trip planning enroute

I use RVparky app on my phone. Its easy enough to find a place to pull off the road for a few minutes and look at what is available near by. If I find a park that looks interesting I call to check if there are openings. Never failed to find a place to stay.

I have a RV Garmin and you can ask it to find RV parks near you. You can also get some ideas of where you may want to stop and look on www.rvparkreviews.com to find RV parks. For example, you could find a place to stop 300 miles away, 400 miles away, etc. You could get that information before you head out in the morning - it is quick and easy on the web site - and then decide which one as you are traveling.

wannavolunteerFT wrote:
for all those of you that plan your trips enroute, are any of you single travelers? I prefer being able to stop when I am ready, and not to have to plan exactly where to stop. However, I can't do as many say they do of having their navegator/travel partner look for somewhere to stop. do you drive for several hours and then stop and spend some time on smart phone? Make lists of possibilities before starting out, and then call depending on where you are?

Please provide suggestions for a single traveler, who would like to travel with a few less plans.

Yes trip planning and navigating takes on it's on problems when you don't have a co-pilot! Must be nice to just turn to the person sitting shotgun and ask/tell them to figure it out! :B

Most times I try and figure out where I will be when night falls and make a list CG's in the area 'before' I head out.

That said I never seem to make it to where I had planned. When it becomes evident that I am not going to make my original destination for the night I pull over at a rest stop or parking lot and use a CG app on phone to find one.
OR
I just drive and wait for my GPS to pop up an icon that a CG is near within the selected radius I had input. Push button and up pops the name, info and location of the nearest CG. I set it for no more than 10 miles off the road I am on.

THAT said. I do NOT make reservations.
I found out that you don't need to. Almost every CG leaves one front row open for travelers pulling off the road to stay for the night. AND you don't have to beat feet to any CG to get there before their posted closing time. (unless they are gated).

You can pull into a CG ANY time during the night and they will either have a drop box with info on nightly fee and you drop your check in. Or they will simply have it posted to find a spot and check in with them in the morning.

THIS was the best thing I learned about RV'ing hands down! :C

;)I'm a planner...I use good Sam's trip planner. I plan out the gas stations. I plan out just about every single detail...makes my husband crazy but after 25 + years married he just goes with it. I love the "$15.00 Next exit book" too.;)

Most of the time when I'm traveling it on my motorcycle. I have the most out of the way, small paved roads I can find ahead of time and pot those into the GPS. Where I stop is anyone guess. Camp or motel.
When traveling in the camper, it's almost as flexible.

Now that I have a huge toyhauler, that might change a little bit. 42 feet won't just park anywhere. That's 42 ft plus the truck. Although I've never camped at Walmart or a truck stop yet and that is now an option.

We have found it a bit more difficult to treavel without plans now than a few years ago. In the past, State Parks, COE, and others were available as walk-ins about any time. Now, especially on weekends, reservations are almost a requirement, for weekends, as much as a year in advance. Won't get into it much more than that, but now we spend a couple of days in research before we travel. Stop in the evening wherever, stay the next day resting and planning route, then travel the next day. Like we said about, weekends can be difficult trying to find walk-ins.

When we decide to stop we ask the GPS to find a place or we read the road signs. We don't use a smart phone or a trip planer. We are leaving in a week and don't know where we are going other then south. Sometimes the places we find by accident are the good ones.

We travel till we decide to stop and look for places based on experience of the area or on the road side signs we see. Sometimes I look over a map the night before. Has worked for us since '82 including a 7 week, 7kmile trip last year. I don't use a trip planning program. Never have since '67. Just the way I travel.

I check out some options along the way, ahead of time, when I have a good cell or wifi service and some time. I book mark them & save them to a favorites folder. If I don't expect to have data connections when travelling, I will print out the contact info and directions to take with me. Then when I get an idea for what the day is going to look like, I will call and verify availability etc.