Long-Range Trip Planning

[deprived]

We will be going full-time in about a year. We expect to be on the road two to three years and we'd like to cover a fair amount of the US and Canada.

My question is this: how do you plan your stops over the course of the year?

Do you wing it from week-to-week? Do you meticulously map out each and every stop? Or do you use the "tent-pole" approach and reserve only a few specific places over a few months and then improvise the rest of the time?

I'd like the freedom to travel at leisure, not hurrying from stop-to-stop but I have noticed that nicer (but not necessarily more expensive) places can book up months in advance. There have been times when I definitely regretted not reserving nicer places in advance.

Anyway, we're not sure what our strategy is going to be and it would be nice to see how others deal with this.

THANKS!!!!!!

[Veebyes]

We are long trippers, meaning each trip is over 2 months long. It begins & ends same place.

MS Streets & Trips 2011 is the main planning tool. We start with a rough route then insert places to see & things to do & firm up the route as things come together. Museums & such can be seen at anytime.

We have to plan ourselves around events we want to see & maybe make reservations for those events. Bluegrass Festivals are our main event to try to make but we are open to most anything else.

Reservations are only made for limited space events, holiday weekends & maybe high demand destinations on weekends. Inbetween weekday CGs, we wing it. No reservations. No disappointments so far operating this way.

[hitchup]

As the navigator and route planner, I also use MS Streets and Trips, 2011 version. I have to plan routes to visit kids between projects or routes to next project.

But planning for a 5-wk trip this Summer (our first looooong vacation) is really overwhelming. Mainly because I don't know our starting or ending point.

I'm having problems figuring where we even want to go besides Black Hills, SD. So far have a couple of rough drafts that we can fine tune in April once we know our starting point and know where we have to head back to.

[deprived]

I can definitely take to heart the advice about limiting drive times!

We purchased our MH from a place north of Dallas and drove it home to Austin along smaller roads. Including bathroom breaks and lunch, it was a six-hour drive. I was absolutely exhausted.

Thanks so much to everyone for such helpful advice.

[deprived]

C-Bears wrote:
We found a 12 months CG in Illinois on a river, which is in our old home area.

Hmm. Sounds interesting!

[C-Bears]

We do almost all of our roaming/sightseeing between May and October. Each year we look ahead and kind of map out some destinations that we haven't been to. Last year we visited numerous states out west, took a cruise to Alaska, and then came back toward the central part of the U.S. prior to winter.

When we started two of our requirements were (1) securing a site close to our old home area where we could visit with kids/grandkids and take care of doctor's visits, etc. (2) finding a winter spot for 4 - 5 months of semi stationary use.

We found a 12 months CG in Illinois on a river, which is in our old home area. If you stay for a minimum of 3 months, that spot is yours. When you travel they don't charge you and rent it out to others, but as long as you use it 3 months every year, it is yours when you want it. The cost is $10.48 per day, or $325.00 a month and that includes water/electric.

Our spots in Florida stay pretty much the same. Generally we spend 3 - 4 months in the Fort Myers or Fort Myers Beach area at nicer RV resorts. These CG fees are much more per month but we wanted warm temps and we wanted to be within a couple of miles of the gulf beaches.

By having two "home bases" that we spend 3 - 5 months at, it enabled us to save a little extra on site fees. Plus we don't like to always drive a 1-ton truck around for everything, so we keep a Jeep Wrangler in Florida and a SUV in our Illinois home location.

[2gypsies1]

As a full-timer you will have endless time so definitely don't make reservations. We rarely did unless we 'needed' to be somewhere (visiting family, etc.) There are always campsites to be had especially if you pull in early afternoon. For weekends we would also be at a destination by Wed or Thurs. Don't try to move around on a weekend. For the major 3-day holidays, we stayed away from any kind of water: pools, lakes, rivers. That's where the weekend warriors go so we let them have their fun and we would move to those places when they went back to work.

Even for the major western national parks we got in without reservations. Some of the campgrounds don't even accept reservations and that's where we headed early morning when folks are leaving. We stayed nearby the previous night.

Don't try to rush your travels like having a destination from Missouri to California within a couple months time. Concentrate on a particular state or a few states and cover them thoroughly before moving on.

Stay off the interstates unless there's no other choice. The secondary roads are just fine and you'll see more of this beautiful country.

Purchase the 'Mountain Directory for Truckers and RVers'. It comes in Western states and Eastern states. We consulted it constantly as we liked to explore those mountain roads.

It's great lifestyle. Have fun!

[lonnie4801]

We have been at it since June 2006. Try not to travel over 200 miles per day but sometime is necessary to go further in the north central part of the US because of lack of campgrounds. Nearly always lay over a day when mileage exceeds 200 mile.

Usually do not make reservations in advance unless there is only one campground in the area. The exception is over national holidays. But we do call ahead an hour or so before we get to the town we want to stop in and check availability.

