Let’s talk travel planning.  Among those who travel in a RV fulltime there’s a wide variety of travel styles.  At one extreme are those who seldom stay in one place longer than a few days and leave a campground in the morning not knowing for sure where they will be that night.  At the other extreme are those who research their trips mile by mile and start making reservations at campgrounds months in advance.  In another post I call the two extremes “planners and freelancers.” I’ve also written about it here. Between those extremes you’ll find the full range of travel planners.

I doubt it will surprise any of my friends to hear me say I’m a Planner.  That was true in my professional life, it’s true in my personal life, and it’s true of my approach to being a traveling fulltime RVer.

Over time I’ll start researching the areas we’ll be in, and by knowing well ahead of time, I can even check out county fairs and other date specific attractions.  This information, too, will be noted on either the spreadsheet or the calendar.  I also spend time checking out highway conditions like mountain grades or alternatives that will let me avoid city traffic.

By having my route and destinations worked out I’m more alert to discussions about the areas on various forums I visit as well as having a list of places I want to check out on the Internet on quiet winter evenings.

A few notes:

Again, don’t feel obligated to tell me you’ve been traveling for years just playing it by ear.  I’m not against your doing that, but I’m a Planner, and we like doing it this way.

Also, don’t get in too big a hurry with the calendar part of the planning.  It’s pretty easy to make changes to the Google Maps and your spreadsheet.  Once you start a calendar any change of days can potentially create a series of “bumper cars” in which you have to change every one of the entries!