Seeking Long Trip Advice

[haironfire]

We have stumbled upon a point in life where things have lined up for us to be able to take 2 months off next summer and we are considering the possibility of taking a long road trip! We are very excited about the opportunity. A little bit about our situation:

- We are a family of four (+1): two younger kids under 10, two adults, and a dog
- We will be departing from and returning to our home in Maine
- We have about 8 weeks to work with
- We have a Windsport 34J
- Our electrical configuration dictates that we have plug-ins where we stay
- We would notionally like to do a loop and visit various national parks along the way
- We will tow a car with us, but we don't have it yet

We have only done week-long vacations in our Windsport for the past 3-4 years so the "long-term" part will be new to us.

We are eagerly looking for any and all advice, tips, pointers, recommendations, warnings, or comments that anyone has! Please, send me your words of wisdom - the good, the bad, and the ugly. We appreciate it!

[ador]

The longest time we have been on the road was 21 days. But we have driven around 5K miles for each summer we hit the road. 3x to Canada, West Coast to East Coast trips.

I am nit sure if you are towing a vehicle. If you have a tow dolly (with a hard to find size tires0, I would bring at least 2 Full Spare Tires and and extra Tire. I had a flat tire on our last trip. Tire was damaged beyond repair. I still have 2 tires (no wheels), But no one can mount it being the size of the wheel/rim.

Bring a heavy duty (made of metal) Triangular Emergency Road Safety Sign. I had to purchase a new set while on the road. The 3 sign I had kept getting knocked down by passing big rig trucks alongside the freeway. We had a flat tire on our tow dolly and had to change on the side of the freeway.

Emergency Food that can be eaten (without cooking). Bottled water (back up supply). Complete First Aid kit. Extra batteries for flashlight, portable radio.

[JamieGeek]

Our longest trip so far has been 2 weeks but I can add some bit of info:

Get a code reader. In case you get a check engine light you can figure out what it is right there instead of having to find somewhere with one (auto parts stores will usually read codes for free).

For that many people and that length of time not sure how this would help but for our 2 week trip we "power cooked" over a weekend before and froze a bunch of meals that were easily re-heatable in the microwave. For that quick meal after driving all day it was great.

In addition for a 2 month trip I would plan some downtime in there: Don't be going to see everything everywhere day after day after day. Stay at a place for a day or two (or more) just to chill; hang in the campground; relax. You don't want to have to take a vacation just to relax from your vacation

Have a plan: "Go here, then go here then go here" but be flexible with that plan things can, and likely, will change as you execute the plan. Note that this doesn't necessarily mean make reservations as far ahead as possible. The reservation thing or not is up to you and how you roll. Personally for two months I'd reserve blocks in there and leave blocks "to the wind"--especially for places that are "must see". Those I'd reserve.

Try to minimize those "marathon driving" days (where you drive for 10+ hours just to get somewhere). Given that you have the time you might want to stick with the 330 rule: No more than 330 miles/day and/or stop at 3:30pm whichever comes first.

[16ACE27]

The only difference between shorter trips and longer trips is the amount of food and clothes you will go through. The 34J is well equipped to take you on this journey with the residential fridge, exterior kitchen (with small fridge?) and factory inverter.

But for flexibility and fewer grocery stops you may want to pick up something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Refrigerator-...dp/B08V8RMP5D/


Which can be used as either an additional fridge or freezer. We have a smaller one which we picked up several years ago and always use it when the grandkids are with us.

You should have plenty of storage for additional non-chilled food items.

Next thought is laundry:
How frequently do you want to use laundry facilities? Designate an outside storage bin to accumulate the dirty clothes. Would a portable washer/dryer like this help stretch the laundromat stops?

https://www.amazon.com/Pyle-PUCWM22_...dp/B074BDH5HT/


Anyway, you have plenty of time to plan and figure it out. Have a good trip and make great memories with those kids!

