Escapes?

[tjsmiley72]

We have been fulltime rving around this beautiful country going on 7 yrs. Are considering joining Escapees is this membership worth it and are the rv parks in areas of interest?
Thanks Tara

 

[Second Chance]

We found the Escapees RV Club extremely worthwhile. Although a number of the parks (and we spent a lot of time in them) are in places that we love, the primary benefit for us were the mail and domicile services.

Rob

 

[Steven@147]

Hello Rob, I'll second what Rob said. We also primarily use the mail & domicile services and have for the last 6 years. We have stayed in a number of the Escapee's RV parks and they are nice. We have not participated in any of the Escapade's or Rally's.

One thing to know, Changes are taking place in the Escapee's organization. Escapee's membership and Escapades is now owned by Harvest Hosts/Boondockers Welcome. You can still have a membership to Escapee's only.

The Livingston Tx Escapee's RV Park and Escapee's Domicile and Mail services are still owned by the original family and Did Not go to Harvest Hosts.

There were a number of Escapee's owned RV Parks throughout the US, those are being sold, but the new owners are supposed to honor the Escapee's discounts. The Escapee's affiliated RV Parks, but not owned by Escapee's are still the same.

You could still have your domicile through Escapee's in SD, FL or TX. We still like Escapee's and don't see the changes as a bad thing.

 

[tjsmiley72]

Thank you both for your replies, I appreciate it. We are also thinking about the Thousand Trails but so many pros and cons out there and mostly cons. This lifestyle is getting so much more expensive and trying to find ways to save a little. Thanks again Tara

 

[Steven@147]

Thank you both for your replies, I appreciate it. We are also thinking about the Thousand Trails but so many pros and cons out there and mostly cons. This lifestyle is getting so much more expensive and trying to find ways to save a little. Thanks again Tara

Your welcome, Congrats on 7 years fulltiming ! Yes it is getting more expensive, we track our costs pretty close. So far we are less than $30 / night camping using monthly rates. Actually our truck insurance went down this year a few bucks.
We only have two memberships, KOA and Escapee's for campgrounds. Some KOA's are really bad about cramming RVs in so close you can hear your neighbor snore! Of course we hear KOA means "Keep On Adding" as in fees! We also get Good Sam or Veterans discounts sometimes.

We have found those diamonds in the rough though, like the campground we're in now, Colorado Landing LaGrange TX. $550 / month FHU + electric, Good Sam. Nice park with pool, 2 laundry's, fishing access on the river, club house and mail / package services. Many long term residence here. @ an hour drive to Austin depending on traffic.

They are getting few and far between though. State Parks, COE type RV parks will bring down the cost of camping.

We still enjoy living the life ! Best wishes for you going forward

 

[tjsmiley72]

Love this info Steven! Quite helpful. We too have KOA. We also get military discounts when available. We love staying in COE and state parks. Those campgrounds aren't always available especially traveling out west. We are getting to the point we want a forever rv park that is clean friendly and safe. We are planning on getting a much larger rv to live in permanently with all the amenities and room for 6 people to sleep. Then get a truck campers or a smaller 5th to travel with. Never want to give up traveling but want a home base but never a stick and bricks. Lol
Thanks again for the info
Tara

 

[Jason-Texas]

Love this info Steven! Quite helpful. We too have KOA. We also get military discounts when available. We love staying in COE and state parks. Those campgrounds aren't always available especially traveling out west. We are getting to the point we want a forever rv park that is clean friendly and safe. We are planning on getting a much larger rv to live in permanently with all the amenities and room for 6 people to sleep. Then get a truck campers or a smaller 5th to travel with. Never want to give up traveling but want a home base but never a stick and bricks. Lol
Thanks again for the info
Tara

We full-time and winter at Basin RV in Bastrop, Texas $650 + electric. It’s gated, has small pool, laundry, and has access to the Colorado river for fishing, canoeing & kayaking. We travel June 1 - October 1.

 

[tjsmiley72]

Jason-Texas
Thank you for the info. We have been thru Bastrop nice community. We will definitely look into this rv park.
Thanks again
Tara

 

[KamFlyer]

We are full time for 6 years now and "most timers" for a couple of years before that. Been Escapees members for 7 years now and have found it very worthwhile. Beside what others have mentioned, they have some of the most welcoming co-op parks out there. We have stayed at several across Arizona and Nevada and would go back anytime.
Escapees also have a number of special interest groups called "Birds of a Feather". These groups organize gatherings around the country. The main one we belong to is the "Boomers". Another very popular group is the X'scapers" who are mostly still working age full timers. In addition to BoF's, are various chapters around the US and Canada.
Definitely check out and explore their web site and look at all the benefits your membership will offer.

 

[tjsmiley72]

Thanks KamFlyer! Yes we have decided it will be worth our while to join. Have had no negative responses on the club so that tells us it is worth it. Since we domicile out of SD and use Americas Mailbox I guess we didn't really think about Escapees.
Thanks again
Tara

 

[tjsmiley72]

We have been fulltime rving around this beautiful country going on 7 yrs. Are considering joining Escapees is this membership worth it and are the rv parks in areas of interest?
Adding update. We joined Escapees but website is very confusing for finding campgrounds. Are all the campgrounds called host campgrounds? Just hard to locate.

Thanks Tara

 

[TomPanning]

Love this info Steven! Quite helpful. We too have KOA. We also get military discounts when available. We love staying in COE and state parks. Those campgrounds aren't always available especially traveling out west. We are getting to the point we want a forever rv park that is clean friendly and safe. We are planning on getting a much larger rv to live in permanently with all the amenities and room for 6 people to sleep. Then get a truck campers or a smaller 5th to travel with. Never want to give up traveling but want a home base but never a stick and bricks. Lol
Thanks again for the info
Tara

Definitely take a look at the co-op Escapee parks. We’ve stayed at a couple and they seem like very nice places to use as home bases, with very reasonable rates. Most of them require you to be 55+ to live there, and most also have a wait list for the permanent sites, so I would start checking them out in case you see one (or more) that looks good to you.

 

[Dick Noble]

I got into it because I love their magazine.