We have had an inquiry from one of our readers wondering what the longest trip in a Pop-Up trailer was for members of our community.
How far (miles) have you gone on a single vacation?
How many consecutive days have you stayed on the road with your Pop-Up?
It should be interesting to see just how far and how long you travel in your favorite RV.
Let us know.
Thank you.
We haven't gone too far away (furthest trip was 500 miles) but we have stayed in the popup for 10 consecutive days. One of these years I want to do a 3 week trip.
Jacqui
When I was younger, my family took two 3 week trips with a pop-up. The first time, we started in PA went through the central states down into Texas through to New Mexico up to Colorado and back. The second time we went straight through to Colorado came back through the Dakotas, Michigan, and back. My parents had friends in Colorado so that was always our halfway stop. The second time was better for my parents because I was old enough to drive. Much easier with three drivers. Not sure of the mileage in each....but it was looong. The thing that made it the hardest was every two or three days putting the camper up and down. It got tiring. I think if I was to do it with my family now, I would pick a few stops, maybe up and down 3 times total in three weeks.
Longest trip so far was from the Twin Cities to Fairfax, Virginnia. One-way mileage was 1100. Our 5, 7 and 10 year olds handled the mileage remarkably well. We spent 10 days there comuting into Washington, DC. Awesome vacation.
I'd love to spend 3 weeks travelling completely around the 5 great lakes.
It started June 21, 2001 at our home at the time, just south of Boston. It ended 56 days later at the same place.
We visited 19 National Parks and Monuments (and several state parks and a few other attractions) in 17 states. We put more than 10,000 miles on the camper, and another 3,200 on the van (side trips). Imagine getting your oil changed four times while on vacation!
The stories we've told and the pictures we took and the memories we've shared pale in comparison to the changes in us from having taken that trip and spent that time together.
Our second longest trip started in the same place, but ended in Minnesota. Once here, we lived out of our pop-up for 5-1/2 weeks between when the house in Mass sold and the house in Minnesota was bought. But that was in one campground.
If there's more you'd like to know, email me.
Austin
5000 miles and 5 weeks all up and down and over the western US and Canada.
We try to take a 3-week journey each summer, if possible. The longest was from home (western NY) to Glacier National Park in northwest Montana. We found Lake Michigan to be in the way, so on the way out we went south of Lake Michigan (through Chicago), and on the way back we went through the upper peninsula of Michigan. This return route brought us close enough that we stopped in at Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore. All-in-all the mileage was about 5500 by the time we were back home. I love those long journeys, but the price of gas is making me crazy.
Our longest trip in a popup was around 1991.
We had an 8 foot Jayco. No fridge, no furnace, no pottie, no electric brakes and pulled by a Plymouth Voyager. No trannie cooler or wdh. Very basic unit. Of course, back then, I didn't know any better.
Dw, Me, Ds and DD did a 49 day trip from NH to Seattle, down to San Francisco and then home. Somewhere around 8000 miles or so. Other than 3 nights with a friend in Seattle, we used the popup every night.
Kids are a lot older now but they still have some good memories of the trip.
We have also taken several trips that ranged from one to three weeks in a popup.
With the hybrid, we do longer trips as the amenities make it easier on us older folks. Longest being 62 days. We currently plan on spending next March in a campgournd in Florida.
Biggest factor on long trips is getting into a routine when setting up and taking down. DW and I can set the Kiwi up in about 15 to 20 minutes if we have a level site. She takes care of the inside and I do the outside stuff.
With kids, give them a job or two to help out. They will feel like they are helping and it is a lot less stress on you. Our rule on the road was "Once the camper is all set up, you can head to the pool or playground." That was part of their incentive to help out. Dw generally went with them while I made the final adjustments.
Long trips can be exciting and very educational. Biggest recommendation I can give is to be flexible and don't lock yourself into a set timetable. There are a lot of unexpected exciting things that you will discover on the road if you give yourself some time.
Quote from: GeneFLong trips can be exciting and very educational. Biggest recommendation I can give is to be flexible and don't lock yourself into a set timetable. There are a lot of unexpected exciting things that you will discover on the road if you give yourself some time.
In other words, BE ADVENTUROUS! People who never have adventures live rather boring lives.
