How much harder or more stressful is it finding campsites now?

[Texsinbad]

Thinking about going fulltime, but wonder if this is the right time because of all of the Newbies now. How much harder and/or stressful is it finding campsites now?

I have heard of people reserving a year or more in advance. This is not something I want to do. I don't want to be on a schedule to be at a certain place on a certain date. That does not sound like fun to me.

I am sure some will recommend boondocking, which I might do a little here and there, but I would prefer to have full hookups or at least electric.

Like to hear from those fulltiming now.

Thanks

 

[livinthelife]

Thinking about going fulltime, but wonder if this is the right time because of all of the Newbies now. How much harder and/or stressful is it finding campsites now?

I have heard of people reserving a year or more in advance. This is not something I want to do. I don't want to be on a schedule to be at a certain place on a certain date. That does not sound like fun to me.

I am sure some will recommend boondocking, which I might do a little here and there, but I would prefer to have full hookups or at least electric.

Like to hear from those fulltiming now.

Thanks

We're not fulltimers, but we're on the road a lot this summer (we hope) and we've been booking campgrounds the past week (for summer). Only issue we had was we wanted a week at one campground, but we could only get 4 nights. Other than that, we've had no problem making reservations in Nevada, Wyoming, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan.

 

[nisbitch]

I know here in Ontario, Canada it is getting ridiculous. I've been trying to find a spot for the middle of July since the start of February. This isn't the most popular park either. All I can do now is wait for someone to cancel and snag it up before someone else does. Hopefully, all these people realize camping isn't for them and it gets a bit easier to book a site.

 

[mrffrank440]

We bought our 22MLE last October and struggled to find a campground in the North GA area for our first and last trip of 2020. We found one of the last campsites in Tuggalo state park for the 2nd week in Nov. The campground was nice, but not the nicest campsite. Nevertheless, it was a good 1st outing. It gave us a chance to scout the really nice sites at Tuggalo for next year (2021) and made a reservation right away for next Nov. After watching KYD (Keeping your Daydream) we bought a subscription to Allstays.com, although I am sure you can get the same info from reserveamerica.com and other related sites. Google can be your friend! If you are followers of KYD, they are full-timers and have had pretty good luck getting into most campgrounds around the US. They also boondock and make use of Harvest Host. That said, finding a place to stay during the week is easier than on weekends. However, my wife and I still work, so that is not an option for a while.

Knowing how difficult it has been reserving sites prompted me to dig into AllStays and google to find decent campgrounds/sites and make reservations. I booked most of our trips in January (2021) for our once-a-month long weekend (Thrus-Sun) trips. We are booked from April through Nov, the last one being the Grand Design Ralley at Skidaway (Savanah, GA).

In short, yes it has been a challenge to find good campgrounds and sites, but they are available. You just have to be lucky and flexible. Future planning is the way to go for now.

Mitch and Alisa Frank
22-MLE

 

[WhittleBurner]

Thinking about going fulltime, but wonder if this is the right time because of all of the Newbies now. How much harder and/or stressful is it finding campsites now?

I have heard of people reserving a year or more in advance. This is not something I want to do. I don't want to be on a schedule to be at a certain place on a certain date. That does not sound like fun to me.

I am sure some will recommend boondocking, which I might do a little here and there, but I would prefer to have full hookups or at least electric.

Like to hear from those fulltiming now.

Thanks

It will all depend on where you are looking to stay. The closer you get to major attractions the harder it will be to get a site. If you don't mind traveling to see the sights the easier it will be to get a site. Holidays will be a time you want to make a reservation. Even those out of the way places even with no hook-ups likely will be booked up. before you are ready to move research area and campgrounds where you want to go next. Have a few places on your list. Then before you pull out in the morning call the places on your list to see where you can get in. Not a good idea to just show up at a campground unannounced. May end up looking for a walmart.

 

[geotex1]

Even not near attractions and wanting some level of hookups it's work now depending where you are located. Here in the NE, for the first time ever in decades of RVing and decades camping before that we had to reserve our entire year by February. Even then, we didn't get everywhere we wanted. If you are seeking freedom more associated with boondocking and BLM lands, there's good flexibility still.

