Are Campsites Really Getting Harder To Get?

[Zulu]

On 4/12/2017 at 7:44 PM, jmarxen said:

We are planning to purchase our new motorhome in a few months when I retire. I'm hearing podcasts stating that it's getting extremely hard just to travel and find campsites without advanced reservations at the end of the day. We understand that major tourist sites require reservations during the summer, but does folks traveling full-time really have this issue? If so it can be a deterrent of going full time.

"Major tourist site" -- ay, that's the rub.

As you travel around the Republic, you'll find that pretty much every town big or small has some sort of festival during the year. If you don't know what you're driving into, well, . . . best call ahead.

Some examples I've run into . . . Lake Havasu Balloon Fest (and pretty much any of the zillion weekly fests there), Mule Days in Bishop, CA and most recently SandFest in Port Aransas. If you just mosey into these fests unware, you find plenty of No Vacancies.

[bigjim]

Sometimes you have to get the memory working for things to kick in. Thinking back I can remember even way back not being able to find a basic tent site in some highly popular spots especially on short notice. It is true that having need for less amenities can make it easier to get a site. Some years ago I was heading west from Alabama I wanted to stop for a night or 2 at a Louisiana SP on the north shore of Lake Ponchitrain. It was Friday about 4:30 PM and I had not even thought about Mardi Gras starting the next day. Not surprised when I was told we are booked up for the entire Mardi Gras season. I started to leave then thought to say, "What if I don't need any hook-ups?"  Bingo-right question. The answer, then we have a spot and you can stay the full time of Mardi Gras if you want.  AND at that time I asked politely if they accepted the Federal Golden Access card and they gave me half off on the camping. A few years later they changed that. It is definitly more fun to not deal with reservations but sometimes it is essential.

[SecondWind]

On ‎4‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 0:15 AM, Barbaraok said:

But otherwise, if you follow the 2-2-2 travel guide (200 miles a day, in the park by 2:00 pm, stay 2 days) you won't have any problems.

I've seen this 2-2-2 thing mentioned a couple of times now.  What's the reasoning behind it?

 

Cheers,

Ken

[teacher's pet]

2-2-2 = basically why be in a big hurry for us.  There is a lot of country to see so why rush through it? When you stop for a couple of days, look around you may be surprised by what you find. In by 2 usually means plenty of spots left, unless you are in a heavy tourist area, plus you will  be parked and semi-safe, when all the weekenders come and bottle up the roads trying to park after 6PM.

[Kirk W]

2 hours ago, SecondWind said:

What's the reasoning behind it?

Quote

(200 miles a day, in the park by 2:00 pm, stay 2 days)

It's a way of suggesting you slow down and take the time to live your life. I doubt that any of us are so rigid as to never drive 215 miles or to arrive at 2:30, and we may even travel two days in a row, but the logic is that if you are at home the moment you leave the driver's seat, then what is the big rush? When you live in your RV you don't need to rush between destinations, but can take the time to make your trip just as important as the destination you are traveling to. Spend the time to enjoy every place you pass through, rather than just seeing things go past your windshield as you rush about the countryside. There is no prize for covering the most miles but the reward comes from the experiences you have and the people you meet.

In our years on the road, we only average traveling about 6000 miles per year, which happens to be enough to get north in summer and south in winter, following the seasons. Even now that life has forced us back to part-time travels we continue to do so with an RV and so to never allow our travel goal to become a big number of miles each day. Life is much too short to allow yourself to become an observer while speeding down some highway!

[sandsys]

That 2-2-2 only works for morning people. Those of us who struggle to be on the road by a park's checkout time would get nowhere if we stopped by 2 pm every day. Instead we chose to plan 4 hours max of travel time which might take us 6 hours with stops for breaks and sights along the way. But we were usually off the road by 4 pm or so. We were always parked by dark which comes awfully early in the winter.

Linda Sand

[Pat & Pete]

16 hours ago, SecondWind said:

I've seen this 2-2-2 thing mentioned a couple of times now.  What's the reasoning behind it?

 

Cheers,

Ken

When we saw the 'rule' , it was very obvious why ... Slow down and pay attention to details , like smelling privet .  

