Things we’ve learned along the way:

  • Research, research, research.  The amount of time you can spend looking into the details of your trip, incl equipment and travel itinerary, is invaluable. 
    • Order passes for national parks & museums & camping at least 2 weeks before you leave so you have an address for items to be delivered.
    • Know what equipment you need to service your vehicles yourself as well as personal items so you don’t need to buy things you own at home.
  • Take a short trip with your RV before you embark on the big one to work out what you need to fix and do before you leave.
  • Have a CAA/AAA membership. I walked into my local AAA and walked out with a tour book, camp book & map for every area we were heading to, plus if my plans change, I can walk into any AAA office in North America and get more info.  My biggest problem after that, was where to put all those books!  Not to mention the roadside assistance including trip interruption insurance!  Up to $1000, if we have a breakdown that requires us to delay moving on and stay in hotels, etc.
  • There is an Association of Science & Technology Centers which has approx 300 members throughout North America
  • There is a North American Museum Association which has approx 250 members.
    • If you purchase a membership to the Museum of Arts & Sciences (MOAS) in Dayton Beach, FL (family membership is $100), you get into all the science & space centres and museums on both lists and you don’t have to visit MOAS first, unlike many museum memberships.
  • Sat phones are kind of useless in North America, at least for an RV trip, because you can’t use them when the antenna can’t see the sky, so if home or work needs to get ahold of you no matter where or what you’re doing, its not better than a cell phone!
  • Walk around your trailer regularly!  You’ll discover problems before they make you stuck on the side of the road.  On Day 4, we’ve circumvented that twice already!
  • You don’t need a Walmart.  There are other places to park your RV for the night, you just need to learn to ask nicely.
    • Safeway (has WiFi),
    • Museums (nobody else is there, except the security guards)