 

[joebethbark]

We sold our house a year ago March to begin our full time journey!!! So much excitement and hope. Won't lie-- been a really rough year! Lots of issues with our 2020 GD Solitude 390 and lots of trouble finding sites- hubby works full time so our requirements are different than many! Travel on weekends, need to stay a minimum of 2 weeks preferably a month at locations with full hookups!! Hour and hours and days and days spent researching... It's just not fun/enjoyable at all. That is our experience-- many will have better and am happy for them. Giving it up sadly.

 

[lcallander]

We're newbies. We are wrapping up our 8-week test run before we go full time in December. Glad we did!

To answer your question, we didn't have any trouble finding spots along the way. We did plan at least 2 days out, and sometimes had to call 2 or more places to find a spot for the night. All our big rocks were planned before hand - especially in the nicer resorts. Some campsights had no problem letting us extend our stay. I can say this though - The KOA's seem to have more last minute availability then the cheaper RV sites. Note to self for budgeting. We did travel all the lower states, coast to coast.

For example... we couldn't get anywhere near Durango at the last minute... so we adjusted and went to Zion National Park instead. Summer is Durango's peak, so we were told.

Really, the only issues we ran into this summer was getting into National Parks. Most require a reservation, which was news to us. We stayed at a FANTASTIC campground just outside of Yosemite (Bass Lake), but couldn't go into Yosemite... their reservations tend to "sell out" weeks in advance. But that's not an RV issue.. that's a planning issue.

 

[lcallander]

But isn't that because the borders have been closed????

 

[WhittleBurner]

But isn't that because the borders have been closed????

Friendly forum hint, when replying to a particular post if you select reply with quote everyone will know who the reply is for. Plus that person will get a notification that there is a quoted reply.

 

[trailrydr]

We haven't started our "full timing" RVing yet, but, what we have been seeing more than anything is the increased number of year round reserved sites at campgrounds for those looking for more permenant storage/parking. This along with the COVID RVers is starting to really limit the available campsites without making future reservations. We've always tried to plan ahead, but still being on the part-time side of RVing, do our reservations atleast 2 to 4+ months ahead and still run into limitations on extended stay (week or longer) reservations.

 

[Hoopy Frood]

We're not fulltiming and are only out for a couple months, but we've had no issues finding sites with our first choice of RV parks/campgrounds. We thought it would be a real hassle, but so far, so good.

 

[530_Josh]

Best policy is to boondock if you don’t want to pre plan. We plan our stays months in advance and even then we occasionally can’t stay where we want. Now with that said we have to be very selective at 70+ Feet long so take that for what it’s worth.

 

[BrokeDown]

I have heard of people reserving a year or more in advance. This is not something I want to do. I don't want to be on a schedule to be at a certain place on a certain date. That does not sound like fun to me.

I am sure some will recommend boondocking, which I might do a little here and there, but I would prefer to have full hookups or at least electric.

Like to hear from those fulltiming now.

Thanks

Here is my advice. You do you. Figure out how you want to full time and do that.... there is no right or wrong way.

I still work full time and need a great cell signal to do my job. I try to visit places before I book them. Especially if I plan on spending several months there. In addition, we do not hop around that much. We try to stay in each location for at least a month. This year, we spent 4 months in The Dalles, OR, one month in Ogden, UT, and 6 weeks in Pigeon Forge, TN (we just finished week one). We own an RV lot in FL and will spend the cold months there.

We already know where we will be during the hot months of 2022 and we have booked our main location for the summer of 2023. We overnighted in both locations so I know I'll be able to work. Once I retire, I plan on bouncing around a bit more. Hopefully, by then, the RVing fad will be over and there will be plenty of spaces available.

BTW: Your rig will also dictate how far out you need to book. We are currently in a 45' motorhome. There are a lot fewer spaces for us than there are for a 30' trailer. By the time we leave FL in April, we hope to be traveling in a Grand Design Solitude 280 RK-R.

I hope this helps.

-B

 

[Steven@147]

Thinking about going fulltime, but wonder if this is the right time because of all of the Newbies now. How much harder and/or stressful is it finding campsites now?

I have heard of people reserving a year or more in advance. This is not something I want to do. I don't want to be on a schedule to be at a certain place on a certain date. That does not sound like fun to me.

I am sure some will recommend boondocking, which I might do a little here and there, but I would prefer to have full hookups or at least electric.

Like to hear from those fulltiming now.

