Planning? How far out?

[bass player]

Originally Posted by AZstavman

I'm sorry

All these OCD gotta plan my every minute of my trip people kill me, why even travel

The excitement of being on the road, finding new places, exploring them, is amazing

Try it sometime, you might like it

As my father would say “ Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance”

I get excited knowing that I have a reservation for a top of the hill view campsite waiting for me at Mama Gertie’s Hideaway Campground.

[High Road Travelers]

Originally Posted by bass player

As my father would say “ Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance”

I get excited knowing that I have a reservation for a top of the hill view campsite waiting for me at Mama Gertie’s Hideaway Campground.

Your father was a wise man, following the 7 P's rule. And you sure won't pull into Mama Gertie's at 3 pm some afternoon and expect to find a vacancy without a reservation.
Travelers out west sure have an easy time finding public lands that permit free camping, and that is a wonderful way to travel; but it's just not the same in the east. I wish you could just drive down some national forest service road, pull into a nice camp spot and stay a week in the Appalachians, but those places are few and far between.
Thanks,

[Psneeld]

I am on both sides of this fence all too often...

But my cut on "planning" is maybe a bit different.

Some say a plan (trip full of reservations) may never survive past first contact (an emergency during the trip early on)....but researching many options available along the way (planning) will always save the day.

President/General Eisenhower's quote "In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."

[Charming]

We have never traveled without a plan. The few times we've landed somewhere without a ideas for what we might do, we end up frittering away our time.

[Triangle Drifter]

As multi month travellers the method of planning goes something like this.

Pick departure point (always the same). Select furthest destination. See what Google maps, or some other route planner comes up with.

Select major attractions & points of interest, which might be quite far from rhumb line to furthest destination. Recalculate route maybe numerous times during this process.

Do more research on what might be of interest between these major attractions. Recalculate route again many times. At this point the search starts for accommodations first of all close to attractions then filling in in transit holes.

Generally no reservations are made but a framework of when & where we will be has been created to use or modify as the situation changes on the road.

[ArtJoyce]

It's all going to depend where you are going to be to be camping. Some areas are already booked and you have to count on cancelations.

I would have at least memorial, independence and labor day reservided. But you going to be at private (koa type) camp grounds you should be able to wing the reat

[Mmccormack9]

Originally Posted by flbill

We are planning an "epic" road trip starting in May and ending in October. Heading out to see as much of the USA as possible..

My question - how far out to make reservations at KOA's and the like?

We have reservation in Yellowstone and in Vegas, but the rest is still open.

Should we "wing it" and make them as we go (maybe a week out), or get them set now and cancel/edit if an interruption/delay happens?

Your thoughts....

We drove our MH from Dallas,TX to Alaska and back, 12,500 miles. Only had two reservations, one of which was horrible. Other than that we winged it with zero problems.

[twogypsies]

Originally Posted by Mmccormack9

We drove our MH from Dallas,TX to Alaska and back, 12,500 miles. Only had two reservations, one of which was horrible. Other than that we winged it with zero problems.

Same here. . for July 4 weekend near Anchorage and for Teklanika campground in Denali Nat'l Park for 5 nights. We got another 5 nights in the park at Riley Creek campground without reservations. The rest of the whole summer trip was without reservations.

[RickLight]

One of our key issues when making a reservation is the cancelation policy. Sometimes it's $10 for 24hr notice, we call that a low risk. Other times it's the whole first day, or their own weird penalty calculation. The main point is to know the risk, because stuff will happen.

We've done both ways and aim for a mix. Reservations when it's important, not if we think we can get away without. Think California vs Alaska or peak season vs shoulder times.

[Florida Rang]

If you have not already made reservations at your popular destinations Good Luck on getting any reservations now. We have found out that popular places need to be reserved at least 4-5 months in advance. Especially if you are wanting a good campground site. If you are going anywhere near a Florida campground better book it at least 5 months in advance…….

[Hermes2]

I pretty much agree with all the great advice here. I tend to 7P our trips as our vacation time is more limited right now. It's nice to be able to bank on a place to stay when on the way to a "destination" or at the destination itself. Sometimes options are limited and early bookings are required (like, months in advance). Still, there have been a number of times when things have come up that made us change our plans and our stays. On those occasions we've been lucky to find available spots that worked out well -- and sometimes exceptionally well! Adaptability is key.

[MKwilli]

If you are particular about which campsites you want, then reach out to KOAs or similar campgrounds about a year out to see what their reservation windows are. If you want to try to get into state parks or national parks, then check to see when their reservations open. National parks and COEs are normally six months out.

[Jtlyle]

It’s smart that you have made the reservations you have. Those are difficult places to get into in season. We spent 6 months on the road last year, NH to CA and never booked ahead. We would just start driving and decide how far we could get and how long we might like to stay. This varied everyday and we left ourselves open to whatever came up. So glad we did. If we couldn’t get a reservation we could boondock for a night or two.
I must say though that I don’t like to plan ahead because plans always change. As does the weather.

[bentjm]

I am retired. I make all my reservations as far out as I can - typically 11 or 12 months.