Oregon to Missouri

[1010]

Planning a trip in August from the central coast to Monroe City Mo. in the past we have made some reservations prior to leaving home butt mostly as we traveled to our next stop. This year that seems like it would be a bad idea so I am going to make daily reservations. I have never traveled I-80 east of Laramie, the RV parks appear to be limited. We have traveled l-70 and as I recall there RV Parks are more plentiful. The other option would be l-40 which I have not traveled on for a long time, remember only it was hot in August. We used to go 300 miles a day but no loner are up to it. I spent about 2 hours planning the route from the coast to Sydney WY and have not made any reservations yet. At the rate I am going it will be too late (might be already) to make reservations. Any insight from those who have traveled these routes would be appreciated.
I looked at RV TripWizard, I am not computer literate, is it easy to use?
Thanks

[twogypsies]

We're 'old school'. What I used to do many times was to take a paper road atlas. On each state there would be a scale ruler at the top or bottom of the page... something like 1" = 200 miles. I'd take 2 fingers and guesstamate 1" and move my 1" finger measurement (or a ruler) along the highway for the amount of miles from my last planned stop to how far I wanted to drive to the next stop. That's where I'd start looking for a RV park. It didn't have to be exact. Look on a campground review site under a couple of the towns in the area and get a couple options. It's not perfect but it worked.

That said, if you only want to drive a specific amount of miles per day it's hard to stick on schedule. You could have vehicle issues. You might want to stop for siteseeing that looks interesting. You might get tired and want to stop earlier. You might have energy and want to drive more miles. Reservations really lock you in. You blow one and it throws everything off. We were fortunate that we rarely made them because we drove secondary highways where the masses of people weren't looking for a campsite. We also weren't particular as to where we stayed. It didn't have to have all the 'frills'. RVs are self-contained so you don't even need hookups, especially for a one-night stay. Boondocking was great for us. We always found something in the small towns - small city campgrounds that aren't even advertised, etc.

Since you're planning to drive short days, plan to pull into a RV park along the interstate before 3pm and you'll get a site without having to make reservations. Have a couple ideas in mind in the area.

Just an option for you if you want to be more flexible.

When you find a couple towns where you want to stop then check out this site for what's around there. It's a good site if you want to read reviews or find campgrounds:

https://www.campendium.com/

Now, if you want to stay at a particular popular scenic attraction or popular national parks you have to do a little more planning. However, just for traveling the interstate for 1 or 2-night stays, be flexible.

Not everyone travels with a GPS or mapping/travel computer program. How do you think people traveled before all the technology?

[1010]

I am “old school” too, I do pretty much the same as you but now refer to map quest and campground reviews. The wife wants to know where we are going spend the night (reservations) and is not a happy camper when I say “l don’t know” and hope to find a spot in the next town. Looks like some driving days are 3 hours and the next close to 7 hours.

[Shawn E]

Originally Posted by 1010

Planning a trip in August from the central coast to Monroe City Mo. in the past we have made some reservations prior to leaving home butt mostly as we traveled to our next stop. This year that seems like it would be a bad idea so I am going to make daily reservations. I have never traveled I-80 east of Laramie, the RV parks appear to be limited. We have traveled l-70 and as I recall there RV Parks are more plentiful. The other option would be l-40 which I have not traveled on for a long time, remember only it was hot in August. We used to go 300 miles a day but no loner are up to it. I spent about 2 hours planning the route from the coast to Sydney WY and have not made any reservations yet. At the rate I am going it will be too late (might be already) to make reservations. Any insight from those who have traveled these routes would be appreciated.

I looked at RV TripWizard, I am not computer literate, is it easy to use?

Thanks

We’ve driven I-80 the opposite direction as you are going. Our driving day heading west ended in Cheyenne. There are a couple of Rv parks there and one is a KOA, although I honestly don’t recall which one we stayed at-is was a quick overnight. Heading east on I see there are some good looking Rv parks in North Platte and Kearney-just depends on how far you want to drive in a day. One thing I will mention is the Bailey Railroad switching yard where most of the west/east railroad traffic flows through. There is a 8 story observation tower and only then can you see the magnitude of the operation. There must be 50-60 tracks coming into the yard. I’m far from a railroad geek but found this very interesting as I had never seen anything like that. The admission to the tower was $7 or $8 dollars and there is a small museum on the ground floor. The day we were there a retired worker from the yard was on hand to answer questions.

Once you get as far as Lincoln NE you have some choices to stay.

As an aside, I went to school in NE Missouri so I know exactly where Old Monroe is. Safe travels.

[Shawn E]

Originally Posted by Shawn E

We’ve driven I-80 the opposite direction as you are going. Our driving day heading west ended in Cheyenne. There are a couple of Rv parks there and one is a KOA, although I honestly don’t recall which one we stayed at-is was a quick overnight. Heading east on I see there are some good looking Rv parks in North Platte and Kearney-just depends on how far you want to drive in a day. One thing I will mention is the Bailey Railroad switching yard where most of the west/east railroad traffic flows through. There is a 8 story observation tower and only then can you see the magnitude of the operation. There must be 50-60 tracks coming into the yard. I’m far from a railroad geek but found this very interesting as I had never seen anything like that. The admission to the tower was $7 or $8 dollars and there is a small museum on the ground floor. The day we were there a retired worker from the yard was on hand to answer questions.

Once you get as far as Lincoln NE you have some choices to stay.

As an aside, I went to school in NE Missouri so I know exactly where Old Monroe is. Safe travels.

I should have mentioned the Railroad switching yard is in North Platte where it appears to be a couple of nice Rv parks. We drove across the entire state in one day and didn’t overnight in Nebraska.