prepping for 1300 mi trip

Fort Wilderness? A pocket full of money....

I love it there but man you will drop some coin.

sounds like I'm right on track. Some good things I hadn't thought of were checking out good Sam trip planner and ford dealerships on the way. We have good Sam ERS for TT and also have double coverage for TV with AAA. Have all the tools etc permanently in the TT although the drill is at the house to charge. Bearings were taken care of last weekend. Tires always get checked prior to trip. Planned on half tank of water for just in case. Being a former ICU nurse I believe in being prepared for emergencies. on a positive note, the truck has quit hesitating / hiccuping/ having power loss with running a can of sea foam through the fuel tank. keeping our fingers crossed something was just gummed up.

New movies and coloring books have been obtained. Gonna add a few new apps to the nabi and new games to the old smart phone she uses when bored. also got her a seatpets to snuggle. For being 6 yrs old, DD does remarkably well for long trips in the truck/car..... sadly she always had the dog to keep her company and this will be the first long trip since we had to put the dog down in February. We always have snacks in the tv and tend to stop every 2 hours. Also DH will be my relief driver, we plan to alternate drivers every time we stop. thanks again

If you are a good sam member, use their (or Pilot, Flying J) to route your trip. It will give you gas stations, rest areas, eleveation changes (though it won't tell you what they are without actually buying the book) all in one nice printout. It will also tell you good sam service centers and campgrounds if you opt to take advantage of their roadside assistance. I saw someone mentioned that, but I can't stress the importance on not relying on your generic car/truck/insurance roadside assistance. Make sure you have something that will cater to RVs. I broke down in may 600 miles from home, and it was much less stressful to make a call that coordinated my towing (flatbed for SUV/ separate truck to tow the trailer), arranged the service station, etc. than it would have been if I had to figure that stuff out for myself, or try to get my regular insurance roadside assistance to do it.

You also might want to consider 'surprise' bags for your kids (even if they are older). They help us a lot with road boredom...I get a few new movies, DS games, download some stuff on my phone (family travel games), rubik's cube, maze books, etc. Really, really helps us, and especially helped us when we broke down.

We also use our toilet on the road quite a bit (#1 only lol), and put paper in a scented doggie pick-up bag. For smaller kids it's a LOT easier when rest stops are filthly. I put a bag of ice in the tank when we leave, add the blue stuff, and keep a water bottle of water from home (I carry no fresh water to keep weight down) to pour down on the flush if needed.

We also grab the cracker barrel locations in the event we need to sleep (our trips are 13ish hours, and we sleep at cracker barrel at night - RV friendly, but no trucks).

We're headed out for a 2,500 mile endeavor in a week and a half. Don't really plan to do anything we don't always do (whether it's 100 miles or 1,000). I check tires, torque lugs and the hitch bolts, change the oil, stock up on spare fluids, etc...

For me, it's more about what you do along the route than before you go. The longer the day, the more intentional I am about checking oil along the way, watching the tires, etc... Going a couple hours, you can readily check that stuff once and be fine. Going hundreds of miles in a day, you need to take the time to do it a little more often.

Don't forget the wife and kids.

If possible leave yourself time to take your time on the road. Everyone will enjoy it better if they are not in the saddle for more than about 500 miles. Enjoy everything being on the road has to offer and make frequent pit stops, I usually fill up at every half a tank just to break up the drive and let everyone stretch their legs. Also research and have preplanned Ford dealerships along your route or another reliable repair center just in case. I read reviews for the dealerships before adding them into my GPS in case of a breakdown. I would be willing to pay a little extra for quality reliable repair work rather than just the nearest service center and flip a coin hoping not to get ripped off. Others travel with half a tank of water but I only use 5 gallons, usually the water hose on full for 1 minute will put 5 gallons in my tank. We use bottled water also and unless you will be way out in no-mans land there is always water for your tank somewhere if needed, even at some fuel stations. At 8 lbs per gallon I would rather not pull any extra weight around.

We did a cross country trip a few years ago. One of the things that saved some sanity was to pre-prepare some good home cooked meals and freeze them. Fast food and sandwiches get boring and when driving long days, the time or will to cook might not be there. :) just a thought....

krobbe wrote:
Doug33, How can you put a price on leaving your Bullet behind? I wouldn't let 300bucks keep me from sleeping in my own bed, using my own bathrm and kitchen, and visiting with neighboring campers. It's about the journey, not the destination.

Amen!

Doug33, How can you put a price on leaving your Bullet behind? I wouldn't let 300bucks keep me from sleeping in my own bed, using my own bathrm and kitchen, and visiting with neighboring campers. It's about the journey, not the destination.

Fort Wilderness is 1800 miles round trip for us. My wife is very hesitant to pull the TT that distance. It also means I would have to do all of the driving since my wife will not drive while towing. I'm looking to compare costs of renting a place down there instead. I would save on tolls and significantly on gas (car gets 3X MPG vs. towing). I would also save a few hours because you can go faster in a car. Ironically, the salesman that just sold us our TT owns the same model and just got back from a trip to FW, and absolutely loved his trip.

We're planning this trip for the end of September, so the crowds should be less, the temps would be better, and we'd be past the most vulnerable portion of the hurricane season.

I'm going to go on homeaway.com to check for rentals. Last year we rented in Williamsburg VA and got a really cheap rate for a 2 BR condo with all the ammenties of a CG.

on edit - I researched and there are a ton of 2 BR townhouses and condos to rent near Disney for about $500/week. If I add up all the costs both ways, it is about $300 cheaper to rent a place vs. towing the camper. Tough decision....