Driving a RV Rig is Hard Work
Driving a tow vehicle and trailer vs car travel is more work than most novice RV’ers believe. You are actively driving all the time – looking out for other vehicles, managing your speed, changing lanes, monitoring the instrument panel, monitoring the trailer in the TV side mirrors, and more. You need to maintain more distance between you and the cars in front of you and gearshift on step grade roads, and some road conditions don’t allow you to run on cruise control as much as you might in a car. Then you add in things like driving on windy days when wind gusts and passing semi trucks throw your TV and trailer rig all over the road like a tumbleweed.
Drive in Shifts
One of the best ways to avoid fatigue on the road is to drive in shifts, if you are traveling with at least one other licensed driver who is comfortable piloting a TV and trailer. Consider taking turns with each driver taking two hour shifts at a time. By switching out drivers on a regular basis, you can avoid some of the fatigue that comes along with driving an RV rig.
Night Driving is Dangerous
It is possible to fall asleep while driving at any time, but it is even easier when night falls and there is little light to keep you alert. Out on the freeway at night there is typically very limited light, so you may find yourself drifting off to sleep when you should be paying close attention to what you are doing. If you are at all feeling tired when the sun begins to go down, be sure to quickly think about where you are going to get off the road for the night.
Don’t Trust the Tricks
You might hear some people say all you need to do is drink a caffeinated beverage in order to give yourself the pick up you need to keep on driving. That is bad advice, and it can lead you into danger. If you are tired, you are tired – and no amount of coffee is going to change that fact. In the same way, other tricks like rolling your window down or turning the radio up aren’t going to make your drive any safer either.
The only smart decision is to get off of the road when you are tired and get some rest. Be honest with yourself when you start to feel drowsy so you don’t create a dangerous situation for you and your family.
Plan Your Driving Days
Many RV’ers follow the 3-3-3 rule; Limit the daily drive distance to about 300 miles, end each driving day at a safe and RV legal overnight berth by 3:00 PM, and for every 3 continuous driving days, plan at least one day of rest off the road. Some RV’ers even advocate a less rigorous 2-2-2 rule for travel; Drive no more than 200 miles per day, end each driving day before 2:00 PM and stay 2 days before moving on.
(We try to keep our drive days under 8 hours and under about 300-400 miles, but we do occasionally plan a 550 mile driving day — the distance between our North Texas residence and Raton, New Mexico.)
Most experienced RV’ers plan their trip before hitting the road. They decide how many hours they will drive each day, map where they will stop for fuel, and identify a safe place to legally park their RV at the end of each driving day.
8 RV Trip Planning Actions
1. Outline Your Route
Do you want to take the scenic route, avoid paying tolls, or get to your destination quickly? Answering this question will help determine your route, stopping points and the places you camp along the way.
2. Create Your Timeline
Once you plot your route you, you should create a driving day timeline. This outlines how far you'll drive each day, roadside attractions you might visit, and the time of day you plan to arrive at your daily camping destinations. When you plan your RV camping timeline, don't forget to plan time for “rest stops” so you and your K9 travel companions can stretch your legs.
3. Build a Budget
When you have a budget in place, you can determine how often you'll eat out, how many groceries to stock in your RV refrigerator. This will also help regulate which campgrounds or RV parks you can afford to stay at along the way. Commercial campgrounds are expensive, but state parks, national parks, national forests, and BLM camping costs are usually nominal.
4. Purchase RV Insurance
If you don't already have it, be sure to purchase insurance. Especially on a long RV trip, you want to be sure your rig, and everything in it, is safe in case of an accident. Call your current auto insurance company; they should be able to add an RV to your current policy, although, some companies don't cover motorhomes.
5. Make Checklists
You should have a checklist for the food you need, the spare parts to have on board and everything in between. Though you can stop and get supplies as needed, save time and money by having everything to start with. Packing even the most obvious items can become overwhelming, and checklists will ensure that you have what you need, when you need it.
6. Manage your RV Weight
Make sure you correctly distribute weight around your RV trailer as you pack it for your trip. Once packed, weigh your RV. Know your overall gross trailer weight, axle weight, and tongue weight. Be sure your tongue weight is at least 10 percent of your GTW.
7. Check Road and Weather Conditions
Check weather conditions on the day you leave for the RV trip, and make changes in your route and timeline if necessary. Each day before getting on the road, do a quick check to avoid any dangerous conditions.
8. Bookmark websites in your smartphone browser and download apps.
Information Sources
Smartphone apps today keep RV’ers connected on the road. RV-friendly apps will make your camping trip easier, better organized, and simply more convenient. Whether you’re looking for help routing your trip ahead of time, mapping lowest priced gas stations and camping locations, or keeping up with weather forecasts, there’s one or more apps available to make your Casita Life more enjoyable, and less expensive. Here are some of the websites and apps you might find helpful to manage your next RV trip:
Google Maps is just about top of the line when it comes to free mapping and GPS technology. It’ll show you how to get from point A to point B including options to avoid highways or toll roads, and also allows you to search for RV campgrounds, restaurants, gas stations and more along the way to your final destination. That certainly makes it one of the best free RV GPS navigation apps, in our opinion!