We decide each year where we want to go then very roughly map out a route. Have always changed it because of illness or we just find other things we want to do or see inroute.

We usually have a definite time for 2 or 3 stops during the year then work our travel time in to corresponded to those stops. Example: The trip this year. Need to be in Saskatoon, SK on 16 Apr. Will spend a month then drive across Canada to arrive in Montreal on/about 15 Jun to meet my cousin. Then up the Labrador Hwy, across the ferry, and arrive in Twillingate, NL for their annual festival starting 20 Jul. Then back on Texas before Thanksgiving.

As you can see that leaves a lot of days unaccounted for in the planning, but it all works out. There will only be a couple of stops where reservations will be made in advance because of Canadian holidays. We have traveled like this for over 8 years without a problem getting a camp site in or around the area we want in.

I know many people are not comfortable traveling without reservations, and I have no problem with that. Everyone needs their own comfort zone. We just want more flexibility to change our minds and having confirmed reservations for most stops are not for us.

The website for my trip logs and photos for our travels to Alaska and Canada are in my signature.

[sdianel_-acct_c]

reserve a few places and wing it the rest of the time. Popular areas we book. Weekends and holiday we book. By weekends we mean Friday and Saturday night. If it's Sunday thru Thursday nights we call ahead to see if spots open and arrive early in the afternoon. No problems doing it this way for 5 years. I use www.mapquest.com to map our route and sort of plan stops. I use www.woodalls.com to locate 2 or 3 campgrounds in the area. I check them on www.rvparkreviews.com to make the final decision. We always have a "Plan B" campground as an alternate if our first choice is booked due to rally or event in area.

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

We tend to plan around 'must' events and annual doctor appointments. Father's birthday, granddaughter's wedding, another granddaughter's high school graduation. Then fit our volunteer positions and desires into the balance.

Also try to not tow over 300 miles per day, and try to never tow on back to back days.

Reservations - only when necessary - One exception - Memorial Day weekend, Fourth of July, Labor Day weekend, Thanksgiving weekend, the week after Christmas Day through New Years - if we are going to be anywhere that might be a big family draw - we reserve a couple months in advance. Those are very busy times at good campgrounds. We don't want to be locked out of our desired area/ campground.

I work out a route on Microsoft Streets & Trips far in advance, but for actual travel - that is a plan, not a requirement. We may go off plan for a week, or weeks, skip stops, add stops, etc. The goal is to put enough flexibility into the plan so that we can make changes. And to be able to tell quickly at a glance how deciding to make a detour for several days might impact our need to be somewhere in two months.

[deprived]

dahkota wrote:
For every 100 miles we drive, the minimum stay is 1 day.

THAT. IS. A. GREAT. RULE.

We are totally adopting this!

[deprived]

PghBob wrote:
the picks are endless.

I know!! That's the problem! 😛

[PghBob]

In general, follow the weather. Secondary considerations could be history e.g., Williamsburg VA, Boston, MA, San Antonio TX, could be National Parks e.g., Yellowstone, Grand Teton, could be water, mountains, etc., and could be sites of national importance e.g., Gettsburg, Dallas (JFK), Oklahoma City, could be great cities (you pick). It could even be hobbies like dog shows, car shows, NASCAR, fishing, hunting, baseball. You see, its your choice and the picks are endless.

Best wishes on your adventure.

[dahkota]

We are full-timing, and have been since January 2014. This year, our long range plan is to go to Alaska for the summer. We are currently in Florida. So, we have picked a general route to get us to the Canadian Border north of Seattle around May 15.

We have reservations starting Sunday for Fort Pickens (NP in Florida) because it moves us west. A site opened up in A loop, so we reserved a spot. We plan on going to New Orleans after that, staying in Bayou Signette State Park. Because the park has 55 unreserved sites, we didn't make reservations - our plans may change.

We know we need to be in Phoenix for our maintenance/repair appointment (we ordered parts that should arrive by the end of January) on February 16, and we need to be at the Escapees Rally March 8-13, but otherwise, we will just wing it, getting from here to there.

I lucked into a week's reservation in Yosemite Valley for the beginning of April so we will have a couple of weeks to get there after the Escapee's Rally.

So, mostly, we wing it, unless there is a must do event or hard to reserve location. Our reservations so far in Florida, at state parks, have been what we find when we figure out where we want to go - any where from 1 day to 3 weeks in advance.

In general, we won't drive more than 300 miles in a day. We always know where we will be going before we leave, though we don't necessarily have reservations. For every 100 miles we drive, the minimum stay is 1 day. Hope this helps!

[happynow]

Deprived:we thank you for your well timed post.
DH retires in 2 weeks, we move to FL at the end of this month. Our plan is to begin full time October 2015, not sure how long...

Purchased 2015 Thor Four Winds Siesta 24ST in December.Newbies to the RV world, lifelong tent campers.

We'd also like to hear the Forum advice on long term planning.