Newbies to extended camping trips

[SteverinoDC1]

My wife and I retired last year after working for 43 years. We always camped Thursdays to Sundays in local campgrounds (1 to 5 hours away). We are looking to go on extended camping trips but want to start out right. Crawl before you walk, so to speak. What would be the time allotted to be out on a trip to start? Ten days, two weeks, a month? What length of drive time do you plan to get to your next destination / campsite? Thanks ahead for any advice!!

 

[Second Chance]

It depends on what you're up for. We had owned a pop-up and travel trailer before and took some trips that were 4 - 5 days long. After getting our first fifth wheel, our first trip has lasted nine years. There's no set parameter - it's whatever you're comfortable planning and preparing for.

Rob

 

[SteverinoDC1]

It depends on what you're up for. We had owned a pop-up and travel trailer before and took some trips that were 4 - 5 days long. After getting our first fifth wheel, our first trip has lasted nine years. There's no set parameter - it's whatever you're comfortable planning and preparing for.

Rob

Rob,
Did you and your wife stay at a campground a specific number of days? How long would your travel day be whenever you packed up and moved to the next campsite? Unless I have a change of mind, I don't see me on the road for nine years living in Wherever USA ( I loved that btw!).
Steve

 

[kb0zke]

Jo Ann and I are full-timers, and have been since 2014. Our first major trip was to Michigan's UP for a family reunion. We picked up my sister about half-way up there, so stayed that night in a State park. Then several days at the reunion, and returned pretty much by the same route. The next trip was six weeks long, although, it was all in one place (work camping) a day's drive away.

After that we settled on driving for no more than about 250 miles and normally staying for at least two nights. Yes, there were times when we needed to move cross-country at a faster pace. Now, we're more into staying a week at a time.

I'd suggest that you start off by doing what you've been doing - take a few days to get used to the new rig. After that, plan a month or two and see how it goes.

 

[SteverinoDC1]

Jo Ann and I are full-timers, and have been since 2014. Our first major trip was to Michigan's UP for a family reunion. We picked up my sister about half-way up there, so stayed that night in a State park. Then several days at the reunion, and returned pretty much by the same route. The next trip was six weeks long, although, it was all in one place (work camping) a day's drive away.

After that we settled on driving for no more than about 250 miles and normally staying for at least two nights. Yes, there were times when we needed to move cross-country at a faster pace. Now, we're more into staying a week at a time.

I'd suggest that you start off by doing what you've been doing - take a few days to get used to the new rig. After that, plan a month or two and see how it goes.

David,
Thanks for the information! Those are the things I am looking for starters. This is my 10th year camping. We camped 2 years in a tent, 6 years in a Rockwood Roo hybrid trailer, and now 2 years in the Reflection 260 RD. We retired and camped Monday through Friday, and now want to expand our camping to weeks and months away. Our first trip this year was 4.5 hours away. We stayed for 4 days and that would be a perfect combo (time traveled and length of stay) for shorter trips. I can see how a 2-day stay would get you further out and away.
Thanks again!
Steve

 

[sande005]

If mostly Interstate, I budget an average of 50 mph, and about 6 hrs, max. Of course we drive closer to 65, the the lower guess seems to accommodate fuel/rest stops well. Number of days depends...if a particular destination is aways away, we may do up to 3 days in a row (4 max) before doing a double nighter to get laundry done, restock supplies, take a driving break, etc. Adjust as called for for sights to see along the way. Every other day as routine seems to get to be a pain with setup/teardown, unless there is a reason to be so frequent. If smaller things to do, then we'll stay three night (one to get setup, sightseeing, and then that house chores day. Longest we did when new RV'ers was 4 weeks, after a few weekend try-it-outs. Many 2-3 weekers in there too. Then we took the plunge and did 3 months, twice, although in the same destination spot (that took 4 days to get to). Toys you bring (bikes, kayaks, fishing gear, etc.) will shape the trip, also. The biggest - how long can you get along with the other people in a smaller space for a prolonged period - especially after a few rain days in a row?

 

[WhittleBurner]

Our longest trip when we had the Aliner was about 1 month. Then we got a tt and went for about the same length..ffwd to the 5th wheel and went for about 3 months for our first extended road trip.. We like to drive about 6 hrs tops, often shorter depending on the next stop. We are not fond of several 1 nights in a row and find that tiring.

We select a beginning destination and an ending spot and research routes and points in between that catch our interest. I do day trip radius searches from where we stop. We like to explore areas that will likely not go back to (unless someplace really calls us back) so generally stay 1 to 2 weeks. Now and then we do a 4 nights if the area is lacking what interests us.

