Finding places to stop along the way (during the day)

[kokotg]

We just bought our first travel trailer a few weeks ago and so far have only a couple of weekend trips close to home under our belts. But we're planning on a lot of long summer road trips over the next few years. We have 4 kids and are used to being able to break up long driving days with a stop somewhere to let the kids run around....a museum or mall or park or whatever's on the way. So my question is....how much are we going to need to adjust our travel style to accommodate this big old trailer we're pulling now? Trailer is almost 33 feet and we're towing with a full size van, so total length is....a lot. Do we need to resign ourselves to places that we can walk to from a Wal-mart parking lot from now on? Or is finding places to stop easier than it seems to my intimidated newbie self? Should we call ahead and ask about RV parking for tourist places? I feel like I must be overthinking this since I don't see people talking about it much anywhere. But I'm pretty good at overthinking things ;).

[ktmrfs]

we pull a 35ft trailer with a crew cab pickup. 65ft overall.

Like you we like to stop at local "attractions". Usually travel by back roads. Have yet to have trouble seeing what we want. If something is on a "back road" where we question access or parking, we will call ahead and ask.

What we have found is that most attractions have some access for RV parking nearby or a nearby mall, shopping center, etc. with a way to park.

[tatest]

Why am I responding to this twice? Did somebody bump it?

[tatest]

When traveling with the grandchildren in a 30 foot motorhome, I had no difficulty finding places to stop every hour or two so they could work off some energy. Parks worked quite well from age three until the early teens, after which I started to have to look for places with some intellectual interest as well, like local museums or historic sites. For teen girls, a stop at a mall usually works, but these tend to be longer stops.

Across most of the country there will be small towns 15 to 50 miles apart, and almost all of the towns have parks. Most of the small town parks have adequate open parking for RVs towing or being towed, most of the day. Only occasionally would I encounter an "event" going on in a small town that tied up all the parking around a park or recreation area.

You have to get off the Interstate to find the parks, because the Interstate system intentionally bypasses all of these places of minor congestion (then runs right through the middle of the really big cities). Most of the time, the towns are on the old highways that the Interstate replaced, often serving as a business route. The problem will be not knowing whether something is there that makes it worth your while to divert into town, the Interstate guides tend to focus on what is immediately at the exit.

I find the parks most of the time by just traveling the pre-Interstate highways.

[pira114]

I'm going to have to disagree that "planning is key."

I feel the best way to travel with kids is to be flexible, play it by ear, and make sure everyone knows in advance that the trip is part of the adventure. Things may be great, and they may not. Don't worry about it and go.

As for length, don't worry about that. I park easily in places now that I would have thought impossible when I started. Just go with your comfort level. You can always get halfway into a parking spot and change your mind if it ain't working.

My advice is load up, pedal down, mind open. The rest of my life is planned enough

[Allworth]

I think you will find that most, if not all, stand alone National Park Service locations (National Parks, National Battlefield Parks, and National Historic Sites) have some kind of designated RV parking. Maybe not right next to the Visitor's Center, but somewhere nearby.

Exceptions might be densely urban sites like the Charles Town Navy Yard (USS Constitution; Boston) or Independence Hall (Philly) or anything in DC. On the other hand, there isn't much convenient parking for any kind of car or truck. Public transit is your friend.

[Houston_Remodel]

Calling ahead helps too. You're not the first people to ask. A little polite southern charm can work wonders.

When visiting the Biltmore, they put us in the overflow / ad hoc RV section.
When visiting Longwood Gardens, they gave us our choice of the far end of the lot which had trees for shade.

On both occasions we got there early so no one was in our way.

[ependydad]

kokotg wrote:
Thanks, everyone! Sounds like planning ahead is key.

I guess I should say that another concern I have, aside from just breaking up long drives (and we don't plan on terribly long days....we're making tentative plans for a 3 1/2 week trip next summer, and the longest driving day as it stands now is 7 hours, and that's to get home on the last day....but with a 3 year old even 4 or 5 hours can seem like forever :)).....is when there's something we want to stop and see along the way but we can't or don't want to devote an overnight stop to it.

