Long distance and one-night stays

[PattieAM]

I've made the long distance trips, and I do have a separate bag with sleep clothes, personal care items and next day clothes - makes life much easier, whether moteling it or quickie overnight camp.

If I choose to motel it, I will make my driving day much longer - and will generally choose a motel which has either a Shoney's very close by or serves a continental breakfast.

If I choose to camp overnight, I try to be off the road between 3-4 pm to allow set up time - and I might do microwave heat-n-eats (Hormel has some that don't require refrigeration) for dinner, and in the morning close the camper, hookup and go - stopping for coffee and fast food on the road.  My only stops are for gas and I might grab something while getting gas.  I've also been known to pack a picnic.

My most recent trip to FL was a 14 hr. trip - solo and I drove straight through - timed my leaving home time accordingly so I'd be at the campground at noon the following day.  (With kids this might not be easy).  Prior trips I moteled it for one night (could find one for less than $30).  

I'm assumming you will be taking I-90 west.  With kids, there are neat tourist traps along the way.  We stopped at Blue Earth, MN for photos with the Jolly Green Giant (kids have fond memories), stopped for a night in Wisc. Dells at a motel with an indoor water park (well worth it for the kids after all the hours of driving), stopped at the SD welcome center and let the kids run.....stopped at Mitchell, SD to see the Corn Palace.  

We camped in Wall, SD and made day trips to Rushmore, Sturgis, all the Rapid City tourist traps (Bear Country, Reptile World and even a water park), Badlands, Devils tower too.  Wall Drug was an easy walk and neat for the kids and even the adults - food available there too.  Laundrymat in town as well as a grocery store (larger selection in Rapid City).  We also stopped at a Prairie Dog town and the kids (and even I) enjoyed feeding the Prairie Dogs - probably their most memorable stop other than Bear Country and the baby bears antics!

[Ranger3/75]

Last summer decided to take the grandkids 10&7 yrs.old on a 2 month camping,history,geography vacation.Only 1 cellphone,laptop,camera.We left from NC traveled to yellowstone,Tetons,Grand Canyon,NM,AZ,points in between.
 
Traveled in Aliner,with generator for power.65 days camping,4 motels.We used :Passport America for rv parks,US forest Service CG's,Natl Park Cgs,COE Cgs,Truckstops America,Flying J Truckstops (never once had a problem).One niters were mostly at truckstops,walmarts..
 
TV-Dodge Dakota Quad w/camper shell.Sleep in this for fast overnites,12v refrig.inside for fast breakfasts,eat out at night.Storage shelfs built in bed of truck for clothes.Worked great a kids enjoyed it all.
 
If you do some research on computer,you can plan your stops ahead,many forest service cg's,nat'l parks,passpot parks along or close by hwys.We loaded on USFS,NPS,COE sites that list all there cg's nationwide,all we did was look about 2 days ahead,and our route..
 
Enjoy all this great country has to see........have a great summer...Only have grandkids 2 weeks this summer,going to Florida.
 
Check sites: Passport America,USFS,NPS,COE (PA 50%off all sites)

[centex_popup]

I love this place!

The family and I are taking our first big trip in our 01 niagara, we are traveling from TX to DC with some 2night stops and some one night stays thrown into the mix.  The information shared from all of your experience is tremendous.  It will make my planning so much easier.  

Thank you for your insight.  

[spicetrader]

Weathertop, Cajun camper, PattieAM and others couldn't have said it better.
KOA, or similar, unhitch a couple of feet and there you have it.
We are lucky in the fact that out little Taos CAN be opened with it hitched, but just barely, you better not need anything out of the hatchback, HA.

[pricerj]

I love this place!

The family and I are taking our first big trip in our 01 niagara, we are traveling from TX to DC with some 2night stops and some one night stays thrown into the mix.  The information shared from all of your experience is tremendous.  It will make my planning so much easier.  

Thank you for your insight.  

