Pulling 31' trailer. Never pulled it more than a couple of hundred miles from home. Thinking of a trip from Knoxville TN to Yosemite Park in CA. No generator so no A/C if not plugged in :(. Has slides but bath and bed can be used without opening slides.Thought I'd change truck oil, get new tires on camper, repack camper bearings, fill fresh water tank and propane. Pack a cooler in truck bed with food and drinks. I'm thinking drive 6 hours a day for 3 days in a row and then stay two days to get over it. Allows us to empty tanks and reload. Do you "wing it" or do you plan every stop and have reservations?Do you just buckle down and do a 10 hour drive for two days, sleep at walmart and then stop and rest up?New at this. Have all the time off I want. Not really interested in killing ourselves trying to get there fast. Any advice welcome!

don''t fill water tank , just put enough to use while on the road . no sense hauling extra weight. bearings are a good idea. i wing it for sites cause I never know the exct route i will take .6 hrs is probably good , but as you head east to west ,you gain an hour daily. go and have fun..

Reservations for any popular tourist spots (national parks, Disney, etc.) we plan to visit, and I'd also recommend reservations for CGs near major metro areas over weekends. Otherwise we wing it - but I usually check out ahead of time 2 or 3 options for places we're likely to overnight, and aim for those. That way we have fewer unpleasant surprises. :) Your plan of driving 3 days and stopping for 2 is a good one, as long as you don't have a time limit. We do something similar, using the layover days as a time to do laundry, get groceries & other supplies, see local sites of interest, and just relax. Sounds like a great trip!

We usually try to determine our next stop the night before. Then call on the way to make reservations once we are sure we are going to make it there.6 hours a day is good for us. Especially since we have all the time off we want also. Any more wears us out at our age.We do carry water, but it are in a DP that has the weight capacity.

Sounds like a good plan but you may want to find a point of interest on the way if you have time, that way your down time can include something outside of your travels.

We went for a month in '08. Planned the big stops and made reservations, but the rest we winged a few. Always knew about where we were going to stop. I put in some long days driving, but it never really got to me. Had to stop every two hours to gas up, bathroom break, wash the windshield, stretch the legs, etc. We had GoodSam at the time and called while on the road several times to set up a campsite. Pretty handy on a long trip to have that service.

Advice for a cross country trip | Good Sam Community

26 Replies

K_Charles
Explorer
Feb 10, 2015
we never make reservations because we have to stop and see that "oh wow" that we didn't know was there. Even if we drive 10 hrs which we don't do very often, we still stop early enough to relax before supper. In an RV park or campground you can walk the dog, talk to the people that are local and relax outside in a comfortable chair and a drink. At a Wal-Mart you stop, sleep and go. If you have the time, why sleep at walmart.
mosseater
Explorer II
Feb 10, 2015
We went for a month in '08. Planned the big stops and made reservations, but the rest we winged a few. Always knew about where we were going to stop. I put in some long days driving, but it never really got to me. Had to stop every two hours to gas up, bathroom break, wash the windshield, stretch the legs, etc. We had GoodSam at the time and called while on the road several times to set up a campsite. Pretty handy on a long trip to have that service.
Tachdriver
Explorer
Feb 10, 2015
Sounds like a good plan but you may want to find a point of interest on the way if you have time, that way your down time can include something outside of your travels.
dan-nickie
Explorer
Feb 10, 2015
We usually try to determine our next stop the night before. Then call on the way to make reservations once we are sure we are going to make it there.

6 hours a day is good for us. Especially since we have all the time off we want also. Any more wears us out at our age.

We do carry water, but it are in a DP that has the weight capacity.
kknowlton
Explorer II
Feb 10, 2015
Reservations for any popular tourist spots (national parks, Disney, etc.) we plan to visit, and I'd also recommend reservations for CGs near major metro areas over weekends. Otherwise we wing it - but I usually check out ahead of time 2 or 3 options for places we're likely to overnight, and aim for those. That way we have fewer unpleasant surprises. :) Your plan of driving 3 days and stopping for 2 is a good one, as long as you don't have a time limit. We do something similar, using the layover days as a time to do laundry, get groceries & other supplies, see local sites of interest, and just relax. Sounds like a great trip!
harley4275
Explorer
Feb 10, 2015
don''t fill water tank , just put enough to use while on the road . no sense hauling extra weight.
bearings are a good idea.
i wing it for sites cause I never know the exct route i will take .6 hrs is probably good , but as you head east to west ,you gain an hour daily.
go and have fun..

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Advice for a cross country trip

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