Austin
I am so jealous!! All of your trips sound like so much fun!! So far we have only taken short trips on long holiday weekends and we have only had to drive 150 - 160 miles roundtrip. We are planning to take a weeklong plus trip this summer but for now with three kids three and under we are still doing short excursions, plus hubby only gets limited time off. I guess until we get more weeks of vacation we'll just dream..lol Thaks for sharing your stories!
Quote from: orangepridepopupI am so jealous!! All of your trips sound like so much fun!! So far we have only taken short trips on long holiday weekends and we have only had to drive 150 - 160 miles roundtrip. We are planning to take a weeklong plus trip this summer but for now with three kids three and under we are still doing short excursions, plus hubby only gets limited time off. I guess until we get more weeks of vacation we'll just dream..lol Thaks for sharing your stories!
DO NOT BE JEALOUS.
You have one of the best things going right now, camping with your three kids. They are too young to enjoy a long trip and that time will come but for now, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy the joys of camping with your three kids locally. Time will fly fast enough to a time when they won't want to camp with you. Enjoy your camping with them now. There are so many wonders with kids that young.
DW and I often wish that our kids were still camping with us but one is married and the other is a sophomore in college.
DS and his wife finally got some time to camp with us last summer. DS was very ill and left the next morning. So much for a family trip. Maybe we will try again this year.
We haven't ventured out very far away distance-wise, but we camphosted for three summers at our local state park for more than 6 weeks each time.
The first year camp hosting, we actually camped for 8+ weeks because we had sold our home and were unable to move into the new one. The loop that we were in was "officially" closed for the last 2 weeks we were there. We had it all to ourselves; it was quiet and beautiful.
Unfortunately, the kids school schedule no longer allows us to serve as hosts . . . . we'll miss it.
Pam
My favorite line in our owner's manual: "Use of this camper as a permanent residence will void all warranties". So don't go there! :)
The longest camping trip I've ever been on was when I was in fourth grade, many ,many moons ago. We travelled from Barstow, California in a homemade Truck-bed camper (that my Dad built) all the way to Bladensburg, Maryland for my Dad's new job. My brother, our cat and dog, and I rode in the truck camper while Mom and Dad drove the old International Pickup truck across the country. Dad had taken extra time so we could zig-zag a little along the way. We took three weeks to cross the country in that old pickup, towing a boat that my dad had also built. After crying for the first three days of the trip, I really got into seeing all the sights, and was almost resigned by the time we arrived at our destination. Spent the next 12 weeks living in a motel room while my parents house-hunted. Boy, I haven't thought about that trip in a long time until I read this post!
Cheryl
Our longest trip to date was in May of 2004. We took our 2004 Niagara and our ferrets to Florida to get married. Yes a Honeymoom PU. We drove from Fox River Grove, Illinois. [40 miles west of Chicago] to Sarasota Florida [my p's]for the wedding and stayed at a Rv park there and then we drove to Key West for our Honeymoon stayed at Sugarloaf Key / Key West KOA. Closest we could find to Key West. Next we drove to Orlando [DW p's] and stayed at Fort Wilderness. Then home. About 4000 miles and a million memories.
Our longest trip was going to be this summer, PA to SD, but due to gas prices we had to cancel. Our longest trip was 15 days to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. It was also our furtherest towing trip. Around 800 miles each way. :)
Quote from: tlhdocOur longest trip was going to be this summer, PA to SD, but due to gas prices we had to cancel. Our longest trip was 15 days to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. It was also our furtherest towing trip. Around 800 miles each way. :)
Oh man, Tracy! I'm so sorry you had to cancel ~ that would have been an awesome trip. I hope you get to actually make it sometime.
Back when I wasn't a single mom ... we did 2 different long trips with the PU. The first looped out from home to Wyoming and back ~ we were gone about 2 weeks. The other was almost 3 weeks long and looped out through Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, etc.
The kids had a great time. I'm hoping in a couple years we can manage another 3 week trip ~ maybe even 4. In the meantime we are heading to South Dakota this summer ~ we'll be gone for about 10 days. It's a much shorter drive for us than Tracy!
Our longest trip was a 3 week leisure jaunt around Lake Superior. Funny, I don't know how many miles we went. But It was a great time with fantastic scenery, good hiking and would not hesitate to make that loop again. We had no schedule or reservations other than to be home in 3 weeks, so we were able to stay at each spot till we got our fill. There are spots we diddn't get to that will be seen next time.
