Your tips for a looong road trip

We're planning a very long trip later this summer - from Georgia to far northern Calif. and back again. Along the way we'll visit Elk Point, ND, the Black Hills and Grand Teton Natl. Park and visiting with friends and family in Salt Lake City and other places en route. It will take us over a month to make the circuit.

So, what are your best tips for how to prepare for this journey (other than the usual routines for taking the MPG on the road)? What items have you found to be especially useful for a long haul like this? How do you manage restocking the kitchen, doing laundry when necessary, staying informed about weather, etc? And if you have any favorite campsites in these general areas, that would be good to know too.

You neglected to mention how many campers there are and age ranges - it makes a difference for entertainment and basic needs.

Good point. Just 2 bona fide seniors on this jaunt. Our major stops will be in the Black Hills and the Tetons. We're quite familiar with the outdoor venues in the Tetons, though I imagine the town of Jackson has changed a lot since our last visit in the late 70s. We'll be visiting our son in northern CA, so that stop is taken care of.

When ever we travel we limit to between 2 and 3 hours travel time then we take a bio-break, check the tires, fill the tank and hit the road again for the next 2 to 3 hours when we will take another bio-break and hit the road again. We loves stopping at a Wally world for the night. We will get their rotisserie for our evening meal and then have the leftovers for the next days lunch or dinner. or both. If the headwinds are to strong or even the cross winds we will just hunker down for a couple of days. Same holds true if it is stormy or snowing. We try to avoid big cities at all costs. if we do have to transit them (ie dallas fort worth we try to do it on a Sunday when most people should be in church or at a ball game. The two to three hours thing is great. it seems like you never left home. Our thought it is like a short shopping trip to the store. IWFU!!!

We have been traveling fulltime since 07 and we are on the road a lot. For your trip it would depend on how much time you have to go to Calif and back. We are not in vacaton mode, meaning travel every day and long distances. We try to travel on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and we try to drive between 150 to 250 miles. We have traveled over 400mi on very few occasions and as little as 50 mi. If we like a place we will stay an extra day or two or even a week. We will stay a week every so often so we can get a mail delivery.

If you are going to the Black Hills I have stayed at Custers Gulch RV park just out side of Custer SD and on the edge of Custer State Park. It is a good place to drive to see Crazy Horse, Mt. Rushmore and drive the scenic routes in the area.

Custer's Gulch RV Park, Custer SD



BC

Depending how far north you are coming, A visit to Lassen National Park is a must-see. If you don't like roughing it, there are several nice rustic RV parks with full hookups within a quick drive of the entrance to the park.

One of my favorite space saving laundry items are the Purex 3-in-1 sheets. While I'm not wild about the scents, they have soap, softener and stain release all in a little sheet. Takes up very little room and does a fair job on the clothes.

On our extended trip last summer, we found that MOST of the time the wind would not get bad until after lunch when it got warmer, so we would plan for early departures and stop at lunch time or shortly after, depending on conditions. We also used WalMart when available (quite often). Make sure you have your Senior Pass and also Passport America (pays for itself fast). About doing laundry, seems there are always washers/dryers available at campgrounds and also laundrymats all over. Just be sure to keep a good stock of quarters on hand. You can get the weather reports on the nightly news. As for restocking the kitchen, it's no different than being home. Just shop when needed. For mail delivery, we would pick a VERY SMALL town on our route where we would be in a week or so and have family members send our "necessary" mail to it by General Delivery. They are required to hold it for 30 days. Worked for us.

North Stockade Lake is a great campground within Custer State Park in the Black Hills. They have very nice free showers and electric and non-electric sites. All sites are reserved but if it's not a holiday weekend you should have no problem getting a site on the day.

Rick and Deb - are you speaking of sleeping over at W-World for night - we are about to travel and had thought of that but were concerned about safety.

"Rick and Deb - are you speaking of sleeping over at W-World for night - we are about to travel and had thought of that but were concerned about safety." You need to be aware of your surroundings, but it can be done safely. First of all, ASK the store manager whether it is permitted. Some cities have local ordinances against it; others don't care. Second, BUY something. You aren't paying anything for the camping (of course, there are no hookups, either), so courtesy is to make some necessary purchase there. That also establishes that you are, in fact, a legitimate customer, should anyone question it. Wal-Mart is not a campground, so don't plan on staying more than the one night.

I mentioned being aware of your surroundings. If the neighborhood doesn't seem safe to you, don't stop. If it seems good enough, go talk to the manager and see what you find out.

kb0zke said:

"Rick and Deb - are you speaking of sleeping over at W-World for night - we are about to travel and had thought of that but were concerned about safety." You need to be aware of your surroundings, but it can be done safely. First of all, ASK the store manager whether it is permitted. Some cities have local ordinances against it; others don't care. Second, BUY something. You aren't paying anything for the camping (of course, there are no hookups, either), so courtesy is to make some necessary purchase there. That also establishes that you are, in fact, a legitimate customer, should anyone question it. Wal-Mart is not a campground, so don't plan on staying more than the one night.

I mentioned being aware of your surroundings. If the neighborhood doesn't seem safe to you, don't stop. If it seems good enough, go talk to the manager and see what you find out.