One thing we always do is allow down time of a day or 2 in the schedule now and then , it's easy to burn out of you are constantly on the go. When we went west we did 10 days in Yellowstone, could have easily done 3 weeks and not run out of things to see and do. The other side of the coin is when we went to Savanah 4 days was not nearly enough so we are going back for a full week this fall.

Much of how you travel will vary from others, we all have individual likes and stamina. Some do 3 hr days. We have no set travel day time other than no more than 6 .hrs

I find planning to be fun

 

[Second Chance]

Rob,
Did you and your wife stay at a campground a specific number of days? How long would your travel day be whenever you packed up and moved to the next campsite? Unless I have a change of mind, I don't see me on the road for nine years living in Wherever USA ( I loved that btw!).
Steve[/QU

It varied a lot. We alternated winters (usually about three months) between southern New Mexico (I have family there) and Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland (we have a bunch of grandkids in that area). The other nine months of each year were a combination of long and short trips with longer stays in various places depending on what we wanted to see where. For instance, we spent an entire summer on the Olympic peninsula in Washington state and six weeks another late summer/fall in New England. We absolutely loved both of those experiences. A month in a single campground on those trips were the longest stays and, otherwise, typically 3 - 7 nights. While on the road just to get someplace we reserve sites wherever convenient and comfortable. Over time, we settled on some frequent watering holes along the major routes east-west or north-south where we were comfortable stopping again when we passed by that way. We used Escapees Club parks and military campgrounds wherever available (I'm retired Army). A final note is about our mothers at the end of their lives (our fathers had already both passed away before we hit the road). With her mother in Richmond, VA, and mine in southern New Mexico, the RV enabled us to spend much more time with them at the end than we would have been able to had we still been tethered to a stix 'n brix. So, in short, no - no specific number of days. Everything depended entirely on our travel itinerary and our goals for that particular period.

Rob

 

[Riverbug]

Since retiring we've been able to take several months long trips. And we've learned a lot about how we like to travel now vs when we worked. Now we like backroads vs interstates. Canvasing an area by staying put for 5-7 days at a time so we can take day trips in every direction and get to know a place, then move to the next place and do it again. We did this in Colorado for two months and got to really see the state (and just about every mountain top we could access). When traveling to FL for a couple of months in winter we take a few weeks to get down there, and a few weeks on the way back, taking different routes each direction and each year - while in FL we stay put at one location near my Dad. Now we're on our 5 month trip to Alaksa; one month on the way through Canada, 2 months in Alaska, another month through Canada (different route) down to Washington to take one month getting back to MN. We like 4-5 hour drive time days which for us means 7-8 hours total time with stops along the way when we see something interesting or want a break. Bottom line is that you'll figure out how you like to travel, and hopefully will relish your new found freedom to take your time. No more work to get back to by x date. Enjoy!

 

[DragonDriver]

As many have said, no right way other than to be comfortable.

I personally can go about 400 miles in one day whilst on a multi-leg journey. You have to find what you're comfortable with.

 

[SWkern1]

Loving this discussion. My last day of work is Friday, 6/14 and then we will both be retired. Looking forward to no more weekend trips where you only have a day to relax. No thoughts of full-time RVing but plan on 2-3 week trips since we are on the east coast and have a lot of things out west we want to see.

 

[wkelly5688]

Just go!

50 MPH AVERAGE. No more than 6 hours/day. After 3 days travel, stop for 2!

 

[Boogiejack75]

50 MPH AVERAGE. No more than 6 hours/day. After 3 days travel, stop for 2!

If traveling long distance to a particular destination, two days back to back; stop for two days. Prefer 250-300 mile days, but have done 400+. That's my max. Retired, in no hurry. Spending a month or more in one location can be great. We have reservations for Maggie Valley NC for the month of October. Did the same thing two years ago. Awesome!!

 

[ajg617]

Our first trip was a weekend close by just to check everything. Our next was to a wedding in Sioux Falls a month later - 26 days. We then followed that later in the year to another wedding near Hot Springs, SD so Custer State Park, Devils Tower, and Garryowen for 42 nights. This past year 67 nights to Michigan, Duluth, Glacier, Yellowstone, Chattanooga, Southern Pines. I try not to drive more than 320 miles or so in a day so it takes awhile to get there and I'll typically do 1 night, 1 night, 2 nights until next destination. Most we've stayed at one location was Glacier (15 nights due to repairs) and Yellowstone (9 nights and I want to go back).

