When we bought our first RV ten years ago we were legitimately concerned that we wouldn’t use it that much. We worried that it would gather dust in the driveway.
We live near the beach in a boating community and plenty of people buy boats that sit on cinder blocks in their driveways (or on their front lawns!) all summer long.
Life gets busy and our best intentions can get blasted by the grind of the 9 to 5. But we were determined to use our RV as much as possible.
And we did.
But only because we became RV weekend warriors.
We went camping on the weekends to relax and unwind and to have adventures in nature with our little boys. We wanted to escape that feeling of emptiness you get on a Friday night after spending hours scrolling through your social media feeds. Those weekend RV trips fulfilled us and they still do. Years later, our family bond is strong because it has been forged by that time spent together. By setting up and breaking down camp–and by all of the fun stuff that happens in between.
Over the years we have nearly perfected how we prepare for, carry out, and return from, our weekend warrior trips. Our family has become a well oiled camping machine. We may be exhausted and burnt out at 4pm on a Friday afternoon–but by 8pm on a Friday night you know where to find us, right? You’ll see us at the campground.
Are you also at a stage in life where you are working hard during the week but seeking adventure on the weekends? Do you want your kids to spend Saturday mornings climbing mountains instead of streaming Netflix? Then you are a perfect candidate for weekend warrior training!
Tip #1 Embrace the Art of the Long Weekend
According to Project: Time Off 52 percent of American workers do not use all of their vacation days. Collectively these workers are not using 705 million vacation days–which is bad for their personal happiness, and for the American economy. Are you one of those Americans leaving vacation time on the table because you are just too busy to get away? I understand that a week long vacation can be tough to pull off, but what about occasionally taking a long weekend? If you ask me, a three day camping trip is twice as good as a two day camping trip. The math may sound suspicious, but it’s true! A traditional two day weekend only gives you one full day at the campground. A three day weekend gives you two full days at the campground!
Taking a three day weekend also allows many of us to avoid weekend traffic and delays checking into a campground on busy Friday evenings. If you can get to a campground on a Thursday night, you can enjoy an empty campground on Friday morning and afternoon, because most folks won’t be showing up until evening. During these quiet hours at the campground you can enjoy an empty pool or fishing spot–or just bask in the peace and quiet.
Tip #2 Reduce the Driving Distance
When we are taking the RV out for the weekend, departure and arrival times play a huge role in our planning. Friday evening rush hour traffic can be a nightmare. If we show up too late to have a campfire it really feels like a wasted night. Likewise, Sunday return traffic can be congested, but we always want to get home early enough to prepare for the week ahead. But at the same time, who wants to wake up on Sunday morning and have to pack up in a hurry and rush home just to unpack again?
Knowing that a campground is only 1-2 hours away relieves much of that travel stress. You can leave after work on Friday afternoon and still be sitting around a campfire that evening. It’s also easy to return home on Sunday afternoon and throw in a load of laundry or take a trip to the grocery store. A little less time on the road can mean a lot less stress in the scheduling department.
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There are dozens of awesome campgrounds within a four hour radius of our home that we would love to visit on a weekend trip, but we typically save them for longer trips and stick closer to home when we only have a weekend (hopefully a long one!) to get away. This may mean that we are returning to the same campgrounds for our weekend trips, but that doesn’t bother us. We know that there will be plenty of time to explore new places in the summer, and we love returning to familiar places that fit us perfectly like a pair of old jeans.
We have our “weekend warrior” campgrounds wired. We know the best sites, and best seasons to visit each of them. During busy holiday and summer weekends we also make sure to head in the opposite direction of traffic. For us that means driving west and visiting Eastern Pennsylvania instead of driving north and heading to the Catskills or Adirondacks in New York State.
Tip #3 Camp Really Close to Home on Busy Weekends
Sometimes even a two hour drive is too far away!
Once our boys started to participate in organized sports, unscheduled weekends became a distant memory. Add in birthday parties, graduations, and family BBQs and we began to wonder how we would ever fit in our next camping trip!