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another quote: "Rick and Deb - are you speaking of sleeping over at W-World for night - we are about to travel and had thought of that but were concerned about safety. "

Yes you are both correct, safety being number one. What you have said is the common rule for staying at Walmart, Kmart or any other place. In fact walmart sells a road atlas that lists all the walmarts, the ones you can and cant stay at, if it is a super walmart or not, operating hours and even the exit numbers (I think.) There are a lot of truckers that bed down for the night also. Walmarts that allow you to stay even have signs pointing you the way for parking. It is still good to let the folks know and to buy something (roisterer chicken) or some other item.



check out this article: http://rvbasics.com/techtips/overnighting-at-wal-mart.html

We stayed at the Rafter J Bar Ranch in the vicinity of Hill City, SD. Very nice. We passed through the Black Hills area on our way to Yellowstone some years ago and stopped at a different campground. We regretted the short time we had to stay in the Black Hills so we made another trip some years later where we focused entirely on the black hills and Mt. Rushmore area. Loved it and that is when we stayed at Rafter J.

I have to say that I'm extremely jealous of your trip. You will be going through some beautiful country. One concern though. Our first trip out to that area took us from just north of Chicago, through the Black Hills and finally to Jackson Hole and then back. This was a three week summer vacation. We had three adults and two 12 year olds in a crew cab truck and travel trailer. We did a lot of things but in reality there were a lot of things we did not have time to do. My point is that three weeks was just borderline enough for our trip. You are going a lot farther than we did and you only have a week or so more to do it. Are you allowing enough time to really enjoy this? Hope you are because that's a lot of country to see.

If ya stay at Walmart be sure you don't have to park close to 18 wheelers. Some run the rigs for hours. Also summer in Texas can be 90 + at night and very uncomfortable without AC.

MountainTop:
For as many miles as you will be travelling, I think you should SERIOUSLY consider getting a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) for at least your trailer tires. On this trip from California to Wyoming, I had a tire get shredded by the shock absorber mount due to the brake drum breaking in the wheel bearing area. I COULD FEEL NO PROBLEMS IN THE TOW VEHICLE, BUT MY TPMS STARTED ALARMING when the tire leaked down TELLING ME OF THE PROBLEM.
Also, have a good emergency RV roadside service (like Good Sam ERS). When I had my problem, they were ready to provide flatbed tows (2 if necessary), but they found a local repairer for me who found the parts locally, and repaired the rig on an offramp shoulder.

wdk450 said:

MountainTop:
For as many miles as you will be travelling, I think you should SERIOUSLY consider getting a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) for at least your trailer tires. On this trip from California to Wyoming, I had a tire get shredded by the shock absorber mount due to the brake drum breaking in the wheel bearing area. I COULD FEEL NO PROBLEMS IN THE TOW VEHICLE, BUT MY TPMS STARTED ALARMING when the tire leaked down TELLING ME OF THE PROBLEM.
Also, have a good emergency RV roadside service (like Good Sam ERS). When I had my problem, they were ready to provide flatbed tows (2 if necessary), but they found a local repairer for me who found the parts locally, and repaired the rig on an offramp shoulder.

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X2 on the insurances. I just finished a trip from Austin TX to Tacoma WA. Swung too wide at a truck stop in Nebraska and tore up the endcap of the BH. Had to get emergency repairs before I could hit the road again. Then had a fuel line break on the Interstate in Idaho. Good Sam ERS found a shop and got me off the road quick. While I was under the truck looking for the break, I also found a piece of metal stuck in one of the truck tires. That was my cheapest repair of the trip. In Oregon, my clutch linkage came apart. Fortunately, it waited until I was in a rest area. Again, ERS got a mobile mechanic to me the next morning.

My laptop and aircard came in very handy for checking enroute weather, mostly winds and finding a campground in Nebraska.

Best advice I can give you is to enjoy your trip and don't over do it. You just need to enjoy each other and take your time. Some people try to pack so much into each day and they miss a lot and always seem to get on each other nerves. Weather radio and weather channel for weather, have a good GPS, Next Exit book, and a good RV road map. Stop often, and walk around. Be aware of your surroundings and be safe. Take lots of Pictures.

lmcclure said:

Best advice I can give you is to enjoy your trip and don't over do it. You just need to enjoy each other and take your time. Some people try to pack so much into each day and they miss a lot and always seem to get on each other nerves. Weather radio and weather channel for weather, have a good GPS, Next Exit book, and a good RV road map. Stop often, and walk around. Be aware of your surroundings and be safe. Take lots of Pictures.

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Great advice!! Totally agree.

Many thanks for the many good tips! We know we have a lot of miles to cover. We started out aiming just to meet relatives for time in the Black Hills and Tetons/Yellowstone. Then we found out our son had the summer available after several when he was tied up with his ice cream business. Haven't seen him in over a year. He lives in No Cal and rarely has both time and $$ to head our way. So we decided, since we'd be half way there, we'd just continue on. On the way home we'll stop in SLC for a visit with hubby's elderly Dad and other relatives. We know we'll miss many interesting places, though we'll at least pass through some new territory. That will allow us a good feel for places we want to go back to and spend more time. I think we'll be able to say we're seasoned roadies by the time our 6 week journey ends! And hopefully, it will be with a minimum of troubles.

On long road trips we always can find a campground, safer, more relaxing and the host always are able to give good information about the area. We have visited and seen a lot of things we would have missed if not for the campground host telling us about things. This current trip from Michigan started June 1, Wisconsin Dells, Mall of America, Sturgis and Black Hills now at Hartland Rally in Gillette WY then Yellowstone for a week, then Denver for another week. Use Campgrounds all the way, met some very nice people with some very interesting stories at all of the campgrounds. This is just the way we do things, but for sure everyone has different ideas. While traveling we play Books on CDs some times.