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Overwhelmed by planning an RV trip? Looking for family-friendly destinations? Want simple ideas and resources to make this easier? Harvest Hosts can help!
Want to Get Better at Planning Your Trips?
When you buy an RV, the freedom of the open road is your best friend. You saddle up, take off, and then realize you are in over your head. The planning that goes into it is a bit more than you want. Hopefully you figured this out before you came up on that 12% grade in the mountains, arrived at a campground that was fully occupied, or got chased from a Walmart parking lot.
We are here to help you out with a simple approach to planning road trips, a few tools that make it easier, and loads of encouragement. Let’s take a look.
Start with What Inspired You
A lot of people have jumped into the RVing world over the past three years—and all for varying reasons. Some people jumped in because it was the most affordable way for them to live where they wanted to live. Others did it to get out of the house and see the country. While others are doing it as a season of renewal and adventure.
Knowing what has drawn you into the movement goes a long way into your planning. There is no such thing as the right destination or route—but there are bad routes. Where have you received your inspiration? Why are you on the road? What influencers have encouraged you?
Look at photos here and consider which photos speak to you. This can help you figure out what kind of travel you want to do. Once you have some clarity on the end destination, it is time to move forward with your next step.
Tools to Help with Your Budget and Route Planning
Planning a safe route and estimating a budget is a big part of successful, long roadtrips. This might be the worst part for some and the best part for others. To help you accomplish this part of your road trip plan, there are some great tools out there.
Planning with the size, shape, weight, and components of your RV is incredibly important. You don’t want to risk ripping the air conditioning units off your RV, coming to a bridge you can’t cross, or getting caught up on a long series of switchbacks with a 30+ foot rig. One of the best tools for RV budget and route planning is RV Life Pro.
RV Life Pro is an RV specific route planner that offers tons of customization options. It sends you around propane restricted areas, considers your weight, height, etc. It also helps you figure out how far you can drive in a day. This app is an incredibly valuable tool for anyone looking for an RV trip.
RV Life Pro can also help with budgeting. They offer help in locating campgrounds, budgeting realistic fuel costs in each region, and informing you of toll costs. In addition to all of this, they are preloaded with tons of attractions you might want to consider along the way. This can help fill your trip with more activities.
Best Fuel Savings Memberships for Rvers
The worst part of RVing is either emptying the black tank or filling the gas tank. Either one will make you cringe. Besides campgrounds, fuel costs will probably be your biggest expense when RVing.
The most common fuel savings for RVers is the Good Sam Membership. This membership offers a discount of five cents on unleaded gasoline and eight cents on diesel at participating Flying J and Pilot Fueling Stations. This is a great program if you are committed to using these fueling stations, but there are better choices.
One of the best fueling options for those running on diesel is Mudflap. Mudflap has a free app and doesn’t cost you anything on the front end. You will then link a credit card to the account. And then start planning your routes.
When you use this app, you can locate participating fueling stations—usually truck stops—and see their prices. Once you arrive, you get a fuel code that you will share with the clerk. The pumps will tell you the old rate, but after you are done Mudflap will send you a text with the rate you were charged.
This has been known to save a dollar per gallon, but the average is about 40 cents. This adds up quite a bit and is well worth the hassle of downloading the app.
Locating Campsites
There are a lot of ways to go about finding the perfect campsite. But this is very subjective too. A lot of families might want a resort style campground with plenty of family friendly activities. Retired folk might be looking for a 55+ community to avoid all those kids. And others could be searching for a remote boondocking site.
To help you find those campsites, there are a few different sites you might consider. RV Life has RV Life Campgrounds to help RVers locate their next stay. They offer plenty of filters and are preloaded into your route planning with RV Life Pro.
Another option to help you find campgrounds is CampersCard. CampersCard is the latest campground discount program brought to you by the team at Harvest Hosts that connects campers on a budget with high-quality campgrounds in the United States and Canada.
