RV Resort or RV Campground or Trailer Park?

[FL-JOE]

Part of our run out west this summer we wanted to visit Cheyenne and Laramie, then drop down for a week in the Loveland CO area and do some rides around the Rocky Mountain National Park area.  

We pre-plan and make reservations.  Narrowed our stay down to an "RV Resort" in Loveland just off I-25 on U.S. 34.  Easy drive up to Estes and into the areas we wanted to ride the Harley.  Checked reviews of the park, used Google Earth to see exactly what it looked like, and even talked to them twice on the phone.  Due to our size we reserved a "premium" site, which was nothing more than a 65' pull thru gravel site with slightly more width.   None of the RV parks in the Loveland, Ft. Collins, Denver area are cheap.

What we found is this "resort" is simply an older RV park that has been allowed to fill up with full time local workers.  I would guess about 75% here are in old used rigs that the occupant would have no way of moving themselves.  90% of the sites (gravel) have been set up so close to each other that generally only one site can have an awning out at one time.  They have kept 10 or 12 premium sites off to one side but when we asked about one of those for next year we were told that some of them would become "permanent" spots for residents next summer.

We have visited a few other campground in the area and will be driving through a few more before we depart.  We are finding this is the norm, many of the sites are full of local full time workers.  Is this a trend that is getting more and more prevalent around larger cities (Denver)?    

[rynosback]

The word resort means nothing anymore. I think they do that to attempt to validate there price and try to attract people. A campground to me is all about location.

I think in some areas where there are not that many campgrounds and space is limited and $$$$, you see people living there for years at a time.

Edited July 17, 2019 by rynosback

[richfaa]

The term "RV resort" is used loosely  and primary IMO  to raise the rates. We lived in a RV campground that became a RV resort without changing anything  except the rates. We have stayed in many  RV resorts that are just plain old RV campgrounds. The term RV resort is a just  good marketing .

We  have  lived since 2012 and now purchased a property there at " Deercreek RV and Golf Resort " in Davenport Florida which is actually a HOA RV community that is you purchase and own your own  property like any other property or HOA. We leased there from 2012 to 2019 to make sure the HOA  would serve our needs in all respects. RV life changes as time goes on and one should be always looking  down the road.

[FL-JOE]

I guess what makes me notice the difference in this area so much is the fact there are sooooo many full time working folks living here.  I assume it is the result of extremely high housing costs in this area.  

We were only up in the Cheyenne area for 4 days/nights.  The KOA there wasn't the greatest so we checked a couple other CGs for future reference.  We just didn't notice campgrounds up in that area full of "trailer park" folks like down here.  Not sure what we will do in the future, have one Grandson starting college in Laramie and a son moving to Ft. Collins, so we will be back.

[bobsallyh]

As I have said for years "RV Resort" is the most verbally abused word in the RV Park industry.

[2gypsies]

I just looked at Campground Reviews for that area.  No RV parks get a good review.  The place we would choose would be St. Vrain State Park. It has 50A, sewer and is big rig friendly.  

http://www.campgroundreviews.com/regions/colorado/loveland?parks_by=alpha&page=2

[Kirk W]

There are several influences that drive the conditions and the prices of the RV parks in the Loveland/Longmont area. There has been a recent boom in energy and construction jobs and that has brought in a large number of workers who have no plans to be permanent residents because they follow the jobs in their work. While they may stay in a location for a few years it iw always done knowing that when the job supply wanes they will move on to the next location do they have no interest in buying a home. In addition that area has a very strong tourist market in the summer months so they do very well in season but the relatively short season keeps many entrepreneurs from interest in building new parks, along with the rising taxeCs and regulations. Cheyenne is far more tourist dependent for RV parks but they also have a pretty short season to stay busy. The last time that we stayed in Cheyenne (we lived there for 18 years) we did find some RV parks had longer term folks in some of the sites but to my knowledge none are kept in business from that trade. One word of caution on getting an RV site in Cheyenne or even close by, the last full week of July is Cheyenne Frontier Days, one of the largest and best attended outdoor rodeos in the world so RV sites are nearly impossible to find. 

[GlennWest]

Don't undrstand why the OP downs Construction workers. We have to make a living and rv parks cost way less then hotels. 

[richfaa]

We have run into these folks that follow the work many times in our 14 years of travel. We have a friend that is a heavy equipment  operator that has been doing that for a long time. . We have had some very good times camping with these folks. IMO however they are looked down upon in the RV community.

