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Old 02-18-2016, 10:51 AM   #21
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Originally Posted by JStelly View Post

...How do others find a place to overnight at the last minute? Head to a location and find spots via the map, Internet, etc? Do you call ahead or just show up? Do you generally find this a good experience?
I generally just pull into a campground, however I do make plans as to where I want to stop for the night (usually the day before). If it is a weekend or holiday, I'll often call during the morning to see if there is space available for the night's stop. As I mentioned before, stopping by 1:00 - 2:00 makes a big difference. Many times I ended up in campgrounds that were full by 6:00 at night. My style of travel is to plan & enjoy the trip, not just the destination. I often change my plans along the way because of suggestions from other travelers, campground hosts, etc. Although I usually get to where I planed, the route I originally plan is rarely the one I end up following.

As to finding places, AllStays Camp & RV & The Ultimate Campground List (for non commercial campgrounds) are two apps I regularly use. Both are available for iOS & Android. The Ultimate Campground list is also available as a POI list that can be added to most GPSs. If I had to choose just one, it would be Allstars since it includes many other useful locations & can be filtered for specific types, but if you like non commercial sites, the Ultimate Campground List has more of them than AllStays.

As to a good experience, after almost 850 camping nights in the trailer over the last 5 years, I've never had to stay in a Walmart. A couple of times I've had to take second or third choice on a campground, but I always found one.
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Old 02-18-2016, 01:46 PM   #22
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Thanks Doug. I added the site to my reference list.
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Old 02-18-2016, 01:48 PM   #23
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Thanks Jon. I use Allstays for research and find it very helpful for the filtering you mentioned especially as I look for military campgrounds along the route. I will add the Ultimate Campground List to my folder as well. Thanks!
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Old 02-18-2016, 03:08 PM   #24
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Wife and I have 4pm as our cut off. At about 3pm we pull over and look for a campground by GPS and start calling. Any longer than 4pm and we tend to get scrapy with each other. So to preserve marital bliss its 4pm or sooner, if we find an interesting area.
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Old 02-18-2016, 03:36 PM   #25
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Wife and I have 4pm as our cut off. At about 3pm we pull over and look for a campground by GPS and start calling. Any longer than 4pm and we tend to get scrapy with each other. So to preserve marital bliss its 4pm or sooner, if we find an interesting area.

Ditto. Our cutoff is actually closer to 3. Any time later and things get tense.
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Old 02-18-2016, 04:24 PM   #26
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When my kids were small, I could always tell when the driving day was nearly at an end by the increasing numbers of toys that would fly past my head and hit the inside of the windshield. These days if we are not in a hurry to make time to a destination, I like to keep the driving to less than about 300 km per day (typically about 3 hrs). Of course, if time is short and there are miles to go before I sleep, it is not unusual to put in 1000 or 1200 kms (10-12 hrs) of driving before a stop. On those long days, it is nice to know in advance where you are going to be stopping for the night, so that you can minimize the time spent searching for a campground and the camper setup time. In those circumstances and especially if you are leaving again the following morning, a night staying in a WalMart parking lot often seems very convenient.
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Old 02-18-2016, 04:34 PM   #27
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We still work and do the annual vacation negotiations with our employers. Every day of travel is one that we don't spend at our destination.

We tend to push things, and yes, we've been known to get a bit grumpy at the end of the day. Boulder to Chilliwack to pick up our trailer was 2900 miles in 5 days, we likely only drove 100 miles or so on the day of pickup.
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Old 02-18-2016, 06:52 PM   #28
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Last year we averaged 675 miles per day for 4 days rushing back East from Utah to find winter. Tomorrow we take off from Vermont to Utah to (wait for it) find winter. Looking forward to the trip home in June when we can take our time.
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Old 02-18-2016, 07:30 PM   #29
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For me towing, it's not how far or now long but the roads themselves. It takes me 6+ hours to go from Portland to Bandon for the Oregon Gathering. About 1/2 of that is on I-5, the other half mountainous, curvy roads. That's about my limit for those conditions. All freeway... 8 hours is easy as long as it's not through Portland or Seattle during rush hour
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Old 02-19-2016, 04:19 PM   #30
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300-350 a day when traveling a long ways. We are early risers so we are on the road by 7 or8 and stop early afternoon. As we look for public CG's, it's nice to get in early and do some walking around.

Just did 600 miles first day out this trip to get as far south as we could as fast as we could, will do another long day at the end of the return trip, but prefer the 300 milers.

All our trips so far have a destination that has required reservations, so we can only meander to a point.
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Old 02-19-2016, 04:50 PM   #31
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If my plans come together, I'll be driving non-stop from Pennsylvania to Chilliwack,BC. There will be 3 drivers, rotating 8 hour shifts, leaving on a Friday night and arriving on a Sunday night. Mapquest states 2900 miles and 46 hours.
Return trip will be more leisurely and take about 5 days.
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Old 02-19-2016, 05:02 PM   #32
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If my plans come together, I'll be driving non-stop from Pennsylvania to Chilliwack,BC. There will be 3 drivers, rotating 8 hour shifts, leaving on a Friday night and arriving on a Sunday night. Mapquest states 2900 miles and 46 hours.
Return trip will be more leisurely and take about 5 days.
Makes my bottom hurt to even think about spending 24 hours sitting. I wouldn't be able to walk once I got to the destination.
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Old 02-19-2016, 05:39 PM   #33
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Makes my bottom hurt to even think about spending 24 hours sitting. I wouldn't be able to walk once I got to the destination.
I'm Bumsprung just thinking about it! I'll keep my fingers crossed that Jim's plans don't come together and he's forced to go slower both ways.....
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Old 02-19-2016, 06:05 PM   #34
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Makes my bottom hurt to even think about spending 24 hours sitting. I wouldn't be able to walk once I got to the destination.
My thoughts exactly. I used to do those kind of trips in my college days, but no way I could do it anymore.
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Old 02-19-2016, 06:58 PM   #35
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Originally Posted by cpaharley2008 View Post
If my plans come together, I'll be driving non-stop from Pennsylvania to Chilliwack,BC. There will be 3 drivers, rotating 8 hour shifts, leaving on a Friday night and arriving on a Sunday night. Mapquest states 2900 miles and 46 hours.
Return trip will be more leisurely and take about 5 days.
If you really want to do that I would suggest you do it in rotating 4 hour shifts. 8 hours is too long, to easy for fatigue to set in.
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Old 02-19-2016, 07:11 PM   #36
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If you really want to do that I would suggest you do it in rotating 4 hour shifts. 8 hours is too long, to easy for fatigue to set in.
Also Jim not good for your legs . Hope you stop and get out every 3 hours and move around .Pat
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Old 02-19-2016, 07:15 PM   #37
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We will have to stop every 3 hours anyway for gas so a 6 hour rotation will work. I'll set up a bed in the backseat so someone can sleep for 6, someone else drives and 3rd will help navigate and watch the driver. Should work.
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Old 02-20-2016, 06:16 AM   #38
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Life is too short
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Old 02-20-2016, 07:37 AM   #39
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Life is too short
and Chilliwack is too far away.......
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Old 02-20-2016, 08:18 AM   #40
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Was this plan perchance hatched at the weekly happy hour?
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