How We Planned A 3 Month RV Adventure

We Have To Be Where When?

There are 3 “hard” dates that we had to consider when planning our 3 month Epic Trip 2016.

First, the final day of our kids’ homeschool academy is May 19th.  The second date, June 13th, is the start of our KOA workamper assignment.  The final date, August 23rd, marks the start of the homeschool academy.

The original plan was to spend a couple of months exploring the East coast.  When the workamper opportunity presented itself we decided to shorten the East coast trip and head back west to Wyoming in early June.  All the planning that went into our East coast adventure was tossed out and I went back to the drawing board.

After playing around with some of my favorite apps and maps (more on these later) I presented the “team” with two options, head east for an abridged version of the original plan or head west doing a loop until we arrived in Wyoming for our workamping gig.  The west was appealing to me because of Yosemite, Bend, The Cascades, Glacier…you get the picture.

Not to say that the East doesn’t have many awesome places, but there is a deep attraction between us and the West.

The “team” agreed to go west as long as we did our full East coast adventure in 2017 (see post about Go-Day).

Which Way Do We Go?

Now for the fun part…Figuring out which way to go!

Yeah, I know…we’re going west.  But “we have a long way to go and a short time to get there”…so, what do we want to see?  How much road can we cover between destinations? Do we want to visit all the western states that we didn’t visit in 2015?  Do we spend more time in Yosemite and miss other destinations?

I really love the planning part.  It’s an adventure in itself.  We knew we were going west and that we wanted to see Yosemite, the Hoover Dam, and Glacier.  We also figured that since we were “in the neighborhood” we could spend some time in Oregon and Washington.

So, I use a few rules  when planning a route.

1. We can handle a max of 7 to 8 hours of drive time before the threat of a full out mutiny is real.  Assuming that we travel mainly on freeways or “open” roads we can cover a maximum of 350 to  425 miles on a travel day.
2. We look for specific destinations that are must sees for us, such as state or national parks, national monuments, a museum, or an area (e.g. Bend, OR).
3. We have an idea of where we can stop to take bathroom breaks or to refuel.   The refueling is predictable, but the other stops aren’t.  So, I have a good idea where public rest stops are along the route. (Note: if necessary we find a parking lot or some other place to safely pull off the road and use the facilities in the 5th wheel…we have options!)
4. We minimize the budget busters.  We love state and national parks because they get us closer to the outdoors.  They’re also typically very economical.  I’ll discuss some of the ways we save $ on RV sites later on this the post.

Now to the really fun (and borderline addicting) part.

Using a series of apps, especially Allstays Camp & RV and Google Maps, I start charting out a potential path.

Destination Stops

One of the things that I do early in the planning process is identify all of our must see and potential destinations in the areas that we plan to visit.  The areas could be a National Park such as Yosemite or an entire state like Washington.  Typically we try to stay at least 3 nights at a destination stop.Example: During our Epic Trip 2015 we stayed 5 nights south of Livingston, MT.  This gave us the flexibility to spend at least two days in Yellowstone (not enough time), a day to travel to Bozeman and a day to mess around in and around Livingston.

I look at our destination stops and then determine the effort to get to those stops.

For example, our first destination stop on our upcoming Epic Trip 2016 is Lake Mead/Las Vegas.  The “current” plan is to take no longer than 3 nights to get there (from Houston).  There are basically three options to get to Lake Mead/Las Vegas from Houston including northwest through Amarillo then heading west on I40 through northern New Mexico and norther Arizona, a similar route through Lubbock, and finally a route through El Paso and southern New Mexico and Arizona before turning north to southern Nevada (even if you’re not directional challenged you may be confused by now).  Since we basically took most of the same north route last year when we were returning from the Grand Canyon we decided to take the southern route.  I10 from Houston to Phoneix then northwest to Lake Mead.

The Flybys

We refer to the overnight stops on our way to destination stops as flybys since we are either only catching some z’s before hitting the road again or briefly visiting a local landmark before rolling on down the road.

If its an overnight stop I will pick a few places within a 75 mile range.

Kerrville, TX area

Our first stop on our upcoming trip will be somewhere between Kerrville, TX and Junction, TX.  Both towns have city parks and there is a popular state park in Junction.  Best case we make it to Junction and overnight at the city park or South Llano River State Park.

