By Gail Marsh
The Magi followed a star. Migrating birds follow their instincts. What do RVers follow? What drives you to travel to the places you go? How do you decide whether to go west or head east? How do you determine whether to travel down south or up north? Interesting questions! Let’s look at a few possibilities.
Weather
Many RVers like to follow pleasant weather. That usually means traveling south for the winter months and heading north in the summer. The weather is the determiner. It is the force that drives some RVers’ decisions.
Of course, the weather can be unpredictable. One winter we traveled more than 1,000 miles to escape the cold, Midwest winter temperatures and bitter snowstorms. What did we experience 1,000 miles south? One solid month of 50-degree temps and rain. The sun finally broke through the incessant clouds on the day we packed up to come home. (At least we escaped the snow!)
Travel destinations/bucket list locations
Maybe it’s your goal to see all 50 states, or maybe you want to visit as many national parks as possible.
Other RVers choose their routes and destinations in order to complete their wish or bucket lists. Perhaps you’ve always wanted to see the ocean, so the ocean becomes your destination. Or maybe “Grand Canyon” is on your bucket list, so you travel in your RV to see it (and of course, cross it off the list). So, a bucket list also helps some RVers determine where they should travel.
Hobbies/special interests
Many RVers have hobbies or a high degree of interest in certain areas. A quilter friend of mine likes to attend quilting retreats. She gets new ideas and gains a refreshed enthusiasm for her hobby at these events. So, quilting museums, retreats, and special displays help determine where she goes in her RV.
We have other friends who just love old cars. Their RV takes them to museums and rallies all over the U.S. So, hobbies/interests can also provide an impetus for an RV trip.
Family and friends
Here’s a category that often inspires my husband and me to travel. We love visiting family and friends who are now scattered throughout the country. Spending time with those we love helps keep those important connections strong. However, I must admit that we also enjoy the ability to unwind in our RV during these same trips. Still, many RV destinations are determined by the location of friends and family.
Employment
More and more people are hitting the road for work. Their RVs not only help them arrive at employment destinations, the RV also serves as their full-time home—for months or even years at a time. Traveling for work is the reason some RVers decide on a destination.
How about you?
Why do you point your RV in one direction over another? What helps you determine your destination(s)? Let us know in the poll below and use the comments to further explain, please.
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Time and money.
The last couple of years, I use my 21’ Bigfoot to research where I want my next and last home to be. I’m not happy with the politics of where I currently live so I now spend time in Idaho and eastern Washington State and eastern Oregon to find that just right small town.
I’m kind of with you on those thoughts as well..but I just can’t beat the weather where I’ve been my whole life 🫤
I chose employment. As workkampers we move from one workkamping location to the next. Its the perfect way (for us) to explore on a budget.
It’s a combination of all the above. Our next trip starts south for 30 days, then west to see family and then places we have never been.
We look for State parks within 100 to 150 miles from home, I don’t like driving anymore. We always book for the maximum stay limit as I hate moving once we are setup. I am not sure how many more years we have left in us where I can take care of the motor home and safely enter and exit. Wife fell a few years ago exiting and broke her hip so I worry about her.
Our Class A is primarily used as transportation to and from our homes in NJ and FL. We take 4 – 5 days to make the trips, driving 3 to 4 hours per day, making one night stops. Our two Labrador Retrievers always make the trips with us. We’ve found it a comfortable and easy way to travel.
As we have hit our 80’s, true camping to explore North America and overseas travel to explore the rest of the world here been significantly reduced; our trips are now centered around family and friends and limited by some of the physical aspects of older age. However, we will continue to go as long as we and the MH can do so!
Weather in the winter, mountains for hiking in the summer.
When we first started RVing almost 30 ago and it was all new and exciting, we would literally stop at the end of our driveway and discuss – right or left. We made no reservations back then because you didn’t have to. We would just take off and look for someplace neat to camp. Sadly, as we all know, those days are all but gone. But, living out west, boondocking is still a viable option and we do that most of the time now.
I first checked bucket list/destinations as we attend a couple of MH rally’s a year and then tack on a bucket list trip. But I changed it to hobby since almost all of our trips include fly fishing, a near obsession for both of us! I am a runner and we sometimes add days to our trips so I can participate in a race that might be in a 150-200 miles radius of our destination. We are heading to GA in March for a rally and I found a race in Ashville NC, just 150 miles from our destination, so we will extend our trip a week and be able to visit another location! We’re even checking out fly fishing possibilities for that area!
We look for interesting attractions in the area. Museums, Zoo’s and places of interest. But not tourist traps.
Also makes no sense for us to travel just to sit at a campground.
Even “resorts” with all the fancy amenities don’t cut it.
Amazing how many small towns have things that you can’t find anywhere else.
We love visiting rural America historic sites and small towns off the beatin’ path. We love strolling old main streets, antique/junk shops and small family owned eateries. We live out west, so the options are plentiful.
scenery and related places to visit on a half-day trip
Other How about multiple choices. We travel for weather to a destination to meet up with friends and family. Summer north and NE. Winter SE.
