Extended trip planning

[wtmtnhiker]

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.

[Dutch_12078]

Fortunately it hasn't happened very often, but we have had to make last minute changes due to breakdowns, weather, or health issues on occasion. Sometimes it meant canceling a reservation at whatever cost was involved, while other times it meant just shifting dates. For long trips to destination parks, we usually build in a couple of 2-3 day layovers along the way that can be used if necessary for schedule adjustments. Most private parks have been very accommodating when changes were needed. State and national parks have also worked with us when a delay prevented us from arriving on schedule. Yes, the "old days" when we could flip a coin to decide where to go tomorrow were great, but today is what it is, and we've adapted to it as best we can. We already have our reservations in place through next March. There likely will be some modifications before we get there, but we'll deal with them as needed.