I am a newbie to RVing but looking forward to the journey. I have just finished planning our two week trip from Seattle to Yellowstone thru Montana with a return thru Idaho for June of 2018, with reservations made for every night of the trip. My general question is this: I get that it is a good idea to get specific reservations in the summer for a popular national park like Yellowstone in the high season (we have Grizzly and Bay Bridge), but I also mapped out every stop on the way and back. Am I overthinking this? What if I have engine problems? Is it OK to wing it in places like Missoula, Boise, etc? Can one wing it inside Yellowstone Park at the many campgrounds that don't even take reservations? Basically I am asking the RV community in general can one reasonably expect to make reservations 24 hours ahead of time in the summer months at nice campsites that are in Yellowstone (or other popular parks), and at non destination towns en route. Thanks, all!

If you want to stay at a particular place in high destination spots.RESERVATIONSIf area is just a travel destination along the way...wing it

I agree for national park type destinations, reservwtions matter, but for the 'travel' portion, you are just stressing yourself out more, trying to keep to a specific schedule.the day before, or the day of, will be fine for most places.We leave tomorrow for a trek from MA to AZ- an 8 day trek no reservations at all.Get an app like Allstays that shows RV parks, casinos, etc.

The big holidays - Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day (and Thanksgiving Week and the week after Christmas in the south --- spring break in touristy areas) are ESSENTIAL for reservations for most areas of the country.Huge tourist destinations like Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Orlando/Disney World, etc - reservations are required if you want to stay in the park / at the closest campground. Though there are always options, but you might have to stay an hour away. (Yellowstone is a bit unique with the combination of contractor run reservable campgrounds - and NPS run non-reservation campgrounds. Remember the numbers - 1,700+ reservable sites, 450+ sites in 7 campgrounds first come, first served. Most of the non-reservable sites are taken by 9-10 AM. Winging it means spending the night somewhere close, getting on the road before dawn and being at the CG you want about 8 am - and start looking at the sites to see who is leaving that day with a site where your rig might fit. The smaller the rig, the better your chance of being happy.)I plan my long distance trips, but usually don't make reservations for every night. We tend to be a bit flexible in our travel - being full-timers and retired.We don't have the time constraints of younger folks who have limited vacation time.Some days I don't want to drive. If the weather is bad - I stay put. I'll make up the distance on the next couple good days.When you say you planned a two week trip - it sounds like you have two weeks vacation, and have to be back at work on a specific day.I would suggest you be flexible on the travel part.Allstays, RVParky and programs such as Passport America show you where you can stay. As you gain experience you will learn how far you can travel in a day.We've had to, or chosen to, change our day destination on many occasions. I make sure I have an idea of where I'm going, and if the drive/ day feels like I want to stop sooner, or go longer - my wife has learned how to look up and find alternative places for us to spend the night if I give her a city as a search point.Now, I don't like to drive more than two days in a row. Did it when I was younger and had a job, don't do if possible now. So we tend to stop for two or three days at a time.You probably can't do that, so please don't over extend your self. 500-600 + miles a day in a car is acceptable. You will NOT average 70-75 mph over a day's drive towing a trailer, in a motorhome. You will probably average closer to 50 miles per hour.250 miles is about my top plan distance. I've done 442 miles in one day - it took a bit over 11 hours. Plus another hour of teardown and setup. A 12 hour day is a lot of work in an RV.

It depends on where you are, when you're there, and how picky you are about your campsites. Around here reservations are a decent idea on the weekends but less necessary during the week. I gather things tend to be a little more open in tbe west...and a lot less so in places like Florida during peak tourist season.There are differences in temperment also. Some people are planners by nature, and some wingers.

As a former Olympian (I lived on Totten Inlet for 30+ years), I retired 12 years ago, bought a RV and started traveling. During that time I noticed that the popular National Parks like Yellowstone, Yosemite, Denali, Zion, Arches, etc. usually require reservations during the Summer months especially if you have a larger Class A as some of the parks were built before the introduction of motorhomes and do not have many larger RV spaces. Most of the less popular parks like Crater Lake, Lassen, Great Basin, etc. usually have available spaces. The only time I make reservations is when I am touring the popular national parks. The rest of the time, I "wing" it and have yet to encounter a problem. In your case, the only reservation I would keep is Yellowstone and just enjoy the journey.

