First long haul and lessons learned

[JJ_Spectre]

We just got back from what was our first "long" haul of about 1300 kms round trip. It was also our longest trip to date (8 days). Some of the things we learned along the way:

- Travelling with two small kids necessitates a stop every hour and a half to two hours. This is a sanity as well as a bladder saver. This one sunk in on the way back...
- Bring snacks and pack lunches to cut costs, minimize time spent off the road, and eat healthy while on the move.
- Potty breaks in the trailer go a lot quicker than going inside so having "some" fresh water on board is a plus.
- Discuss the route with your navigator/spouse before you leave to identify potential areas for concern and refuelling locations.
- If you take the dog camping, then take the dog with you on your excursions. Fireworks (Canada Day and Independence Day weekend, so lots of celebration) and dogs on their own don't mix. Now I have some repairs to do. I just hope he wasn't barking and disturbing everyone. 😞
- For us, ~500 kms in a day is the most we should attempt in a day if we want to still feel like the voyage is part of the vacation.

All in all, it was a great trip and a great experience. We were in an RV resort-type of establishment rather than a campground, so the amenities were very well established. Out next adventure is closer to home, but is dry camping. Time to break out the generator. I'm sure there will be more lessons learned after that experience. 🙂

[rfryer]

Supercharged wrote:
300 miles should be be the law for all RV's

I agree. For people who aren't capable of any more. But how do you identify them.

[Yamaki]

Bobbo wrote:
The first 3 are all reasons I went with a motor home instead of a towable. No stopping unless the DRIVER has to go. For lunch, DW goes to the kitchen, makes sandwiches, and brings them to the cab. We never even slow down. My bladder is almost exactly the same capacity (in miles between stops) as the gas tank. When we need fuel, I usually need to stop for a bathroom break. YMMV

Same here! Regardless of what we are traveling in, we do have to stop between tanks as the DW needs more frequent stops.

With a MH I think I may be in for more miles between stops! LOL

[brianpearce]

Another tip for traveling with kids is to put together a binder with activities they can do. My wife put them together for our 3 kids (8,6,4) with coloring pages, blank pages to color, puzzle pages (word search, connect the dots, etc). Each binder has its own pouch for pens, pencils, crayons, scissors. These have worked great for our shorter (2-5 hour) trips as well as our recent 3 week adventure covering 4000 miles.

[Thurbersfolks]

250 to 300 miles and 5 hours is plenty of driving for me specially if you are traveling cross country. Swollen legs, feet , etc. aren't nearly as bad when you stop more often and walk around. My last trip was three months and 8000 miles.

[harmanrk]

Supercharged wrote:
300 miles should be be the law for all RV's

Even at say, 60MPH, thats only 5 hours on the road. Thats done before lunch.

[Supercharged]

300 miles should be be the law for all RV's

[JJ_Spectre]

Tothill wrote:
Frozen juice boxes become slushies. Frozen yogourt tubs are another treat in our house.

Great idea!

[Tothill]

Our kids are teens now, but we do travel with a dog (sometimes cat too), and we still stop about every 2 hours.

We have set stops on the TCH between Vancouver and Calgary. Our old dog even knew when it was time to stop. When the kids were small, it was a place with a playground or pool. We have done the trip many times and found that by the time we reached Calgary we were happier as a whole if we had made all the planned stops.

On travelling days we make lunch at breakfast times and store it in a cooler. Years ago we found ziplock plates with lids. I wish we bought more, the plates are dinner sized and a sandwich, fruit, vegies etc fit just right. We wash the plates with the dinner dishes.

Frozen juice boxes become slushies. Frozen yogourt tubs are another treat in our house.

We always travel with water.

[doxiemom11]

Stopping every couple of hours is a good thing. Even if you eat on the run and don't have to go potty, you do need to walk around and get that blood flowing in the legs again. Not good to sit for hours at a time in a truck or motorhome. Deep Vein Thrombosis (blood clots).

[Bobbo]

The first 3 are all reasons I went with a motor home instead of a towable. No stopping unless the DRIVER has to go. For lunch, DW goes to the kitchen, makes sandwiches, and brings them to the cab. We never even slow down. My bladder is almost exactly the same capacity (in miles between stops) as the gas tank. When we need fuel, I usually need to stop for a bathroom break. YMMV