Tip 1 – Free camping at Walmart:

Yes, you can park overnight (freecamp) in many Walmart parking lots. Just look for signs in the parking lot to make sure there aren’t any that say “no overnight parking”. There is also a list of Walmart without a park, just google it. A good sign of whether you can park there as well is if there are other RVs/Motorhomes in the lot.

Tip 2 – Free camping at Flying J’s Truck Stop:

Whenever possible, we prefer to park overnight at the Flying J truck stops. It was never a problem and there were always other trucks and RVs around to ensure safety in numbers. We had a laptop with internet access so only Google would map where the nearest Walmart or Flying J’s was.

Tip 3: Best Prepaid Internet USB for Price and Coverage in the US:

If you plan to bring a laptop with you, you can choose a prepaid wireless USB stick that works on the 3g network at Walmart, Verizon, or AT&T. We chose Verizon after doing the research and highly recommend it. Verizon had excellent coverage and we found that when driving across the US we never ran out of coverage. You’ll also find loads of Verizon stores often near Walmarts, while we never saw an AT&T outlet. This is important as it is much easier for the traveler to top up at the store than to call.

The cost was around $99 for the stick and then the plans were $50 for 1 gig for a month, or $80 for 5 gig for a month. We used Skype to call family and friends, we used Google Earth to research our route, and we Googled the best things to do in the place we were going to visit. Not to mention being able to update Facebook, check emails, etc.

Tip 4 – Where to Get the Best Campervan/RV Deal:

We are traveling over the Christmas holiday period as my wife is a teacher. While the flights were expensive, the caravan/RV hire was dirt cheap since this is America’s low season. During this period there were a lot of good deals and we found this site to have some great deals. We take advantage of the buy 2 weeks get 2 weeks free. This ended up costing us half of what our travel agent had quoted. The name of the company is cheap campervan hire, it is a New Zealand based company that almost acts as an agent to find the best deals for motorhome/campervan/campervan.

Tip 5 – Buy a GPS!

You can pick up a Tom Tom GPS from Walmart for $99 that includes US and Canadian maps (or buy one online before you go). This is an absolute must, as it is possible to navigate the cities with the map, but it will take a lot of wrong turns. Remembering that a wrong turn can take 10 minutes to correct, when driving a fuel-guzzling RV, it won’t be long before the GPS pays for itself with the saved fuel. Not to mention less stress and a happy wife who no longer has to navigate.

Sell ​​it on eBay when you’re done or save it for your next trip!

Tip 6 – Driving in the US:

Fuel in December 2010 cost on average around $3 per gallon, with a gallon being just under 4 liters. Our C19 RV would get around 10 mpg.

Regarding traffic regulations, except for having to drive on the right side of the road, everything else is basically the same. 3 things we noticed that were different were:

a) 4-way stop sign: There are many intersections with 4-way stop signs. Unlike Australia where you simply yield to the right, in the US you yield to the person who was there first. In the event of a tie, it returns to the rule of giving way to the right.

b) Make a right turn on a red light at any time with care: You can make a right turn on a red light in the US provided, of course, you yield to other traffic. The only time you cannot turn right is if there is a sign that says “no right turn on red light”.

School Bus: If a school bus is on the side of the road with its lights flashing and the stop sign off, it must stop even if it is on the other side of the road. Children will get off the bus and cross the street in front of the school bus.

Any questions or comments do not hesitate to send me a private message.