Booking RV Parks – Eight Day Project – Job Complete – 37 RV Parks – 6,588 Miles Driving in Our MotorHome – Everywhere We Park Is Home – Until We Move On –

 

This is my office space within the living room area of our coach. This is where I spent the better part of eight days finding and booking 37 RV parks for our year 2017 6,588 mile tour of the country.

How did I do it? Mathematics first. I divided the number of miles from one destination to the next, such as the distance from our Albuquerque park to the park we chose for Nashville, approximately 1,022 miles, by 200 (our desired distance between parks), which told me the approximate number of 200-mile trips to reach the Nashville park was 5. Then I multiplied that number by 3 (the number of days we wish to spend at each park), calculating the length of time the entire journey from Albuquerque to Nashville would require as 15 days. I determined that I needed five parks located as evenly as possible between those two destinations, an approximate distance of 200 miles apart, where we would remain three days at each one. All I had to do was find those parks and book them. I repeated this formula as needed until the entire journey was booked.

Steve provided me a huge map of the United States, which had everything we wanted except lines showing state borders. Steve improved it by adding the state lines. I made a calendar template using Excel. Steve made copies of it for each month we would be traveling. He filled in the month at the top and all the days in their proper places. These calendars became the work papers I used to mark in draft each booking and the days we would stay. This helped me not to book the same day or month twice. (It could happen. I was confused more than once as this project wore on.)

Finding decent RV parks at proper intervals along the Interstates was the most difficult part of the project. Not all RV parks are equal. Some are great, some are good, and some are not places we would want to stay. Booking was only a phone call to make once a park was chosen. Eight days – 37 phone calls.

I prepared a chart on Microsoft Excel to guide us to all our reserved RV parks. It shows the name of each park, the days booked, the number of miles from the last park, the park address, directions from the Interstate to the park, the park phone number, the full amount due for the booking, the amount of the deposit, and the amenities provided for us at the park. This document is 7 pages long with each RV park a line item. It’s finished. I can enjoy the ride.

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Carol Ann Hoel, Author
Buddy for David, Novel
Suspense, Mystery, Faith