We also use the Allstays app to pick potential “pee stops” and refuel stops.  Yes, the app has all this information as well…along with weather, links to the Apple Maps (A Map) and Google Maps (G Map), the Allstays reviews, links to other review sites and so much more.

I could go on an on about the benefits of the Allstays app…and I will later in this post.

The images below are from the Allstays Camp & RV iPhone app.  When you select a point of interest on the app you’re presented with tons of good information about the point.

Trip Slack

If possible, I build in some slack days for when Murphy shows up.  These slack days could be used for an extra rest day, and early stop day, repairs, etc.  I have 3 slack days built in to the the 2016 adventure.

Finishing Touches

I plug all my route information into a spreadsheet along with costs, estimated travel time between points, etc.  I color code if I paid for the site in full, paid a deposit, optional stop, etc.

I’ll then upload the information to a mapping tool such as Google or Good Sam.  The Good Sam tool is a solid mapping tool where you can input destinations by address, way points, fuel costs, etc.  Here is a example of a basic map of our Epic Trip 2016.  Our plans have changed slightly since I generated this map, but its basically the planned route.

This may appear to be a lot of work, but it’s really not and its so much fun.  I learn so much about different areas when planning our trips.

I must admit, that I don’t always plan to this level of detail.  We do wing it sometimes.  That can be equally as fun.

The Test

I put all the information into a PowerPoint slide deck and present it to the “team” for plan approval or rejection.  I’m happy to approve the 2016 plan was approved!

There you have it.  I hope this helps!…but wait!  There’s more.

For Fun

As I mentioned previously, I put the route information into a slide deck and presented it to the “team”.  I like to jazz it up a bit.  I use Google, 50states.com and Wikipedia to put together a “story” of pictures and fun facts about our trip.  We’ll take a hard copy with us on the trip to kill some time on the road and enhance our Trivial Pursuit skills.  You can click on the following image to open the PDF.

My Fav Apps

Ok…time for a quick review of the main planning apps I  use:

Allstays Camp & RV – If I were stranded in a deserted RV park and I could only choose one app this would be the one, hands down.  I haven’t found another app that remotely compares to the amount of information, either embedded in the app or linked to the app.  If I need to find a place to get diesel that will accommodate my 5th wheel I use this app.  If I need to find a rest stop along our route that has a dump station I use this app. If I want to find a BLM site that will accommodate a 36 ft 5th wheel I use this app.  If I want to filter a search by only KOAs I use this app.  You get the picture.  It does so much.  The app costs $9.99  which IS a bargain considering the amount of invaluable information it provides.

Google Maps – I suspect that 99.99999% of people are familiar with Google Maps.  The other 0.00001%  (I think I did that right) are living in a cave.  Its a great mapping app that is accurate and easy to use.   I do use Apple’s map app as well, but prefer Google Maps.  The app is free.

Good Sam – We use Good Sam for road side assistance and an extended warranty. Additionally we have a general membership to take advantage of the discounts at RV parks and Camping World.  The app is responsive and its a good way to quickly identify RV parks in a specific area that offers the Good Sam discount.  We also use the mapping tool on their website that’s included in the membership.  The app is free.

KOA – We love KOAs and stayed at several on our Epic Trip 2015.  The app is useful to see what amenities the KOA has, if there are sites available, and for booking sites.  We are KOA Value Kard holders and accumlate points to use for future stays.It’s responsive and easy to navigate. The app is free.

Saving Some $s

Following are a few easy ways to save some bucks while on the road.

1. If you’re okay with staying off the grid for at least a night here and there you can use the Allstays app to find BLM land in your target area.  Nothing beats staying free in the great outdoors.
2. Join discount programs such as Good Sam, Escapees, and KOA’s Value Kard.  As an example using the Value Kard you receive a 10% discount off each night you stay.  In addition, you accumulate points that can be redeemed for future stays.  The Good Sam membership gets you a discount at participating resorts and a discount off of purchases at Camping World.
3. Get a park pass.  If you plan to visit multiple national parks in a 12 month period then purchasing a park pass, which allows free entry to the parks, will probably be a good investment. If you plan to stay in multiple state parks in any given state in a 12 month period then a state pass will likely be a good investment.

The list goes on and on and is probably a topic for a separate post.

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