Community Forums

Busskipper · 04-05-2018, 05:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twogypsies

Wing it. That's a very easy route to do so.

We rarely made reservations during our 16 years of full-timing (5,840 nights) and never got turned away from where we wanted to stay. Now... if you need to stay at the most popular 'resorts' or if you always need full hookups then you'd probably need some reservations.

Sums it up pretty well - "Wing It " for us.

..

Frutza · 04-05-2018, 05:23 AM

Wing it, sort of, especially on a travel day, either in the morning or lunch stop I’ll bring up Allstays and call ahead
Now, a question for you, David S, see, this would be where I make a reservation, looking to go to Ft Wayne rib fest, it says your in Ft Wayne, any recommendations in your neck of the woods?
Thanks

reubenray · 04-05-2018, 05:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blondiega1

We are not the "wing it" type of people.
We always make reservations. We need to know we have a spot for the night.

Ditto - I even make my reservations most of the time months in advance. I did the winging it one time for one night and I lost out. I had to drive 2 more hours.

twojayhawks · 04-05-2018, 07:31 AM

I almost always have a reservation waiting but I look forward to the day when I can just wing it. We are not full timers so we have long hard travel days. I drove 615 miles Easter Sunday and I surely wanted a guaranteed reservation at the end of that day. I don't enjoy dry camping either.

chuckster52 · 04-05-2018, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twojayhawks

I almost always have a reservation waiting but I look forward to the day when I can just wing it. We are not full timers so we have long hard travel days. I drove 615 miles Easter Sunday and I surely wanted a guaranteed reservation at the end of that day. I don't enjoy dry camping either.

Now,we like to "wing it" at times but that doesn't mean I don't have a tentative plan of the route and where I'd like to stay...just not a reservation and we'd call that mid- afternoon for a reservation
Over holidays,we'd make reservations and stay a day or so if we can
We always travel with almost empty grey/black tanks and 1/2 to 3/4 water tank just in case ,we need to dry camp @ a Casino or etc....plus if ya ever broke down,ya might need the water...C

Waiter21 · 04-05-2018, 08:25 AM

Yes, both... If we need to be somewhere on a schedule, we generally pre-plan our trip and identify overnight locations. We usually don't make reservations, but will call when a couple hours out. I generally like to be off the road and in a parking spot by sundown (eyes getting bad)

If we are just roaming, we'll sometimes have a list of two or three places for overnight.

Duoglide1 · 04-05-2018, 09:31 AM

For many years I had to be at the airport on time come he’ll or high water. Didn’t matter how bad the roads were “I had to go.” No more schedules for me. No reservations unless it’s a special occasion or holiday weekend.

BillJinOR · 04-05-2018, 09:56 AM

We make reservations if we need to be someplace over a weekend , holiday or a specific location. Winter in Florida I already have my reservations locked down for next year at one park for 3 months our longest stay in 2 years full timing . Other than that we make plans a few days or maybe a week ahead or time with a mixture of reservations and wing it. The more we do this the better feel we have and less long range planning we do.

66joej · 04-05-2018, 05:30 PM

Just got home from AZ. We live in Radium BC. Made reservations for the 5 day trip. Not 1 of the RV parks was more than 1/2 full. This included the Easter weekend. Winging it from now on.

Superslif · 04-06-2018, 08:52 AM

For us it's always about the security of knowing one of our favorite campsites is waiting for us. Might be a riverfront site, or a nice large shaded site by the lake. WE stay 90% in state and national parks. But we also don't do many one night stops. Usually it's a minimum of 4 nights, and usually 7 nights.

I remember 15 years ago where Ohio State Parks didn't take reservations. To get a site in the summer at Ohio's most popular park, you would have to arrive at 5am on a Sunday morning to get on the "wait list" By 9am there were 40-50 RV units now on the wait list. At 10am they started to call you into the office to find your site preference, but you couldn't move onto the site till 3pm. If you were higher than 40 on the wait list it was iffy if you got a site.

Now with the reservation system, to get one of the 30 or so creek front sites, you better reserve 6 months ahead. By April, all the summer sites are gone. Then do save 15 sites as non-reserve-able.

nothermark · 04-07-2018, 07:39 AM

In NY we play to the reservation system. Weekends are usually booked fast. We look for places we like from Sunday or Monday to Thursday. Come home to do the lawn and laundry on the weekends. ;-)

David3811 · 04-10-2018, 06:28 AM

As it turned out, "winging it" doesn't always work, as can be expected. Leaving Austin, we discovered an issue with our black tank that rendered the toilet inoperative. First thought, while we're driving, is to head to Red Bay, AL (Tiffin Service Center) to get it fixed. After an hour of phone calls (still driving), we realized that wait times in Red Bay in April are measured in weeks, so the next thought (still driving) was head back to Chattanooga to the Camping World that installed the new toilet. No sites available. Next thought (still driving) is Montgomery, AL, to Marling Ingram to see if they can fix it. No sites available. By this time I've punched "HOME" in the GPS to get us headed in the right direction, 800 miles away. Ended up spending the night at the Buffalo KOA in TN because they had a site available, and once we got there we figured out why (not good). Anyway, back home where I'll probably fix the issue myself.

baraff · 04-10-2018, 09:51 AM

Winging it has always been our choice, except when going to popular destination National parks like GCNP.
Another exception to this is if we're traveling along a popular snowbird migration route, like I-65. We're heading to Florida (panhandle area) soon and I made reservations at a few COE campgrounds due to the heavy volume of snowbirders heading home for the summer.

twogypsies · 04-11-2018, 12:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David3811

As it turned out, "winging it" doesn't always work, as can be expected. Leaving Austin, we discovered an issue with our black tank that rendered the toilet inoperative.First thought, while we're driving, is to head to Red Bay, AL (Tiffin Service Center) to get it fixed. After an hour of phone calls (still driving), we realized that wait times in Red Bay in April are measured in weeks,........... to Chattanooga to the Camping World that installed the new toilet. No sites available. Next .........Montgomery, AL................... Buffalo KOA in TN because they had a site available, and once we got there we figured out why (not good).

There were reasons why you couldn't get a site. This is snowbirder migration time - everyone is heading north and on the interstates. Red Bay? Naturally, the snowbirders want their repairs done on the way home. I'm sure you would have found accommodations if you would have gotten off the interstates.