Access Pass Number if they will honor it or not.

We have just gone on the assumption that it is honored at governmental campgrounds and we always found it to be true. We rarely made reservations. Even if you don't make reservations, the above web site will help you to find places. However, not all campgrounds accept reservations. Many are first come. Those campgrounds you won't find listed on the above site.

Another very reasonable way to travel, especially when you get into the Plains States, is to check for a city or county campground. The will cost a lot less than a RV park and we have found many good ones in our travels equal to a mid-priced RV park.

Too bad it has to be so confusing. Good luck!

It shouldn't be $60 a night once you get out of the East, until you reach California where high land values push rents back up into the stratosphere. Everything in California is expensive, just like everything in the D.C. to Boston Megapolis is expensive, but it is not that way in the rural middle of the country.

Through most of the middle of the country the RV parks serving travelers have been in the $25-40 range for me, the lower number overlapping fees in the nicer state parks, and not much higher than fees for Corps of Engineers properties (although you might be eligible for 1/2 fee camping on the Access pass. State parks generally, the more complete the facilities, the more expensive they are.

We used to travel without making reservations ahead of time. This means avoiding weekends at popular recreation areas near cities, in season, and avoiding urban areas generally (because high real estate values mean either high rents or no RV parks at all). I think this has gotten more difficult as more and more public facilities are abandoning their "first come, first served" policies and catering to a new generation's expectation that everything needs to be reserved.

Because reservations for a whole trip don't fit our flexible mode of travel, what we usually did was figure out around noon where we would be at the end of the day, look up facilities that distance out, and call for reservations for that night. This works for commercial parks, not so well for public parks, which tend to require reservation 24 to 72 hours in advance, partly because of communications issues between remote locations and a central reservations system.

When we did this in the 60s (family of six children, my parents and grand parents) we just pulled in somewhere to sleep at the end of the day: sometimes parks, sometimes city or county campgrounds, sometime RV parking at gas stations. Hookups weren't necessary, our travel trailer was essentially self contained and self sufficient for how we were using it, i.e. alternative to a tent. However, if what you want from a RV is a modern house on wheels, it is harder to do that without attaching to the grid. Only larger, more expensive RVs are self sufficient at that level.

jarata1 wrote:
Why are you such a assclown

To attract you.

2oldman wrote:
Seems like a bad plan for a sick husband and children. It's a lot of work. This is just a trip from NY to CA? bait post?

Why are you such a assclown