[paulwadley]

Look at maps to get an idea of where you want to visit and what areas offer campgrounds nearby. We planned out a 7 week trip two years ago going from Calif to Florida with many stops along the way. Figure out how far you want/need to travel each day. Some days may be longer on the road than others. If you want to visit the National Parks, advanced reservations are required. I visited Yellowstone twice and made my reservations 8 months ahead of my trip. I stayed just outside Yellowstone in West Yellowstone at Grizzly Bear R V Campgrounds. It was a short 5 minute drive to the West Entrance of Yellowstone. I stay at a lot of KOA's along the way and have a membership which saves about $5-10 per night discount. This passed summer we towed our car on a tow dolly and wore out the tow dolly tires after about 5,000 miles. No issues with the tow dolly during the trip. I replaced the tires when I got back home. I did take a spare on a rim just in case.

Paul

[Scubawise]

Originally Posted by ador

The longest time we have been on the road was 21 days. But we have driven around 5K miles for each summer we hit the road. 3x to Canada, West Coast to East Coast trips.

I am nit sure if you are towing a vehicle. If you have a tow dolly (with a hard to find size tires0, I would bring at least 2 Full Spare Tires and and extra Tire. I had a flat tire on our last trip. Tire was damaged beyond repair. I still have 2 tires (no wheels), But no one can mount it being the size of the wheel/rim.

Bring a heavy duty (made of metal) Triangular Emergency Road Safety Sign. I had to purchase a new set while on the road. The 3 sign I had kept getting knocked down by passing big rig trucks alongside the freeway. We had a flat tire on our tow dolly and had to change on the side of the freeway.

Emergency Food that can be eaten (without cooking). Bottled water (back up supply). Complete First Aid kit. Extra batteries for flashlight, portable radio.

Also we have a USB charged flashlight.
Bring cell phone charger just in case
Walkie talkies

[Scubawise]

Any questions are welcome..we did a 90 day trip a couple years ago..have fun..

[EA37TS]

We did a 77 day trip this summer.

Don’t waste time prepping food ahead of time because you will inevitably eat out. Do have breakfast, lunch and snack items available for travel days.

Read this thread and give it some consideration.

https://www.thorforums.com/forums/f4/you-ready-mechanical-breakdown-27623.html

[Scubawise]

I cook 100% so wife and I ate out once every 2 weeks.
Health stores fresh food we cook

[Campnjoe]

Best advice I can give you is to remember that you are in a mobile hotel room. Use it as such. For some reason people forget this and think they need to drive 12 hours to get where they are going. Break it up. See the sites. Enjoy the time. We try and drive no more than 4 hours a day. Works well for us.

[Scubawise]

Originally Posted by Campnjoe

Best advice I can give you is to remember that you are in a mobile hotel room. Use it as such. For some reason people forget this and think they need to drive 12 hours to get where they are going. Break it up. See the sites. Enjoy the time. We try and drive no more than 4 hours a day. Works well for us.

Great advice. ..for us 3 to 5 hours..
If at 3 1/2 to 5 and tired at all and we see a rest area..in we go for the day night

Be safe our friend

[Mr Sunshine]

From the responses so far, it is obvious that trip styles vary widely. We have done long trips and although we've been to many national parks, we have yet to camp at one. The more you want to include on your itinerary, the more you need to plan.
You'll have an awesome family adventure!

[Chateau_Nomad]

We have a little less than 2 years before the "long term" vacations start.

Hopefully by then the "National Park madness" has faded somewhat. If we were traveling like that now, I would definitely avoid the crowds... just NOT our style.

I like the reference to the "mobile motel room"... I've thought that from day one of RVing! We RARELY eat in restaurants either... healthy restaurant food is NOT cheap! And forget fast food!

We take FULL advantage of our own facilities... we enjoy fixing our own meals... I use a Dutch oven, propane grill and the propane stove. We can cook for a week without replenishment of food stocks.

Our idea of a "night out" is fixing dinner on the rim of the Badlands, then sitting out and watching the stars.

