Overnight Stops

[Deb_and_Tim]

Retirement - finally! We have only taken local camping trips so far. We are going on a trip from Michigan to Wyoming and plan to do overnights at campgrounds along the way. Is it okay to stay hitched to the truck and put slides out if we are fairly level? Would we put the front/back jacks front down to the point of touching or a little more to take pressure off the truck?

The trip after that, we want to try overnight boon-docking a couple times. When boon-docking, we can use propane to operate the refrigerator, correct? Our concern is not being hooked up to power, putting out slides and not having power to put them back in the next morning. Do you leave electric from the 5th to the truck hooked up or would that drain the truck battery?

We noticed that Indiana rest areas say no overnights. Is that common?

Sorry for our ignorance - any help would be greatly appreciated.

[danrclem]

Congrats on your retirement. I've been trying for some time to retire also.

Different folks do different things and some of it depends on the individual situation. Getting ideas is good and you can adjust what you need to do depending on the circumstances.

You mentioned overnighting at rest areas. I'm not sure which states allow overnight camping and which don't but it shouldn't be hard to find. I did it once back in 1989 and won't ever do it again unless it is an emergency. There was absolutely too much noise for me with big rigs coming and going all night but I live in the country and am used to the quiet.

Have fun and enjoy because that's what it's all about.

[Cummins12V98]

No problem! I will get it close to level then drop the landing gear for a bit of stability.

[padredw]

jdb7566 wrote:

Dick_B wrote:
We always stay overnight at campgrounds. It's safer, has more facilities, and better for the local economy.

X2

This is also our preference. In over twenty years of RVing we have never stayed at a Walmart, Fuel station, or roadside park.

And, yes, we often remain hooked-up for an overnight, but we are in that minority who are not bothered by trailer "movement." Even in a stop of several days we sometimes do not put down the rear stabilizers.

There is plenty of room in RVing for "different strokes for different folks." Part of the pleasure is finding out how we like to do things.

And, with pleasure, we grant that same pleasure to others who have their own way of doing things.

[Toolguy5]

I'll stay hooked up for overnight stops. But I still level the coach if I am far off level. I do put the stabilizers down as well as the front legs. This just helps with the movement inside.
It only takes a few minutes to do all of that.

Congrats on retirement. Enjoy!

[jdb7566]

Dick_B wrote:
We always stay overnight at campgrounds. It's safer, has more facilities, and better for the local economy.

X2

[jdb7566]

Congrats on your retirement, we retired last August. In reply, if staying only one night, we will not unhook if possible,if level fore and aft. We will drop front landing gear and rear stabilizers, hook up water and electric, then relax for the evening. Enjoy retirement and Happy Trails

[IdaD]

I'll stay hooked up, and generally don't bother with the stabilizer jacks. Similarly, if we've been camping someplace and need to make a very early departure I'll get everything hooked up and road ready the night before so we can just move the kids to carseats and pull out when it's time to go.

[Dick_B]

We always stay overnight at campgrounds. It's safer, has more facilities, and better for the local economy.

[Dave_H_M]

Lots of different approaches and all work.

On a stop and go at day break, i don't even put out the stabs. Once I crash, how can I tell if the stabs are out or not.

Just my approach.

[Justaguy]

Most of us here have rigs that have frames made by LCI or Lippert. In the manual you will find that LCI recommends that the stabilizers be out when putting out and bringing in your slides. Makes sense. I agree with the others as far as leaving it hooked up to the truck. Just put out the stabs when operating the slides. It doesn't take long to lower and raise them and helps the slides not bind up when in operation.

[azjeffh]

We use our overnight stops to refuel so we find it better just to disconnect.

[gat75]

CWSWine wrote:
We always unhook. We unhook and pull 6 foot forward and hit auto level. In the morning we hit return to unhitch height and backup 6 foot and reconnect. Somethings we refuel in the evenings but still back the truck in ready to hitch in the morning.

It is amazing how a person can get so many different answers/opinions when posting on this forum. That is a good thing!
Agree with you about unhooking & leveling. Every great once in a while, I will leave truck connected to 5V & level with front jacks, I will be listening to the jack motor to tell when jacks start picking up truck. That is when I stop.

I don't care about leaving pin weight on my truck tires any longer than I have to. Yes, I have new Michelins, I just want to gain any possible advantage that I can to help prevent potential trouble on trip. Tires are always one of the "weak links" when RVing.

[BB_TX]

Agree with most of above as we also sometimes stay hooked up on overnighters.

Ask for pull thru sites even though they may cost a few extra dollars. Most of the time pull thru sites will be long enough to stay hooked unless you have an exceptionally long truck/5er combo. Back in sites are more likely not going to be long enough.

[CWSWine]

We always unhook. We unhook and pull 6 foot forward and hit auto level. In the morning we hit return to unhitch height and backup 6 foot and reconnect. Somethings we refuel in the evenings but still back the truck in ready to hitch in the morning.

[old_guy]

one point I will bring up and it happened to us in Vegas. we could not stay hooked up in vegas as they did not have long enough spaces for us to do so. the truck stuck out too far and the tail end would have also. so I had to unhook at night and hook up in the morning. Something I sure didn't want to do. mainly that problem was because I didn't call ahead and make reservations for a longer spot. something to think about