Some travelers plan how many miles they want to drive each day, where they’re going to stay each night, and what sights they’re going to visit along the way. Others just start driving, stop when they’re tired and hope to find a campground that has openings, and sight see when they see something interesting. After we’ve heard about how others plan their trips, we felt free to plan in a way that makes sense to us.
we only add states when we spend a night there
As a couple, Barney is the big picture, idea person. He sees possibilities and will take on new adventures. Because he knows me so well, he looks at large areas of the nation that we could visit and frames the options of the next trip in a way that captures my attention. What a guy!
After determining the big picture (northern Midwest, southwest swing to the West Coast, Canadian maritime provinces), we start investigating what’s available to see. For this step, we check out Pinterest, AAA, and talk to friends who have been to that area.
where to stay
As we determine the areas we want to see, we plot the towns or areas on an online map. From this map we can visually decide on the direction to travel. Our usual way of exploring is to park our RV in a central location and explore all that is in driving range. Then we relocate and repeat.
When we’re in this exploring mode, we try to find locations to camp about 50-100 miles apart. Barney has found a couple of apps that help us locate local campgrounds. With links to the campground websites, we can find out about the facilities and accommodations. Our preference is to have comfortable rather than fancy.
Typically we have a reservation for our next stop, sometimes the next 2 spots, but never more than these locations because we want to be free to spend more time at a place that we originally thought. Also, sometimes we may have some physical problems we need to take care of or decide that we need to shop, cook for the week ahead, or do laundry. At times we’ve realized that grocery shopping is better where we are than where we’re going, so a day to take care of us is crucial. Knowing what’s ahead helps us plan.
If the weather is really cold or hot, we’ll opt for full hookups. If not, or if we are just passing through, we may look for Walmarts or other big stores that allow staying overnight in their parking lots. The apps we use have this information too. We always have enough water and battery for an overnight, and the generator is in the back of the truck.
As we generally plan out our trip, Barney looks for stations with diesel fuel on an app so we know we’ll be able to keep on truckin’.
We love campsites where we can pull through, but that isn’t always possible.
apps we use
- campgrounds: ParkAdvisor’s RV Parks and Campgrounds
- fuel: Gas Buddy, especially because we need to find diesel
- truck stops: Pilot/Flying J, Love’s
- activities: Pinterest and Trip Advisor
- layout of an area: Google Maps (great offline map feature for when you have no service)
what to see
For each town or location, we go “old school” and write possibilities on a colored 3×5 card. If we get more ideas as we travel along, we add those ideas on the 3×5 card. You wonder why we go old school? All too often we don’t have internet available so we want to have information readily available that we can add to easily. Here’s a sample of one of our cards; we checkoff places we go to in case we ever return.
When we finally arrive at a planned destination, we check out the local visitors center and get more more information and brochures. For each town or area we visit, we keep a manila envelope available to store the brochures we pick up. (These envelopes are a great way to store all the brochures we pick up both on the road and when we get home.)
Then we start exploring!
