Is it possible to hit the open road without booking sites ahead?

[myredracer]

One of these days we would love to do a circle tour of the US or parts of it. Since that would be a long, long trip I am guessing that it would be rather difficult to plan how long each day would be, where campgrounds would be when you arrive at your next destination and if you want to possibly spend an extra day or two at a site to do some site seeing. Would it be mandatory to book all overnight sites ahead regardless?

Is it possible to just jump in the truck one day and go? What if we couldn't find a camping site?? Now that Walmart is not allowing RVs like they used to, what to do for an emergency backup overnight site? We are newbies at pulling a TT around so are not sure on how to handle finding campgrounds in unknown territory. DW loves to plan everything on paper every day, even at home. Me, I love to head out into the great unknown without a plan of any kind.

[Oakman]

That’s the best way to do a long trip. The only time during a trip like that where you want to make your reservations in advance would be if on major holiday weekends such as Memorial Day or Labor Day.

Carry either a Woodall’s or Trailer Life campground directory with you so that you have an idea of what campground you want to stay at for the night. We’ve always been able to find a campground for the night. After a breakdown on a long trip in 2008 we had an unplanned stop over the Labor Day weekend and we found a park that could put us in an overflow site.

[bikendan]

a lot depends on the time of year you're traveling.
spring and fall in the West Coast, you could get by, except holiday weekends.

but summer, you'll need reservations. and in Calif., you need to do it 6 months in advance.

[melbornj]

I once took 3 weeks of leave and we set out on a tour of the west coast. In three weeks we made no reservations and only made it from Seattle to San Francisco. We had an Idea of where we were going to stay and only had to find a diffrent campground once. The Woodalls came in handy and it was a blast!

[Forbes]

Last year we started in East TN and traveled to ME with only one booked site near Fort Kent. The return trip took us 6 weeks and never had a problem. Some of the best camp grounds where the mom and pop sites that we just found along the way. We stayed at one near Rock Port called Lobster Buey and we where right on the water. We where going to just stay one night and stayed for a week. ($115.00) We really enjoy just fliping a coin to see witch way we are goiing to go.

[whj77372]

Sounds like you had a good trip? I would be careful in New England in the Summer as many of the camp grounds are booked and I have had problems getting one in the past. The cost is also higher in that part of the country. I would not go to ME in the summer without a reservation. Good Luck

[F and E Damp]

We usually go without reservations unless we're going to be in a very popular area over a holiday weekend. Out west here, there are lots of CGs and it's rare not to be able to find a spot.

When we go just for a short trip, we leave home Sunday after lunch, so the weekenders who have work and school on Mondays are gone by the time we're looking and we head home Friday lunchtime to leave room for the next lot of weekenders. We take our longer trips either before schools are out in June or after they've gone back in late August or after Labor Day.

[gbpacker]

Last year and this year we have travelled across the US without reservations. One thing we noticed is that traveling cross-country is different than weekend camping.

Commercial CG's generally have sites available for travelers. Finding one depends on what tools you have available to you. We have a GPS and an iPad which we use to find and rate CG's, after finding a CG we call for availability. Even the starting weekend of the Albuquerque Ballon Fest we were able to find one night in Albuquerque.

[SaskCampers]

We always book ahead. We are going to the FROG Rally in Goshen again except this time we are planning a 6500 mile trip and will have all our CG's booked for the entire trip by the end of march early april.

[accumack]

We are fulltimers and book same day most of the time except when we know it will be crowded like holidays. No problems so far.

[comfun1]

Some of my best camping memories were traveling Colorado in a cabover camper and staying at remote campgrounds without services. I spent two summers doing this and never had a reservation or a destination. Some days I'd leave a campground and travel 10 or 15 miles and see another campground that looked interesting and pull into it for a night or two. Other times I would leave and travel a couple hundred miles. It was a great time. I was a college student then and out of school for the summer.

[nuisance]

Originally Posted by TheSasks

We always book ahead. We are going to the FROG Rally in Goshen again except this time we are planning a 6500 mile trip and will have all our CG's booked for the entire trip by the end of march early april.

