What style of camping do you favor? Options

[Kirk]

Since we seem to have beaten to death things like smoking, campfires, pets, kids, and about anything else that folks can think of that we do not like, how about discussing what we do like and why? This poll is about your travel style and isn't intended to cover the really long term stay, where we park the RV for a month or more, but rather the overnight stop or the short visit while passing through. While I do intend to include the one night stop, I am looking for what we prefer, or choose to do when not under pressure for some reason to vary from our normal lifestyle.

Lets discuss what we do like for a change! And what is it that makes you like the particular choice that you make? If everything is normal and you have all of those choices, which will you stop at and why?

This post has been edited by Kirk: Jul 28 2010, 07:30 AM

[Wanderin']

Since we seem to have beaten to death things like smoking, campfires, pets, kids, and about anything else that folks can think of that we do not like, how about discussing what we do like and why? This poll is about your travel style and isn't intended to cover the really long term stay, where we park the RV for a month or more, but rather the overnight stop or the short visit while passing through. While I do intend to include the one night stop, I am looking for what we prefer, or choose to do when not under pressure for some reason to vary from our normal lifestyle.

Lets discuss what we do like for a change! And what is it that makes you like the particular choice that you make? If everything is normal and you have all of those choices, which will you stop at and why?

I'm assuming that "other" locations include resorts and also includes membership parks to include ROD or RPI.

[dzwiss]

Amenities beyond reasonably level do not mean much to me for short term stops. Enjoy shunpiking, and uncrowded off the beaten path spots with natural beauty, be it desert, mountain, or great plains. BLM, COE, state parks, county parks, fairgrounds, mom and pop campgrounds are all good. Am lovin' Daysend (thanks Guy).

[Bill Baxter]

What kind of site do you favor for multi-night stops?
Dry camping in parking lots?
Parking at truck stops?
Boondocking on undeveloped land, public or private?
Bargin RV parks like PA?Destination RV parks with many amenities?
Bargin RV parks like PA?
State/COE/ or other public parks?
Escapee "Stoppin spots?"
Municipal parks or fair grounds?
Roadside rest areas or parking areas?
Some other location?

Kirk,

We need the typical pollster "on a scale of 1 to 5....."
Multi nights - Depends of area and why we are there. Visiting friends - whatever is the least expensive for our stay. Touring - may have to be a resort type campground.
Preference is for a bargain park, PA/COE/State/NP/fairgrounds etc.
Days End listing is great for spots. Just don't expect to find much in the Northeast.
Our camping experience in the west is now pushing forty years old so can't comment much on boondocking on undeveloped land.

Later
Bill

[Jack Mayer]

Well, is it one night in transit, or a less than week stayover? That varies a great deal for us.

For a one night in-transit we will first do blacktop boondocking: casinos, Cabelas, Walmart, some truck stops, etc. (in that order)

For a multi-night stopover we will first do a Passport or Escapees park.

[Clarkie46]

For a short stay, even just one night, we like something like a Forest Service CG or smaller state parks. Having no hook-ups is fine with us. Such CGs typically have enough other campers around to make us feel more secure, but rarely do we have other campers so close that they look out their windows into ours. There is typically a hiking trail or two for exercise, usually beautiful scenery, and almost always it's quiet enough for a good night's rest. Even in hot climates if there are trees around (and in a Forest Service CG there are!) there's usually enough shade to be comfortable without AC. These settings work especially well with our 23.5' Motor Home because we "fit" most places.

[grumpydoc]

Kirk, when we are traveling and look for an overnight spot what I want is easy off and back on the highway and a CG with nice pull throughs wide enough and long enough for our rig so I don''t have to unhitch and roads that are big enough to navigate. When we consider a new CG we look at it very carefully on Live Maps and try to identify any potential problems such as tight right turns or trees or small sites etc. We have found that talking to someone at the CG is not always going to result in accurate info, many of the people have no idea what a big rig is and have ever tried to make a tight right hand turn with one, Best wishes, Jay and Kathy

[richfaa]

Jay and I would do well if travelling together. We have the same requirements. We do not lower our standards be it for a over night or long term.. Pull through, 50amp, full hookups and room to maneuver are the minimum requirements. We will use PA IF those requirements are met. Many folks bad mouth KOA but we usually will use them if on our route as you can usually know what expect.

[Biker56]

Well, is it one night in transit, or a less than week stayover? That varies a great deal for us.
For a one night in-transit we will first do blacktop boondocking: casinos, Cabelas, Walmart, some truck stops, etc. (in that order)
For a multi-night stopover we will first do a Passport or Escapees park.

The Poll question header was: "What kind of site do you favor for multi-night stops?"
So your last answer was the correct one.
Did you check the wrong one in the Poll?

I checked PA, but not all give you multi-night discounts. So I do a search on the ones that do for multi-night stays.

This post has been edited by Biker56: Jul 27 2010, 09:49 AM

[Clay L]

Since I checked "Bargain parks like PA" and "Other" as well I will explain the "Some other location".
We tend to stay at destination bargain parks without frills for a month or more.
In transit we use PA or other bargain parks.

[David & Lorn...]

... but rather the overnight stop or the short visit while passing through. While I do intend to include the one night stop...

So I'm confused. The poll says "multi-night" and you say both. But I choose for the "multi-night" stop. We tend to stay in Public campgrounds for short multi-night stays. For single nights, it's a mix of parking lots and public campgrounds, depending on distance traveling and the need to dump/refill tanks.

