Winging it on your travels

[charming]

I've read so many people post about going with the flow when they are traveling. Normally, as I've posted on here before, I'm a planner plodder. I was amazed by peoples tales of calling and pulling into a motor home park within minutes of locating it in the Woodalls or other source.

So, We had a three month road trip where we had to be in certain places on certain dates. We had to be in Indian Wells on March 2, Houston on April 5, Tallahassee on April 21, and Skidaway Island, GA on April 28. I made those reservations months before the trip. Good thing I made the Indian Wells and Skidaway reservations when I did they both filled up!

I posted my dilemma on where to go after Indian Wells. After looking at the weather forecast we headed to Phoenix for a couple of days and then back on I-10. We worked our way over to I-20 and on to several stops at Texas state parks before we hit a wall! We wanted to swing out to the hill country before going to McKinney Falls near Austin. So many places were full, wild flowers were in bloom and so were the RVs. We should have known things were going to get difficult.

I didn't have a melt down until we arrived at Palmetto Island State Park in LA. Lovely park with many great features. I thought we would stay there a few days then move on to AL or MS. I started looking and nothing! We needed a place between LA and Tallahassee. The park where we were was full for the weekend but we scored a cancellation that gave us a full week at the park, although we had to move to another site.

That left 1 night. We thought we would check at the new Alabama Welcome Center. All the signs said no over nights and there was no one on the grounds to ask. Not wanting a knock on the door in the middle of the night, we moved on. DH driving and me on my tablet searching for a place. We ended up at 9 PM at the Cracker Barrell in Spanish Fort, AL. What a great place to spend the night. Very quiet and a good breakfast in the morning. Thank you Cracker Barrel.

So, Sometimes winging works, but spring break, special events, holidays, etc. can make it next to impossible.

We could have made the drive all the way from Tallahassee to Skidaway but they were full so we spent two nights at Stephen Foster Folk Center. Interesting place.

[CFerguson]

Tom/Barb wrote:
We get going early, and quit early, always get a spot in the camp grounds.

Unless we know where we plan on staying for an extended period, this is what we do. There's no wrong answer- everyone has different tolerances and spirits.

[ppine]

We started as junior road warriors back in the 1950s traveling with the family in a 1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser. Dad never made any arrangements ahead of time. He trained us.

If you avoid the peak times to visit the most poplular places, most of your troubles will be over. Good to start and end early. Good to call ahead for a reservation on the same day. Once in awhile you can get stuck. There are always alternatives. I could never go on a long trip with all the places to stay mapped out. Same thing traveling out of the country. My brother has been everywhere and traveled for years around the world. He is in the Phillipines right now. His motto "the worst that can happen is that you sleep in your rental car and have rice and tea for dinner."

[valhalla360]

Reality is in the middle...
- Most of the time, you can show up and get a site.
- Prime time (weekends, holidays, special events), get reservations.

As others have said, it helps to travel earlier in the day and be looking to stop early afternoon. If you wait until 6pm and your first choice is full, it starts to add pressure as the sun is going down.

[Trekkar]

I needed to plan out trips too often at the job to enjoy it during retirement. Now it's pick a direction, and see how it goes!

[folivier]

There are many options for finding cheap or free overnight spots. Days End Directory is one but requires an Escapees membership. Cabelas usually has a parking lot set aside for ON parking. Look for county or small town parks, usually free or low cost. Search the Inet for other apps.

[wxtoad]

Problems with such detailed planning for a trip:

I have no desire to spend hours researching details of CG after CG.

We hate to get pinned down to definite dates to be certain places. If we like a spot, we'll often extend our stay; if we don't like it, we move along after a day or two.

We prefer small, out-of-the-way places and enjoy boondocking, so finding a spot is rarely a problem.

A few years ago we did an 8-month trip around the US - from New England to FL to CA to WA to the UP and home. I can't tell you how many times we changed our plans and took off in a new direction.

A lot of our changes came after talking to people we met along the way who suggested interesting places to visit.

Semper Gumby is our travel motto.

[charming]

On our spring trip we did not have the luxury of no time table. We did enjoy taking out the map and deciding how we were to get to Houston and what we wanted to see. As always on our journeys we ran out of time on each of our stops.

We live at the beach and have no interest in beach locations unless it is something a little different. We are interested in history and love going to museums and historic sites.

The planner plodder in me is only going to give up so much control.

[D_E_Bishop]

My wife and I are one day at a time type. More than once we have altered our entire pre-planed trip and done something else. Last summer we were headed to Montana and Wyoming and ended up spending the entire summer bumming up and down the Oregon coast. Sharon my DW would check for a campground a couple of days before we had to leave a CG and find a couple of days here and a week here or there.

We have made reservations for specific things like Quilt Week in Paduka, KY or Spring Break week, but, very seldom.

We are both retired and in our mid and late seventies, heat has become very hard to tolerate for more than a couple of days at a time so we try to avoid more popular summer spots like beaches and lakes. We spent 11 weeks circomnavigating the US. Two or three days traveling and two or three days in one place. Twice in that time we did Home Depot camping but we left hone in mid-Sept and returned home Tuesday before Thanksgiving. We never called more than three days in advanced for a spot and only called then for week-ends.

You just have to find the way that works for you.

[monkey44]

We've been on the road about two weeks or so, no reservations. Got a nice site each night - our choice actually as CGs are about half full now. Some said they fill up on weekends - but we'll be in Grand Canyon Thurs and catch a first-come site and spend three or four days - great place....

About mid-afternoon Genie grabs the phone and finds us a site ... we've been doing this for years, no reservations, early stops. Always find a spot ...

[CharlesinGA]

The smaller your rig, and the less demanding your requirements as far as site, hookups, etc, the more likely you are to find a suitable place to spend the night.

Indeed, some places, and some seasons require lots of prior planning and even reservations on occasion, but you always have to be flexible.

Charles

[Tom_Barb]

We are here tonight, the place is half full

Here

[Community Alumni]

We always travel without reservations. We are almost to the halfway point of an 8K mile road trip across the US and Canada and have not made any reservations, and haven't had any problems finding a place to stay. The key to traveling without reservations is to travel before or after the summer and avoid holidays. Last year, we started our road trip in July and had some difficulty with availability but we still managed to get a place to stay.

[ksbowman]

We hardly ever book places with a certain date when traveling. My wife waits till we know how far we will get and 1-2 hours before we stop she calls and always finds us a spot. Our final destination we always have booked for the length of stay way in advance. If we happen to reach that destination a day or two early we have never been turned down although, it may be in a different spot than our longer term stay spot. It is only as hard as you make it.

[Tom_Barb]

We get going early, and quit early, always get a spot in the camp grounds.

[swphotobug]

When winging it you need to have Plan A, B and C. We just went to Yellowstone, hoping for Mammoth CG(only 2 cgs open, on N and 1 S) if not we were aware of 2 NFS service locations 15 miles down the road.

It also sounds like you were traveling late into the day(Visitor Center closed). We mostly settle in by 4 at the latest.

You also need to be aware of all the opportunities for an overnight. Cracker Barrel is one but there are so many others.

The other trick is not to travel on a weekend. Where we are on Friday(early) is where we stay until Sunday.

There are numerous campgrounds that don't appear in any books, you find them mainly on the backroads, not on interstates.

Harvest Hosts is a good resource if you belong. I have never been turned away from them. Also, Elks(you need to join) has numerous lodges across the US.

You will learn...........