I am not sure this is really the right place to post this, but something I sort of wondered about as I contemplate a gradual northern migration over about 3 weeks has been what to do during the non-driving time. What do folks who overnight "on blacktop" do during the daylight non-driving time? I am assuming that folks drive only 200 to 300 miles per day (4 to 7 hours) and that there really isn't much of anything to get ready when leaving a parking lot. So if you leave at say 9 AM and stop at 4 PM, you still have at least 5 hours or so of time to spend someplace. I really can't imagine walking around in a Home Depot or a casino all that time. Do you find a public park for this time before you settle in to the overnight spot? What kind of other "awake time" spots are there? Do you have "rules" about how far from the night spot you will wander? If you have a toad, do you unhook and wander in it? Maybe it is a matter of a late start on one day, then a quick overnight followed by an early start the next day with also an earlier stop at a "destination"? Just wondering. Thanks for the thoughts.

Slow down and save fuel, why hurry. We usually get on the road around 9 am, missed the local rush hour, and also that is about when the wife is ready. Stop at every FlyingJ and rest area and anywhere else that look interesting and walk around, it is good for you circulation. Take a hour or so for lunch, maybe even a nap, we are not on a schedule. If there is a non Interstate alternate route take it and enjoy the ride.

Once coming East on I-80 in Illinois we were in the wrong lane at the I-94 split so I rerouted to US-20 and ever since then we come across Indiana on US-20 and have a couple of places we like to stop.

You must be a youngun, cause when you get my age, and you drive seven hours , it TAKES a full evening and night to recoperate. Besides, thats why we have sat tv, puter and eating is still fun.

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Maybe it is a matter of a late start on one day, then a quick overnight followed by an early start the next day with also an earlier stop at a "destination"?

That's the way we do it when we are in "travel mode". We have a "destination" about every other day where we will stop anywhere from 2 nights to a week or more. Driving every day is just too hard on my body - I need to sit a spell in between.
I use Streets and Trips to plan our travels and have downloaded the Flying J's, etc. into that. We are also members of Overnight RV Parking and check out places thru them. But mostly we stay at campgrounds so we can unhook the truck from the 5th wheel (a no-no when pavement parking) and check out the area. Seeing the country (up close and not from the highway) is why we are in this lifestyle.

Hi, Mike! Here's a link to a page from Tioga George's site, about where to boondock, how long to stay, what to do while you're there. Don't know if his mode of travel would exactly work for you, but some of the information here would work for anybody.

http://vagabonders-supreme.net/

Good luck with your plans!
Joan

Mike,

We, like you, have wondered about the same thing. We normally travel 200-250 miles per day and have no great desire to spend 12-18 hours in a Walmart, Cracker Barrel or Flying J parking lot. That said, we often stop at Walmarts to do food shopping, pick up other supplies or grab something for lunch if there is one near our route in the middle of the day. I can not remember the last time I did not see at least one RV in a Walmart parking lot with the slides out, landing gear down, tow vehicle or toad unhooked or some other indication that they were there for more than a few hours rest. From what we have observed, there are quite a few Rvers that use parking lots for stays longer than just a few hours rest.

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Originally posted by Mike was from Collin County:
What do folks who overnight "on blacktop" do during the daylight non-driving time?...if you leave at say 9 AM and stop at 4 PM, you still have at least 5 hours or so of time to spend someplace.

We often spend that time in our stix and brix doing computer stuff or watching movies or reading books so I imagine we'll do the same when "blacktopping". And, of course, making a meal, eating it, and cleaning up will use some of that time. Plus, there's looking at the next day's plan to see if that's still what we want to do or if we picked up brochures somewhere during the day or read something on-line that might suggest a change of plan. We expect to have few must-be-there-then events to get in the way of our wandering.

Linda

Spend pre-parking time at a local park, museum, etc. It's not a though you have a reservation at the Black-top Villas. Arrive at a more appropriate time. You can compute while watching the ducks splash in a city-park lake, if you have a dish or aircard. Or find a spot with WiFi. No need to hang out in a big box store. And absolutely no reason to be bored. Not with wheels under your abode.

When we're in "travel mode" on a Monday-Friday we're usually trying to get some work done in the early AM. We both work via the internet, so we will get up and do 2+ hours of work before heading out.

If it's a busy day for me, Chris will drive and I'll work while we travel. We usually drive a while, stop at a rest area or other location for lunch, then stop before dinner time for the night.

We use the internet for some of our hobbies too, so in the evening I'll usually be writing something or doing some research online.

If we stop at a casino (a frequent event) we usually check out their facilities, and see if our web site had them described accurately. If there's anything good to play we may do a couple of hours of gambling in the evening.

We almost never stop at a commercial RV park while en-route. The closest we'll come is the dry parking area of a SKP park

Mac