TO RESERVE OF NOT RESERVE - RV-Dreams Community Forum

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

TO RESERVE OF NOT RESERVE

Bill Adams · RV-Dreams Family Member

We almost never reserve a campground unless there is a specific reason that we must stay at a specific location or there is a reason a reservation is required. Since most campgrounds will not cancel or charge a fee to cancel a reservation we just don't take the chance. A couple of days ago we left Meteor Crater with plans to stop in Camp Verde, AZ. We had some issues with our coach and were concerned that if we got stranded we we would be in a better place in the Phoenix area that the middle of nowhere so we just bypassed Camp Verde, called a campground in Chandler, AZ to ensure they had space and headed on down the hill. I would have hated to have a reservation that I had to fight over to have gotten a refund. We do usually call our intended destination to ensure they have space but it's usually the same day we are planning to arrive.
If you are going to stay somewhere for a long period and need monthly reservations then I suspect the rules change quite a bit depending upon where you will be traveling.

janni · RV-Dreams Family Member

We rarely make reservations. Same thing just happened to us. Had a dash light come on in the middle of CO and decided to stay with our trucker friends a couple nights(used our "RVers Friend again) and headed to destination. We had reserved a winter spot a couple weeks ago for November but arrived two weeks early. Called a couple hours ahead, explained our situation and they were ready with the paperwork. We have not had problems getting in most places but try to start and end our driving days early enough to make sure. Certain places in January and February seem to be full but the "planning ahead too much" can be frustrating also. I have a little of that type A thing and take it from me..........lean back a little and it all will work out in the end.
BTW-I have been following your posts and CONGRATULATIONS on your fine purchase!

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks Bill and janni for the tips. We are really excited about our purchase! Our intent is to stay at various RV parks for 1 - 2 - 3 weeks along our journies depending on the interest in that area. Our first trip up the coast of NH and Maine where we used to live I would expect perhaps only 1 week stays but in new territory longer stays. I can see what you mean about your plans changing due to many things that could happen.
We would like to drive short distances (200 miles or less) between parks and arrive during the light of day - staying and seeing is our plan not driving and glancing. :>)

janni - Type A thing - whatever do you mean????? :>) Yes, we have always been "Know where we are staying" folks and that will be a change for us.

The Bear II · RV-Dreams Family Member

We reserve depending upon where we plan on staying and what days of the week. The majority of our travel is in Southern California. Most RV resorts in this area have waiting lists for the weekends. So if we plan to be at a resort over a weekend we will make a reservation as early as possible to make sure we get a spot.

Once we leave Southern California, we only make reservation if we plan on arriving on Friday or Saturday unless the destination is a heavy tourist spot like Yosemite, Grand Canyon,Yellowstone and the surrounding area.

Sunday through Thursday it's rare that we can't get a spot. There have been a couple of times where we had to go on to the next town in order to find a spot. The worst experience was coming down Highway 1 along the coast south of San Francisco. All of the campgrounds were full. We ended up driving that winding narrow route in the dark until I finally had to pull over at a wide dirt area off theide of the highway to get some sleep at 3AM.

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

The Bear II - this of course is a scene we are trying to avoid - at least for the first year while we are still learning the ropes. I tend to think when we have a long stay 2 weeks or more we will reserve at a well researched RV Park. We plan on staying in an RV Park out on Ile d' Orleans which is that island in the middle of the St. Lawrence river - just across the river from Old Quebec' City (which we just love - it is our Paris!!) One cannot stay longer than 3 weeks (time limited) and reservations are strongly suggested 1 YEAR in advance! Of course this sort of thing is a no brainer!
Thanks for the advice.

Delaine and Lindy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Since we have traveled East/West and North/South we in many cases know were we are going. We always have reservations, but we alway use RV parks. We do no boondocking or wallydocking and always want 50 amp and full hook-ups. And we very seldom go over 200 miles per day, out of the RV park by 8:00 am and in a RV park by 4:00 pm. Just seems to work better for us. Others have different wants and needs. This past summer we traveled 6,850 miles and were in dozens of RV parks and had a reservation in them all, no issues at all. Happy Trails.....

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

THIS WILL PRETTY MUCH BE OUR STYLE OF RV-ING. ONLY DIFFERENCE IS 30AMPS. WE WOULD ONLY BOONDOCK IF AN EMERGENCY FORCED US TO - WALLYDOCKING FOR A QUICK OVERNIGHT IF IT MADE SENSE AS WELL. THANKS FOR THE INFO. HAPPY TRAILS TO YOU AS WELL.

igotjam · RV-Dreams Family Member

In 5 years fulltime, we travel 200 mi/dy or less and usually make a reservation the morning of our arrival. Most stays are a week or less. Had an occasional problem getting a space but not often. Long weekends in summer and beach areas are harder so we sometimes book those a week in advance but for the most part reservations are not really required in any of the 30 states and 5 provinces we have travelled in. We are pretty fussy about our wants (pull thru and 50 amp) and usually get what we ask for.

-- Edited by igotjam on Thursday 20th of October 2011 01:45:52 PM

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks igotjam - appreciate the feedback.

