How We Plan Out The Next Adventure(s) – Part I – Guest Writer: The RV Husband

Brake lights and signals working, check. Back-Up camera is on, check. Chocks are up, check. Parking brake is off, check. WAAAAIIITT!!! Where are we going?!?!?

Some of the most exciting trip planning comes in the form of ‘Where are we going?’, however it can also be one of the greatest areas of stress. Pulling a 10,000-pound trailer with a family of 5 and an expecting wife is not a ‘simple’ feat. Other than the health checks of your vehicle as well as travel trailer or fifth wheel, you must properly plan your travel days as well as destinations. Make sure you’re not too stressed though, and Have Fun with it! It’s part of the experience!!

Everyone will have their own methodology, but for us I’d plan out our itinerary with the end in mind and work backwards. There are a couple of key pillars when I start looking at our route. Like I said first, I start with the last destination checkpoint. I then look at multiple routes to get us from Point A to Point Z. Depending on our time frame there may be points along the way that we have looked at and want to ensure are pit-stops along the way of our journey. I would first start with determining our entire travel point from A to Z. Our desired travel time for any given day is between 3 and 4 hours, but we have done shorter, while our longest travel day landed us about 8 hours on the road (due to a flat on an already long day). The maximum that I want to be on the road while pulling resides around the 6-hour mark.

Another pillar for us is the budget. As you start to determine your pit stops for pit stops B, C, etc., the pricing of each location based on the time of duration plays a key role. When you stay at RV parks for a longer duration you tend to get a more significant discount on the nightly rate. For example, a park that has a nightly rate of $50, may have a weekly rate of $200, and then a monthly rate of $500. At each point I would shop the local RV resorts and parks based on the timeframe in which we would be staying in any given location. This is where RV clubs or discount groups can be extremely helpful. For us, we use a group called Passport America. Certain RV resorts and parks across the country offer daily and weekly discounts that can sometimes be up to 50% off a given rate. We have explored others like Good Sam and Thousand Trails but based on our east coast adventure Passport America proved to be incredibly useful in saving us quite a bit of money. When we head West after baby arrival, it looks like Thousand Trails may be more beneficial for us.

Before I would even look at the price, my final and most decisive pillar are reviews. I would read the reviews, A LOT of reviews! Reviews, reviews, and more reviews. The reviews of a location tell an EXTREMELY significant story as to what to expect upon arrival. The management, the sites, the power, the water and plumbing, and especially the neighbors. People are very honest about their expectation versus reality of places. Having three young children, it is one of the most important aspects to know who we may be camping next to when determining where we would be staying.

What are some of your stories from the road? What are some things that have occurred that you didn’t expect? How do you plan your trips with your family and what are some questions you may have for us about how we plan?

We’d love to hear about your experiences, good and bad!

In Part II, I am going to break down what our stints of travel would look like based on holiday and non-holiday time frames to give perspective on what RV travel looks like when working full-time from the road.

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-The Fabulous Life of an RV Wife’s Husband

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