Planning your route.

[RangerJay]

The challenge of spontaneity:

• you don't get to see it all - you find yourself 3/4 way through your available time .... and 1/4 way through your destinations .....

The challenge of rigid planning:

• you see it all ..... but when you get home and look at the pictures you can't quite remember being there ..... and you ask yourself if you actually had a vacation ....

The secret?

• a loose schedule of destinations - with rough time slots - keep track of how far ahead or behind you are - adjust your "schedule" as needed to adapt to spontaneous decisions.
  • A helpful program is Microsoft Street and Trips - it is easy to use - accommodates changes quickly - and shows the impact of those changes immediately.

Jay

[Archersfin]

We are very new to this kind of camping. I want to see it all and know there is not enough time. I have more years behind me than I do ahead of me. My wife wants to go West and I want to go to Nova Scotia, so the boss wins out next year.
Thanks for all the support,
I just love this site, there is so much experience on here people are willing to share.

[Ahab]

We don't plan or make reservations as we can dry camp and our coach being less than 25' can get in just about anywhere. In the past, we usually found a more suitable campsite after arriving at our reserved destination. Did a three week to Yellowstone, Zion, Grand Tetons, Bryce Canyon, and Grand Escalante with no problem. We travel mid-week and try to arrive at the destination around noon. Our IPhone with the Campground App lets us know what's available in the area and how to get there.

[DaveFL]

When we were traveling in our van rv, we seldom did reservations, it was easy to park anywhere, make u turns and being spontaneous but now that we moved up to 31 ft MH that has to change. Adding a toad next trip and will have reservations most of the way especially for weekends. If you check reserveamerica you can get an idea of how the system fills thur-sat while rest of week near empty conditions.

[Gene]

Originally Posted by Archersfin

My wife wants to go West and I want to go to Nova Scotia, so the boss wins out next year.

When we were in Nova Scotia in '04, the roads were really bad, so west may be the way to go. On the other hand, NS is full of good stuff but so is the west, especially Colorado.

Another aspect of traveling—plan or no plan, you can't see it all, so you'll have to come back (or if it's bad, never come back). The first trip is exploratory.

Gene

[Chief]

OK....my name is Ron, and I must confess.....I plan to the extreme. Spreadsheets with costs, mileage, etc. and reservations at least six months in advance. Google Earth provides a nice view of unfamiliar places, and prints of campground layouts/overnite stops. I research activities in an area that we will be in for a few days and even go so far as to research restaurants where we may be "dining out." Everything goes into a tabbed three-ring binder.

I have been accused of being a bit too anal, but a 30-day adventure out West in '09, and this year's 30-day Northeastern trip to Prince Edward Island, BC proved the value of precise planning. We had the "best" campsites, enjoyed the major attractions in each area, and ate at some great places. We didn't waste valuable time finding a campground with "leftover" sites, or trying to decide what activities we were interested in. Of course, good planning requires that you consider "rest" days and the flexibility for potential travel delays.....we had to replace a couple of GY Marathons on our last trip, but that only delayed us for a few hours and an "earlier than planned" overnite stop.

I believe it all boils down to whatever makes you happy......advance planning, or hitchup and go.....it's all good!

And, just to give you a smile......I've already laid out next year's three-week trip in May.....a return to Colorado and Utah. The campgrounds have been selected and at one-minute after midnight EST on the appropriate date in November....I'll be on the computer trying to snag the sites at Zion and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Ron

[SteSpot]

Originally Posted by kingfisher24

If one enters starting and ending destinations in the "get directions" in googles maps in ones computer it will reveal exactly how long it will take to get from one place to another

it is no secret

I have not found a place in Google that tells me that I might want to pull off and spend some time and see some things instead of just driving through. And, we find it takes longer than google time for us. Also, I don't see google telling me to take an alternate route because it is prettier, etc. A lot depends upon how you want to travel....do you want some planned spontaneity? I suspect there are lots of secrets that Google doesn't know about. pj

[Gene]

I will confirm Ron's überplanning—well, über for me, and people think I'm anal. I've seen his binders and they are thorough. But as he says, everyone has a different level of comfort. In case you think Ron spends 11 months a year in cave surrounded by a library of tour books and computers, he has a nice normal house and he and his wife Jenn are gracious hosts. Of course, there could be a cave under the back yard…

I hope next year's plan includes a stop at our house, Ron (if we haven't sold it by then).

Gene

[HiHoAgRV]

I have gone from Super Planner to a much more relaxed pace, and this year we are doing it with a 34' just like you have.

I'm currently in a campground in Rawlin's WY that, yesterday, we had no idea we would be here.

The tricks that have worked for us? Travel off-peak and get very comfortable with getting your trailer into and out of places. We are to the point that if the truck will fit, the trailer will follow...and call ahead that morning if you not sure of availability.