RVRon · RV-Dreams Family Member

RVP -Thanks for starting a great topic... I'm learning too!

We're not yet fulltiming so I don't have much to add from personal experience but if you read Howard's journal they have a pretty good system. They don't use reservations but have "travel day rules" such as only traveling on Mondays if possible. That way they seem to have the maximum availability of sites since lots of weekend folks have already checked out. They also research ahead of time and have 1 or 2 alternate campgrounds in just in case the first choice doesn't have their "IT" factor. If their first choice doesn't look good then they have a couple of other choices already in mind and don't have to scramble to find something else. They do call ahead and discuss their needs with the park of their choice and make sure there will be site(s) that fit their criteria.

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

RVRon - this sounds like a great plan especially since we are planning to stay a least a week or longer at most of the places we stay. Best to make sure you like the visual presentation on the RV web site and like the fact that they call and clearup any mistaken assumptions. Overall I favor reservations especially with what we feel our style of RV-ing will be . I'm a firm believer in better safe than sorry! A hit or miss as you roll down the road is not much of a plan. Thanks.

Roz · RV-Dreams Family Member

Not sure how long you intend to take between taking delivery and arriving in Maine, but you will need to check where in Maine you wish to stay as the season most campgrounds open begins in mid to late May, even in sourthern Maine. Read short season - higher prices - wonderful place to be!

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hi Roz - we lived in Maine for 17 years and we would not be arriving until early June and our first stop would be York Beach where we lived for 12 years and then East Boothbay where we lived for the remainder of the 17 years. On a good day (sunshine) Maine is wonderful - however those are few and far between. I used to say "it's Memorial Day - it rained - it's 4th of July - it rained and now summer is over!" I seem to remember around the 21st - 25th of August were the best days :>)

Thanks for the tips as we have not been back there for 11 years and one tends to forget the short season.

janieD · RV-Dreams Family Member

This is always a great topic and as you see there is no right answer. We all do what is comfortable for us. We actually do a combination of reservations and winging it. Like Howard and Linda we try to travel on Sunday to Tuesday and go no more than 200 mi. However there are times we have to be in an area for some obligation. If it is a busy time of year or a weekend I may make a reservation or if I know we want to stay a month or more. Otherwise like others I just call ahead the day we travel to make sure there are openings. I usually have a couple back up options if my first choice is full. Holiday weekends are a good time to make reservations as those weekends fill up fast. The longer we are on the road the more comfortable I get with the process but each of us needs to play it the way we are most comfortable so that we can enjoy our adventure.

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks janieD this goes along with pretty much what I think will be our mode of operation. I think for the longer stays it makes sense to reserve ( once the research shows the RV Park is (A-OK)
I don't know if I could ever do the "hit or miss" method as we feel most of our stays will be 1-3 weeks.

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

We make reservations when in makes sense, like holiday weekends, in season, and when we know we will be somewhere a while. But we often go without reservations and do fine, especially while traveling. We are traveling during the off season right now across the middle of the country and not making many advanced reservations since there is plenty of availability and we are letting the weather and whims dictate our route. But we are waiting on a phone call and the results of that might cause us to move a couple reservations in December by a couple days. We did reserve in Florida for the winter and stuff happens. So if you make reservations, keep track of them so you can move them. Cancelling can also cost you money at some campgrounds.

I will also say that if we stayed a week someplace each time we stopped we would never get anywhere. When traveling distances do a 200 to 300 mile day, spend one night and then another 200 to 300 mile day then spend at least two nights, repeat. That pace will get us about 1,000 miles a week. We started October in Eugene, Oregon and are now over 2,000 miles away in Claremore, Oklahoma since we did stay more than 2 nights in a couple places. It would have taken over two months to get here if we followed the "stay a week" rule and personally I don't want to be in Colorado or Wyoming in November and Kansas in December if I can help it. We could not leave earlier because of medical and family needs. Plus there are places we stop that I can't see spending a week in, like Rawlins, Wyoming or Oakley, Kansas. Just my opinion, but don't get too stuck on "rules" or they will "rule your life". We are all rule breakers here or we wouldn't be spending so much time away from a house.

-- Edited by bjoyce on Friday 21st of October 2011 09:30:00 AM

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks Bill for the feed back. As you can tell, we are planners and we have specific places we want to see and visit. The key word being see. To me RV-ing is not driving for hours upon hours and seeing the country side from the windshield. I doubt that we would ever go to or end up in some of the places you mention. Me being a painter and my DW Melissa being a writer, we fully intend on stopping in interesting places - sightseeing, painting and writing. Crossing the country at a Marathon pace is not our desire. I understand what you say about needing to cancel and costing money to do so. I appreciate your feedback but nightly stopping and breaking down and driving all day and stopping for the night and............... not our cup of tea. That to us would be torture.

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

We stay many places for longer periods, but in eight years of full-timing we have learned that some journeys are best done at a quicker pace.

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

To each their own Bill - that's what makes the world go around - if it works for you that is great and I can appreciate that - no one persons way is better than anothers - glad we agree.

RVRon · RV-Dreams Family Member

RE: TO RESERVE OR NOT RESERVE

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

RE: TO RESERVE OF NOT RESERVE