[chirakawa]

1 minute ago, GlennWest said:

Don't undrstand why the OP downs Construction workers. We have to make a living and rv parks cost way less then hotels. 

I agree Glenn.  Here in Southeast Texas, with all the pipeline work, refinery construction, and structure repairs following hurricanes, there are hundreds of workers from out of town living in RV Parks.  Twenty five years ago, there were just two RV Parks in this area of 250,000 population.  Now, there are at least 30 parks and most are near full. 

Those construction workers are the same ones who used to rent a house, an apartment, live in hotels, etc.  RV'ing is a whole lot better way of life for them.

I've stayed in several of these parks for anywhere from a week to a couple of years and never had a single problem with the semi-permanent construction workers.  Most of them are working two many hours to have time for causing problems.

Now, these overnighters passing through on their way to and from the Valley, that's a different story.  That's where I run into the ones who don't respect the rules, have their animals defecating everywhere without cleaning up after, walking across my site, parking on the grass, etc. etc.

 

[Darryl&Rita]

11 minutes ago, GlennWest said:

Don't understand why the OP downs Construction workers. We have to make a living and rv parks cost way less then hotels. 

Not the first time someone has sniffed down their nose at the blue collar crowd, and it won't be the last, Glenn. Just wish we could all make our way with a tie firmly in place.

[sandsys]

My father was a sheet metal worker and we were weekend campers. But none of the adults in our group drank. I'm sure glad I never noticed anyone looking down on us. I'm sure as kids we were sometimes noisy but it was fun noise which is better in my mind than adults whining.

Linda

[Barbaraok]

If a park contains rigs that can not move, are literally falling apart, blue tarps all over, that is a management decision to go with long term resident and don't want to bother maintaining the park.  It is a business decision.  If you don't like it, don't stay there.    That maybe all those people can afford, or that is the only place that had openings and they are doing the best they can while they look for something else.  

Try finding places along the west coast, housing is out of sight (either purchase or rental), no town/city will approve new parks and a lot of places have decided that they will be better off with long term residents than having to deal with traveling public.   

Why the OP chooses to use the derogatory remark of "trailer park" towards other RVers (of whatever type they maybe) is beyond me.

[2gypsies]

Let's not forget that we are on the Escapees forum.  If you don't know the background Escapees was founded by Kay and Joe Peterson about 50 years ago.  They were in their 40's with two children.  Joe was a freelance electrician and Kay a licensed nurse.  They were 'workers' who lived in RV parks and traveled from park to park.  Good people live in RV parks.  Don't knock them!

[trailertraveler]

1 hour ago, 2gypsies said:

Let's not forget that we are on the Escapees forum.  If you don't know the background Escapees was founded by Kay and Joe Peterson about 50 years ago.  They were in their 40's with two children.  Joe was a freelance electrician and Kay a licensed nurse.  They were 'workers' who lived in RV parks and traveled from park to park.  Good people live in RV parks.  Don't knock them!

This is true. However, the demographic of the Escapees' membership changed. It is my understanding that Escapees removed their Tra-Park in Pecos, TX from the list of Rainbow Parks because of complaints about the park which included the predominance of oilfield workers staying there long term.

We have stayed at many RV parks/campgrounds that had large numbers of working folks and always felt welcome. 

Edited July 18, 2019 by trailertraveler

[Kirk W]

2 hours ago, trailertraveler said:

This is true. However, the demographic of the Escapees' membership changed. It is my understanding that Escapees removed their Tra-Park in Pecos, TX from the list of Rainbow Parks because of complaints about the park which included the predominance of oilfield workers staying there long term.

Joe & Kay started the club officially on July 4, 1978 and all of the founding members were fulltimer construction workers. Joe was a construction electrician and Kay ran the newsletter which lead to the development of the club. It is true that over the years as those founding members retired the majority of the club became retired RVowners but families have always been welcome and there have always been some of them. Today with the subgroup called Xscapers, the share of younger, still working members, many of those families are an increasing group and there is a healthy share of still working part-time RV folks. I suspect that the majority of Xscapers work via the internet if fulltime but there are also traveling nurses, business owners, and probably even some who work construction. When Travis Carr became the 3rd generation of the founding family to be in club management (his brother has been part of the IT department for some time), he was given the initial job of finding a way to increase the portion of the club that is made up of younger, still working folks and he has done a very good job of that. The annual Escapade now has a growing attendance of children once more. 

