Over night stops

[gscudder]

Okay, we are new to Fifth-wheeling, we are heading out in a few weeks on a 5 day trip to Arizona for the winter. we plan on camping over-nights on the way there. what the general consensus of over-nighting?

There will be no need to unhook, as we will have the wifes vehicle following along with me if we need to make a run for chow or anything.

Sooo, my question is, what do I do with the RV, I will need to run out the slides, do I level, and Assuming I do, will I need to unhook the truck to level for an over-night?
do I just drop the front gear or completely level?

Thanks again, Gregg

[christopherglen]

We usually run 2 long days at the start of a trip, then alternate one long, one short, one long, etc. Pulling in for the night at 5:00 covers a lot of miles, but burns you out fast, alternating 5:00 and 2:00 gets you there faster, but with a lot of downtime every other day. We usually try to leave between 8-9 am.

[Rick_MC]

DW and I travel from NY to Florida every year. I leave long Island around 9 to 10 pm. Makes driving through the Bronx much easier. We have stayed at Cracker Barrel, Loves, TA and KOA's off of I95. Never had a problem with Cracker Barrel or any other truck stops. I just find a corner where I feel I will be out of the way. I have ran a generator at Loves and TA, not any noisier than truckers. Each have pros and cons but never had a problem with any of them.

[MM49]

I went west this year and found the rest areas quite competitive. You couldn't count on finding a parking space after 11:00PM. I wouldn't count rest areas at all. If you choose to travel in the mode you need to reduce your expectations.
MM49

[Veebyes]

Nothing wrong with Wally or similar. Figure out where the quietest corner of the car park is, check inside, buy something (you Always need something from Wally), & watch people come & go.

No need to arrive after dark or leave before light. As long as you are out of the way, no problem.

[Pipeman]

When we head out west from here(approx. 2000 miles) we take 6 days. We will drive anywhere between 250 to 350 miles a day depending where our stop for the day will be. We get into a campground early, usually get a pull through, pull in and set up. That's leveling the 5er if needed(side to side)and putting the slides out. We get full hook up. If I don't have to dump I don't hook up the sewer hose. We don't disconnect the 5er from the truck. If we have to refuel then we do so before entering the campground.Some may ask, "Why full hook up?". Well we find that the campgrounds usually only have pull throughs with full hook up. By getting in early and not being a holiday we have always gotten a site without reservations and we can sit down and relax and enjoy what's around us, cook a nice meal, have a drink or three, watch the TV if we want and pull in the back two slides when ready for bed. We get up around 6AM, get beautiful again, the better half makes a couple of mugs of tea, close the bedroom slide and are usually gone by 7 AM. The wife usually makes some sandwiches for on the road. Now when I was a working man, 16-18 hour driving days were the norm because of the length of my vacation time. That was fun with 3 kids needing potty breaks and nourishment. Now we do it with our granddaughter.....sometimes. Her brother will be getting to that age soon. Hmmm we're digressing. That's the way we do it. Enjoy whatever way you want to do it.

[MichiganTravele]

We usually travel no more than 250 miles a day at 55 MPH. What series tires do you have? E-series tires are rated at no faster than 65 MPH. We are fulltimers and are rarely in a hurry to get anywhere and fuel mileage is better at 55 MPH.

We have routinely stayed overnight in Walmart lots and always call ahead to make sure the local municipality does not have any restrictions. Yes, the lots can be noisy, but it has not been a big issue. We stay hooked up and lower the front jacks to increase stability. Because we are only there overnight, we don't run our generator and only use the 12 volt system.

It has not been our experience that you can routinely find a reasonable expensive campground that will guarantee a pull-through site.

[Paul_Clancy]

They don't all have separate Rv parking. Sometimes it's semis with refers but all good for a quick sleep.

[Infinityrver]

Impulse24 wrote:
For a one night stop, No need to unhook or drop the legs.
As to where to stop all Pilot and Flying J travel centers have RV fueling, Dumping and Free Parking away from the trucks. Most also have good restaurants at reasonable prices. If you decide to use Pilot or Flying J sign up for their RV reward card...

PS, Just done a three week trip to Key west and Flying J and Pilot were all we used during the trip. For more than one night look into Federal, State, County and even City cap grounds. Most have water and electric with a dump station on exit. Have fun......

My DW and I will be leaving in the next several weeks for Florida. I've parked over night at a Pilot and don't recall seeing a designated area for non-truckers (wasn't really looking either). Do the parking areas away from the truckers have some type of signage designating RV's? Or, does one ask inside the fueling station? Any comment will be appreciated.

[Impulse24]

For a one night stop, No need to unhook or drop the legs.
As to where to stop all Pilot and Flying J travel centers have RV fueling, Dumping and Free Parking away from the trucks. Most also have good restaurants at reasonable prices. If you decide to use Pilot or Flying J sign up for their RV reward card...

PS, Just done a three week trip to Key west and Flying J and Pilot were all we used during the trip. For more than one night look into Federal, State, County and even City cap grounds. Most have water and electric with a dump station on exit. Have fun......

[Paul_Clancy]

We used to overnight only at cg but after a really bad night in a noisey smokey cg we decided the truck stops and camping world lots work just fine when travelling through.

[Okie1]

Casino's usually have a dedicated area for RV's, found that they are great for quick overnight stops.

[revump]

Truck stops, rest areas, WM, CW, Hoe Depot, Lowes, ...

[ependydad]

Tyler0215 wrote:
Anyone with enough money for an RV has enough for an overnight at a campground. What is the fascination in staying in a noisy parking lot with lots of traffic all night?

Because I was that a-hole who arrived at the campground at 10:30pm and took 20 minutes to get parked (because I'm not that good at it). Then I ran down my electric and noisy landing gear. Then I ran down my electric and noisy stabilizers. Next are my 4 slides that I extend that aren't incredibly quiet. Then all 4 doors of the truck get opened and closed at least once each- but given that I'm also traveling with 2 kids in tow, you can figure a couple of those doors are going to be opened/closed a couple of times. Heck, on our way back from Florida, we added a second car, 3 more doors, a trunk and 2 more people.

I'm sure the neighbors LOVED me.

[fthorsby]

We made the same trip this summer. (I know, most people from Mi, don't go to AZ in the summer) drove from the Flint, Mi are to Tucson. I drive 400-500 miles a day, push pretty hard a few days, stop at campgrounds overnight. Then spent a couple of days in Roswell. After that straight to Tucson. I stay hooked up, drop the landing gear and jacks, hook up to water and electric. Only connect to sewer when I need to dump.