Short trip opinion

Arriving Saturday and leaving Sunday:

Friday night pack up trailer
Saturday morning wait around until distance to campground equates to an arrival time near the campground's check in time (varies but can be anywhere from 11 am to 4 pm). Hitch up trailer and load family.
Drive to campground. Setup camp.
Go for a hike or exploring, etc.
Come back to camp and relax for a short time.
Fix and eat dinner.
Enjoy a campfire or go inside.
Go to bed.
Sunday morning get up and fix breakfast.
Go for a short hike or exploring, etc.
Come back to camp and pack up to leave.
Leave by check out time (anytime between 10 am to 2 pm on average).


Leaving Friday:
Thursday night load trailer
Friday after work, hitch up and load family.
Drive to campground.
Stress a bit setting up as the light starts waning.
Fix dinner and eat.
Relax by the fire or go inside.
Go to bed.
Saturday morning fix breakfast and eat.
Play all day.
Relax in the evening.
Go to bed.
Sunday morning fix and eat breakfast.
Go for a short hike or explore.
Come back to camp and pack up to leave.
Drive home.

Unless the sleeping away from home is the purpose, two nights or more will always allow you to actually enjoy your camping rather than just doing all the work.

For quicker setup, you may want to consider renting a small motorhome instead. Setup on many of the class C rentals basically consists of shifting into park, setting the emergency brake, and plugging in the shore power cord. There's no hitching and unhitching, no slides to move in or out, no corner jacks to lower...and breaking camp is equally as simple.

Hi,

Friday to Sunday camping is a very common scenario for many. Just watch the parade of RV's at any campground checking in on Friday afternoon and leaving on Sunday. Of course, you'll BE in that line of campers checking in on Fridays, so best if you can get there to beat the rush, or ideally, arrive and Thursday and then sit back and watch all of the Friday-Sunday campers get set up.

Only you will be able to determine if that's too much work. True story: A couple of years after we got our motorhome, I see this young family with two kids (under 10 years old), mommy & daddy arrive at the campground we were staying at. They arrived on a Friday and it was raining. Pretty steady, too, not just a drizzle. They had a pop-up. Since we hadn't made reservations until the last minute, we had to move our rig to another spot for the weekend. No biggee. So I'm watching this guy get setup in the rain while his wife brings the kids to the indoor play area of the campground. I decide to move to our new spot. In about 45 minutes, I had pulled up stakes at our first site, moved to our new site (which was right across from this guy's area), got all setup, poured myself a drink and enjoyed the view from our new site, which was actually closer to the water. I also watched this poor guy move large tupperware/storage containers from the van to the camper, all in the rain. I think he worked another hour or so after we had settled in at the new site. And it rained ALL weekend, including Sunday. And yup, on Sunday, he did it all in reverse. Now, in MY opinion, that was too much trouble. I give him a lot of credit for doing it, but that's WAY TOO MUCH work for me when I'm supposed to be on vacation. LOL But, everyone is different.

I do have a couple of suggestions.

IF you live on a property where you can store your RV, then just "weekend camp" in your driveway the first couple of times. Heck, you can even start the adventure on Thursday night, go to work on Friday and then the rig is already to go for you to enjoy over the weekend. If you forgot anything, you're right at the house. Go in and get it, then go back out to the RV.

If you can't keep the RV at your property, obviously that won't work. But you should still be able to bring it to your house to practice the setup procedure. Figure out the minimum you need to do & bring for a two night stay.

Another suggestion I'd make is to think about getting a motorhome that might be within your budget. It might require some fixing up, but there are lots of good ones available IF you know what to look for. The reason I suggest this is, in my opinion, setup time at the campground is minimized with a motorized RV. Heck, we're arrived at the campground at night and in the rain, and all I do is go out and plug in to the shore power. Then when the rain stops, I do any other connections needed. But leveling & slide deployment (if needed) is all done from inside.

Yes, I'm a creature of convenience! LOL Back when we were doing our research 18 years ago, we thought about a travel trailer solution, but we realized it wouldn't work for those short trips, or even day trips, which we knew we'd want to take with the kids. With the motorhome, we often use it for day trips. I call it the "Maxi-Van"! LOL

Ok, that might be a little extreme, but depending upon what your vacation time availability is, it might be something to consider.

There are lots of options and solutions out there. You have to find one that will work for you and your family, and the way you plan to camp.

Good Luck in your search.

~Rick

IMO, as a new traveler you won't find that much fun. We've owned ours for a year and a half and we are still trying to streamline the packing process and setup and tear down processes to make them simpler and for us to get better at them so it doesn't take as long. Generally at a campground you will have less than 24 hours for an overnight stay. In no earlier than 1pm and out no later than noon the next day is about what to expect.

Just learning how things work will be a big deal.

Would it be an adventure? Sure, but you won't have much time for fun, and the experience won't be anything near what it is like to own your own trailer. One of the great things about owning an RV is that your stuff is there in a drawer or cabinet where you don't have to hunt. The pillows, sheets and blankets are yours and just the way you like them.

If you want to try one, I'd plan on at least 3 days and 4 would be better.

JMO but you'd get far more out of the experience if you go for 3 or 4 days.