RV Inspection And Care
The 5 Best RV Road Trip Tips

In this article I’m going to share with you my top 5 RV road trip tips.

We are going to discuss ways to make your road trip more pleasant and enjoyable. And this is important, because for many an RV road trip is stressful and sometimes dreaded.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Just a few RV tips from the pros who have learned how to make time on the road more fun, can be all that’s needed.

So let’s get started right away with my first tip!

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Tip #1 – Don’t Be In A Hurry!

When you are on the road traveling in an RV, it’s so easy to get in a hurry. After all, you have to break camp in the morning, drive for hundreds of miles, and set up camp again.

Add into this mix stopping for fuel, for food, for bathroom breaks and so on.

And quickly a go, go, go mindset starts to take over. For many RVers it becomes more about the destination rather than the journey.

When this happens, stress starts to rise and mistakes are easy to make. Tempers can flare, and then the RV road trip becomes a nightmare.

So how do you avoid all of this? Well for us, the start of the day often sets the tone for the whole trip.

We make sure that we get up in time to leisurely wake up and have a bite to eat.

Then we use a checklist to steadily work through breaking camp. That way we don’t miss anything by simply forgetting to do it.

Once we are on the road, we make good use of the rest stops along the way to take a break. We often get out of the RV and take a good brisk walk around the rest stop area and have a snack.

It’s amazing how this simple activity can change a dull and boring RV road trip into one that is more pleasurable.

And that brings me to my second RV road trip tip.

Tip #2 – Practice The 3/3/300 Rule

A surefire way to increase stress and anxiety on a road trip is to try to cover too much ground each day.

So we use the 3/3/300 rule on our RV road trips. That is, we only travel 3 days in a row without stopping for a few days to rest. Then we only travel a maximum of 300 miles in a day and we plan to get to our destination by 3 o’clock.

Traveling no more than 3 days in a row is a big stress reliever. That’s because breaking down and setting up camp every day in an RV is a real chore.

It adds so much more effort to traveling on the road. And many campsites and hookups require you to be flexible and a good problem solver too.

So not having that added anxiety for more than three consecutive days is a good thing.

And making sure that the day’s driving is no more than 300 miles limits the fatigue that inevitably sets in after several hours on the road.

Finally, getting to the next campsite by 3 o’clock insures that you won’t be arriving in the dark or during rush hour traffic.

This is huge because if you have ever tried to set up camp in the dark, you know how challenging that can be.

If you leave by 9AM in the morning and plan to travel 300 miles that day, you will probably be arriving by 3 o’clock.

This is because we have found that counting rest stops and lunch breaks, we tend to average 50 MPH. So do the math and you can see that it all works well together.

Now for my next road trip tip.

Tip #3 – Plan Ahead For Your RV Road Trip

I know that a lot of folks love to live their life in the most spontaneous way possible. And there is nothing wrong with that.

But if you have a rig any larger than a Class B van, you will really benefit by planning ahead more.

Large Class Cs, Class As, 5th wheels and travel trailers need to know what is ahead of them. This keeps the trip more manageable and stress-free.

This is because bigger rigs require more advance thought when you are in areas that you don’t know well.

So we like to use an online trip planner called RV Trip Wizard to plan out our long trips in advance.

It will let you know where rest stops, fuel stations and campgrounds are located all along your planned route.

And you can print out the route and have a handy guide for that day’s travels right in your hands as you go.

The yearly membership to the site is really affordable, and it has been a very reliable source of on-the-road information for us. I highly recommend it!

But one more suggestion in this area is to make sure that you also have a reliable and trustworthy road atlas handy too. Don’t just rely on online maps or GPS units to always steer you correctly.

The truth is that no one RV trip planning tool does everything and is infallible. So have some printed backups on hand at all times, just in case.

Learn more about RV Trip Wizard by clicking here

Click here for the Rand McNally Road Atlas

(Some of these are affiliate links for the product on Amazon. It does not cost you any extra to buy the product using my affiliate link if you choose to do so)

Now for the fourth tip.

Tip #4 – Use Helpful Apps And Guides

There are several useful guides to travel on the road but we have found a couple of them to be exceptionally useful.

There is a real need to know what services are available at each exit before you get there.

For instance, you may need to fuel up, or maybe stop off for a bite to eat, or even a sudden bathroom break.

But how do you know about all the services that are located at each exit?

One of the best sources of information we have found is a book called “The Next Exit”. It conveniently lists pretty much all of the offered services at each exit and gives you valuable information about them.

There is also an app that does a very good job of providing this kind of information too if you prefer apps. The one we like to use is called “I-Exit”.

Again, it’s not a bad idea to have more than one tool in this area. It helps to give you a complete picture of the offerings available at each exit.

This allows you to avoid wasting time searching at exits for needed services. Instead, you will know what to expect from every exit before you get to it.

This is another real stress reliever on an RV road trip!

Click here for the Next Exit Guidebook

Click here for the I-Exit app

(Some of these are affiliate links for the product on Amazon. It does not cost you any extra to buy the product using my affiliate link if you choose to do so)

Now for the fifth and final road trip tip.

Tip #5 – Stow Anything That Can Move

One of the biggest irritations of traveling on the road is having to clean up a mess after a long day.

And traveling down the highway subjects all RVs to all sorts of bumps and shakes that can move things around in your RV.

So before you leave for the trip that day, stow anything that can move. Tie it down. Tape it down. Bungee it down. Put fragile items on the couch or bed.

Whatever you do, just make sure that RV travel is not going to make a mess in your RV.

The end of a day’s travel is not the time to be dealing with a mess. Especially so, because you now have to set up camp and get dinner going too.

A little advance preparation in this area will make the end of the day much more pleasant.

We have found that having a checklist helps us remember what needs to be done in this area too. Just follow the checklist and most spill accidents will be avoided.

Conclusion

RV road trips have their own set of unique challenges and difficulties.

But if you are well organized and do a little advance planning, road trips can be much more enjoyable.

So how do you make RV road trips better?

1. Don’t be in a hurry
2. Use the 3/3/300 rule
3. Plan ahead with RV Trip Wizard and an Atlas
4. Use guides or apps to know what is at each exit
5. Before you go, stow anything that can move

I hope this information has been helpful for you.

Have safe and happy travels my friends!

The 5 Best RV Road Trip Tips
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