I picked “Other” because our RV trips depend on the time of year we travel. We snowbird in NM-AZ in winter and only camp in the Rockies in summer because of weather. But our fall and spring trips are to discover and explore new destinations–Victoria BC, the Lake Superior Loop, the Natchez Trace, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, etc. So, choosing one poll selection over another didn’t cover all of our RV travels.
I always have an ultimate destination, but I leave enough time to stop somewhere that seems interesting. I don’t have a set itinerary because I don’t like to feel rushed.
Other- its a combination. Our kids & grandkids moved from their home with us in the north to the south. So we are both snowbirds and family/friends (we have made some solid friends via RVing). While we are either south or north, we take trips to visit places other than our seasonal location.
We get out the maps and dream. If family is along the way we will visit. Mostly head to the mountains. We stay away from cities. We don’t need things to do. We just enjoy camping. We camp six months each year. We are making our third trip to Alaska this year.
One has not “camped” unless one travels in Northern BC and the Yukon.
Thank you, RV Travel! I voted “destinations” (have no bucket list), but that’s not quite it either. We decide, “let’s go somewhere!” Then we think, “where shall we go?” Then we think, ” where do we want to go again, or do we want to go somewhere new?” Searches for campgrounds begin. Depending on availability, we make a reservation or the search begins anew and in an entirely different direction. This summer the destination is Alaska, staying in places we liked and finding alternates for what we did not. The route there and back will be entirely different to see other places. Have a great week and safe travels! 🙂
I chose “Other.” Most of my trips (as an older, solo traveler now) are for rallies of the local chapter of the RVing Women group that I belong to. My second choice would have been “Destination” as I decide which direction from home I want to go.
It’s a little bit of everything! It really depends on the situation. We have camped in all the lower 48, almost all the Nat’l Parks, Canada, and crossed off almost all of our bucket list – so now it’s a matter of weather, where we feel like going, who we feel like visiting, how long we feel like traveling, if there is someplace new on the route, and how much extra $$ in the budget!
Other – it depends on how much time off from work we can take. If it’s just a couple of days we go to our COE parks just 20 minutes from home. If it’s more days off, we’ll head a few hours away.
We generally stay within about a 4-hour drive, usually traveling with friends, or visiting friends, at places we like to visit. Time away is expensive for us, as we have pets and varmints that need feeding. Might venture farther if I finish fixing up my old truck camper.
Wish I could pick two. We despise cold weather so warm areas are always a factor but so are destinations with something that we enjoy. We like off-roading, kayaking, short hikes, and sitting in patio chairs looking at the ocean or mountain scenery. Luckily, the western states provide all of that in relatively short driving distances.
I knew right off we’d be among the lowest percentages. I am an avid car collector and we will load up one or two of my cars and take them to a show several times a year. I especially will travel pretty far for specialty shows or rallies. (IE a Corvair show). We also travel to swap meets to look for parts for a project car. We’ve camped in fair grounds, parking lots, and open fields a lot.
Depends on my to-do list in what I’ve got done. Knowing what I have to have accomplished before winter sets in. So usually 2 months travel or so before back to home base.
We travel south for the winter, to Indiana and South Carolina for RV maintenance in the summer, and to Virginia in spring and fall for doctor appointments. The rest of the year we travel as a weigh team for the RV Safety and Engineering Foundation and as an engineer for Forensic Analysis & Engineering Corporation.
We are trying to visit all states and we looked for historic places, national parks and people of interest. So far, we have traveled to 30 states in 6 years of full-time travels. We are enjoying it all.
For 24 years we have crossed the country from NE to SW. For the past 10 years we had “homes” at both ends of the journey. For the most part we try to avoid interstates and large cities. We have chosen to drive the entire length of several highways including US 20, US 90 US 1 (Federal highways not Interstates). Over the years we have camped in all 49 continental states and all but 2 Canadian Provinces (Saskatchewan and Manitoba). We have visited most state Capitol Buildings, many but far from all National Parks. One trip started with a song – Grace Land – Alaska was on the planning board for so long we were amazed when we got there by way of Florida (from Western NY) and San Diego.
Mostly, we use our small travel trailer to visit interesting place, I’m a Sister on the Fly, and use it to attend events, although that’s on pause right now as I cope with spinal issues.
We do use it to visit friends, sometimes combining that with exploring an area with them.
When I was making annual trips to visit my (late) MIL, I took the trailer across country, solo, while my husband saved vacation time by flying. I’d set up in her yard, pick him up at the airport, and we had our own quarters for the duration.
Family and friends are usually involved somewhere in the trip, but we can take the long way around to get there and a very long way back home.
For most of our camping (7 out of 8 trips, roughly) we are mid-week warriors–out in nature for a few days in state or federal campgrounds within 3 hours drive. One longer trip each year for warmer weather (an easy goal coming from Chicago) either to see something interesting (Gulf Coast, Southwestern desert) or (now) to visit our newly-moved west-coast children.
Any of the above when they are least likely to be crowded. Seriously… If it is off season, I’ll consider it.