New to Forum - Questions on Trip Planning

That will depend on where you plan to camp.  I do not know about Texas but in Michigan we reserve our campsites 6 months in advance if we are going to a State Park.  Every other year our destination is RMNP in Colorado, we plan 6 months ahead to get a camp site.  Kind of a bugger because it blocks you into a time frame when and where you have to be on a certain day.  I would probably check out ahead of time where you plan on camping as there are campgrounds that don't take reservations or if they do they have a block that they don't release until after a certain time.  That time will be important as you will want to get there a bit before to secure your spot.

Certainly is a lot different from when we started our family in the late 70's early 80's.  We never had to reserve a campsite, even at the busy National Parks like Smoky Mountains, we always were able to camp where we wanted.

Assume you will keep your speed at 60 MPH. That’s a good comfortable and safe speed. We don’t exceed 6 Hrs a day so that sets the upper limit at 360 miles. Remember your gas mileage will be around 10-12 MPG while towing so plan frequent gas and potty stops. With guaranteed reservations you can go further than if you have to look for a CG in the evening. All said we don’t plan on exceeding 300 miles per day. A lot will depend on your endurance, how much of a hurry you’re in, and where you find desirable camping sites. And don’t rely on Google driving estimates. They’re always optimistic.

As usual, I agree with CharlieM. 400 would be my maximum and 300-400 seems good. Fuel stops (and dog stops) seem to take about 15 minutes each. 6 hours of road time is plenty for me. By the time I wake up, have coffee, breakfast, shower, break camp, drive 6 hours, check in at the destination and do some minimal set up, it makes for a full day. However, I'm not so pooped that I can't enjoy cooking supper, walking my dog and relaxing a bit.

Sometimes the journey can be as cool as the destination.

Thank you to everyone for your responses. We are planning to visit all the national parks in the continental US as a 50th anniversary gift to ourselves. We have them broken down into 6 different trips . Our first one is to Florids with a stop in SC along the way. I'm hoping to find a park in Florida that will allow us to park our trailer for several days and just drive to the parks each day.

Ah   the outer banks!!! Love that place, getting ready to lock in our reservation for our 6th October down there surf fishing!!