The Department of Transportation in many states maintain a road conditions website for their respective states. Check DOT web pages for each state along your travel route and bookmark road conditions web pages for each state that offers the service. For example, here are a few state DOT road conditions map websites:
— Arizona: az511.gov/
— California: quickmap.dot.ca.gov/
— Colorado: maps.cotrip.org/
— Kansas: kandrive.org/kandrive/
— Montana: 511mt.net/
— Nebraska: new.511.nebraska.gov/
— New Mexico: nmroads.com/mapIndex.html
— Oklahoma: oktraffic.org/#/map
— Texas: drivetexas.org/#/
— Utah: udottraffic.utah.gov/
— Wyoming: map.wyoroad.info/wtimap/index.html
Recreation.gov is your one-stop shop for trip planning, information sharing and reservations brought to you by 12 federal Participating Partners. Seven of these partner agencies including the Army Corps of Engineers, Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Archives, offer advance reservations at 2,500 federal areas for over 60,000 facilities and activities. Use the search facilities and interactive maps on Recreation.gov to discover and reserve campsites at federal parks, forests, lakes, museums, and areas managed by federal agencies along your travel route and near your destination.
— www.recreation.gov/
Download the Good Sam Camping app for essential information, directions, and discounts for more than 12,500 campgrounds, RV parks, attractions, service centers across North America. Good Sam's Trip Planner, free with membership, facilitates point-to-point trip planning.
— www.goodsam.com/rv-camping-apps/
Download the KOA mobile app to search and reserve KOA’s selection of campgrounds by city, state or attractions. Get detailed KOA campground descriptions, deals, driving directions, as well as descriptions of local attractions and local and campground activities. Store your VKR information on the KOA app for quick access when booking campsites.
— www.koa.com/get-the-koa-app/
Although Allstays.com isn’t free, this app provides detailed information on over 30,000 Campgrounds: Independent, KOA, National/State Forest, State Parks, Public Lands, Army Corps, National Park, Military, County and City Parks, casinos. The site/app also includes information on BLM-approved boondocking spots to overnight-friendly Walmart parking lot reports from users to help you find possible free overnight parking spots.
— www.allstays.com/apps/camprv.htm
The Ultimate Public Campground Project was founded in 2008 to provide a consolidated and comprehensive source for public campgrounds of all types. The smartphone app provides comprehensive and up to date information about 34,000 public campgrounds of ALL types across the U.S. and Canada.
— http://www.ultimatecampgrounds.com/
If you’re a member of Passport America, their free RV campground app provides information on their 1800 participating campgrounds across the US, Canada, and Mexico. Passport America is one of the earliest 50% Discount Camping Clubs, in operation since 1992.
— www.passportamerica.com/about
The U.S. Public Lands app for smartphones provides interactive map layers for nearly 650 million acres of public lands for designated sites campgrounds, plus dispersed and boondocking camping including:
- Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
- US Forest Service (FS)
- National Park Service (NPS)
- National BLM Monuments
- Army Corp of Engineers (ACOE)
- US Fish & Wildlife Service
- Bureau of Reclamation
- Tennessee Valley Authority
- Department of Defense Installations
- www.twostepsbeyond.com/apps/uspubliclands/
- John Soares’ List of U.S. Dispersed Camping and Boondocking Websites and Apps
— https://blm-egis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=a6b1bc529b344e36a1d9d4d729bc03f7
For an annual membership fee of $39, you can use RVtripwizard.com to plan routes, find campgrounds, track expenses, mileage, and more. The trip wizard database contains information on over 17,000 campgrounds, including commercial Good Sam, KOA, Passport America, and other network affiliates.
— https://www.rvtripwizard.com/
Freecampsites.net provides information on free campgrounds and boondocking locations. This site provides a simple, map-based search engine for free and cheap camping locations. It is also a platform that campers can share about camping locations with others.
— https://freecampsites.net/
RVParky.com is an RV Park directory built by a full time RV'er with the help of the RV community to help fellow RV'ers on the road. The website provides information, images, and reviews for RV Parks and campgrounds in the United States and Canada.
— https://www.rvparky.com/
The GasBuddy.com app lets you search gas station locations and prices along your trip route by city, state, and zip code in the USA and Canada. The interactive map not only helps locate gas stations with the best gas price, it helps identify stations with convenient interstate exit and entrance ramp access.
— www.gasbuddy.com
Sanidumps.com app is a directory of RV dump stations for dumping gray water and black water holding tanks.
— www.sanidumps.com/
BringFido.com is a dog travel directory that provides unbiased reviews and detailed pet policy information for hotels, parks, beaches, and restaurants around the U.S. and 150 countries worldwide. Most campgrounds are dog friendly, but some may have restrictions for certain breeds like pit bulls.
Additionally, campground guides usually note dog policy for each campground too — dog friendly, extra dog fee, limit to number/size of dogs, breed restrictions, etc.
— https://www.bringfido.com/lodging/campgrounds/
— http://www.dogfriendly.com/server/travel/guides/camp/
— http://petfriendlytravel.com/
Stay informed with reliable weather forecasts, interactive radar and real-time rain alerts with The Weather Channel app.
— www.weather.com/apps
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