Edited July 18, 2019 by Kirk W

[FL-JOE]

7 hours ago, 2gypsies said:

I just looked at Campground Reviews for that area.  No RV parks get a good review.  The place we would choose would be St. Vrain State Park. It has 50A, sewer and is big rig friendly.  

http://www.campgroundreviews.com/regions/colorado/loveland?parks_by=alpha&page=2

That is one we were going to check on prior to leaving the area.  I looked at it through Google Earth and the sites are set up along the road and appear to be long enough for us with our toad.  Looks like you reserve on-line.

[FL-JOE]

6 hours ago, GlennWest said:

Don't undrstand why the OP downs Construction workers. We have to make a living and rv parks cost way less then hotels. 

My point in the original post was that this "resort" is almost $60 a night and is full of older RVs that are being utilized as residences.  Many of these folks have no way of ever moving them and they are obviously "camped" here because it is somehow cheaper than local housing costs.  

I don't have anything against these people.  I lived in a public housing project until I was 15 years old.  Went to the service as a teenager and served in VN.  Put myself through college while working two jobs.  Continued to work more than one job until I was in my 50's to put five kids though college.

Don't be a jerk Glenn and read things into my post that aren't there.  I am traveling all over the U.S. and this is the first large metro area where is seems to be common place for campgrounds to be at least 50% full of these types of residents.  

[FL-JOE]

6 hours ago, Darryl&Rita said:

Not the first time someone has sniffed down their nose at the blue collar crowd, and it won't be the last, Glenn. Just wish we could all make our way with a tie firmly in place.

I've probably got more time dressed in green living in the jungle that you got drinking beer in your RV pal.  But if it makes you feel better reading things into my post that aren't there then by all means to ahead.

[Barbaraok]

1 hour ago, FL-JOE said:

My point in the original post was that this "resort" is almost $60 a night and is full of older RVs that are being utilized as residences.  Many of these folks have no way of ever moving them and they are obviously "camped" here because it is somehow cheaper than local housing costs.  

I don't have anything against these people.  I lived in a public housing project until I was 15 years old.  Went to the service as a teenager and served in VN.  Put myself through college while working two jobs.  Continued to work more than one job until I was in my 50's to put five kids though college.

Don't be a jerk Glenn and read things into my post that aren't there.  I am traveling all over the U.S. and this is the first large metro area where is seems to be common place for campgrounds to be at least 50% full of these types of residents.  

You do know that people on monthly/annual rent don’t pay $3600 a month, right?  You haven’t been around Seattle have you?  Parks we could stay in even 3 years ago are now annual only with looong waiting lists.    And most big cities are not allowing new parks to be constructed, again that pushes prices higher.

 I am sure that phrases like “these types of residents”  might convey an unfavorable impression to readers.

[GlennWest]

Don't know how I could take it any other way. You were complaining about the rv's condition and then bring up construction workers in same post.  If not your intention, good. 

[GlennWest]

Also the Port Arthur, Nederland, Beaumont area RV parks survive from construction workers. Most would close down if not for us. The East end of Denver, just out of Denver, has an oil refinery there. Yelp, those darn construction workers. Glad I one of them. 

Edited July 18, 2019 by GlennWest

[Kirk W]

RV parks that are packed together, poorly maintained, and provide minimal services tend to proliferate in areas with very high construction or mineral growth rates, not so much because the mobile workers like that but because there is such high demand that the park can stay filled with workers without improving it. The less attractive conditions that can be common in such areas are not due to the workers wanting that but they are caused by owners who can fill the park without doing things to attract the tourism market. 

[GR "Scott" Cundiff]

Since the OP specifically says the residents in that particular park have no way of moving their rigs themselves it is obvious that he isn't talking about construction workers - those hard working folks are  as fond of big pickups as are the most avid weekend campers. 

 

[FL-JOE]

7 hours ago, Barbaraok said:

You do know that people on monthly/annual rent don’t pay $3600 a month, right?  You haven’t been around Seattle have you?  Parks we could stay in even 3 years ago are now annual only with looong waiting lists.    And most big cities are not allowing new parks to be constructed, again that pushes prices higher.

 I am sure that phrases like “these types of residents”  might convey an unfavorable impression to readers.

I am aware that in different parts of the country folks don't pay $3,600 a month, but in some parts you will pay that of course.  We have two different campgrounds we use each year to stay a month or so and one is $300 and one is $330 a month.

We haven't been to Seattle for years.  That was the type of comment/conversation I thought my original post would generate. 

IMHO if a phrase like "these types of residents" used in the way I used it makes someone uneasy then it is their hang up and not mine.  Now if I would call someone Trailer Trash then I would expect them to get upset.