[16ACE27]

Originally Posted by Chateau_Nomad

We have a little less than 2 years before the "long term" vacations start.

Hopefully by then the "National Park madness" has faded somewhat. If we were traveling like that now, I would definitely avoid the crowds... just NOT our style.

I like the reference to the "mobile motel room"... I've thought that from day one of RVing! We RARELY eat in restaurants either... healthy restaurant food is NOT cheap! And forget fast food!

We take FULL advantage of our own facilities... we enjoy fixing our own meals... I use a Dutch oven, propane grill and the propane stove. We can cook for a week without replenishment of food stocks.

Our idea of a "night out" is fixing dinner on the rim of the Badlands, then sitting out and watching the stars.

[airforceret]

We've done numerous long trips over the years. Take a variety of clothes, plan on doing some grocery shopping along the way to resupply consumables (milk, eggs, bread, cookies, etc), take a couple rolls of quarters for the laundry and some detergent / dryer sheets, call ahead each day for campground reservations if you are concerned about places to stop and it gives you a target for the night which greatly reduces stress late in the afternoon, regularly stop for fuel when it's convenient, and do a little sight seeing when you can as you may never pass that way again.

[Bill in Redlands]

Amen on the different styles and habits. Early this summer my wife and I did a run up to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons from SoCal. We had camping reservations for six nights in Yellowstone and two in a national forest area near the Tetons. Two we lucked into and the rest (6 nights) we boondocked. Never ate out and never hooked up including the reserved sites. Had a great time.

We have a tow dolly but opted to rent a car in Idaho Falls for the time in Yellowstone to avoid dragging a car around when we had no need for it.

Your traveling with young kids and needing hookups daily means you need to do a lot more planning and be prepared to tough it out without hookups, if something does not go according to plan.

Summer travel, especially in the southern part of the country can be pretty uncomfortable due to heat and, in some areas, humidity.

Listen to advice and ideas you get and filter out everything that doesn't fit your situation.

Good luck and have a great trip.

[mrsholyoke]

Also from Maine. We did this with our two sons when they were 12 and 14 in a 27 foot class C. 53 days on the road, circle tour. Everyone chose one must see location. Then we connected those places with other interesting places to form a large circle of the US. While we didn’t have to reserve far ahead except for the fourth of July weekend, I think you may need a bit more planning and reserving in this new reality. If you have further questions, please feel free to ask. We don’t regret one moment of this trip. It created family memories for a lifetime. Also…pro souvenir tip. If you want to collect something that is easy to transport, Christmas ornaments are great.(If you celebrate Christmas) Small, found in most tourist areas, and bring back the memories each time you decorate the tree.

[Newf026]

We did our first "long trip" from NJ to New Mexico in May. A few things that we thought helped:

We laid out the entire trip in RV Trip Wizard (campsites, fuel stops, attractions, etc.) It really help us figure how much driving we would do each day. But we were also flexible when we needed to be.

As said here, pick your most comfortable drive time - ours is 4-5 hrs a day. After that we start to get tired and cranky.

Check the weather. Longer trips will typically have a bad spell of weather at some point.

Bring an extra power cord and a 50 to 30 amp converter just in case

Audible books makes the drive go much quicker

[MJC62]

You have received lots of good suggestions from the members here.
Our experiences with long trips really won't apply to your situation as we don't have children to figure into the mix (retirees). I think your biggest issue will be keeping children under 10 "happy" while spending 2 months in an RV.
I can speak to my experiences traveling with my parents as a youngster with my brothers and sisters, kids aren't as thrilled with every mountain, canyon and waterfall as their parents. By the end of 3 weeks stuck with the kids in a mid 60's station wagon ("are we there yet") and every night the same kids fighting over who got stuck sleeping in the trailers overhead bunk it's a wonder my dad didn't leave us all in Yellowstone and hit the nearest tavern!

[Scubawise]

4 kids here and camping..bring board games. Bikes footballs. Movies lots of books download vedio and games