First major post retirement trip

If you can do that trip, you can go anywhere.

I have a great Nash trailer now and a newer diesel Ram to pull it. I have been a Road Warrior since the 1960s. I just want to revisit favorite old places while I still can. My one great challenge is getting my girl on the road for more than about 12 days. She loves being at home. What is your secret for long trips?
 
ppine said:
If you can do that trip, you can go anywhere.

<snip> What is your secret for long trips?
Click to expand...

I am looking forward to going Everywhere!

Four weeks was a good start and a comprimise between my desire and family comitments.
 
In my younger days long trips were possible except for work commitments. We had the interest and the energy to travel all over the place. For decades we just camped where we could find a place. We rolled out in the sage brush. I did one 6 week long trip moving to the West Coast in a VW bus.

Now I have the time and the money and no work commitments. But I get tired easier. We go slower. I still want to spend some more time in Canada, but that requires probably 3 weeks or more on the road.

If anyone has insights into how they go on long trips, I want to hear it.
 
ppine said:
In my younger days long trips were possible except for work commitments. We had the interest and the energy to travel all over the place. For decades we just camped where we could find a place. We rolled out in the sage brush. I did one 6 week long trip moving to the West Coast in a VW bus.

Now I have the time and the money and no work commitments. But I get tired easier. We go slower. I still want to spend some more time in Canada, but that requires probably 3 weeks or more on the road.

If anyone has insights into how they go on long trips, I want to hear it.
Click to expand...

A slogan I follow is……

Make the drive along the way the reason…..not just the destination.

I’m at that time in life that your time clock is best served by a calendar.
And with RVing…..follow the 3 or 300 rule. Pull off the road by 3 pm or no further than 300 miles. There’s also those that stay 3 nights to relax and take in what’s around.
 
Things that should help me with longer trips:
  • Retired young (61) that should have made big trips easier - but COVID and family health issues delayed big trips...
  • My wife and I work hard to stay in shape - walking/hiking/cycling/weights - this enables a lot (RV maintenance, hiking, long drive days etc) - I know this will keep getting harder, but all the alternatives are far worse
  • Enough money saved - it's an issue for everyone
  • A willing spouse - mine is mostly willing - she has many friends so multi-month trips may be out - family health issues require a lot of planning to enable use to be gone for more than a week right now
  • We want to see the USA and Canada, not stay one place for months - a smaller RV works well for this - ours is getting old - when I am concerned about it making a trip, I will buy something else (back to money)
  • *My Mom as she was aging always said "if you don't do it you won't be able to do it" - they kept RVing into their 80s


We are hoping to get out for a similar trip sometime next year...
Until then we will do a few days here and there around the Great Lakes (home is SE Michigan)
 
Last edited:
Nice Bill! I've been retired 7 years at end of year and am still waiting to go on a major trip. Need to wait for my older wife to retire. And like you said, dealing with sick and elderly parents tends to mess up plans.
 
NJKris said:
Nice Bill! I've been retired 7 years at end of year and am still waiting to go on a major trip. Need to wait for my older wife to retire. And like you said, dealing with sick and elderly parents tends to mess up plans.
Click to expand...

I’m guessing your wife really enjoys her job with you having retired 7 years ago, and her still punching the clock. Time consumes us all at the same pace.
I hope she enjoys how she spends hers while you’re preparing for major road trips.
 
My pension was collectible at a set percentage after 25 years. Hers is number of years worked divided by 55 to give you a decimal percentage, so she wants to get in 28 years which would give her about 51% pension. I was lucky enough to get a 65% pension. But my profession many people die within 5 years of retirement, it's a very unhealthy life.
 
I am 69 and my wife is 63. We went out west to Moab, Grand canyon and Nevada last year to go off roading in our X3. We took 4 days to get there with 500 miles a day limit. We split the driving otherwise it would be too much on one of us. I want to go again next year however my wife is reluctant stating its too much for us. I resist agreeing as I do want to go while I am still able.
 
Odyknuck said:
I am 69 and my wife is 63. We went out west to Moab, Grand canyon and Nevada last year to go off roading in our X3. We took 4 days to get there with 500 miles a day limit. We split the driving otherwise it would be too much on one of us. I want to go again next year however my wife is reluctant stating its too much for us. I resist agreeing as I do want to go while I am still able.
Click to expand...