We also are going to the rally, but we are doing it rather strangely this year. From home Iowa, to Ca. in June, then back via. Mississippi then to the Rally in Indiana. Then back home to Iowa. We will be staying at Military bases that have family camps. (DH is 100% disabled.) We are also staying at Army corps of engineers camps. In Mississippi my brother-in-law is making us our own private spot on his land, with 30 amp, water, sewer - near the trees for shade. Have to love that man,

The only places that i will make reservations are at the Military bases.

[jerryliving]

Two years ago we took a 5 month road trip. Seldom did we make reservations further out then the day we were traveling and never had a problem finding a RV park. However, when we did make a reservation in the DC area because we knew we were going to be there for a couple of weeks and just committed.

I wouldn't worry about finding a place to stay and that way you won't be committed to arriving on a particular day.

[Dutch & Di]

We too usually opt for no reservations. We like to just "hang a left" at the last minute to go explore. There are times maybe in the height of the season, they might be necessary but we believe that if we don't get into one park, another one down the road will have an opening. Hugs, Di

[kidsgone]

Last year we travelled from FL to Maine and the only reservation we made in advance was our site in Maine. By the way, if you ever plan on a Maine trip, might I suggest a week or two before Labor Day? We stayed up there two weeks, left 3 days after Labor Day. Labor Day up there signals a close of their season....some restaurants close, But Bar Harbor is open and campgrounds remain open for a while. The closer to Labor Day, prices got cheaper...even on Lobster! (when we left lobster was $3 a lb)
Ditto the others comments on holidays and military bases (we do alot of those) or fall leaf season.
We often take detours off our route and never have a problem finding a campsite. We do travel only 250-300 miles a day, so we basically know each morning where we may (or may not) stop for the night.
Enjoy your journey...safe travels
Andi

[gbpacker]

Another reason for not making reservations is the rating system maybe misleading or the web site show only the good parts of the CG. This summer we ran across a CG that had a Woodall Rating of 3. The place was a DUMP! Not having reservation allowed us to drive on through.

[F and E Damp]

The trick is to leave Sunday afternoon, after the weekenders and their schoolkids have gone home and then find a place for the weekend before noon on Friday before the rugrats come out again!

Yeah, on holiday weekends, not having a reservation can be a problem, but we don't usually go out over national holidays. It's an advantage of being old farts with no dependents travelling with us (except our two Labradors).

[Great Horned Owl]

This summer we took a 6 week trip through Montana, Wyoming, and Utah. We made a reservation (3 days in advance) for camping in Yellowstone. The rest of the time, we made no reservations at all.

Joel

[thehamguy1]

We completed a 10-week trip from Iowa to the Yukon and Alaska and back this summer. We rarely made a reservation more than a day in advance, usually arrived with no reservation and had few problems except the night during the July 4 weekend we arrived in the area of Minot, North Dakota. Forgot to notice there's an oil boom there! Many campgrounds have been repurposed to house permanent residents. Ended up in the last hotel room in town (it was late and hot and we were tired). That was our only problem on the entire trip. We're willing to trade a sure thing for flexibility. We hate to be tied down to a schedule. Sometimes that means settling for something less than optimum and sometimes it means finding a primo spot. Most of the time we're pretty happy with our campsites.We use the All Stays app on our iPad and check reviews. It's a great app listing public and private campgrounds as well as Walmarts and other commercial establishments.

With the advent of online reservation systems and private vendors running state and federal campgrounds, we have noticed that it is harder to find a campsite on busy weekends in the states. Some really like this system as they can be assured of a space. Being the free spirits that we are, we don't like to see all the best sites tied up in advance nor do we like the fees associated with these systems. We also miss the sense of friendly service the forest service and state and federal parks personnel had. The change is dramatic in some parks we've visited over the years.

Have fun hitting the open road. You might try making a few reservations over busy weekends and in must-visit destination parks and let the rest of the trip unfold as it will.

Courtenay

[Rod Johnson]

Wouldn't hurt to PM members that have their locations in their sig and ask them about whats around.