We've returned to Lk Superior Provincial park twice since that trip. And would like to return to Pukaskawa to make the hike to the suspension bridge weather diddn't allow us to make.
We have spent a few years where I take my two week vacation all at once and we will spend it camping in different areas. A couple of the years one of the weeks was spent at Pop-Up Times Rallies. Other years didn't match up to the area we were going so we were unable to meet up with everyone.
I would say that our longest in the pop-up was 17 days and about 1,600 miles when we went to Niagara Falls and then camping in New York before coming back home to Charlotte.
Last year we had the hybrid and spent 17 days going to Bar Harbor. That was about 2,700 miles all together.
Longest trip in my PU wasn't all that big...Virginia to Maine for a week. On the way home I stopped at a quaint little diner in Stowe Mass and let some feller named Zagami buy me a bagel & a cup of coffee...
SW PA (near Steelers summer training camp ;> ...Yes I can see it from my house) to Freeport, Maine (Freeport KOA) and back over the course of a week. Wife, Daughter (2yo), Wife's cousin (adult who wanted to see Maine) and of course, me. It was our 3rd trip to Freeport, but our first trip with the pu and the first family camping trip....All went well, but from my point of view since I didn't have to sleep on the ground, as I normally did, so much the better. We had bought the pu about 2 weeks before, had a "practice" campout in the driveway ( to see how DD would do) and decided let's goto Maine...packed and off we went. A much more enjoyable trip than the previous 2....more able to experience nature. Beautiful cool nights and plesant days....A good time had by all. (DD loves road trips, thank God for a Hemi)
The longest trip was 6 weeks.( over 30 years ago belive it was 1977 but not sure)
Was married to my first wife at the time.
Had a Plymouth Van(forgot what year.)
A Krown Pop Up
4 kids 3 boys 1 girl
Headed out west from Detroit Mi. had no set places to stay except Yellow Stone and the Grand Canyon.
If memory serves we camped in north Dakota can't rember were.
South Dakota Custer State Park, Grand Tetons, Brice Canyon, Yellow Stone,think we spend over a week in Yellow Stone, and the Grand Canyon, also stayed in some KOA's both going and coming home but don't rember which.(it was a long time ago)
Don't rember how many miles I but on the Van but it was a lot.
Have to add at that time you didn't need reservations
At age 11, we packed 6 kids and 2 adults into a 1966 2 door Chevy Impala and all of our camping gear into the trunk and a car top carrier and drove from Omaha to Pontiac, MI, the Upper Peninsula, and Eau Claire, WI. Not sure how many miles, probably close to 2000. I think we were gone close to 2 weeks. That poor car was not loaded, it was overloaded. Dad had to install helper springs on it to keep it from dragging in the rear. We didn't camp the entire time, we did stay with friends and relatives in Pontiac and Eau Claire, but did camp near the Mackinaw Bridge for 4-5 nights.
This year DW and I got 7 nights in a row, 2 of which were 3 miles from home for our 'dry run' which was snowy and cold, then 350 miles and 5 nights in Moab. Looking to get another 8-9 night trip before the end of the year, possibly Yellowstone from Denver.
Way back in our tenting days, a friend at work let us borrow their pop-up to take on vacation. It was sitting in their back yard for years and had grass grown up around it.
Well, by God's grace I got it home (100 miles away) and spent the next month getting it road-worthy: new tires, lights, axle-grease, cable lube, washed the drapes, cleaned everything twice.
So the day came to depart. We borrowed 2 kids to go with our 1 and struck out North -- from central Texas to Wyoming -- Yellowstone to be exact.
Along about Lubbock, a tire fell off (tire place didn't tighten the lug nuts well).
Fortunately, we found 3 of the lugnuts on the side of the road and was able to put the tire back on well enough to get to Lubbock and an RV dealer.
That ordeal set up behind about 4 hours, so we were late getting to Amarillo where there we NO campsites available. So we kept on driving and wound up in Raton, NM. where we spent the remainder of the night in the van behind a fast food place.
Next day - onwards north. The rest of the trip was a blast. Had a great time and still talk about it today. The longest part of the trip was getting from Austin to Amarillo (Seemed long anyway). But then as they say, once you get out of Texas, you're half-way to anywhere.
Our longest trip was the first one we ever took.
About 3200 miles round trip from Phoenix to LA to Big Sur to San Fran to Crescent City and back.
All in about two and-a-half weeks last Summer. Big fun was had by all.