Extended trip planning

wtmtnhiker wrote:
Posted on another forum also want to get thoughts here. I planned a trip out to Yellowstone from New Hampshire and going to take about six weeks to get out and back. I felt that I needed to secure reservations for the entire trip because of the increased popularity of RVing and campgrounds being mostly if not totally filled most nights and especially on weekends in the more popular areas. This is so contrary to the way I used to travel pre pandemic when I wouldn't plan more than a couple of days out. One of the problems with this sort of travel is that if I find an area that I really like and want to spend an extra day or two I can't because of the ripple effects of all the reservations I have going forward. Even worse would be if I had a mechanical issue and got delayed a day or two then every reservation would need to be canceled or rescheduled and I'd probably be out of luck with some of them if not most. Wondering how others have handled this and curious how many of you have run into these sort of issues or have you not changed the way you do things since the pandemic hit? Love to get your thoughts. Thanks for reading.

My post-retirement trip covered 9000+ miles over 4 months in a motor home. Even back in 2011 I felt the need to make sure we had secured reservations along the way. My spouse laughed at me at first but quickly realized why I had taken so long and so much effort to assemble a 5-page spreadsheet with each reservation and all the info I'd need if it was necessary to change or cancel. It was invaluable and truly worth the effort and time involved. It didn't make us feel obligated to meet the schedule; it just gave us needed information and a means to access these reservations if necessary. It also helped with the daily budget knowing what had been paid for and what we needed to ante up when we arrived.