Thanks

You have received a lot of different views. No right way or wrong way. Full timing will be different for a lot of people.
For us, fully retired, have been full timing for 1 year 3 months, it has been some of the best times of our 43 years together. We have had no major problems with our rig. When we started out on this full timing journey we committed ourselves to flexibility, patience and planning. We believe that is our secret to success and happiness with the lifestyle.

So far only once did we have to plan a trip almost a year in advance, that was meeting up with the kids/grandkids at Disney in June, prime season. They had to plan around the grandkids school breaks, activities and their vacations.
Each year we plan to be back in South Central Texas in the February/March time frame. This is for our annual physicals, doctor appt, medical updates and also at the same time we can renew our rig license plates. Other than these times we are free to roam where we want, when we want. As a rule we plan not to visit major attractions at peak seasons. If we have to, then we plan to stay outside the attraction zone, makes it much easier.

We are currently visiting the Smokey Mountains, beginning of the off season. Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg are still busy even now so getting reservations in these locations would still be crowded, so we planned to stay just north of Knoxville (outside the attraction zone) and had no big problems getting camping sites. Easy day trips into the National Park.

Some planning yes, but we have never had to spend hours or days planning and searching for reservations, it's just never been a problem.

 

[BrokeDown]

committed ourselves to flexibility, patience

We are currently visiting the Smokey Mountains, beginning of the off season. Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg are still busy even now

Flexibility and patience are the keys to success. If you are the type that will fly off the handle when things do go the way you wanted them to.... fulltiming may not be for you.

We are in Wears Valley (a few miles outside of Pigeon Forge.) I always thought this was the beginning of the off-season too. As it turns out, 10-1 to the end of the year is the prime season (at least according to the price sheet I am looking at). Everything is packed and there are no show discounts.

 

[Steven@147]

Flexibility and patience are the keys to success. If you are the type that will fly off the handle when things do go the way you wanted them to.... fulltiming may not be for you.

We are in Wears Valley (a few miles outside of Pigeon Forge.) I always thought this was the beginning of the off-season too. As it turns out, 10-1 to the end of the year is the prime season (at least according to the price sheet I am looking at). Everything is packed and there are no show discounts.

I was just thinking about kids being back in school and summer vacation time being over, but leaf peeping is in prime time Oct, then the Holiday period. when we drove through PF (lots of traffic) it looked like they were already putting out holiday lights. I'll bet xmas time is really great with the holiday lights.

 

[Tracer]

Bought a solitude brand new in 2017 and have been been full-timing since. In my experience, it’s been ridiculously hard to secure spots long term for big rigs since the day I got mine. I was in Dallas Fort Worth area when I first started out. I am in Austin area now, (only because I have to be for my job - so don’t hold it against me. Lol).
I am currently in an absolutely dreadful park in Austin, but cannot move because all the other parks around seem to have at least a 2 year waiting list. So I’m stuck in hell I guess you could say.

Now granted, my situation is a bit different. I am a single girl on my own and I do not own a tow vehicle. I “contract” my rig moved whenever I need it moved - which hasn’t been terribly often since I am full timing and trying to stay relatively in the same area. I know it sounds like a crazy arrangement. Lol.
I am a flight attendant and originally bought this rig to serve a little “crash pad” when I’m not flying. Then Covid happened, and I was off on furlough for 14 months. (During that time I had my rig on the river in New Braunfels, Tx and - oh my gosh that was wonderful!! Did work-camping jobs during that time).

Anyway, sorry to ramble but wanted to give a little background info since my situation is extremely different from most people’s situation on this forum….

I’m actually thinking of selling and getting out of the whole RV thing pretty soon because of how difficult it is to secure spots for long-term. That, coupled with the fact that it’s damn near impossible to get Mobile Techs when I have issues ~ which is extremely often in this Grand Design SOB.
Lol

By the way my rig is in pristine condition. I have babied it to death. And it’s just been me in it. No pets or crazy boyfriends, etc so it still looks brand new. Anyone have any advice on best way to unload these things short of consigning?

 

[FT4NOW]

By the way my rig is in pristine condition. I have babied it to death. And it’s just been me in it. No pets or crazy boyfriends, etc so it still looks brand new. Anyone have any advice on best way to unload these things short of consigning?

We've sold 2 RVs fairly easy using Facebook market place. My wife does the Facebook thing, not me, but I know that's how we did it.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[Tracer]

Thanks very much!