For BEGINNERS: 5 Tips for Planning a Cross-Country Road Trip!

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[sandrab.]

I would like to add to your list:

1) backup chargers for your phone. Can’t call for help on a dead phone—Assuming you have a signal. 😄
2) Also, specifically, have a spare tire so either you change it or have an on-call professional do it.
3) As I am thinking about preparedness, have a printed list of emergency numbers handy.
4) battery operated radio, weather radio
5) extra flashlights
6) extra drinking water
7) extra dried foods where you just eat straight out of the bag or add hot water

[peterbernier]

Never mind beginners.... We've been RV ing for 12 years and all your points and advice are great reminders for safe travel anytime.

[neils]

#1 is super important. Limit the distance on travel days. We target 200 to 250 miles max per day. That may not seem like much, but Kristy is right on when she says driving is much more stressful pulling a trailer or driving a motorhome. Slow down and enjoy the journey.

[Masterchief]

I would suggest that six hours driving daily is pretty much the top of the time on the road anyone should drive. Planning is essential! Your advice is spot on!

[StephSH]

I had to chuckle at this one - my grandpa and great uncle used to drive from Ohio to California in the summer to bring my older brother and I to Ohio for summer breaks. They drove straight thru and my brother and I rode in the back of a pickup with a cap on it. They would alternate sleeping and driving. Sounds illegal now, but we had such a good time, and that is definitely where I get my love of travel.

[carlsanders]

Oct. 2021. Wife was just retired, I retired 4 yrs. prior. Planned a 1 month road trip in our car from just north of Atl. GA . Only plan was to head up thru Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio to Niagra Falls. Over to New Hampshire to see friends and back down to home. Took 1 month and 1 day, 4005 miles of which I drove 4004 and 9/10th. My bride ( yes, after 35 yrs. I still call her my bride ) was the navigator. She found so many places on the fly for us to stop at along the way. Never knew where we would end each day so we would finish each day with a couple hours of daylight left and head towards our next stop. Bride would find a place to stop along the way to spend the night ( hotels ). Leave the next morning towards our next adventure. Only having a small plan and wing it along the way, never having to be somewhere at a certain time, play it on the fly made the trip so much more fun with no pressure. Paid for our lifetime national park pass in this one trip. So much beauty in our country to see. Have been following you and Kristy along with some other you tube RV channels that was the insperation for our adventure. Just wanted to say thank you Our next trip is for the middle part of the country. Planning on 6 to 7 weeks for that one.
Love your channel Thank You

[susanburg]

I have traveled three times to Yellowstone/S. Dakota/Colorado in the last three years by myself pulling an RV. I am 64 years old and loved every minute of it! Your videos were instrumental in getting me on the road and teaching me how to do it. Thanks Guys!!!!

[larrydraper]

The one thing you must have with you on a road trip is time. I take a lot of it with me now that I'm retired. But I do try to plan the driving to less than what I want because I know there can be issues and this gives me more time to rest at the end of the day. I thought about you two in October 2021 when I was in Madison Campground in Yellowstone and it snowed 8 inches overnight on top of ice. All roads were closed in the park so I asked "What would LOLOHO do?". So I sat back and enjoyed the beauty, solitude and peacefulness. Only 1 road open when I left (West Yellowstone) so my 5 hour planned drive to my next destination was an 11 hour drive but it took me thru some magnificent scenery that was unplanned. Plan for the unplanned. As far as keeping in touch ( I travel solo) I have purchased a Garmin InReach Messenger (2-way texting) to keep in contact with family back home, who have my itinerary. It fills the communication gap where cell phones fail. And I always travel with the old standby road atlas. Can't always count on electronic devices.

[kennyandcandywalker]

I wished we had taken more time at places. Now we stay at least 2 nights at every stop and at least 5 days at the biggies. Like Yellowstone, Zion etc. So I guess our advice after RVing for 18 years is slow down if you can. All your safety tips are good ones and everyone not just the beginners need to know these. We never had yellow vests till we saw one of your videos a few years ago. Now we have vests, rain gear and cones in the truck Thanks and safe travels.

[PhotoAlbert]

Before I took my first long RV road trip, I watched a lot of youtube videos and asked a lot of questions and received some very good advice. One piece of advice that surprised me was that I should probably not plan on driving more than 300 miles in a day. I thought the gentleman was kidding. Three hundred miles is should be able to go more than double that amount. Well, I found out he was right. By the time I hit 300 miles, I'm definitely ready to stop for the night. On one of our first long trips we met a couple that told us about their 2/2/2 rule which is, they travel 200 miles a day, stop by 2 pm, and stay for 2 days. Although I've never gone at that pace, it seems like a pretty good plan to me, especially with today's gas prices. Thanks for all your terrific videos!

[seawolff]

Very good tips. Re: weather - we use a app called 'Drive Weather' you put in your leaving destination and your arrival destination and it graphically shows you the route and the weather to be expected on that route.

[freedomdove]

On my trip to Idaho and back to Indiana I learned not to be shy about stopping and asking locals for directions when I've gotten a little off track because of detours or errors in Google Maps. They know the area like the backs of their hands, and they also know current road/construction conditions. I even scored a free map of the immediate area once. These people are usually extremely helpful and knowledgeable.

[notfound.....]

And tip # 6 ? Battery impact wrench, 400 ft-lbs or better & a portable battery booster pack!! That's your midas tip of the week.

[annettemills]

Our rule of thumb for long trips, is take the total miles and divide by 250. That is about how many days it should take. Some days we drive more, but some days we don’t drive at all. We also try to have “no travel” days about 1/3 of the time. We’ve been through the tire blow out - actually a double blow out - which wasn’t fun, but we survived it and learned a lot. Great tips.

[amybourgea]

Use iexit to find rest stops and stores along the way. That really helped us. Also we ended up downloading and using a trucker app because of the height of our RV. This tended to help us avoid major cities and the traffic.

[TheeArtistLola]

This is just the video I needed to help me feel more comfortable about this drive from Michigan to Cali ❤️

[rickytecon]

Great advice. Check your tire pressure people.

[bhbritt]

We achieved our first cross country trip from our home in Virginia to the state of Montana. Being new to RVing, I was very nervous about the undertaking but gained a lot of confidence from the experience! Watching many YouTube videos (including yours) was an amazing source of inspiration and information. Our trip was about 3-1/2 weeks and 5, 000 miles round trip. Really hooked me big time for future endeavors. We drive about 8 hours a day allowing for a rest stop every two hours as we had our dog to consider. Only real problem was allowing for towing a 20 foot travel trailer when refueling. Can’t thank you guys enough for the encouragement and sharing of your lessons learned.

[AcmeRacing]

When we're trip-planning I start making a list that I revise right up until departure. Some things (like cell phones, charger cables, toiletries and medications) are the same for every trip. Clothes and equipment vary depending on what we'll be doing and where we're going. I've mentioned this in other LoLoHo comments, but I note the address/hours/phone numbers for numerous things we might like to see and do along the way. We don't stress about doing all of it, but knowing what's available helps us plan our day once we've arrived somewhere.

[brownsignbrigade]

I've had my camper for 1 year. We took a road trip from GA to TX as soon as school let out for Memorial Day. We had a great time, but we learned a lot. Weather is important to keep in mind. I didn't think about the temperature of TX. We were lucky! Instead of 100 degree weather, it rained and thing were very cool. I also planned on staying in Harvest Hosts in Mississippi. No power! Miserable night.