Do you like to head off on an RV with no plan other than to just move forward on an interesting road to see what’s around the next corner? And the next corner, and the next… And when you leave your camping spot for the night, do you look ahead through your windshield and decide right then and there which direction looks most appealing, north, east, south, west? And, decision made, you just head off in that direction and hope for the best.
Or does the idea of following a strict schedule, where you need to be at Point A on one day and then Point B on another — does that keep you smack dab in your comfort zone? Does it make you uneasy not knowing where you will stay that night or the next night without reservations?
So, which is it with you: Do you prefer a tightly planned itinerary or one that’s totally free-form, just like the RV industry preaches in its ads —”Go where you want, when you want!”
been burned too many times to be spontaneous. always go with a plan
Tbe first one without question. I like the variability the morning walk through the campground with our dog brings. That’s about it. I like the rest planned, including meals.
I like to plan the big things that are going to require reservations and such, then let the little side trips work their way out on their own.
I have RV’d since 1988. When we plan our trips, it’s like: Let’s go visit my Mom in Pennsylvania (we’re in CA). We’ll go the southern route and come back the northern route. That’s it. If relatives/friends are near our routes, we stop off and see them. Up until 2019, we never made reservations or called ahead and pulled in usually after dark up until 10 PM. Never had a problem finding a spot. (except AT Disney World and once in CA). We would stop at tourist/interesting spots as we came upon them. 20 miles one day, 450 miles the next day. It was fun and we enjoyed our trips!
My hub and I are very new to RVing. Experienced campers, but really cautious yet. Phone directions have gotten us into so much trouble. On our last trip my phone died and I was a nervous wreck. We went back to the free state map and the seat of our pants. We didn’t get lost until we were in the campground!
Following Covid it has become more necessary to have at least some reservations…. especially for holiday weekends. Traveling the west coast of N. CA, OR & WA this summer most of the rv parks we visited were full. Some, months ahead of time, did not have any availability so we had to find a different place to stay.
I plan and make reservations but I also build in wiggle-room. I research museums, festivals, and attractions. I print out portions of their websites so I have operating days and hours.
There’s nothing worse than being at home after a trip that had minimal planning and find out you missed something you’d love to have experienced. It might be a museum that’s only open a few days a week, or a festival the week before your trip.
My biggest miss was on a trip through St. Louis and discovering that Summer Solstice at Cahokia Mounds was several days before we arrived.
“Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site is a UNESCO World Heritage Centre near the city of St. Louis. This is the largest pre-Columbian settlement north of Mexico and is the pre-eminent example of Mississippian cultural.”
Just make sure your plans have room for spontaneity.
We plan and make reservations, usually, for the first few stops then wing it for the rest of our trips. Anywhere from 4-8 weeks at a time.
I always have a campground reservation one year in advance, especially since covid-19 hit. It usually takes that long to find places to visit while we’re there.
We fulltime and plan a week to a month in advance except for winter. Sometimes we change direction and make a new short term plan. Holidays are exceptions.
Ok, I am OCD so spontaneous scares me. Ok maybe just makes me uneasy. Being 45 ft long with a trailer, it becomes harder to find sites on the fly. As a matter of fact, it can be harder even when planning ahead. I do like to leave some wiggle room. I wonder how many of the spontaneous people spend a lot of time lot-docking.
I loved that we only had to make reservations a few days or hours ahead – except for holidays! We lived like that for 8 years…now, reading what people have to do, sounds awful. I’m glad we got to see and camp in all the lower 48 and Canada when we did; now we can pick and choose and sit back and just do shorter trips, with longer stays closer to our home base (which we didn’t even have before).
I do summer trips only, from TX to Mid-West. With family and friends at every stop up north, reservations are a must. Although the month of July we stay in a small town in Wisconsin, that has NO reservations or time limits at their city park. From TX to MN trip depending on speed and weather there are RV stays places every 200-300 miles, that allow you to setup and park overnight.
We look forward to attempting spontaneity after we’re retired. Right now it’s impossible.
With a 43′ Class A, we haven’t been able to be spontaneous for years. We nearly always have end-to-end reservations whenever we take a trip. The exception is when we are going cross-country and we know we can find a truck stop, parking lot, or some other out-of-the-way place to pull over for a few hours.
And, unfortunately, today we find more and more campgrounds wanting to see pictures of our 16-year-old coach before they let us in. On the positive side, I still get a lot of “that’s how old?” comments when they see our (well-maintained) bus. We have never been denied entry anywhere, but I know the day is coming….
We still like to be spontaneous, but we find that parking the coach somewhere known for a week or so, and then heading out on day trips with the car (within about a 50-75 mile range) works pretty well for us.
With my micro camper van I’m always spontaneous, which is heavenly.
Pammy, I envy your program and all of the 3% that rolls out on a whim. We can’t do it with our rig but, for anyone that can and does, cheers.
Every stop from December to May is planned out, reserved, and sometimes paid in advance.
Traveling from Toronto, Canada for our winter pilgrimage to various SW USA destinations in a 35′ 5th wheel, I have zero desire not to know where I will be next. Two to six weeks in every location allows for plenty of spontaneity during out stays.
We never travel without having reservations at all of our planned destinations.
Honestly, it depends on the purpose of the trip. If the trip is to get to a specific end destination, I like to lock in all the stops. If we are ‘touring’, I prefer to have as specified, ‘wiggle room’
Destination in mind, daily distance guessed, first night scheduled. Everything else is anybody’s guess.
More of a get there planner.
That’s our speed. Maybe the 2nd stay if it’s more popular. Plan fuel stops, like Flying J RV lanes.
Anymore and it’s almost like work, “Gotta go” and something will break.
Bingo!