When people picture an RV campsite, they picture string lights, an outdoor rug and a full patio set. Ours is not that. When everything has to pack up and move every week or two, you get picky about what earns a spot, and the setup that works is the one you’ll actually do every single time.
Setting up is basically our Travel Day Checklist in reverse, and we follow the same rules. One person calls out each step. Nobody skips ahead, even when we’re tired, running late or racing the weather.
What’s inside
Packing up again? Our free Travel Day Checklist is the same routine in reverse.
The steps we never skip
- Walk the site first. Branches, posts and slide clearance, before we ever back in.
- Stop blocks before the hitch opens. We never pull the truck away from a trailer that isn’t chocked.
- The inside walk-through. A quick damage check before we unpack anything.
- Tank valves stay closed. Until it’s actually time to dump.
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This is our routine for our rig, a fifth wheel with a jaw-style hitch and an auto-leveling jack panel. Your controls may work differently, so always follow your own RV, hitch and leveling-system manuals and adjust the list to match.
Planning the trip, too?
Our free Simpler Way RV Trip Planner covers the rest: hub planning, campground scouting, budgets and packing. And these are the 11 RV trip planning apps we actually use to map the route and find the campgrounds.
More from the road
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