Community Forums

Westwind · 01-01-2012, 01:09 PM

The new thing DW is trying this year is to talk me into getting up at 1 AM and leaving to travel to Florida our neighbor does it every year. We used to do that a few years ago but one year I had been sick with the flu and we left at 5am which I liked better. No traffic at that hour but should you break down it can be really dark at the side of that road.
Traveling through the NY-NJ-DC area can be a challenge but that bothers me less for some reason then traveling at night. Since we don't have campgrounds
open in the northeast we have to stay in hotels. We have our favorites that have big parking lots so we make out fine. Setting up when it's less then 40 degrees doesn't set well with me.

Mochisme · 01-01-2012, 10:14 PM

I always liked to plan ahead and make reservations, but since I got into 4 wheeling off road, not so much. Also used to driving 600 to 800 miles per day, but during a trip to Las Vegas a few years ago, (Try different route to same location all the time) it was dark and about the same time we turned to each other and said I can not see anything interresting.

At that point we stopped at the next motel we came to and agreed that we would only travel during daylight hours as the trip and new sights is at least 50% of the vacation. Since retiring and getting our 1st MH, we want to be parked well before dark to relax and enjoy whatthe campground or Wal-Mart has to offer.

I still find myself plotting and planning where to stay way in advance, but stopped making reservations in advance and so far have not had a problem with a full Campground, just one late in the day with only Back in slots and I was to tired to want to deal with undoing the toad, so we moved on to the next CG and stayed hooked up in a pull through.

RVRon · 01-02-2012, 08:39 AM

We tend to overdrive when we go on long trips. One time we went from El Paso to Hope Arkansas in 15 hours and I had to not only scrape myself out of the drivers seat but also from bed in the morning. Was so tired, we hit the road the next morning with the TV antenna up....ow!
As was said, in the northeast during the summer, if you are looking for weekend accommodations in a good RV park, then you had better reserve ahead or there will be no room at the inn. Still, when we do longer trips, we do enjoy a "free form" style and do not like to make reservations for all the reasons stated by the OP's.
Our new resolution is to be off the road by dark no matter what. I hope to make it stick.

jmr12 · 01-05-2012, 08:23 PM

my wife and I are planning a trip from Montana to Arizona. We have pre-booked in AZ but will stay wherever on the way. We looked at the CG's on the web. If we saw one that we liked, we looked at it on Google Earth. {Earth not Map} You can go to ground level and do a 360 and see the CG from street level.

Westwind · 01-05-2012, 08:34 PM

Google Earth and Bing Maps both have features which allow you to both get a good birds eye view of campgrounds and travel areas before the trip, for all the bad press that these two sites got in the beginning they do serve a purpose for people that are traveling (Fuel Stops or even Hotels or resturant parking)

jmr12 · 01-06-2012, 10:47 AM

You can down load a version of google earth for free.
You can type in the search bar say......RV resorts Lake Havasu AZ.......
It will go to Lake Havasu and Pin Point the CG's. You can click on the CG you want to see and it will bring up contact info. You can search anything, car rentals, vet clinics.

RickO · 01-06-2012, 12:13 PM

While covering >40,000 miles and 34 states I'd estimate that we made reservations less than 5% of the time. This includes finding a spot even during busy holiday weekends... although I sure wouldn't want to recommend that as a practice.

As others have said, a couple of hours before we think we'll want to stop, we check out Trailer Life for a listing of nearby CGs and then go to campgroundreviews.com. Finally, we will usually call the CG when we're about 30 min out to make sure they have room.

Lots of different strokes for lots of different folks.

Rick

johnsonjm209 · 01-06-2012, 07:17 PM

We usually pre book especially when we go to busy areas.
Last year we Prepaid and booked two places for this year in Florida.
Because of a family situation that required us to be in Ct. this year we had to cancel both prior to 60 days.
The private campground would use the amount for next year if we left it there or return it minus $150 if we wanted to. So we lost $150 there.
The county campground would refund all but $25. That was more reasonable and we took that back.

Total lost $175.00

But, if I wanted to get into any of those places next year we would have to pre book again. Who knows what's in the future.

We still have two reservtions pre booked for this summer in New England.