Planning RV park stops on a road trip

Set a daily mileage you can actually sustain

A car does 500 miles a day without complaint. An RV does not. Fuel stops take longer, you drive 62 to 65 mph rather than 75, every meal is a production, and towing or piloting a 35-foot rig through crosswinds is tiring in a way that a sedan is not. Most experienced RVers settle around 200 to 300 miles a day, which is four to six hours of driving with stops. Pushing 400 miles is fine occasionally; doing it three days in a row is how people arrive at the park exhausted and back into a pedestal.

The 2-2-2 rule is the common shorthand: drive no more than 200 miles, arrive by 2 p.m., and stay at least two nights. Some people run a 3-3-3 version (300 miles, 3 p.m., three nights). The mileage is negotiable; the arrival time is not. Arriving by mid-afternoon means daylight for setup, an open office, a choice of sites at first-come campgrounds, and time to fix whatever came loose on the road.

Plan the anchors, leave the middle loose

Lock in the stops that need reservations and let the transit nights float. Anchors are national park campgrounds, state parks on summer weekends, anything within 50 miles of a big event, and every night of a holiday weekend. Those get booked the day the window opens (see when to book RV parks). Transit nights between anchors, a Tuesday in Nebraska for example, can be booked one or two days ahead or even the same morning.

Map your route on a tool that knows your rig height and weight, then look at the towns 200 to 300 miles apart and list two or three options at each. Browsing by state in the directory and drilling into the towns along your line is the quickest way to build that list. Note which options are public campgrounds with first-come sites, because those are your backup when the private parks are full.

Overnight options, from free to full service

On transit nights you want a level spot, a safe place to sleep, and ideally a dump station somewhere in the next day's drive. In rough order of cost:

• Retail lots (free).Many Walmart, Cabela's, Bass Pro, and Cracker Barrel locations allow one-night stays; many do not, especially in cities and tourist towns with local ordinances. Call the store or check the app listings, park at the edge of the lot, keep slides in, no chairs or grills outside, and buy something. Cracker Barrel has dedicated RV spaces at most locations and closes by 10 p.m., so it is quiet.
• Rest areas and truck stops (free).Legal for overnight parking in some states (Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, and others) and banned or limited to a few hours in others (Florida, Colorado). Truck stops like Pilot and Love's are noisy but reliably safe, and many have dump stations for $10 to $15.
• Public land (free to $15). West of the 100th meridian, BLM and national forest dispersed sites are often within 15 minutes of the highway. In the Midwest and Plains, small-town city parks with electric for $10 to $20 (or a donation box) are a well-kept secret. Filter by free camping to find them.
• Harvest Hosts and Boondockers Welcome ($100 to $200 a year).One-night stays at wineries, farms, breweries, museums, and golf courses, or in members' driveways. No hookups usually, quiet, and memorable. Book through the app, arrive during business hours, and spend $20 or so at the host's business.
• Corps of Engineers and state parks ($20 to $45). Best value with electric. Corps parks are on lakes near many interstates in the South and Midwest; check the Corps hub.
• Interstate RV parks and KOA Journey ($40 to $75). Pull-through, full hookups, dump on the way out, late check-in boards. Worth it every third or fourth night to dump, fill, and do laundry. See KOA campgrounds and parks with a dump station.

Booking en route

Around lunchtime, decide where tonight ends. Calling at noon gives the park time to hold a site and gives you time to try the next option if they are full. A routine that works:

1. Pick the town 100 to 150 miles ahead of your current position.
2. Open the near me view or the state page for that town and shortlist three parks that fit your rig.
3. Call the first choice. Ask for a site of your length, the rate with tax, and the late arrival process.
4. If they are full, ask what they recommend nearby. Park owners know their neighbors and will send you somewhere good.
5. Text yourself the site number, gate code, and office phone so the passenger can navigate while you drive.

For public campgrounds, Recreation.gov and ReserveAmerica both show same-day availability and accept bookings from your phone right up to arrival at most parks. First-come loops at national forest sites fill by early afternoon in summer, which is another argument for the 2 p.m. rule.

Manage tanks and fuel like a route

A fresh water tank lasts three to four days of careful use; gray fills faster than black. Plan a dump every three or four nights rather than hoping for one. Most private parks dump non-guests for $10 to $20, many state parks for about $10, and some Flying J and Love's locations for similar money. Fuel on the same rhythm: with a 75-gallon tank at 8 mpg you have a 600-mile range, but in Nevada, Utah, and west Texas the gaps between big-rig friendly stations can be 100 miles, so top off at half. See RV dump stations explained.

Sample pace: Chicago to Los Angeles

Roughly 2,000 miles on I-80 and I-15 or I-70 and I-40. At 250 miles a day that is eight driving days, and a realistic plan looks like: Iowa (Corps campground on the Mississippi), Nebraska (city park with electric), eastern Colorado or Wyoming (private park), a two-night anchor at a Utah national park booked months ahead, a northern Arizona stop near Flagstaff, a BLM night in the Mojave, and the coast. Two nights in every three or four gives the driver a break and turns a haul into a trip.

Frequently asked questions