One example (the one that prompted me to start the thread) is a day on next year's itinerary where we're planning to drive from Greensboro, NC to Charlottesville, VA...the total drive is only 180 miles, so maybe a little over 3 hours. But we'd love to stop and see Appomattox Court House on the way (about an hour from Charlottesville). In just a car, it'd be a no brainer; perfect place to stop for a couple of hours, have a picnic, kids could get a Junior Ranger badge, etc. But I'm worried it won't be nearly so reasonable with the trailer....the website says they have bus parking for groups, but I don't know if they like to give out their bus parking to people who just have vehicles the same SIZE as a bus but with just 6 people in them. I know we'll have to adjust how we travel somewhat; I guess I'm just trying to get a feel for how many things like that it's reasonable to still expect to be able to do.

We like our stops. The silly/goofy things are nice to break up the monotony. I travel with a 3 year old and an 11 year old. But, the stops are for me- not them. With some activities, naps, and electronic devices- they'll go for a long long time.

We find stops in a variety of ways:
- Good ole fashioned roadside signs.
- Roadside America if I look before hand; I'll swing the route to pickup something. I don't find it's a good "underway" resource.
- RoadTrippers.com has been my most recent favorite.

For each of these, we'll generally use Google Maps aerial views to check the parking situation. If I'm looking ahead of time, it's me that scopes it out. If we're on the road, my wife will. The funnest ones are when I see a roadside sign and dive for an exit- she generally has between the exit and the attraction to tell me if we'll fit! It's our own version of Mission Improbable. 😄

Sure it makes the drive longer, but if you plan for stops- it's totally bearable. We once stopped at South of the Border for a good 2 hours between lunch (yuck!) and their Reptile House (cool!).

A pull-off at Key West. It was the only one that I felt comfortable that I could get in and back out of.


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[kokotg]

tonyandkaren wrote:
This may not be useful to you because as two adults and no kids we visit a lot of places that would be boring for kids but I've noted on each of my blog posts the amount of RV parking at an attraction. http://rollinginarv-wheelchairtraveling.blogspot.com/

Or as you have found out, if you ask on here about a specific place you just might get some good answers! 🙂

That's okay; we go to lots of places that are boring for kids, too ;). For real, though, I have one toddler, but the other three are 9-14, so they're old enough to enjoy most historical sites and the like. Thanks--I've been to your blog before :), and I'll definitely be checking it for specific places we might want to stop as I make plans!

[tonyandkaren]

This may not be useful to you because as two adults and no kids we visit a lot of places that would be boring for kids but I've noted on each of my blog posts the amount of RV parking at an attraction. http://rollinginarv-wheelchairtraveling.blogspot.com/

Or as you have found out, if you ask on here about a specific place you just might get some good answers! 🙂

[kokotg]

NYCgrrl wrote:

You can park any type of RV at that National Park. They even have a grassy run off area during the summer season:).

oh, good--that's great to know--thanks! Well, that's one problem solved anyway 🙂

[kokotg]

SoundGuy wrote:


Just playing the devil's advocate here but knowing you wanted to travel so much with this trailer it would to me have made more sense to limit the length of the trailer to something more reasonable, somewhere in the 25' to no more than 30' range. Yeah, I know - 4 kids - but there are still shorter rigs out there that can accommodate what you want to do but aren't anywhere near as long, including rear glide models that tow significantly shorter than campsite length. Our own previous KZ Spree 240BH was a triple bunk trailer, measured 26' 9" coupler to bumper, and from personal experience having camped in many US locations with it I wouldn't have wanted anything longer, in fact preferably closer to 25' overall. Private campgrounds like KOAs are one thing but state and national parks can be another matter, where the more you exceed 25' or so the tougher it will be to get a suitable site, especially in situations where you want your freedom and don't want to reserve ahead of time but instead just show up hoping the campground in question has a site large enough to accommodate your trailer AND tow vehicle. And obviously, the shorter your overall length the easier it would be to find a place to park when you stop along the way. Kinda late now I know ... just sayin'. :W

Believe me, I really wanted something shorter, and I spent a long time trying to make it make sense for us. We not only have 4 kids, but the youngest is 2 and can't share a bed with anyone without waking them up, and the oldest is 14 and already 5'10" and not nearly finished growing yet. And the next two aren't far behind him. We looked a lot at the Rockwood minilite with the quad bunks and the murphy bed, until we tried it out and realized the bunks are almost exactly the same length as my oldest son (if Rockwood had made those bunks 2 inches longer, they might well have sold us on it). And we looked at rear slide models, but we were afraid it would feel too claustrophobic with all of us (not to mention the 3 dogs when we bring them along). My husband's a teacher, so we're hoping to spend up to 8 weeks at a time on the road most summers, and we'd prefer to still like each other by August :). So the longer trailer was definitely a compromise....just a different kind of compromise than stuffing the six of us into something smaller would have been. I guess time will tell whether we made the right compromise for us or not (or 8 years will pass, we'll only have one kid left at home, and we'll have all kinds of choices). But, at any rate, it was not a decision made without lots and lots and lots of weighing of assorted pros and cons.