Camping really close to home (like 30 minutes or less) means that our family can still attend any sports games or family functions and squeeze in some valuable campground time. We set up the RV on Friday evening and unwind around the campfire, then head off to a baseball game the next morning. By Saturday afternoon we are back at the campground fishing and playing catch.
It took us years to discover the pleasures of camping really close to home. Now, every spring, we look forward to sitting down with our family calendar and setting aside weekends where we will enjoy quick, simple getaways in our own backyard. Give it a try, and it may become a favorite part of your RV experience, too. It sure beats giving up camping entirely when your kids start playing sports.
Tip #4 Become a Tourist in Your Own Backyard
We all know the story of having great activities, festivals, and parks in our hometowns that we never get around to enjoying. Real life gets in the way, and sometimes our weekends can be consumed with playing catch up on chores, errands, and yard work.
Camping close to home (or really close to home!) takes us away from the demands of daily life, and encourages us to look at our area through the eyes of a traveler. What would we do if we were visiting this region for the first time? Where would we eat? Getting away from the busyness of our everyday lives helps us to enjoy our home area even more.
Tip #5 Consider Reserving a Seasonal RV Site
If your vacation time is limited because of work or family obligations then you might consider renting a seasonal site at. When you rent a seasonal site you set up your RV in the early spring (or whenever the campground opens for the year) and then bring it home when the campground closes in the late fall or early winter. Depending on the local climate and a campground’s seasonal rules, you may be able to keep your RV on the same site all year long.
The benefits of seasonal camping are many. You will not need to hitch up your RV each weekend to go camping because it will already be set up and waiting for you. At the end of each weekend you won’t need to tow your rig home either. You can also set up your site once for the entire season and then pack it all up at the end. When you pull into the campground each Friday your chairs will be set up and your grill and camp kitchen will already be in place. Less work means more relaxation–and seasonal sites are significantly less work than visiting different campgrounds each weekend.
RV owners with a serious case of wanderlust may not want to spend every weekend in the same place, but sometimes, for some people, it really can make sense. Renting a seasonal site also doesn’t have to be a permanent decision. It may make sense to stay put one year, and then travel the next. Work and family obligations can get tricky fast, so it’s nice to have as many options as possible when it comes to spending time at the campground.
Tip #6 Prepare Throughout the Week
While weekend camping trips can be incredibly relaxing and rejuvenating, packing for them is not. Waiting until the last second to pack for such a short trip can be chaotic and stressful. Imagine your kids desperately searching for sneakers, bathing suits, and baseball gloves after school on a Friday afternoon while dad honks the horn in the driveway and you’ll get the picture.
That’s why we start packing early in the week in smaller 15-30 minute chunks. It works like a charm for us and eliminates all kinds of stress on Thursday nights and Friday afternoons. We start by packing bedding and linens on Tuesday night, clothing on Wednesday nights, and food on Thursday nights. I also hitch up the RV on Thursday night and pull it in front of the house so we are ready to leave the second I get home from work on Friday. These time saving strategies often help us get on the road before rush hour traffic really kicks into high gear.
Tip #7 Have a Set Weekend Menu and Shopping List
Disorganized food prep, or a complete lack of food prep, can also make a weekend camping trip stressful. Especially when hungry kids are involved. So what’s your goal? Keeping it simple or setting up a full blown camp kitchen? We always ask ourselves this question before a trip. If we are camping close to home at a state park and the whole point of the weekend is just to chill out and enjoy the campground we might go a little crazy and plan some elaborate meals.
On weekends like this we’ll make a huge breakfast with pancakes, eggs, and bacon on our Blackstone, and then we might use cast iron to make pizza over the campfire in the evening. But if we are taking a week long vacation in Charleston or Cape Cod, we might keep the food really simple so that we have more time to explore and eat great local food. During these types of trips we will pack cold cuts, PB&J, and cold cereal or oatmeal for the morning so that we can get out the door and start exploring as quickly as possible.
No matter what kind of trip you are planning, having a set menu is absolutely key–especially for those quick weekend trips. We hate waking up at the campground and not knowing what we are feeding the kids–because they absolutely drive us crazy when there is any uncertainty about what they are going to eat.