 

[SWkern1]

That's about what we will do. I'm the driver and my thought of what I'm willing to handle is the Rule of four. 4 hours or 4 hundred miles in a day and arrive by 4pm. We are making some plans to go ahead and go. I retire on the 14th, We leave on the 16th for 9 days in NJ, have 7 day trip to Ohio in July and 14 day trip to do US & CA Falls and Gettysburg in Sept. Thanks for the advice.

 

[mdwilliams44]

Agree, no single answer. Big Bang?

...Crawl before you walk, so to speak. What would be the time allotted to be out on a trip to start? Ten days, two weeks, a month? What length of drive time do you plan to get to your next destination / campsite? Thanks ahead for any advice!!

Hi,

The boss and I thought we would do "up to" a month or so. We had done relatively local state parks, camped at friends, and so on. Each of these was about a week, actually5 to 7 days.

Last year I proposed a "bucket list trip". We left NE Tenn. Went north through NY and into Ontario at Cornwall. From there East to Quebec, North to Labrador, East again to Newfoumdland.
Then south through Nova Scotia and New Brunswick before getting back into the US.

Total of just over 5 weeks. So that was a huge difference. We learned many things, made many mistakes, and found a routine. No more then two days on the road back to back, if possible. Then a minimum 2 nights to rest.

So, this year we are doing 8 weeks across Camada and the US. We'll see how that works.

My overall point is experiment, find your preferred cadence, and enjoy.?

 

[PJShirey]

If you're not already, look at the apps for reviews of the potential campsites with a live map. We use the campendium and Free Camping Apps to scope out spots to look at. The reviews are usually fairly timely and very helpful. There are plenty of these apps out there but I’ve found these reliable, using only the free versions.

 

[traveldawg]

How long you want to be gone from home (or how long you ‘can’ be gone) is pretty much a personal choice. Our shortest time is a few days to a week. Our longest is 7 months. At some point one just decides to go and distance is almost irrelevant as it is the time that decides how long & how far (maybe $$s too).

Somewhat like the OP we had been “local” camping for many years before retiring. The “local” camping extended up to 1000 miles for family visits and summer vacations with our children. So, of course, we had plenty of experience on the road. We even did a 4 week trip out West one year with the kids. It was pre-internet so paper maps, AAA guides, and the Woodlls & GoodSam directories were primary references.

We are, like others, plan 250 mile days. If we do this 3 or 4 days in a row (usually when heading W / NW from FL) and then stay a night or 2 some place.

I plan all trips except local trips or those to well know destinations within about 500 miles using RV Trip Wizard. It is invaluable to us to plan what camp
ground(s) to stop at.

Internet research of locations, attractions, travel stories (published and from others), and our desire to see things drives our itinerary as well as distance and time away from home.

Best advice to start taking longer trips: plan it and just go. Nothing more is going to happen thousands of miles from home than close to home. Just be mentally ready to deal with the unexpected and jus go.

 

[SolarPoweredRV]

One thing I might add...


The Driver controls the journey.

Sometimes I get sleepy and we are in the next Rest area, Truck Stop or wide spot on a back road. We drop the stabilizers and open the main slide (Passenger side) where the recliners live. If it is hot, we turn on the A/C and the Driver takes a nap, often, this stop will turn into eating dinner. Then we decide to stay in that spot for the night, or drive into the night for a few hours.

When we travel, we are very flexible. Because we have an on-board Inverter that powers everything, we don't need campgrounds every night. Consequently, we have found some very interesting spots to spend the night (in addition to Harvest Hosts).

I find on the beginning of the trip I am "raring" to go and don't want to drive short miles, later in the trip, I am more willing to have short drive days. Overall, our miles vary each day, but I am getting closer to the point of limiting our travel days to 300 miles or less (time and wisdom are beginning to take hold).

 

[kb0zke]

"...4 hours or 4 hundred miles in a day..." Just how fast do you drive?! <grin>

We generally figure about 200-250 miles per day, but we've done longer and shorter as needed. I know from experience that we can easily go 250 miles on a tank of fuel, and I start out with a full tank, so we usually don't have to take the trailer to get fuel. We also figure on 50 mph for planning purposes. Yes, we generally travel about 60 on the highway, but overall it averages closer to 50, and now that we're in the mountains it is less than that. Between the two, then, a travel day is 4-5 hours or less. If you figure in the time to hook up and unhitch, a travel day can run 6-7 hours or so. That's long enough.