[NYCgrrl]

kokotg wrote:
Thanks, everyone! Sounds like planning ahead is key.

I guess I should say that another concern I have, aside from just breaking up long drives (and we don't plan on terribly long days....we're making tentative plans for a 3 1/2 week trip next summer, and the longest driving day as it stands now is 7 hours, and that's to get home on the last day....but with a 3 year old even 4 or 5 hours can seem like forever :)).....is when there's something we want to stop and see along the way but we can't or don't want to devote an overnight stop to it.

One example (the one that prompted me to start the thread) is a day on next year's itinerary where we're planning to drive from Greensboro, NC to Charlottesville, VA...the total drive is only 180 miles, so maybe a little over 3 hours. But we'd love to stop and see Appomattox Court House on the way (about an hour from Charlottesville). In just a car, it'd be a no brainer; perfect place to stop for a couple of hours, have a picnic, kids could get a Junior Ranger badge, etc. But I'm worried it won't be nearly so reasonable with the trailer....the website says they have bus parking for groups, but I don't know if they like to give out their bus parking to people who just have vehicles the same SIZE as a bus but with just 6 people in them. I know we'll have to adjust how we travel somewhat; I guess I'm just trying to get a feel for how many things like that it's reasonable to still expect to be able to do.

You can park any type of RV at that National Park. They even have a grassy run off area during the summer season:).

[hitchup]

When we Van traveled with up to 6 kids (5 of them boys), I would look at the Road Atlas or map or even brochures picked up at the Stateline Welcome Center. That's how we found the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert before hitting the Grand Canyon. The kids all walked off excess energy and excitement from the trip. Now that we RV and it's only the 2 of us, we have different needs.

During this Summer, we took a 5-wk over 6000 mile vacation with 1 GD, I did quite a bit of pre-planning. Most of the places, we had multiple choices of where to stop before the night's campground. Might hit one, but not the other depending on how traffic or the weather may have slowed us down. Each night, we'd assess where we were and see if we wanted to add, subtract or reroute to see something different.

It was a lot of work, initially (2 yrs of planning and changing). But since we had MS Streets & Trips to help plan the whole 5+ weeks, it went fairly smooth. We took the Lance, so since we were smaller and only needed 30amps, we only made 2 reservations the whole trip. The rest were a call about 1-2 hrs ahead of arrival.

Next time, I think we'll plan a little less and when we tire, look for an upcoming campground and pull in.

[SoundGuy]

kokotg wrote:
So my question is....how much are we going to need to adjust our travel style to accommodate this big old trailer we're pulling now? Trailer is almost 33 feet and we're towing with a full size van, so total length is....a lot.

Just playing the devil's advocate here but knowing you wanted to travel so much with this trailer it would to me have made more sense to limit the length of the trailer to something more reasonable, somewhere in the 25' to no more than 30' range. Yeah, I know - 4 kids - but there are still shorter rigs out there that can accommodate what you want to do but aren't anywhere near as long, including rear glide models that tow significantly shorter than campsite length. Our own previous KZ Spree 240BH was a triple bunk trailer, measured 26' 9" coupler to bumper, and from personal experience having camped in many US locations with it I wouldn't have wanted anything longer, in fact preferably closer to 25' overall. Private campgrounds like KOAs are one thing but state and national parks can be another matter, where the more you exceed 25' or so the tougher it will be to get a suitable site, especially in situations where you want your freedom and don't want to reserve ahead of time but instead just show up hoping the campground in question has a site large enough to accommodate your trailer AND tow vehicle. And obviously, the shorter your overall length the easier it would be to find a place to park when you stop along the way. Kinda late now I know ... just sayin'. :W