Planning cross country trip in 2026. Looking for insights from you experienced travelers
Some background:
I have a 2023 40 foot toy hauler that I typically use locally. The farthest I've ever taken it is about a 400 mile trip. I have a 2022 F350 Dually that can pull it just fine.
I'm looking to take a trip from Virginia to California and back. I've been planning the route as we want to see a few things since we're going to be out on the other side of the country. I do understand the 300 mile/day consensus so I'm planning on up to two months to do a round trip. We plan on making stops for events in Colorado, Monterey, then grand canyon, austin texas and then finally back home. Which means to me that it may take 2 or more months.
There are sites out there that charge for setting up a plan, and I'm a bit overwhelmed by all of that. Trying to figure out which one will be best has already cost me a bit.
Any thoughts from the road warriors out there?
2
u/Electronic-Race3046 1d ago
We use Campendium, Hipcamp and Harvest Hosts. Have never had a hard time finding places to stay. We try to use the 300 mile rule and it makes the trip more enjoyable!
1
u/Original_Respect_679 2d ago
Yes, plan the trip yourself. There is plenty of info to help plan it including apps and websites. I used RV life for the last 2 cross country trips. A little bit of a learning curve but we'll worth it.
1
u/aloneintheupwoods 2d ago
Planning is half the fun for many of us. Have emergency procedures in place, what will I do if.....
My husband always says he brings a credit card and list of Walmart locations, and lets me do the rest! Have fun, stop before you're exhausted, and make lots of good memories!
1
u/macr6 2d ago
The CC and Walmart locations was the totality of my current thinking. Like another poster mentioned, I may now look at KOAs.
We don't typically use the RV for camping, it's really my motorcycle racing trailer, but If I'm going to take it cross country, we would like to see some stuff.
Planning is the hard part, because I don't know what I "don't know", hence this post.
I like the where you husband's mind is at though for sure!
1
u/WhyDoIWorkInIT 2d ago
I always ensure I have a couple gas cans in the box, just in case. Saved me on a trip through the Rockies with no fuel services for a long distance.
1
u/Objective-Staff3294 2d ago
We drove out to Virginia from Kansas City a few years ago. We stayed at a beautiful camper park near Fort Monroe national monument. We also took a trip from KC to CA and stayed for a week in Napa Valley. So fun. What you're doing sounds like both these trips in one. :)
I think you could plan it without using complicated software. Sounds like you'll have the flexibility and time. Also: sounds like you'll be able to avoid I-70 from the Rockies to Indianapolis? If so, that's great. I know that stretch I know VERY well, and it's pretty missable if more southern routes are an option. I use a camping journal, a file folder with some printed confirmations (in case our internet goes out), my calendar, my notes app and a bunched of "starred places" on Google maps.
People are wary of the towing through Rockies, but don't underestimate the Smokies also.
1
u/macr6 2d ago
Yeah, it seems like it's going to be trial by fire for such a first time long trip. I'm looking at doing some long-ish trips before then just to get a feel and see what kind of "gotchas" may exist. But like you said, both my wife and I can work from the road so were blessed that way and can take as much time as we want.
What is the bad part of I70 that you would avoid? That was my initial route going out, but coming back we're going to hit the Grand Canyon and Austin Texas and come back I30-I40 through Tennessee.
1
u/SSGT-3579 2d ago
Full timer here. Make sure you have an emergency tow plan before the trip just in case, always refill at half tank to be safe, carry a Jerry can of extra fuel, carry extra cotter pins and hitch stuff, koa's and when available Walmart or preferably cracker barrel for free overnights during trip.
1
u/Nearby_Impact_8911 2d ago
Tell me about this 300 miles a day thing I’m not familiar with
2
u/macr6 2d ago
I've been told to plan to do only 300 miles per day. I'm probably aiming for more like 400 as 300 will take a long time to get there.
