Long Distance to Texas

We, like others here have stated, use a Trailer Life Directory, KOA directory, and a trusty Wal-Mart atlas. Someone mentioned GPS, and if you have a laptop then Garmin makes a small USB unit that plugs into the laptop for $130.00 - it can be very useful.

We haven't yet taken a big trip with the TM, but can tell you that the day-after-day set up and take down with a Fleetwood pop-up can be very tiring. I can't imagine the TM being as much work. We have gone on week-long excursions with the TM, with only one set-up/take-down each way and it wasn't difficult.

So, get on the road and GO! We're looking forward to a trip mid-May to Big Bend.

Here's another campground locator I forgot to tell you about before: http://www.popupexplorer.com/

Dan,
Last June we went from Virginia Beach to Colorado Springs for the Jubilee. We did it in 4 days out and 4 days on the way back. Wife spent a good bit of time planning the trip and getting reservations in advance. The others suggested methods will probably work with ONE EXCEPTION! IF you are going to be traveling on the 4th of JULY make a reservation in advance. Most parks fill up and many don't like to let you reserve for just one night (when they end up turning away folks looking for 3 or 4 nights!).

You will be tired of setting up, breaking down and driving. We were. We took some short cuts to make it easier like NOT putting our mattress toppers on every night but driving out with them wrapped in a tarp on the roof top carrier. They got wet anyway so on the way back we stowed them in the walk way like normal. Oh well.

Good luck and remember to have fun. Books on CD help ALOT and make the time go by much more quickly and without the normal level of Fatigue. We checked ours out from the local library but Cracker Barrel has rental books on cd that you can turn back it at any Cracker Barrel when you are done to get your "deposit" back (you actually pay what the cd would cost and when you turn it back in you get all but a small rental fee back.

Bill

[Harry Womack]

We traveled from Dallas to Wisconsin, International Falls MN, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, and New Mexico. This was over 5000 miles and we stayed 1 night most places.

Yeah, what Leon said - we loved our pop-up (Fleetwood Sequoia) but it would take us around 15 minutes to set it up - lots of cranking, pulling, tugging, lifting the king-size bunk ends to put the supports in place, maneuvering the one-piece door into place, etc., etc. I was tired already after a day's driving, and really tired after setting it up. Then the take-down the next day would take another half an hour.

The TM is just so much easier. Even my wife, who is tiny, can lift that wardrobe full of clothes off the floor and slide it into place during set-up. The "hardest" thing I have to do is pull the living room slide. And, instead of 15 minutes of set-up, we're done in about 5. Next morning take-down, even screwing around with 3 dogs, only takes about 15 minutes.

Bob