RV Group Travel

[sassygranny]

My husband of 50 years & I are newcomers to this business of rv-ing. We've been taking short trips near home in order to iron out the kinks, and to discover what we actually do & do not need. We are wondering if there are groups who travel together and/or meet up at various locations (preferably by geographical locations)? We live in the Pacific NW (NE Washington State to be exact) and like the idea of meeting/making new friends around "camping". Ours is a 29' Cougar by Keystone travel trailer.

 

Thank you.

[Kirk W]

Welcome to the Escapee forums! It is great to have new members here and we do hope that you will consider becoming a member of the Escapees RV Club as well. You may even find some of what you are seeking by doing so. The Evergreen Chapter has several rallies around the state planned for this year that may be of interest to you. Escapees also have programs called HOP's that are groups visiting different places and traveling together.

 

There are many companies that plan trips for groups of RV folks also but since we have not participated in any of those, I'll leave that subject to someone else to cover as they may have personal experiences to make recommendations from.

 

We are very happy to have you be part of the forum community. Join in often!

[sassygranny]

Thank you, Kirk. I'll follow the trails you've provided. Can't wait to log some serious RVing mile!

 

Kathleen Flanagan

[nana25k]

As you make friends along the road who share your interests you may find opportunities to travel together We have met up with another couple from time to time and traveled together for a couple weeks. Then we part ways. I do know a few couples who travel together for several months at a time. They even volunteer together.

Of course there are a couple Caravan companies you can sign up with.

We generally meet people in a particular spot and park together for a couple weeks then off we go again

[sandsys]

We joined Escapees then our graduating class on this forum. It was great to all be beginners together so we related well to one another's challenges. Now members of that class sometimes travel together for awhile but we mostly keep track of each others travels so we can meet up whenever we find ourselves close to one another in various places around the country.

 

Linda Sand

[LFDR3116]

We meet up with friend and camp together for a few days and then part ways. We have never traveled with another couple but have met many friends that we see at various locations as our paths cross.

[sassygranny]

Thank you, Linda and Linda ...

 

I've no doubt we'll make new friends along the way. It sounds like there's no end of the variables for doing so.

 

Kathleen

[SWharton]

Escapee's has BOF(Birds of a Feather) groups. These are people with similar interests. Most of the BOFs meet up at least once a year some meet a lot more frequently. There is also Escapade once a year where we all come together for education(lots of seminars), meeting people. All the BOFs are represented at Escapade so you can talk to their rep.

 

HOPS are a good place to meet other people and so are the RV tours(Adventure Caravans and Fantasy). We have several friends we keep in contact with that we have met via an RV tour.

 

I don't think many people travel together, they will meet if their schedules coincide.

[richfaa]

We have been to a couple of Escapee rallies. We belong t o the Montana owners club that has rallies all over the courtly and we belong t o a local RV camping group.

[Jim Corey]

Many Elks Lodges have RVing groups that do group gatherings. Not too structured, but have some shared meals and activities. We just finished a Spring Training gathering in Arizona. 6 rigs from Oakhurst Elks (near Yosemite) met at a campground near Phoenix. We arrived separately and some stayed longer than others. We went as a group to some games, out to a music theater one night, a couple of dinners out, and pot lucks. Couples could pick and choose. A fun time.

[D&J]

This really made me think about all the friends we gather and travel with, none of them are from our town or area but because we are extended travelers they are all over the country. Most are like minded RVers that belong to groups like Escapees or other RV group and some are people we have parked next to in RV parks that we have stayed at for extended periods of time in the winter. I will have to say that RV rallies are where most of are friendships have started.

 

Denny

[telcoman]

Caravans are not for everyone and they usually know who they are. It's a bit harder with Mexican ones as the motivation to go on those is usually safety which is not the main reason to go on a caravan. I lead a couple a year into Mexico and I have had ones with a troublemaker and ones like this Spring where everybody was great & cohesive. Rallies are a good bet as they are usually people with something in common, but even then you can have a problem or 2. I have a slide show of our caravan this spring. Its at http://www.mexicorvbuddies.com/slide1.php

 

A bit of a commercial since that is what it is intended to be, but it gives a good idea of what a caravan is like. If you use one ask fro testimonials or contact info with people who have done it. (recent ones) I know of a case where a company ran a caravan with a green wagonmaster using 10 year old road logs. They got lost, showed up at closed parks, etc. You don't want that.

[LindaH]

The only time we've traveled with other people was on our last trip to Alaska when we went with two other couples. While we had a lot of fun, I don't think we'd want to travel with other people all the time.

 

We have, on occasion, met up with friends in a particular area, but didn't travel together.

[richfaa]

There are many Rv groups, Escapees is but one of them. Good Sam has one. Several manufacturers have RV groups. Family Campers and Rv'ers.(FCRV) is another. we belong to three Rv groups.