We took an LA to DC trip last summer. We camped at Pohick Bay in Virginia just south of Mt Vernon. Beautiful campsite and an easy drive to the Springfield/Franconia subway station. We had a great campsite, an easy trip into the city, and never had to worry about parking. Just a recommendation. I hope you enjoy your trip.

[MomboTN]

If you are heading to SD don't forget Badlands NP.  The Bison and canyons are really great.  We did 6 weeks out west and only 2 nights in hotels.  You are not going to want to spend 12-15 hours driving each day so stop early set up w/o awnings and the things you won't use.  Make sure the kids do their part and it will take 20 minutes.  We kept everything in the camper so the family could enjoy the ride in comfort.  When we set up we would store some things in the TV.  Then the kids could swim or play and get rid of some energy so we could do it again the next day.  Rushmore is worth the trip and crazy horse is not too far away.  When you are looking for campgrounds look for ones that are at least a mile from the interstate.  4 or 5 miles would be better.  The noise will keep you up and the extra 10 minutes for a good nights sleep will pay for themselves.  Have a great trip.

[AustinBoston]

This year, we are headed to Mt. Rushmore.  From Boston, that is three good days of driving if we are lucky.

We did the same thing (sort of); it took us 6 weeks to arrive at Mt Rushmore, and the van was up by close to 9,000 miles by the time we got there. ;-)

Looking for advice from overnighters who have successfully pulled in to a spot in the evening, popped up, slept, and been on the road early.

We've done it both ways.  It depends on our goals.

If our goal is to arrive as soon as possible, then we will drive 14-16 hours per day and crash in a hotel.

If we want to be a bit more relaxed (otr save some $$), we will reserve a spot in a KOA with a plan to arrive before quiet hours so we can be done setting up before quiet hours start.

We have arrived at a campground after the office was closed, pulled our registration off the bulletin board, put our payment in the slot, and left in the morning before the office opened.

When we do the in-and-out in a campground, we don't eat breakfast or take a sip of coffee until we are on the road.  This keeps everyone motivated to get going quickly.

Austin

P.s. - We went from Boston (Stoughton, actually) to Mt Rushmore via campgrounds in more than 15 states.  In all, that trip took us to 19 National Parks and put more than 13,000 miles on the van. -AB

[centex_popup]

We took an LA to DC trip last summer. We camped at Pohick Bay in Virginia just south of Mt Vernon. Beautiful campsite and an easy drive to the Springfield/Franconia subway station. We had a great campsite, an easy trip into the city, and never had to worry about parking. Just a recommendation. I hope you enjoy your trip.

I looked at the web site for Pohick Bay, it looks like a nice park, I especially like thge fact that it is water oriented.  We have a couple of inflatable canoes that we love to put into the water.  

thanks again pricerj!

[flyfisherman]

I'm able to stay hitched and open the PU so this helps for a quick opening and closing for enroute travel. Here I've pulled into a remote area of a national forest for the night and remaining hitched ~




Now I can set-up in this mode in about 10 minutes and close up in about 12. However, that does not include the time for mounting the bikes (which you can see on the right side of the pic or the canoe/boat which is on the far side of the rig and cannot be seen). Loading or unloading the bikes & the boat takes about another 30 minutes.


Fly

[maromeo]

We have taken several trips across the US. We have done pretty much the same thing. We also traveled with a Trailer Life Directory and about an hour from where we wanted to stop or felt like stopping. I would start to research campgrounds and call ahead. Many states we traveled through we used state campgrounds. I enjoyed that because it also gave us a flavor of the state we were in. We also used KOA's because they were convienent and for the most part clean and easy access.  

We have hoteled it also but felt for the 15 min setup time and not having to worry about where the camper is parked it took us the same time to gather the things we didn't want to leave in the vehicle, clothes and etc. and get a hotel room. It was about the same amount of time.
We just kept everything to a minimum and maybe cereal or fruit  and coffee for breakfast and would stop down the road a little later. It worked great for us. Now we don't even worry about doing just an overnighter.

Mary Romeo