Unplanned Trip

[DRosedale]

Have you ever left on a trip with no particular destination in mind. If so, how would you rate the experience, bad, good, better or outstanding, compared to a planned trip.

[RickO]

Hmmmm.... that's pretty much the way we travel. We left California in December 2009 and knew we had to be in Florida for a Space Shuttle launch on April 5th but in between was all played by ear.

We seem to either travel in that mode or in the destination mode like when we left Minnisota last fall and made a bee line to Phoenix spending only five nights on the road. We sure prefer the ad hoc approach.

Rick

[richvkansas]

We took our first "big" trip shortly after getting our MH in '05. Went to the bottom of the driveway, turned right. When we hit Virginia Beach, turned right again. A couple of problems all related to being new to RVing: 1) to much time spent on interstates and 2) still had that nagging feeling in the back of the mind we just had to be going. There are several areas we now regret not spending more time in. We were gone a couple of days under two months and it was a wonderful time and DW and I still talk about it.

Now, we may have a destination in mind for an event and when it is over, just flesh out the trip for a week or two going somewhere else. Two weeks ago, DW said "I want to go to the art show in Stillwater, OK". That was on Wed evening and Thursday afternoon we were in Stillwater, OK. First trip for the season and it was wonderful getting out again. Only 4 days and 600 miles RT but enjoyed every bit of it (except for the strong side winds).

This summer, we are going to do it again. We have a wedding in western Kansas first week of July, then three days with our camping club and then off we go. We think we are going to go northeast, maybe Iowa then Wisconsin or maybe Michigan, or ......... We plan on getting back home late September or maybe October, or....... Both of us are really looking forward to it.

You asked for a rating so I would have to vote unplanned is the best way to go whether it's only a few days or a few months. Happy camping.

[Wayne MD]

We travel by pointing our nose forward and let the road tell us what to do. Stay off Interstates, they are built for speed only. We can make a 400 mile trip into a 3 day affair getting there. Most others do it in one 8 hour shift. Are we slow or what? Wide open places and we can boon dock just about anyplace that we can park it. If we got to be someplace important, we leave early enough to make it last awhile, or try not to go if a rush appears.

[decodancer]

I'm leaving Aug 2012 on a who knows where I'll end up trip. I do plan on Christmas in central Florida with my Mother but otherwise my only rule is going to be to stay off interstates as much as possible. I want to see what each state is known for ie. How cheese is made in Wisconsin, maple sugar in Vermont etc. My most enjoyable trips have always been to set the GPS to avoid interstates and make time to stop at all the little places I see along the way. A free visit to an Alpaca farm comes to mind.

[Chickadee]

DRosedale, BRosedale, AND, Max, Molly, & Harley:

Re: not planning trips, we now full time and pretty much don't plan alot of destinations, BUT...before retiring back in 05, we DID do a couple of vacations from work without planning ahead, and we discovered they were the VERY BEST vacations each time. What a feeling of freedom those trips gave us. Maybe they had alot to do with our decision to hit the road full time.

Steve & Lynette

[Wayne M]

We "half plan." We have a general idea of where we want to go and head in that direction.

One thing we both have come to a conclusion on is: We could spend 30 days in every State and not see everything.

Sometimes I think we move to fast.

[GaryKD]

Hi DRosedale,
All our trips are planned. Only the Gkids summer trip is planned in detail. Other trips are more of we know the highlights of what we want to see. We have a general time table, but that is about it.

[doc]

These have been some of the best trips we have ever had. Several years ago we knew we want to see some property a friend had bought in Sedona. We only thing we knew was we wanted to go west and started driving - looking at an atlas each night and deciding the next direction. Missed a lot of stuff we should have stopped and seen in Texas and New Mexico. Did an accidental trip to Mexico from ElPaso that still gives Ms C nightmares. It was all an adventure and hindsite makes it seem a lot more fun than it was at the time. The good was that we wandered around and ended up seeing Flagstaff, GC, Las Vegas and a bunch of interesting locations around the SE.
We still do that, but research a little better the general area we are headed toward.

[cliff841]

I would love to do more unplanned travel but with limited time off I find that more difficult. Also, campgrounds in California often fill up on the weekends making reservations necessary. In fact, sometimes those reservations need to be made months in advance.

Hopefully when we retire unplanned trips will be more common but that is many years away.

In any event, we predominantly make planned trips.

[Peacekeeper6]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne M We "half plan." We have a general idea of where we want to go and head in that direction....

This.