We usually have a planned route but we will vary it at the drop of a hat...heck, we have just gone 1/2 way across the USA, mainly on 2 lane roads!
Airstream Forums - HiHoAgRV

If it's crowded, I probably wouldn't wanna be there anyway

[SmokelessJoe]

Joe Reddington, the founder of the famous Iditarod Dog Race in Alaska passed on several years ago. His obituary told that he had often said : “if you don’t have a plan, that’s one less thing that can go wrong”.

I liked that, perhaps because I’ve mostly thought like that too.

I generally motor with a rough idea of where I’m headed but rarely book hotels ahead. I find having to be someplace at a certain time is stress producing. People who are wired oppositely will worry about NOT knowing were they’re staying that night.


I want the flexibility to get distracted or wander off-course.

An exception to my travel style had to be made when I took a 27-day, 4428-kilometer Rent-a Car-drive across 5 of the 9 South African provinces last winter. Because travel warnings made me realize that an elderly, lone driver should probably not be on the road after dark I plotted out my route and booked my accommodation, using internet searches and email, before I left Canada. I admit that it was nice to be received as “the traveler from Toronto” when I arrived at hotels, lodges and B&B’s there.

South Africa was a magical place - with stunning, ever-changing views around every bend and warm, smiling, welcoming people everywhere.

My rig hasn’t been out on the road yet but I want to spend this winter in Mississippi and Louisiana with it.



Trailer parks are not for me. I prefer a small-town fairground, or to be parked behind a farmer’s red barn - within Mini Cooper striking distance of, say, a Memphis or a Baton Rouge.




A couple of winter’s ago, I Mini-motored The Blues Highway, Mississippi # 61, down to New Orleans. At Clarksdale, Mississippi, near the famous Robert Johnson corner were Highway 49 crosses 61, I stumbled upon this gem:

ShackUpInn.com | Home


I loved the Shack Up Inn so much that I stayed there on the way back North too.

The Shack Up is on the original, famous Hopson Plantation and virtually unchanged from cotton pick’ in days. The rooms are in a restored cotton gin and in authentic sharecropper’s shacks. The whole thing is like a genius, primitive folk-art piece.

So, the other day, beginning my trip South in my mind, I wrote the owners of the Shack Up to ask if I could park in their yard, behind some sheds, for a week or 10 days at the start of my Mississippi exploration. They replied; “Come on down”.


From Clarksdale I’ll plot whether to turn east or keep going further south, hoping always to find a spot in a park or sports field or fairgrounds -or maybe a farmstead to take me in.

Long ago, planning my rig, I decided to build a “waste management compartment” (fancy talk for a macerator) into the trailer.



I think this gives me options that don’t tie me to dump stations. Maybe we could say that I was planning then so as not to have to plan too much now.


Sergei

[gail]

Some helpful tools for planning. RV park reviews on line has reviews of rv parks throughout the USA, public and privately owned. AAA has free books on sites to see in different states and also they offer camping guides as well. Garmin navigator when you go to lodging will also give campgrounds within in 15 miles of where you are. An idea of where you want to go is great, but things may change, flexibility is a key. We stated our journey recently and we do not like heat so our plans changed and we continued to go where it was cooler. Also take a tool box something is bound to need a fix, loose screws or a wire drops, it all part of the adventure, Happy Trailering!!!!!!!! The greatest fun!

[Archersfin]

Thanks for all the response. I didn't expect this much information.
Vernon and Sarah. Your trip is amazing. I am watching and following your route. Keep on posting your trip. Yellowstone is one of our destinations next year.
Looks like it might take more than a couple of weeks for the first trip. That is the advantage of being retired. Just have someone keep the yard work up and stop the mail, you can stay gone as long as you like. We are taking a mini trip in October just to see if everything is working OK. Still have a few things to do to the trailer, but there is plenty of time.

[Gene]

Originally Posted by Archersfin

That is the advantage of being retired. Just have someone keep the yard work up and stop the mail, you can stay gone as long as you like.

Another thing to plan is paying bills. We used to do it by mail and check on things by phone. Phone wasn't always reliable and mail could be slow, especially from northwest Canada.

Gradually, over the years, more and more things have been switched over to automatic payments from credit cards. As wifi has expanded, we can check the bills and credit card status online. But credit cards have to be paid and you can't pay those with anther card. Our local bank's one is easy—just call them and tell them to pay it out of our checking account (small bank, easy to deal with). The other card can be paid online (or by phone) from our checking account.

Mail is now unnecessary, but phone is essential. Cell service keeps getting better and wifi, also getting better, helps a lot. So, the old days of writing checks on the dining room table, putting them in envelopes and mailing them is gone—not that we did this willingly, just had to change because of long trips.

We have a neighbor who takes care of things here and when she's on a trip, we reciprocate. It's wonderful to have a responsible and good neighbor. Some people have to hire house sitters or someone to cut the grass. Out in the boonies, the grass just grows, the drip system is automatic, and the neighbor waters the house plants and make sure the cat has food.

So why are we home? The neighbor is on a cruise ship in Alaska.

Gene

[Archersfin]

Gene,
Thanks for the heads up.