How I Plan a Trip (part 2)

 Location: New Rockdale RV Park; Mansfield, Louisiana

I still have a couple of things I need to take care of before hitting the road, but hopefully those will happen soon so I can firm up the departure date. I can't begin to make reservations until that date is established. 

Until then, I've been doing a little more planning. Part 1 ended with me having the backbone of the trip with a couple waypoints in the RVparky program. I was also waiting for the FROG rally registration to open. It opened, I am registered and now have a firm destination for late August. 

The backbone of the trip showing campgrounds at Poverty Point State Park, Roosevelt State Park, Pickwick Dam Campground, Douglas Dam Campground

I've found enough campgrounds along the basic route to get me to Goshen. There are about 17 or so campgrounds with an average distance between campgrounds of about 90 miles. I have mellowed over the last few years and am not interested in towing a lot of miles between campgrounds. In most places within this country, you can get a change in scenery by traveling 100 in any direction. Some people like to drive several hundred miles per day and stop for the night at Walmart and do the same drive the next day. I'm not in that much of a hurry now-a-days. When I first started full-timing, I was generally following a lesson taught to me by another full-timer about traveling. She (RIP) told me the "Rule of Two's", which says,,, don't drive over 200 miles in a day, arrive at the campground by 2 in the afternoon and stay at least 2 days. I guess I've evolved since then and are traveling more like the "Rule of 1-2-3". Travel less than 100 miles, arrive by 2:00 and stay at least 3 days. There have only been a few places in my travels that I wish I had stayed longer. 

The basic route has been fleshed out with some campgrounds. Some of these will change as I start making reservations, but I like the general layout so far. There is enough information for me to begin finding interesting things along the route.

Once I get a firm start date, I'll begin making reservations. I hope one month in advance will be enough lead time for vacancies. Summer is a tough time for campground vacancies because families with and without kids are reserving just about every Friday and Saturday throughout the summer months. Sadly, several make reservations that they never intend to use, but make them "just in case". They will cancel at the last minute and absorb any cancellation fees as standard operating procedure. Oh well, once I get to the reservation step, we will know if I have a problem or not. 

While I'm waiting for the reservation step, I can begin to find things to explore within about a 50 mile radius of the campgrounds I plan to use. I will be visiting several dams, but need more things to keep me busy. Golly gee, I can only sit and watch the pretty scenery for so long. 

If ya'll have any suggestions for places along the route in the above picture, put it in the comments, please.

Ya'll take care of each other. Maybe, I'll Cya down the road.