What parts of the trip did your wife love?
How do you add more of those and still enjoy it yourself?

500 Mile days are a no-go for my wife. 300 works better and allows us to see something interesting most every day (Herbert Hoover's home town, bits of Route 66, etc...) and prepare a nice meal most nights.

Most everyone I know that are fulltime takes 1 day a week for house cleaning and resting. We talked about this on our last trip but never took the time to rest - too many cool places to see - this might have added to our burnout by the time we got home.

On the plus side when we got on Route 66 heading home, we both thought about taking it to LA... just too many family commitments...
 
kenandterry said:
Make the drive along the way the reason…..not just the destination.

I’m at that time in life that your time clock is best served by a calendar.
And with RVing…..follow the 3 or 300 rule. Pull off the road by 3 pm or no further than 300 miles. There’s also those that stay 3 nights to relax and take in what’s around.
Click to expand...
Good reason.

My third winter setting out for a six month trip. Only destination is back home in six months or so. Maybe.

I follow the 6 hour rule most of the time on drive days. 6 hours from start of tear down to end of set up.

Very few less than three day stops also. Fuel is more expensive than most campsites and almost always something to do. :)

I do make hiking areas a priority when selecting a next stop.
 
3 0r 300 is a good rule, but sometimes gets broken.
I have been retired for 24 years. Mostly I have been backpacking, running rivers and doing pack trips with horses and mules. There have been some longer RV trips along the way. Now The RV is my main interest except for truck boondock camping.
 
NoviBill said:
Our 2006 Lexington Motorhome ran flawlessly for 28 Days, 4821 Miles and 7 National Parks

Rocky Mountain National Park
Arches National Park
Canyonlands National Park
Dead Horse Point State Park
Mesa Verde National Park
Zion National Park
Grand Canyon National Park
Sedona
Petrified Forest National Park
Click Link for photos https://flickr.com/photos/cdrdwd/albums/72177720320661048/
Click to expand...
Ah, the Turkish toilet at Canyonlands. Quite likely the most horrendous smell I have ever encountered.
 
I have been retired from a full-time position since 2006, but consulted part-time for another 4 years. When my wife was also planning to retire, she wanted to go back to Alaska by road, not by air. Having worked on projects in Alaska since 1972, I was all for that idea, so we bought a 22' travel trailer. Spent 3 months in western Canada and Alaska on that trip and found we really enjoyed both the scenery/wildlife and RVing. We are now on our 3rd RV and still love having it. But we are "travelers", not "campers", so seldom drive more than 300 miles/day or stay more than 3 days.

Fortunately, living in the West, 250-300 miles in a day easily gets us into some of the beautiful scenery in the the US. We have been to all but 3 of the national parks in the West, so we are now visiting national monuments that we have missed. Our recent fall trip took us from Canyons of the Ancients NM to Navajo NM to the north rim of the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas (where our son lives) to a series of USFS and state park cgs. along AZ's Mogollon Rim to Canyon de Chelly NM to Navajo Lake SP in far northern New Mexico. And fall is our favorite RVing season--better weather and fewer tourists. But we'll keep on RVing because we still have a few dozen more Western NMs to visit!
 
Last edited:
We observe the 300 miles or so per day. Try to travel not during the summer. In Ohio we gieser camp during the summer. Sunday thru Friday. $75 to just get away. Lakeside with power.

We use harvest host a lot. Only a few reservations. Minimum schedule.

We sleep hooked up while traveling. Set up or tear down is just minutes. Just power typically. Water and sewage every 4-5 days. Then it takes longer. The rv is set up for this.

6-8 weeks easy.

We are 75 and 68. Arthritis issues for both.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Gsykora
April Trip
ppine
PP
ST
First BIG roadtrip Maryland to Grand Canyon!
papermakermd
PA
P4
First long trip, lessons learned
pgandw
PG
RO
47 days, 16 states, 11 national parks, 8739 miles in our rockwood!
aspengirl
AS
PG
Our Next Big Trip - Zion and Bryce Canyon
mwaite49
MW

New posts

Try RV LIFE Pro Free for 7 Days

  • New Ad-Free experience on this RV LIFE Community.
  • Plan the best RV Safe travel with RV LIFE Trip Wizard.
  • Navigate with our RV Safe GPS mobile app.
  • and much more...
Try RV LIFE Pro Today
Back
Top Bottom