Community Forums

Nana25K · 04-26-2016, 06:37 PM

No plans. Exception to rule: if your going to spend any time in FL during g high season (winter) you may want to have a reservation for anything over a month in one spot
Summer months in the northeast can be iffy but we've never had an issue

KarenS144 · 04-26-2016, 06:42 PM

For our first 2 longish trips, I had everything planned and most reservations made. It worked out alright but we were on a SCHEDULE.

On our last trip, I had a plan and had a couple of reservations made but not every night planned out. That particular trip didn't work out due to a death in the family but we did make a trip with no reservations and not much of a route planned out. IT WAS GREAT!

I'm working on sort of a route and sort of an agenda now for a trip this year but won't be making reservations until we're a couple of days out from where ever we're headed. We don't mind no hookups and would boondock if found a place we could get to.

I do try to find a full hook up facility once a week or so to dump, refill the fresh water tank and do laundry. We use water from the tank so don't even hook the hose up just for overnights. If we can get satellite or good OTA reception, we don't bother with cable for overnights.

We tend to stay at least 3 nights in an area which usually gives us an afternoon and 2 full days to explore. With no reservations to get to somewhere else, we can usually stay an extra night or 2 if we want. We tend to average just under 50mph from the time we leave in the morning to the time we pull into the next night's location. That includes fuel, lunch & rest stops.

Have fun!

Cranemec · 04-26-2016, 06:46 PM

We are planners. We like to know where our head is going to hit the pillow.
Several times we have shook our head when an RV has pulled into a campground at dusk only to leave shortly after.
At least figure out where you will be in 2 hours and start calling around.

OLYLEN · 04-26-2016, 07:52 PM

We have a general route in mind when we go, and that route may get side trips as interest dictates. Camp grounds are a good source for the next few days along a general route. There is always someone with like interests who is more than willing to give "ya gotta see this or that if you going that way". Some are great others just have different interests. Or that is not so good but see the other one near by. This leave an open itinerary to stay a day a week or what ever to suit an event. But like others there are places where reservations a needed. For overnighters we just call a few hours ahead and very seldom need a second call.

LEN

SpaceNorman · 04-27-2016, 01:12 AM

I lean towards always having a plan -because I tend to view driving a 44' coach plus a toad as having one thing in common with flying a 747. You don't take off in it if you don't have a pretty damn good idea of where you're going to land it! Rarely is it a question of "plan vs no plan" ... but rather one of just how exact the plan is.

If we're heading for a specific destination for a specific purpose - we plan (make reservations). If we're heading for a popular area during the busy season - we plan. If we head out and don't much care where we end up - we wing it. If we're heading out in the off season (i.e., early spring / later in the fall) - we wing it.

For us - Walmarts and similar overnight spots are strictly that - somewhere to stop for the night while we're traveling thru to a destination. If we end up in a Walmarts because we couldn't find a more suitable place - we feel like we screwed up.

TLGPE · 04-27-2016, 08:04 AM

We're largely in-between. We half-time, that is, we go out in the late spring and get back in November. We usually have a rough idea of where we want to go, and plan to do that, but usually there is some event or sight that is more fixed, so the plan gets a little more confining.

We do not plan very far in advance for general driving, but we really hate not knowing where we will park for the night. In fact, I hate stopping for just one night; we've done it, but we prefer to stay at least two or three nights for each stop.

At least the day before we leave a spot, I'll get out the maps, etc. and find our next stop, and make reservations. We much prefer utilizing the organizations such as Thousand Trails, Coast To Coast, etc. to keep costs down, so we try to zig-zag around to hit those spots as we go in a general direction.

One of the things we really like in our coach is the W/D unit. It's small, so we use it often, which means we really like our full hook up sites.

I guess the point is that we plan EACH stop, but not Every stop. The difference being that we plan them one or two at a time, not for the whole trip in advance. A lot of people like trip planner programs, but those seem much too confining for us.

Anyway, a safe trip is the best trip, so have at it.

Tom

nothermark · 04-27-2016, 08:23 AM

Summer weekends and holidays tend to get booked early in the NE. Mid week is usually no sweat. Plan on some Walmarts or etc. ;-)

FaithBowls · 04-27-2016, 08:48 AM

Our plans almost always change. We either find something that interests us or the weather changes and snows on us or our timetable changes. There's always something that comes up. We do reserve ahead if we must be somewhere on a specific date.