Tip #8 Find Your Favorite Grocery Store Hack
The most important part to pre-planning a weekend camping trip is probably the grocery shopping and food prep. It can also be the most cumbersome and time consuming if you don’t do it right. Over the years we have developed several “grocery store hacks” that really help us get to the campground, and get home, with minimal stress. We generally go grocery shopping on Thursday night and do the shopping for the weekend of camping ahead and for the entire following week. Coming home to empty cupboards after a fun weekend is a total bummer! Who wants to go grocery shopping again on a Sunday night?
We have also experimented with meal delivery services such as Hello Fresh, Dinnerly, and Home Chef. These services are awesome for super busy work weeks when its a challenge just to get to the grocery store. Sometimes we have meals delivered on a Wednesday or Thursday for the camping trip, and sometimes we have them delivered Sunday night for the week ahead.
Online grocery shopping services can also help you save time during the week and get to the campground with less stress. We have used Amazon Fresh, Instacart, and Walmart Grocery delivery services so that we can skip a trip to the grocery store and use that time to pack up our bikes and kayaks. It can also be a big relief to have your groceries delivered on a Sunday night if you didn’t get to do a big shop before camping that weekend.
Tip #9 Order Out for Friday Supper at the Campground
If we really have a frantic work week before a camping weekend we occasionally get takeout on a Friday night on our way to the campground. It’s no fun showing up at 8pm on a Friday night and having to cook for hangry kids. So if we are going to get in late we often grab subs at Jersey Mike’s and call it a day. Letting the boys eat in the back seat of my truck used to stress me out, but they beat that out of me very quickly. Worrying about keeping things “nice” with three little boys is an exercise in futility.
Depending on the timing of our arrival we also might grab takeout near the campground. This requires a bit of advanced planning and local knowledge because you need to be certain that there is somewhere to park your rig while you run in to grab the grub.
Many campgrounds also have local pizza shops that will deliver right to your site. This can be an absolute lifesaver. Call the campground ahead of time and ask them about your options for food delivery. If there are ten options ask them where they like to order from when they get hungry! You’ll always get the best recommendation.
Tip #10 Splurge for a Late Checkout on Sunday
As mentioned, we like to extend our camping weekends by staying three nights instead of two. But when we can’t do that we still like to splurge for a late checkout on Sunday. If another camper is not coming onto your site on Sunday (or any day) campground owners will often let you checkout late for a small fee. We have payed anywhere from 5 to 20 dollars for a late checkout, and we are often pleasantly surprised to find that some campgrounds let you stay late for free. Especially if you ask nice!
Tip #11 Invite Friends and Family to Camp With You
True confession. Sometimes when we camp close to home we are not exactly camping at the most exciting places. We have a local county park that we both love, but the boys only love it under certain conditions. If we camp at this pretty little campground all alone, with just our family, it’s kind of a yawner for our three sons. So how do we make this campground exciting for them? We invite other families with kids to come.
All of the sudden camping here is just as exciting as camping at Disney World. At east for our three boys. They love camping with their buddies and they can entertain themselves for hours when they are together at the campground. While the kids are occupied with friends, we have time to chat with their parents and relax around the campfire.
Tip #12 Enforce Swat Team Sunday
Successful weekend warriors must get their packing and food prep game down to a science. But they also have to become masters of quick and efficient unpacking. We call it SWAT team Sunday. The entire family must chip in and help before anyone sits down! We get the camper unloaded, empty the RV fridge, and restock our house fridge. Then we get all of the dirty laundry into the washing machine and give the RV and truck a quick vacuum and call it a day.
SWAT team Sunday is absolutely essential if you want to be a weekend warrior. Because leaving the camper messy after a camping trip will make your next camping trip miserable. You will have to clean up and pack all at once, and who wants to do that?
It’s hard to believe that fifteen years ago we spent time worrying about whether we would use the RV or not.
We’re so glad that we didn’t let those doubts get the best of us.
