Newbie first long trip question - Montana Owners Club

janrlee · 06-15-2008, 01:49 PM

We have completed two short shakedown cruises and in a week we are off to Virginia from Atlanta Ga. Its 600 miles and we want to break it down into two days. What is the best plan for overnighting for a break? Checking into a campground at midnight does not seem to be a good idea. What are some ideas on on the road one night accomodations? Should we make reservations???

Icehouse · 06-15-2008, 02:02 PM

This is just us, but we ALWAYS make reservations. No questions asked. If you want to boondock, see if you can park in a Walmart or Lowe's parking lot. We are not boondockers, and we like ALL THE AMENITIES. Therefore, we will research campground choices in the area and make reservations. Good luck, it's a beautiful drive!
Tammy

HamRad · 06-15-2008, 02:13 PM

Janrlee,

We seldom make reservations. But we have never traveled along the east coast area. It may be that you will need to have reservations. When we are just over-nighting we will sometimes stay in a parking lot of an Indian Casino (we have a lot of them out in the west). Sometimes we will hook up our Honda 2000 generator and sometimes not. Most often we will leave the rig hooked up so we are ready to go the next morning.

Whatever you do have fun. Travel safely and see you on down the road.

HamRad

Mrs. CountryGuy · 06-15-2008, 02:15 PM

Agree with Tammy, we like to know where we are going to rest our heads at night and we do not do boondocking.

If you really think you are going to arrive late at night, tell the campground when you call, many have specific directions for late arrivals.

300 a day is a nice number, we do a lot of days of 300 miles.

Waynem · 06-15-2008, 02:24 PM

Three hundred in a day is not a bad jaunt, but it gets tiring on me and I don't do it every day.

I have wireless while on the road. DW will start looking up a CG when we (read that "I") have reached my limit. She will look for CG's along the route and we pick one based upon Internet write-up.

I don't like traveling with black, gray, or galley tanks with overnight liquids in them, so I hook up and drain and flush every morning. It may be overkill, but it's just me. If the site is real level I will leave the TV hooked up, but lower the landing gear and take the pressure off of the TV Springs. Break down and dumping does not take that much time, and besides, I'm retired and don't have to hurry.

It's just my way.

Delaine and Lindy · 06-15-2008, 02:56 PM

When we were full timing we only traveled 250 to 300 miles a day. We liked to arrive at the RV park around 3:00 pm and it gives us plenty of time to get set up before dark. We always have reservations, and we normaly plan our trip out weeks in advance and know were we will be on any given day. However there is no possible way to plan for problems you will encounter on the road. We very seldom had problems which we couldn't overcome. We have our winter travel plans and reservations now. It will be a warm climate. Also I never like to park a $100,000 dollars work of Truck and 5th wheel in a parking lot. Its just a decision we made and we don't like getting woke up in the middle of the night. Good Luck with your choice. GBY....

JimF · 06-15-2008, 03:35 PM

In all of our miles of travel we have made overnight reservations exactly 1 time and found we didn't need it them. We drive about 250 to 300 in a day and get off the road by 3 or so. No hurry at all. The reason for no reservations when traveling is that to many times we pull into a cg that looks good on the net or campground directory, pull in and back out because they are trash. I don't like loosing deposits. For long stay we make reservations IF we know the cg.

bncinwv · 06-15-2008, 04:13 PM

Got to Cracker Barrels web site and some of them even have hook-ups for you to use on overnights.
Bingo

ols1932 · 06-15-2008, 04:22 PM

We also only travel 250-300 miles per day. Makes traveling so much more relaxing. And, if we aren't concerned about time, we may stay for a week. Now that fuel prices have risen so dramatically, staying in one spot for longer periods is most enticing. I'm sure there may be times when we just absolutely have to travel more miles in a day, but I don't look forward to it.

Orv

OntMont · 06-15-2008, 04:30 PM

If you can find a nice campground along the route, and you are not pressed for time, by all means use the campground. We do that, but we also will do a quick overnight stop at a Flying J Travel Plaza. These are usually right on an Interstate and can be noisy with trucks etc, so we will use the soft foam earplugs. At a FJ, you will never be alone, and they do have parking areas for RV's marked out. FJ also provides a source of meals, fuel, air, water and dumping, so we find them quite convenient.

Not all FJs are created equal though, sometimes you will encounter one that is old, or poorly laid out.

dsprik · 06-15-2008, 05:02 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by bncinwv

Got to Cracker Barrels web site and some of them even have hook-ups for you to use on overnights.
Bingo

We have done Cracker Barrels and we love them. Usually all they ask is that you come in and have breakfast there in the AM before you pull out. I have NEVER had a problem with that...

exav8tr · 06-15-2008, 06:35 PM

We make reservations, we are so new at this that we don't know what is going on locally and don't want to be without a place to stay. If only for the night, we usually don't unhook, but do lower front landing gear to take weight off TV. Usually just plug in elec and sometimes water, depending on how much is in our onboard tank, usually not very much. 200-300 miles a day is enough for me, although we have done longer if absolutely necessary. When coming from Alaska in Canada, we did 1000 in two days. Took alot out of me though. You will learn over time how much is your personal limit.......Happy Travelling...

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