5 Tips for an Epic RV Tailgate Road Trip

The 2019 football schedules are out and that means it is time to plan your next epic RV tailgate road trip!

With these tips, you’ll have a memorable RV tailgate road trip and your friends will want to go again. And you’ll want your friends to go with you in the future.

It’s time to make memories for years and years of story telling.

5 tips to an epic RV Tailgate Road Trip

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No One Has Time For Drama

The tailgating familyWhen you are planning an epic RV tailgate road trip, one must take careful consideration of who they invite.

Will this person be fun? Or will they cause a lot of drama?

Are they high maintenance? Will they follow RV rules like water conservation?

Are they going to get drunk and embarrass you and themselves at the tailgate? Last thing you want is a fight because someone is drunk.

Another thing to consider is how many people will go with you… Some times it may be fun to pile a bunch of people into an RV for a night. However, if the trip is longer than one, maybe two nights, really consider the sleeping arrangements.

It may be best for multiple RVs to go on the trip. Of course, that means more people and more fun!

Brief New RV Travelers on the RV

Some of our friends are like “cool, you have an RV, let’s go on a road trip!”

But they have no idea what it takes to run an RV.

Things like the RV water system. That you can’t get in the shower and expect hot water for an hour if you don’t have hook ups.

Or things like the electrical system. And that you can’t run the air conditioner, the microwave, and the hair dryer all at the same time.

If you have friends that are new to the RV lifestyle traveling with you, take a little while before the trip to explain all the basics.

And perhaps why it will be best if they don’t plan on driving the RV. It may take more time if everyone isn’t driving in shifts, but do you really want the stress of watching someone else drive your RV?

Speaking of time…

Leave Plenty of Time for Travel

It’s hard when everyone is working to get packed up and leave early. But the best thing you can do is leave plenty of time for travel.

Driving an RV takes more time than it does a car. That automatically means that your road trip will take longer.

And with rush hour traffic and other travel delays, you don’t want to be stressed by racing the clock to get somewhere on time.

If you don’t already have a built-in GPS system, then get a Garmin RV 770 GPS system. You can get traffic updates and help reduce the stress of driving in unknown territories. And not rely so much on a navigator that may not understand how long it takes to get an RV over several lanes of traffic.

Allow for Unplanned Stops

Leave plenty of time in your RV tailgate road trip for unplanned stops, like taking the tour at Jack Daniels distilleryAn additional bonus of leaving plenty of time for travel is that you can explore cool road side attractions. Looking at you Jack Daniels Distillery.

The first time I ever went to Jack Daniels was on the way from Atlanta to Nashville for a Georgia Tech vs. Vanderbilt football game. All because we saw the sign on the interstate, had the time, and said “sure!”


Establish Who Pays What

We may hate to talk about money, but when your friends are joining you on a road trip, it’s best to be clear on who will pay what.

Making it clear ahead of time on who will pay what, and how much, will keep fights to a minimum. And resentment when someone doesn’t pull their own weight.

Common costs for an RV tailgate road trip include:

  • Event tickets
  • Event parking
  • RV gas
  • Food and alcohol
  • RV campgrounds to/from destination

Who is ready for a weekend of NASCAR tailgating at Atlanta Motor Speedway?Will you be splitting everything evenly? What if you have alcohol already in your RV or have pricier tastes than your friends?

Some times, everyone goes in evenly on all the costs for a trip. Other times, I may cover some of the costs of the RV road trip. If I’m already going, I may pay for the event parking but expect my friends to get their own football tickets.

[highlight]Hint for the RVer’s friends: no matter what they say, chip in at least something. Never free load. Bring beer or whiskey. Leave some cash for gas. It’s always appreciated and you are more likely to be invited back.[/highlight]

Hand Over A Second Set of RV Keys

When there are people coming and going from your RV, you are more likely to experience a lock-out situation.

I don’t know why this happens, but it always does. I think people aren’t aware that those RV door locks tend to get loose and will open the door if not completely unlocked. Then the lock falls into place and you don’t have the keys with you.

So hand over that second set of RV keys to one of your friends (if you have several going with you, go with the most responsible person).

Having the second set of RV keys is also nice in case you lose your keys in the crowd when you have to jump over the side to rush the field.

Bonus Tip: Come Back with A Story

I know, I said only five tips. But I have a bonus tip for you today.

Every absolutely epic RV road trip has a story.

That time that the RV crowd went to Ireland and drank two different Irish bars out of a total of three Irish whiskeys.

That time that you followed so-and-so’s directions and went through Winston-Salem and thus every road trip story now has reference to going through Winston-Salem.

That time that you braved the rain/snow/heat/losing season for a classic moment in sports history.

Or maybe it was that time that you ended up on the sideline during the game. Drinking a beer. Out of a Solo Cup.

Could be that time you end up on the news, walking back from dinner, and they are covering a murder that happened nearby.

Or when the news helicopters are circling your tailgate because they had to call the hazmat team out to clean up the diesel spill when the new RV owner ran over a curb and punctured the gas tank.

Yes, those are all true stories from my tailgating group. And those are only the ones that I’m willing to talk about publicly.

It’s why you have to be open to detours along your route. And leave extra time. A great sense of humor also helps.

Just remember, even when things are going epiclly bad, it’ll make for a great story later on when you have a chance to look back and laugh at it.

Add Your Tips to an Epic RV Tailgate Road Trip

How do you make your RV tailgate road trips epic? Comment below with your tips!

See Also:
TPMS: Protect RV Tires with Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems
Make Your Own Rules for RV Travel Map
How to Poop in an RV (aka How to Use the RV Toilet)

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2 Comments

  1. Love your site. I’m driving down from Massachusetts and going to the Georgia – Georgia Tech game at Tech. I have a Winnebago ERA class B and want to set up a tailgate, but don’t know where. Any help would be appreciated.
    Scott