[jbh]

Sandsys, we just say we travel in "furlongs per fortnight."

[WILDEBILL308]

I do follow a simualer travel schedual. All things are variable but on the road by 9 off by 3-4 and depending on the area 2-3 nights. I have driven as little as 78 miles in a day and max 450. Most runaround 300 that = 6 houers on the road. I make regular stops to walk the dog and me. 

Bill

 

[Barbaraok]

Tour shortest drive was 30 miles.  Started the coach, cats jumped into their 'nap' positions when the diesel started to purr.  They were ready for a 3-4 hr nap.  We arrived, got set up, coffee was still hot, they slept on. 

[Kirk W]

8 hours ago, Barbaraok said:

Tour shortest drive was 30 miles.

Our shortest day in our fulltime years was 2 miles longer than yours, but we did that same short trip in two different years.  I used to say that we believe in keeping life in balance, so because we always get started late, we are careful to balance that late start by always stopping early!

[Dutch_12078]

Our shortest travel day was this past winter when we left one park a day early to avoid some serious bad weather forecast for the following day, and couldn't get a site at our next scheduled park for the night. We did get a spot at another park about 9 miles away though, making the following day's trip to our reserved site our shortest travel day ever.

[GR "Scott" Cundiff]

I'll enter the short day sweepstakes.  We were in a crowded campground, barely room for awnings.  The fellow on our driver's side had been there a long time and he had not only the camper awning, but an awning "tent" almost touching our windows.  However, on the other side of him was a nicely mowed grassy area.

When he left, I moved one site over into his site.  We were still crowded on one side, but at least we could look out the window on the other side and not be looking into someone else's site.

So our move day was about 10 feet.

(Just fooling around, I know that really doesn't count as a move day)

 

[richfaa]

 When on the road 300 miles would be a very long day and seldom done . We are in general on the road by @ 9AM and off the road by @ 5Pm with frequent stops for fuel and stretch. We both drive the rig and that makes for a less stressful day. We are in absolutely no hurry and sometimes do not know where we will end up the day or when we stop how long we will be there.

[Pat & Pete]

About the same as^ , but we don't poke along as much .  We are usually rolling by about 10ish and parked by 2 or 3ish .

All that when we have a destination in mind . It's kind of a slave driven approach , but ...  

[SecondWind]

On ‎4‎/‎15‎/‎2017 at 2:50 PM, sandsys said:

That 2-2-2 only works for morning people. Those of us who struggle to be on the road by a park's checkout time would get nowhere if we stopped by 2 pm every day.

Amen, sister!!

 

On ‎4‎/‎15‎/‎2017 at 6:40 AM, Kirk Wood said:

It's a way of suggesting you slow down and take the time to live your life. I doubt that any of us are so rigid as to never drive 215 miles or to arrive at 2:30, and we may even travel two days in a row, but the logic is that if you are at home the moment you leave the driver's seat, then what is the big rush?

Lol... so I was actually thinking it was a rigid rule that had to be adhered to, and thus the wanting to know why.  Nice philosophy.  We've talked over what we'd like to do once we're actually on the road, and come up with a loose plan...  Definitely follow the seasons, north in summer and south in winter.

Figure we could pick a spot in one state, stay about a month while doing the tourist thing within a 100-mile radius, then move on to the next state for next month.  At that rate, it would take us 4 years to see the continental U.S. before starting the cycle over again in different spots.  But the cool thing is, since we are already "at home" upon leaving the driver's seat, then we don't actually have to move on until we're ready to do so.  We can't wait for that kind of freedom.

 

Cheers,

Ken

[Barbaraok]

Ken, you do realize that there are several states where moving 200 or 300 miles down the road doesn't get you out of the state.  Texas, California, Montana are all DAYS to get through (east-west or north-south)  so you have way more than 4 yrs worth of things to see.  We've been at it for 11 yrs and have only grazed the surface of most states.  

The big thing about the -2-2-2 plan is limit  the time you spend driving to an amount that doesn't deplete you so that you can't ENJOY the journey as much as the destination.  You just never know what you will find, so best to be flexible and give yourself time to appreciate each area as you venture into it.  Plus, there is no prize for being the first out of a park in the morning nor the last in in the evening.  That's left to vacationers/weekenders who are trying to cram 'life' into 2 weeks or a long weekend. 

