Pre booking rv sites

[TEDDE]

What do you guys and gals out there do about pre-booking rv sites? I like to pre-book sites but it drives my DW crazy. We have passed over many many sites that turned out better than the one we booked. But how do you know..right. I have spoke with other RVer's and they just go and take what ever comes. I am the sort of guy who likes a place to tie up at night, not see what we can find....if anything.

What is the feeling out there..pre-book or not?? I know the idea of RV'ing is supposed to be a free style living...but what if you don't find a place to stay...I know Walmarts are a place to go, truck stops as well..but what if no Walmart and no truck stops..are around...

Just wondering

Thx.. Ted

[toneumanns]

I like to preplan also. When I get ready to bed down at night I want to pull in & stay. Don't want to drive around trying to find a place. DW is also a terrible map reader!

[NLOVNIT]

We reserve ahead 100% of the time. This is especially important when it comes to holiday weekends at popular CG's - those I'll do months to a year in advance. I'll scope out the place on Google Maps to get a lay of the land & also call the CG for recommendations. Even then, upon arriving I'll sometimes find other sites I would rather have had. If I can move, I do; if not, I just make a note of the better sites in my travel journal should we decide to return to a particular CG.

Lori-

[sdennislee]

I only pre-book when in an popular area where CGs are likely to be full.

Most of the time we get Woodalls out about 2 hrs before we are ready to be done and pick a few CGs. Then we look them up on the review sites and pick one. Call ahead and make sure they have an opening, if not we go to 2nd or 3rd choice.

I don't want to feel I can't stop along the way if I see something of interest and spend a few hours. If we plan our stops 300 miles apart and then find something to see on the way I feel pressured to keep going to make the reservation.

My trips are usually over 1500 miles per leg, just to unpredictable what you might find on the way. If my trips were short ones say under 250 miles I would probably plan ahead.

Last trip from Alaska was 11 days 4300 miles, never made a single reservation. Only had one CG that we wouldn't stay at again.

[Tsronco]

Personally I only make reservations if I'm going to a specific place for exactly so many days when I'm just driving to explore I go where my coach takes stop when I wanna stop my coach is self contained I have fresh water I only need to stop about every 4 days just to dump n refill

[EDALLSAILS]

When going to a specific destination we book that RV Park to be sure we have it when we get there. if we had several places where we want to stay for a few days or a week we book those as we leave one place and are within a few days of that location. Along the route which may take us days or even weeks we don't book ahead. Exception is big family holiday weekends when RV Parks fill up. We never pull into any RV Park after Dark. So, if it gets late we either decide on the next RV Park or look for a Wal-Mart for the nite. If you call someone like KOA and try to cancel they will keep your deposit so be sure what the policy is before booking. Good travels...ed

[Perry White]

If your thinking about reserving and have a little time before hand, throw it up on here on the forum and ask about it. Someone probably been there or know of a better one.

[bsirby]

For specific visits for several days to a month, I book. When we went cross country, I never booked and we never had a problem. I would start looking on the internet and have a couple to stop at. We always tried to stop no later than 5, so it was no big deal. We only got caught without a place to stay once and ended up in a truck stop because we were exhausted.

[JimM68]

we book our destinations, not our travel stops.
For travelling, I'd scope out 2-4 "possibles" for each night, and just see how we do.

[Wannabe]

When we traveled through Canada and Alaska for 5 months with a 5th wheel in the summer of 2007, we only made two reservations. We never had to boondock on the side of the road and only stayed in Walmarts twice. Often, after lunch, I would call 2-3 possible parks and ask if they had vacancies. If they did, then we would see where we would be about 3PM and if one was booked at that time we would just go to the next one. Never had a problem. One day we only went 50 miles and saw something interesting to spend most of the day and then went back to the park we had stayed at the night before.
In other words, just relax and enjoy the travel. It does help to have enough time to enjoy the trip.

[Westwind]

Would be to pre-book which would stop me from driving too far or long which I have a tendancy to do.
Even picking a spot to stop, call ahead and then book would do.
NOW if I could only talk my wife into this plan. Every time I try to implement this plan I get Oh, lets just drive another hour. I hate hooking up in the dark.

[Barbara S.]

When we went to the irv2.com Nat'l. Rally in 2010 we made reservations as we had a timeline to stick to and needed to be certain places at certain times. On the trip back home there were NO reservations as we didn't have to be anywhere at a specific time. That worked well, as our plans changed a couple of times coming back.

[jzick]

We do a lot of our traveling in northern short season areas with limited full hookup campgrounds and lots of "local" campers, so reservations are normally a necessity. Even when we are traveling we will make overnight reservations. We are not Wally World, truck stop, rest area overnighters but instead are part of the on the road by 9 stop at 2 crowd. Since driving down the highway is not part of our favorite things to do we are glad to have a stop picked.

To choose places to stay we use RV Park Reviews :: Home and have rarely been disappointed when picking a place to stay. Even reading the reviews can sometimes be good entertainment. Good luck in your travels.

[TEDDE]

Thanks to all who replied..It seems that I am in the same frame of mind as all of you. My DW always says..... just a little bit further down the road. ..My answer is... we have a reservation so we have to stay here for the night. Otherwise she would have me driving forever....while she sleeps of course..LOL.
I am the same as you guys I like to have a place to tie up to at night as well. My problem is I make our reservations too far apart and drive too long. When we tie up for the night i am bushed...I think that a 4 to 5 hour day driving is just perfect..But sometimes I get caught and drive longer, but I don't enjoy it anymore..after that long..

Thx
Ted