Making reservations for every night?
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 rese...
Forum Discussion
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.
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.