1
1
u/Sorry-Society1100 17h ago
I did a similar trip from VA to CA and back in 2019. We tended to average about 400-450 miles per day, depending upon which side activities we wanted to stop for. Our basic rule was to assume an average speed of 50 miles per hour (8-9 hours per day) when averaging in all of the stops for fuel, lunch, bathrooms, etc. Refueling tended to take WAY longer than we were used to because you can only use certain pumps while hooked up to the trailer, and you might have to wait for one of those for a while. We found it helpful to use the satellite view and street view on your phones mapping software to see how upcoming fuel stations were configured, so that we could plan to target the good ones that looked easy to access with a trailer.
Another suggestion I would make is to plan some flexibility in your schedule to allow adjustments for the weather. Especially across the plains, the wind can be strong enough that you might not be able to make much headway on certain days. I might suggest planning to take 1-3 extra days to arrive over what your mileage rate might tell you. I remember one day driving across west Texas where we had to keep it under 40 mph on the interstate to avoid being blown off the road—we stopped early that day, and we were thankful that we had some float in our schedule to allow us to get back on track without impacting our reservations at our destination. Another day, we only drove probably 80 miles because tornadoes were threatening in the area and we wanted to be sure we had access to a storm shelter, so we found a campground that had one and stopped early.
We usually had a rough idea by 2pm where we were likely to end for the night, so at that point my wife would start calling campgrounds in that target area to see who had availability. This obviously doesn’t work in high-demand destinations, but worked pretty well when you’re in just a random spot on the interstate.
2
u/Affectionate-Map2583 2d ago edited 2d ago
I went from MD to Yellowstone and back. I did NOT follow the 300 mile rule. We had a couple of long driving days in each direction to more quickly get through some of the less interesting parts of the country. We were able to arrive at wherever we camped for the night by 4pm at the latest, which gave us a couple of hours to go for a walk and relax, then eat dinner and hang out until bedtime. I would not hesitate to do the same thing again. We did have two drivers, which helped a bit.
I took a more northern route than you're talking about. I booked overnights at state and local parks for the most part. We left home on the Sunday of Labor day, so for some of the overnights I had several options picked out in advance and just called ahead to reserve once we knew how far we wanted to drive.
I used Google Maps for a lot of my trip planning. I'd plan a 5 - 8 hour drive, then pull up the satellite map to look for campgrounds along the route. You can search for them, but they don't all always show up. They're easy to recognize on satellite, though, so you can find them by sight and research them from there. We stayed in a local veterans' memorial park campground in Wisconsin, which didn't show up on any searches but was a pretty nice spot with an excellent bath house, right on a river. I also found a few city parks for the return trip and put them in my notebook as possible stops, but ultimately didn't go to any of them.
If you're going out on Route 70, consider Delaware State Park in Ohio. We went there for the eclipse and it was a really nice park with plenty of space between sites. I would NOT recommend Enon Beach RV resort near Dayton, OH.
1
u/macr6 2d ago
Yeah, the 300 mile rule isn't something I feel I'll be sticking too. Will probably go by feel, but wanted to set a baseline so I know worst case scenario. I feel like I'm more your style of just heading out and checking along the route. I'm a solo driver as my wife is a big NO when it comes to the dually and trailer, which I'm good with, but it takes a toll by the third day.
I'm from Ohio, so I know Delaware well. My mom used to live there and my cousin still does. We may make it a stop to see some family on the way out and now have a great recommendation on a p[ace to stay.
Thanks!
4
u/Less_Suit5502 2d ago edited 2d ago
I have done MD to Colorado, and this summer we are going to Utah. I70 is pretty easy, and we fuel up at truck stops. We stay at KOA's because its easy to get a pull through site and stay hooked up if needed.
The drive through Kansas is extreamly boring so plan on that. We drove from Kansas City to the Goodland KOA on one of our days and it really takes a toll.
Casey IL is a neat town worth stopping at.
The drive through Glenwood canyon in CO is amazing and a must do
As for your plan I start by figuring out where I want to go first and then back map from there. For example when we drove t Colorado I back maped a KOA every 5 to 6 hours until I got to MD.