You have a Travel Trailer, Enjoy the Journey...

We just returned from another great trip with our trusty Wildwood X-Lite 201BHXL. It's a smallish trailer for sure but some of the distances that we travel I am often thankful for its size. This past trip we did around 1600 miles of hauling along with whatever local driving we did at our destinations. We took a different approach to our travel this time and I think we all felt better for it.

Our target destination was Michigan, Suzi's Mom lives in Saugatuck and each year they have a great fourth of July celebration so we typically meet up there with other members of her family. This year because the holiday fell right in the middle of the week I was able to take both weekends for our travel. Here was our itinerary

Saturday June 30th Leave Charlotte and overnight in Kentucky
Sunday July 1st Leave Kentucky and overnight in Indianna
Monday July 2nd Arrive Saugatuck, Michigan
Friday July 6th Leave Saugatuck and overnight in Ohio
Saturday July 7th Leave Ohio and overnight in Virginia
Sunday July 8th leave Virginia arrive Charlotte early

The overnight's were all in KOAs, either journey's or holidays. We enjoy the KOAs because they typically have good flat spots with decent amenities and clean bathrooms. We were not disappointed in any of our stays except for the Ohio one and the only reason there was because we were placed on the first spot and it was near ALL of the traffic so it was a bit noisy, we made it fine though.

The key point I want to make here is that so many times we've just bum rushed our way to our destination and not really enjoyed the journey. This time I decided to plan things out and not have any real crazy long days of driving. Our longest day was around 350 miles which really only translated into about 7 hours on the road, it really should have been shorter but we hit some traffic jams. I'd say 5 to 6 hours would be ideal but you have gas stops, bathroom stops, etc.

This allowed us to settle in a little bit at each stop, have a good home cooked meal, enjoy a beverage or three and get a good night's sleep and a good breakfast before hitting the road the next day. Most days we did not leave till 10 or 11 am and then arrive at our next location by 5 or 6. The beauty of the KOAs is that in most cases we didn't have to unhitch the trailer which made pack up much easier. Some KOAs also offer deluxe sites for a few more dollars that have a concrete patio, chairs and a grill which means we don't have to unload all that stuff from our camper and gets us back on the road faster the next day.

Here's a comprehensive list of the campgrounds we stayed at on this journey, it was a fantastic trip. I would also add that the side trip to the RV hall of Fame in Elkhart Indiana was well worth it, if you are around that area and have the time stop by!




Ashland / Huntington West - Kentucky KOA
Crawfordsville Indiana KOA
Yogi Bear Jellystone - South Haven Michigan
Buckeye Lake Ohio KOA
Wytheville Virginia KOA

The Wytheville and Jellystone are two amazing campgrounds for families, check them out. The others are great too , we really didn't have a bad experience at any of these places.