Should I make reservations or wing it?

SteveWoz wrote:
This might be the most general of general questions but since I'm a relative newbie - at least in terms of owning a motorhome - I really want the opinions of more experienced RVers.

I'm planning a 3-week family trip this summer starting at home in CT and heading west to at least the Montana Rockies, but possibly all the way to the West Coast. I figure it will take 4 or 5 days to get to MT traveling at a comfortable pace. I'm wondering whether you all recommend making campground reservations along the way and in MT or is it safe to make decisions about where to stop on a daily basis.

I figure boondocking is always an option. I know there are a countless variables but this question is already fairly long.

Thanks in advance!

Steve,

Welcome to the group. I see from your profile that this may not be your first rodeo, but do not that stop you from thinking about it.

As many others have said, reservations are rarely necessary unless your destination is highly desirable. For all the other times, load and look at RVParky. It is both an App and website. It is valuable when traveling by coach. Working it as a website is easier. I see you will be traveling by motorhome. This has a great advantage if you can sleep with the slides in. If not, you just have to be more conscious of where you can actually hold up for the night. This is where RVParky will do you the most good.

First a minor vocabulary item. Boondocking specifically (though others may disagree) to camping someplace that there is nobody else around. I think what you are hoping to do is dry camping (no hookups) on pavement. That goes by lots of other labels. Until you get to upper Maine and some or the good parts of northern New York, real boondocking is just not possible.

Another thing to be aware of (being from Connecticut it is understandable) is that there are expanses of this country that are simply unfathomable to those of us that lived in the megopolis of the east (or any) coast. (I am a refugee from the megopolis). Have you counted out that it is 4ea - 10 hour road days just to get from Harford to Denver? Those 10 hours do not include fuel stops and nature breaks. Unless you have a very good co-driver, that is too much time in the saddle. And Denver is only the Front Range. We used to go to visit parents (grandparents) in Mystic. From SE MI to there was 12 road hours in a comfortable car with very good tank range and we were decades younger then.

Unfortunately, there is no good replacement for the two good planners. Those used to be Streets and Trips and Street Atlas. Those could help you to plan a trip in detail and because they were not web-based, you could use them for enroute navigation. There is one good web-based that you can try, it is Furkot. This has a steep learning curve, but the available tutorials are real good and it is FREE to use. It can point you to End Of Day and Fuel Stop locations.

As you are not new to Rving, I will not suggest that you do the first night in the driveway. It is still a good idea with unfamiliar hardware, but less essential.

One of my now favorite quotes is from Charles Kuralt:
"Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything."

I wish you great times and safe travels.

Matt