What is the 3/3/3 Rule?

Hey, RVers. I'm Lisa McEwen. Thanks for checking out our video today. Hope you're doing well. Today we're talking about the 3/3/3 rule.

Have you heard of it? Essentially, it's a trip planning suggestion that will help you travel comfortably, especially on those longer trips. It'll help you answer some pretty common trip planning questions you'll have too, like how far should you travel in a day? What time should you try to arrive at the campground by and how many days should you stay at each stop? So let's answer the basic question.

What is the 3/3/3 rule? With the 3/3/3 rule, you drive no more than 300 miles. You arrive at your campground no later than 3:00 PM and you stay at the campground for three days. What's the purpose of this rule? If you're planning to be on the road for a while and are traveling a fair distance from home, the 3/3/3 rule is a benchmark you can follow so you don't get worn out.

Driving from place to place might not sound stressful, but when you're spending hours upon hours on the road, you can get tired and cranky very quickly and that's not a recipe for a successful trip. By pacing your trip out with a 3/3/3 rule you can alleviate some of that stress. Why 300 miles? To answer that question, we need to do a little math. If you're towing a camper and going about 60 miles per hour, you'll travel about 300 miles in five hours.

If you add in another hour or two for breaks, it's about a six or seven hour day. If you think about it, that's quite a long time to stay focused and alert behind the wheel, especially while towing a camper. That's why 300 miles is a good benchmark to aim for on a travel day. Why arrive by 3:00 PM? What is so special about arriving at a campground by 3:00 PM?

Well, if you arrive in the afternoon, you arrive during daylight hours, which means it's easier to get into your site. No one wants to back their rig into a spot in the dark. Plus, if you're there by 3:00 PM, you still have a good portion of your day left. You have some time to explore the park a bit, have dinner and get some rest. Now, if you're going to arrive at the campground by 3:00 PM and you're on the road for six to seven hours, that means you'll need to be up and on the road in the morning by eight or 9:00 AM.

Why stay three days? Three days gives you ample opportunity to rest and get out and enjoy the area a little bit. Now, of course, you can stay less than three days but the idea behind the rule is that if you're staying three days, you are not stringing back-to-back days on the road. When you're on the road, day-in and day-out, you get tired, you get cranky, you get irritable, and frankly, you're less likely to enjoy your trip. How often should you stop and take breaks?

A good rule of thumb is to stop every three hours. So I guess there's another three to add to our 3/3/3 rule. Now, if you have younger kids, driving for three straight hours can be a feat. We have a six and seven-year-old, and there have been times where we've strung together three straight hours of driving, but if we have to stop sooner, we do. Of course, you should do what's best for you and your family, but it's always a good idea to get out and stretch your legs.

Does everyone follow the 3/3/3 rule? No, not everyone follows the 3/3/3 rule. There are a lot of full-timers out there who live by this rule, but there are others who do not, and frankly, it's your choice, right? It really all depends on how long you're traveling and how comfortable you are behind the wheel. Now, there are certainly some people out there who just wanna get to their destination as quickly as humanly possible, right?

They follow the ASAP rule where they are willing to drive as much as they need to to get to where they want to go, and that's okay as long as you're considering your own safety. How many hours is safe to drive while towing an RV? Every driver is different, and it's important to listen to your body. We try not to do more than eight hours on the road. If you're feeling tired, respect it.

If you don't feel up to driving anymore, it's always better to stop, even if that means your plans have to change a little bit. So that's the 3/3/3 rule. Now, as I mentioned, not everybody follows it, but it is a handy benchmark to know, especially for new RVers who are trying to plan their first multi-city trip that could last for several weeks. But, of course, everyone should do what's right for their family. Until next time.