New Hampshire to Oklahoma

[Lawrencemountain]

Hello Friends, The wife and I are headed to Oklahoma, then Tennessee then back to NH for our Thanksgiving Trip. This will be the longest trip for us in our Momentum 351. I am looking for advice and experience on places to stay along the way. I have been reading about truck stops that are RV friendly but it appears parking spaces are limited and by using the Flying J App, all spaces including truck parking can fill every night. We are open to all ideas such as parking lots, campgrounds with overflow parking, truck stops, rest areas and anything else you may know that we don't. If you have knowledge or suggestions I look forward to hearing from you. Our plan so far is to travel I84, I80, I70 and I44 south, then I44 east to Tennessee, I81 back to New England.

[FT4NOW]

If you plan to use truck stops it's a good idea to check them out using the satellite view on google maps ahead of time and get an idea of where they are. There are truck stop apps which tell how many spots a truck stop has which is helpful. If you wait until it's late in the day you might not have any spots available, some areas are better than others. When we have traveled near the Smokey Mountains the truck stops had very limited spots and once we waited until it was too late and drove around for an hour trying every truck stop and there were literally no spots available and we ended up at a Walmart for the night. I prefer truck stops for an overnight stop if I plan on getting up right away to continue a drive.

Other bit of advice for truck stops. Be courteous to the truckers, some RVers give us a bad rap while staying there. Dont deploy slides unless you are on an end spot that overlaps a grass area and keep your stairs retracted. Truck spots dont have much room between them and truckers arent expecting obstacles sticking out into their spots. When backing into a spot put your hazards on, it's what let's other truckers know you are trying to park. Like I said, spots are tight, make sure you are comfortable backing in, getting out and looking and making multiple attempts is preferred over backing into another truck. Dont worry about taking your time parking, even some of the truckers struggle at times.

It's ok to run your generator all night if you have one on your 351. The trucks will all be running anyway and your generator will be quieter than all the trucks.

Another good overnight option is KOA, some of them are pricey, but the convenience of being able to reserve last minute sites using their website is very helpful. If making a last minute KOA reservation, you should at least call the office before it closes to find out what the after hours check-in process is if arriving after the office closes.

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[Lawrencemountain]

Thank you for your input. I am hoping to utilize truck stops for the convenience but feeling very intimidated by the process. I suppose that after you visit a few truck stops you will start to get the hang of it.

Late night arrival is also a concern as we often drive long days and pull in late. Other than Walmarts; where else do you find to crash for the night? Any suggestions there would be great as we should have back up plans.

I'm going to check into KAO next so I can add that to the plan.

[GeoffnCheri]

Petit Jean State Park in AR. I-40 exit 108. There is also a Pilot/Flying J at exit 107