RV Moving Day How To - Steps, Checklist, & More!

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What does an RV moving day look like and how can you make it as seamless as possible? We’ll show you the steps of a typical moving day for us!

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Moving day looks just a little bit different each time, but there is a pretty standard process we follow to move our fulltime RVing family from one camping spot to the next.

We’ll take you through pre-moving day prep, packing up, hitching up, final walk around, and the actual drive day – all the steps of a typical moving day for us!

Pre-RV Moving Day Prep Work

There are some things you will want to get done before the day of. It can be super helpful to at least take care of some things the day or night before. There are some things we take care of both outside and inside of our rig.

Outside Prep Work

Anything outside that we don’t need the rest of the evening or in the morning can be put away, and Kevin will typically take care of this the night before. There are also some things with the truck and RV hookups that can be prepped to make the morning go easier.

Put away outside toys and camping gear, including chairs, tables, the fire pit, etc.

Sweep, fold, and pack up the outdoor rug
Refuel the tow vehicle if applicable
Close the gray tank(s) to prepare for dumping

Air up tires if needed

Inside Prep Work

The same holds true for the inside of the RV. The more we can do the night before, the less there is in the morning.

Roll up carpet(s)

Pack up things not needed in the morning in safe locations for travel (we bring a couple of plastic tubs inside in which to put our countertop items, put some items in our sink, and others on our couches)
Prepping food/drinks for the road (if you can get to your fridge and stop for lunch you may not need to pack as much, but our fridge is inaccessible when the slides are in)
If leaving extra early: prep things needed for the morning like laying out clothes, making breakfast ahead, cleaning up & closing up the kids room and other unneeded slides

Packing Up On RV Moving Day

The bulk of packing up for traveling takes place the morning of our actual move. Sometimes none of the above items get done beforehand and then we have more to do the day of, including:

Inside Packing Up

We all help out packing up the inside of the RV as follows:

We close things up as we go

Get ourselves ready & dressed, pack up the bedroom and close the bedroom slide
Christine packs up the bathroom as she’s getting ready in there, putting things in a cabinet or into the shower, latching the shower doors and sliding bathroom door
After breakfast & cleaning up: put away extra table leaf, pack up the food, lock the fridge, finish last dishes, and put things into sink

Make sure all cabinets, drawers, and doors are properly closed & latched
Kids get ready, put in kids room slide if not done night before
Put anything else we used in the morning into the tubs, on couch, or into sink for safe travel

Stage things for Kevin to take out (food bag, water bottles, entertainment things, computer, coats) – Kevin packs truck, and if the weather is bad the dog goes into the truck at this time or else she comes outside again for a bit
Kids & I finish up inside, then we go outside. If the weather is good and there’s still more time left, we might play in the site, go to playground, or go on a walk. If not, they get into the truck
Unneeded breakers are turned off (example: microwave is turned off but fridge is left on)

Kevin closes other two slides in our main area after looking under slides for small items
Remaining lights and climate control is turned off

Outside Packing Up

Kevin typically takes care of our outside to do’s including:

Dump the gray and black tanks, disconnect and put away sewer items
Refill water tank if needed for where we’re going. Disconnect water and put away hoses
Disconnect and retract electrical connection

Take down anything on the roof that doesn’t stay up there during travel, like our WeBoost antenna

Hitching The RV

Kevin hitches up, and most often is able to do that portion himself.

Kevin hitches the RV, lowers it onto the truck, lifts the jacks, puts away wheel chocks & leveling blocks, connect emergency breakaway cable and the umbilical for lights and brakes to the RV

Christine keeps the kids entertained, either in the campsite, or a last trip to the playground or a quick walk. They probably start asking for snacks already
At some point we get the kids and the dog into the truck and ready to go if that hasn’t happened already

Final Walk Around

After Kevin completes hitching and determines we should be ready to go, both of us take one final walk around the RV. This is just to do a final double check and get some other eyes on everything. Kevin does a great job but it can never hurt to verify!

We both do the final walk around which includes: checking tires, ensuring the RV is properly hitched, all jacks are up and blocks and chocks are put away, stairs and stair handle are locked away, check that all doors and compartments are locked and windows and vents are closed, that nothing has been left on the roof that shouldn’t be, bikes are properly secured, all truck and RV lights work, awnings are all the way in, nothing has been left in our campsite, and that nothing else looks amiss
Then it’s time to roll out

Drive Day

When we finally hit the road we breath a quick sigh of relief. Then the rest of the day looks like this:

Kevin has already done the route planning. We use a combination of truckrouter.com and Google Maps.
Kevin has planned the fuel stops. We look for places along the way where we can use our Open Roads (TSD Logistics) fuel card for discounts. After fueling we sometimes park in the truck area to combine fueling with a bathroom break
As needed in between fuel stops we’ll take a break at a rest area or other location where we can safely stop for a bit and use this chance for bathroom breaks but also to get out and stretch & let the kids run around

We eat snacks as we’re traveling and will often just eat our lunch in the truck whenever we get hungry enough, though sometimes we eat while we’re stopped at rest areas with picnic tables. We can put our slides out in some locations and eat in the RV, but we usually don’t make the effort as other options are easier
Kevin has mostly always driven. He enjoys driving more. Christine takes care of the kids’ needs and can typically do some work on the drive
Kids have a tote full of toys, coloring things, books, etc. They play with these things & some tablet / LeapFrog pad time on drive days

We listen to music & occasional podcasts for us or the kids

Arrival

We have a separate post on RV arrival and how to’s along with its own checklist that you can check out next. In the particular instance we filmed in the above linked video, we arrived in the dark so we ended the video upon arrival. We were moochdocking on family’s property & backing down the S-curve driveway is difficult so we parked at the top and showed the rest in the daytime! We hope this info is helpful to you as you plan your own RV moving days.

Get The Free Moving Day Checklist

That’s what a typical moving day looks like for us! We hope that any of your future RV moving days are smooth and safe! If you’d like the free RV moving day checklist with the steps we mentioned and more in a printable format so you can easily double check as you’re getting it done, grab it below! Have a great day and safe travels!

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If you’d like to read about our RV and other RV adventures, then check out some of our other posts :

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Pinnable image of a truck & fifth wheel at a rest stop

Pinnable image of a truck & fifth wheel at a rest stop at night

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RV Moving Day How To – Steps, Checklist, & More!