We do not care for "destination" parks. They tend to be too pricey, too crowded, have too many rules and either I'm not old enough or our RV is too old. And I won't mention the potential skoolie problems since we aren't in it yet.

This post has been edited by David & Lorna Schinske: Jul 27 2010, 11:00 AM

[Gator Dog]

Well, for 5 years we had only used the RV for tailgating at the Great University of Florida.

Last year we've been doing a little camping at State parks and private campgrounds. Also using the RV when I have to travel alone for work. I guess when we get away for good, I would probably prefer the State or Federal parks with more scenery and natural beauty over the "resort" spot.

[bajadan]

I marked boondocking

I started boondocking wearing diapers, and will probably end boondocking in diapers. 98% of my RVing and camping in the USA has been boondocking.

In Mexico, 80% days in budget campgrounds and only 20% boondocking.. I separate out Mexico because I have spent enough RV days there to equal 2 full years. The area I spend most of my time in Baja, very few campgrounds, if any, have full service.. You still need to be self contained in these budget campgrounds. These camps are only one notch above boondocking. There are several reasons I pay to camp in Baja.. First, a higher level of safety. Second, it gives me an instant connection to the locals.. I could drive 1/2 mile down the beach and camp for free. However, where in the USA are you going to find a $10 a night camp spot right on the water???? Plus, sometimes I can pay my rent in fish...

I see more bargain campgrounds in my future here in the USA... My boondocking days will not decrease. However, my plan includes selling my home and going full time. Some sort of discount bargain camp system is probably in my future to replace my home time.. Just not sure which group to join yet... But thanks to many ideas from this site, narrowing down the search.

This post has been edited by bajadan: Jul 27 2010, 12:03 PM

[grumpydoc]

Rich, we too will use KOAs. In general we have found that in the East they tend to be older CGs and therefore are likely to be smaller and they seem to have a love affair with trees and a reluctance to trim them. Therefore we will scutinize one carefully on the Sat maps if we have never used it before. We also feel that they are sometimes a little more expensive than others but we have repeatedly used several because they are on the way to and from the winter feeding grounds and they meet the above stated criteria Best wishes, Jay and Kathy

[George Stoltz]

We prefer state parks and COE parks. In general we get more space between rigs. The setting is more natural. The price is right and most COE campgrounds are easy to access although DIFFICULT to find. IMHO there are few "perfect" locations. We try not to let the minor issues bother us.

[Roger K4RS]

For us there is no simple, one size fits all, answer. Most of the time we stay in membership campgrounds. If one is not available where we are, we stay in COE / State Parks / National Forest Service / Escapee or Passport America campgrounds. We often boondock on Arizona BLM land in the winter. For the rare ONE night stops, we will consider blacktop boondocking as long as the weather cooperates.

Safe Travels...

[Kirk]

I went back and refined it just a little, since I guess I didn't make it quite as clear as intended. What I was looking for was the kind of place you look for when you have plenty of time, but not to spend a month or so. I want to exclude the fast trip type of stop where one drives late and leaves early.

For us, a typical travel day will start between 9 & 10 am and we are nearly always parked by 4pm for the night. Your travel hours may be longer, but it is that relaxed, fulltimer type of travel that I am asking about. The sort of place that you choose when you have plenty of time, but don't plan an extended stay. I wanted to exclude both the fast stop when time is critical and the long term stop when you may stay for a season.

I also added membership parks, as I had intended them to be included in the "destination park" group, but for those who like them separated, they now are. Since I don't belong to any of the groups, I tend to lump those all into one, but some do not.

For us, we tend to use PA parks most in that situation, but the COE/state parks would be a close second and some years might be first. It mostly depends upon how far we are willing to drive from our route to get to the chosen park.

[Wanderin']

Now that it's been changed I bet some folks might fall in another category.

For the one night stop on the way someplace, Wal-mart or anyplace works for us to get off the road fast and back on fast. We won't search any park out just to sleep overnight. If an Escapees park is on the way or there, we'll use it but not go out of our way to stay there. If we're heading someplace, it usually has something to do with amenities but not necessarily the amenities of the park. I can't imagine going someplace only for the amenities of the park. The amenities we look for are in the surrounding area such as a river, ocean, scenic area or things we just haven't seen or done yet. Our preference is either membership parks such as TTN, RPI, ROD or Elks. In the winter we like a combination of membership parks and BLM boondocking. Casinos work great for either a fast stop or even a several day extended one. We certainly like stopping at them.

This post has been edited by Wanderin': Jul 28 2010, 08:20 AM

[Jack Mayer]

Now that it is clarified, I think my original statement still stands.... but here it is....

For an in-transit one night stay we look for the following, in order of preference: casino, Cabellas (or like store), WalMart, Escapees Park, PA park.

For a multi-night stop we look for: casino (up to a few nights, and only if they have decent parking and allow it), Escapees Park, PA Park, or if in western boondock areas a good boondock spot. We also have favorite "regular" parks that we like scattered around the country. Like Tom Sawyer in West Memphis that we will go out of our way to stay at for a few nights.

[richfaa]

Well we are NOT full timers but long timers However
..... "For us, a typical travel day will start between 9 & 10 am and we are nearly always parked by 4pm for the night. Your travel hours may be longer, but it is that relaxed, fulltimer type of travel that I am asking about. The sort of place that you choose when you have plenty of time, but don't plan an extended stay. I wanted to exclude both the fast stop when time is critical and the long term stop when you may stay for a season.

That is our travel style. The only difference is that a long term stop(say 6 weeks) may be at our S&B...