[SecondWind]

1 hour ago, Barbaraok said:

Ken, you do realize that there are several states where moving 200 or 300 miles down the road doesn't get you out of the state.

Lol...  hadn't really thought about it.  Also hadn't thought about limiting ourselves to only driving 200 miles or so per day.  As Pat&Pete said, we figured to have a "Point B" destination in mind to go to once we leave "Point A".  What if we can't get there it one day?  Boondock, I guess.  No idea really.  That's why it's a "loose plan" we have.  But you're right in that we never know what we'll find.  We might find it more enjoyable to just stay a few nights here and a few nights there, constantly moving.  At least we have plenty of time to think on it before we're actually on the road endangering the rest of y'all.

 

Cheers,

Ken

[jmarxen]

We plan on not driving more than 200-250 miles a day, then stay in one spot for at least several days if not longer. In this way, if there are interesting places around us, we can use the toad to visit. We've spent our entire working career the majority of the time on vacations driving to visit family (all live within several states away). We have passed so many places/signs that we would be interested in checking out but due to the time limit of the vacation, we skipped. We do not plan on doing that when we retire later this year.

 

- Jim & Nancy

NewMar Mountain Air (Soon to be Tiffin Phaeton)

And our two fur babies (Jude - pug and Abbey - yorkie)

[SWharton]

That is the right attitude to fulltiming.....................

[GR "Scott" Cundiff]

It's really situation dependent.  Generally I like 150-200 mile moves.  I never think about what time we will arrive because I'm a planner and I already have a reservation waiting for me.  Since I'm not trying to get there ahead of other travelers I don't think much about arrival time.

Having said that, I don't do any sight seeing with the 5th wheel.  Also, because of our distances I seldom stop for fuel.  

We start breaking camp about 9, get on the road by 10, stop for a picnic or in camper lunch around 12 and arrive whenever we arrive - but, yeah, generally by 2.

Once in a while we get into what I call "relocation mode" -- making a schedule, moving through big country that all looks about the same, etc.  I'll up the travel day to 250 and the stop will be just one night.  However, I don't like those days and don't do it very often.

On the other hand, if we are in an area with lots to see, we'll do some 75 mile moves every week or so. 

[ms60ocb]

Addressing the original question, I think it is harder to find a campsite if you have a big rig, The early birds get the long sites. For long term I look for newer sites or Casinos.

Another advantage of the 2-2-2 plan as that will you through a big city at a decent time. But in the winter when going south my rule start early and stop before dark.

Clay

2016 DRV MS 40 foot & 2015 FL Sports Chassis used also as the daily driver

 

[LFDR3116]

Another time parks may fill is when the snowbirds are moving north or south and the parks are near major travel roads.  We usually call a few hours ahead to verify site availability, but do not usually make any reservations anywhere.  We are usually sitting at a host site during summers, so haven't been to touristy places in summer .

[justRich]

I think parks are filling up more quickly on weekends and it can start on Friday night.  
If we land on a Friday night then we consider staying for Saturday as well, depending on the location.

RV manufacturers are going gang busters and making smaller RV units for the folks who purchased light weight vehicles long before they thought of towing a trailer.  Those good working folks tend to use their RV on weekends, thus, parks fill up more quickly.

 

[lappir]

It is getting harder to find a spot for a long term stay. I usually try to stay in one place for 6 months or so. Was real tough in Iowa last summer, but I found a spot. This year I'm looking around Kansas City and have only found one and I don't know if my trailer will fit. The truck, car and motorcycle for sure won't and I don't yet have an exact plan for them. Have to make sure I have the job first. 

Has anyone stayed at Worlds of Fun Campground. They have spots, but I don't exactly understand how they charge for them. Said all rates were daily, now weekly or monthly. Rates ranged from $30 to $50 depending on the time. It seems that if you reserve a spot for a certain day and arrive and say you want to stay 90 days you pay the day rate x90. Could be a very expensive stay. Most of the other places have "Waiting Lists" . 

 

Rod