What do you expect for $50.00 a night

[JMonroe]

I used to say, "you'll know you're old when you start complaining about the price of bread, milk - and campsites". Well, I'm there.

$50 per night isn't at all uncommon anymore. We just paid over $70 per night while in the Florida panhandle, but that was for a site right on the water. Another place we expect to pay that, or more, is Fort Wilderness at Disney World. But these are exceptions. We paid $40 per night for a full hookup site for overnighting on our trip, even though all we used was the electric. Gravel roads and pads, never did check out the rest room facilities, and tight quarters, but it was the "only game in town", at a reasonable distance split between our departure site and our final destination.

One problem, our size. The older, more extablished, campgrounds were not designed for rigs much over 30', let alone 40 plus. Another is our expectations. We worked hard and saved for many years so we'd be able to not only live and travel in our RV, but so we'd not have to settle for some mud lot on top of the railroad tracks.

I budgeted $35 per night, average, for our full time lifestyle and so far we're doing very well with that, but in part that is because we are spending 4 to 6 months on a site that we own. While travelling we've come to expect closer to a $50 per night average.

Do all the research you can. Use the campground rating section of IRV2, the RV Parks Reviews web site and Google earth. After that, it's up to the RV gods.

[JohnRR]

Originally Posted by TonyDi

Not sure why the link didn't load. Just do a web search. The name of the publication is:

Big Rigs Best Bet.

It did load using the link Home.

[Newbie64]

Originally Posted by Dr4Film

I never make reservations UNLESS it happens to be a very popular location high traffic area with lots of tourists and many things to do.

If I plan to stop for more than one night then I will see whats available in the area, stop at a RV Park, look around, and if it isn't what we expect, we go on down the road.

If only resting for the night we never stay at RV Parks and pay money. It's always free places and dry camp for the night.

Been doing that for over 33,000 miles and three years on the road. Never any problems.

Dr4Film ----- Richard

I'm getting ready for a cross country trip, our first, and our 3rd trip period. Where can you find free places to sleep overnight? We'll be traveling on I80 from the plains to New York.

Any suggestions are welcome. I remain Newbie64

[PyrateSilly]

Newbie64 here is a list of sites that you might like to look thru:
http://www.bandofboondockers.com/
http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en.html
http://www.camphalfprice.com/
http://www.escapees.com/
http://www.forestcamping.com/index.htm
http://freecampgrounds.com/
http://freecampsites.net/usa/
http://www.frugal-rv-travel.com/
http://www.fs.fed.us/
http://www.harvesthosts.com/invitation.htm
http://hasbeenthere.com/
http://www.overnightrvparking.com/
http://www.recreation.gov/
http://rvthereyetdirectory.com/
http://www.seeya-downtheroad.com/InformationPage/ThisLand.html
http://www.uscampgrounds.info/
http://rvunfriendly.com/

[Newbie64]

Thanks a bunch PyrateSilly. Some of those were helpful. I feel a little more confident about setting out cross country.

Tom

[Kro1957]

Wow... I did not know that there were CG's above $50. To me, that is more than what is in our budget unless it is a CG like others posted, like a high end resort and or right on the ocean. You can find many places like this one up in South Dakota with the best fishing in the world, beautiful scenery, and wildlife, full hook ups and the season rates are 700 - 800 a year and includes everything.

[CampDaven]

Originally Posted by Kro1957

Wow... I did not know that there were CG's above $50. To me, that is more than what is in our budget unless it is a CG like others posted, like a high end resort and or right on the ocean. You can find many places like this one up in South Dakota with the best fishing in the world, beautiful scenery, and wildlife, full hook ups and the season rates are 700 - 800 a year and includes everything.

There are many +/- the $50 mark in high demand areas: PA, NJ, CA, NY etc. seasonal gets a big break, but we cant sit still that long. Gotta change the outdoor wallpaper.

In AZ and NV hi-end resorts are ~ $400 to $900 per month, but are nearly equal in attributes. Pays to shop and ask around.

[Kro1957]

When we start our FT adventure, I think the first year we will go to one of our seasonal spots in SD for the summer, perhaps a work camp area, then south for the winter. Then when we have the bugs worked out on this FT adventure we can do more extensive travel and something like 1-2 week stops. Just spend a little more time to stop and smell the roses along the way yet see more of the country.

[CampDaven]

Originally Posted by Kro1957

When we start our FT adventure, I think the first year we will go to one of our seasonal spots in SD for the summer, perhaps a work camp area, then south for the winter. Then when we have the bugs worked out on this FT adventure we can do more extensive travel and something like 1-2 week stops. Just spend a little more time to stop and smell the roses along the way yet see more of the country.

That works!
We are vagabonds, and the best plan is usually no plan. We hop-scotch until we find a place that will last any where from 3 nights to a month, sometimes more if there is enough to do to prevent boredom.
Left 10/1, returned to spoil grand kids mid May. MH, 7K mlies, touring with toad, 15K.
Happy trails!

[Tha_Rooster]

"what do you expect for $50.00 a night" not much these days that's a cheap date.

[slickest1]

We pulled into a park in Ca. after a long frustrating day and it wasn't all that nice and they wanted $44. Dw says no way and I said just pay it. The nicest part of the park was the dog park. There were only 2 other rigs in there. Most of the time we usually find parks in the $25 to $35 range and they are fairly nice, not resorts but clean and nice.
For $50 I would expect something pretty nice, but I am never looking for anything that nice just to sleep and dump my tanks!

[baraff]

The most I have ever spent for a campsite was $40 or something at Topsail Hill State Preserve. That is my benchmark and I don't think I would pay more than that for any site.
I'm a "State park type" guy, $15-25 is more to my liking. We usually don't get the "parking lot" experience with State parks.

[bruceisla]

Originally Posted by Kro1957

Attachment 41217






Wow... I did not know that there were CG's above $50. To me, that is more than what is in our budget unless it is a CG like others posted, like a high end resort and or right on the ocean. You can find many places like this one up in South Dakota with the best fishing in the world, beautiful scenery, and wildlife, full hook ups and the season rates are 700 - 800 a year and includes everything.

Care to share the name of that location?

[Jobeth66]

There are no (zero) state parks in NJ where I can take my 34' coach. If I want to camp in-state I'm at a private campground, and in-season here $40 would be /cheap/ and would probably get you a dirt/grass lot with no hookups or 30A electric only. We have yet to camp close to home - we've driven over the bridge to PA and down to MD. In the MD area, I'll recommend Elk Neck State Park, which is beautiful and clean but very, very busy - you can't just pull in with a 33'+ rig and hope to get a spot for the night, unless you're camping during the week. You might have better luck. On weekends they're booked out through the end of October. I think I pay $43/nt. If I want to camp down the shore during the summer, it's going to be more like $80-90/nt, and we don't have any campgrounds that are actually on the water, so I'd need to take a car too.