Making reservations for every night? | Good Sam Community

garmp
Explorer II
Nov 16, 2016
ppine:
X2
Grit_dog
Navigator
Nov 16, 2016
IMO you're overthinking it except for in Yellowstone/popular areas (Tetons black hills etc). No problem winging it in most other places.
However I'd cancel them all and start over in about 12-18 months. I can't plan when I'll be home for dinner tonight much less a campsite 2 years from now!
ppine
Explorer II
Nov 16, 2016
The older I get the slower I go and the more I like to change the itinerary. Usually it is possible to call ahead a day or two and find a decent place. There may be exceptions like National Parks.

I am now reluctant to pay for much more than one or two days at an RV park. I have paid ahead 3 days or more a couple of times, only to get tired of the place for various reasons. There are hardly ever any refunds.

Being footloose is a big part of the attraction RVing and I like being spontaneous.
nohurrynoworry
Explorer
Oct 12, 2016
Again, thanks for all the great information on this topic, fellow travelers. I have already made adjustments in my itinerary based on the feedback, adjustments that I now know I will be glad I made.
tenbear
Explorer
Oct 11, 2016
Usually our trips are not fully planned ahead. We have a general idea of where we are going but as we travel we find out about more things we would like to see and find places we would like to stay longer.

We usually plan to stop about 3PM and we rarely have to find a different CG.

Of course, being retired allows us to spend more time on trips than originally planned and we take advantage of this.
garmp
Explorer II
Oct 11, 2016
We are planners as well, but there's a lot of considerations such as popular campgrounds/sites (Yellowstone,etc.) reservations are always required. Take in consideration the time of year and of course weekends.
When we travel, we generally have an end destination in mind. Plot our course and have as many alternative campgrounds on our list as there are in the area. For the most part we freelance it, but on weekends arrive a day or so early and stay until Sunday then move on. Be sure to include alternative routes and campgrounds.
2gypsies1
Explorer III
Oct 11, 2016
We full-timed and traveled for 16 years. If we were the 'make reservations' kind we would have had to make reservations for 5,840 nights!! No way.

Even with our 40' motorhome and public parks always being our first choice we've never been turned away and didn't have to go searching at the last minute. We've stayed in many of the major national parks including Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Glacier, Zion, Bryce, etc. We also use national forest campgrounds, state parks, Corp of Engineers, county and city parks. We rarely did RV parks. We loved boondocking on public lands (not WalMarts) so when doing that you can always find a spot.

Now, I will say that our time wasn't locked in like many who have a 2-week vacation. For those, yes, make reservations for your major stops. We were once 2-weekers also so I know the limitations involved.

We didn't try to get a site on a Friday or at any place that had any kind of water on the 3-day holidays - pools, lakes, rivers. We let the weekend warriors have those times and we'd move to them when they left on Monday.

It doesn't work for everyone but surely did for us.
BizmarksMom
Explorer
Oct 11, 2016
The fact that my dog is a pit bull means I have to call ahead to campgrounds. I've never not found a spot, but it can take a couple of phone calls. (I get it, businesses have their rules. It just means I have to think ahead.)

I boondock most of the time, so it isn't always an issue. I do need to dump tanks and fill up the fresh water every 5 days or so. If I also need to do laundry, it's campground time.
hotpepperkid
Explorer
Oct 11, 2016
I didn't use to make reservations until the night before or the day of, but this year I have gotten a few sorry we don't have a spot. Case in point Holbrook AZ. I would consider Holbrook in the middle of now where OK RV park was full last night good thing I called a couple of days in advance
CharlesinGA
Explorer
Oct 10, 2016
Coworker did a trip in July from Atlanta to Birmingham, to Kansas City, Sioux Falls out I-90 to Custer State Park, then slowly over a couple of weeks or more, meandering down the Rockies Front Range, Mt Evans, Gunnison, finally Durango, then he high tailed it back home on I-40.

No reservations for the entire trip before he left. After arriving in Custer State Park he started making reservations for a day or two at a time in future destinations, but nothing was planned, largely spur of the moment, based on brochures and recommendations.

He and his wife and Schnauzer were traveling in a 30 ft Avion TT and a Dodge 3500 diesel 4dr. One flat on the trailer, and a brake light switch failure which I helped him troubleshoot over the phone. Its tough doing anything with a tablet, so my desktop and the phone made me the tech rep of the day.

The out and back portions were mostly rest stops or pull offs. He did use one park in central Missouri on the trip out, and one in Little Rock on the return. Long haul but the "trip of a lifetime" for them.

Charles