Not what, but where

Jim-Bev-2363 · 02-28-2011, 05:16 AM

I know there are so many really nice campground but how many of you just ramble when traveling? How do you plan your days on the road? Leave early and nest early? Any hours better than others for travel?

When we had the motorhome we never planned trips and where to stay. Load up and let'er roll was what we did. We could pull in and drop anchor in a few minutes and leaving in the morning was a simple unplug the powercord and haul buggy. If we were not to a campground we did places that allowed parking like Flying-J or we have just pulled over so I could sleep and Wifey would stand guard.

But now with pulling a trailer I wonder how much different things will be. A long time ago we had a TT but that was when we were werking fulltime and any free trip-time was always planned so we'd be home on Monday for more werk. Now is retired and no place special to go.

If this is in the wrong place I'm sorry but I would like to pick some brains about just traveling to be traveling. Back country America and all that kind of stories. Warnings of what not to do as well as what to do.

jim

Jim-Bev-2363 · 02-28-2011, 05:25 AM

Maybe I could do a first post based on our motorhome trips. We lived in the central Carolinas and many trips were simply leaving home with a tank of gas, drive about half the tank out and then think about going home or stopping for the night. Many nights were spent perched on the edge of a cliff, in a site nobody else wanted, but that was fine since we would usually be gone in the morning. State parks, mobile home parks that advertise camper sites, boat landings with campsites. I guess that now with the TT we'll have to be more selective about roads to follow. I might even have to use a real map.

jim

henryj · 02-28-2011, 12:41 PM

Our travels have always had a final destination, but the overnights were as the spirit moved in our popup days. Now that we're older and want at least electricity as well as about 46 ft. of parking space, we reserve everywhere we can. We've not overnighted in parking lots, but once paid for a Flying J campground in NV that might as well have been the parking lot. In Canada we've traveled from May to Oct., in the US from Mar. to Nov.

We try to be very much aware of the local dynamics--southern states can have lots of weekend campers all year--and national holidays. Heavily populated areas and big cities can really skew availability too. Mt. Rainier NP is too close to Seattle, Banff NP is too close to Calgary, Yellowstone NP is just too popular. One strategy is to camp close by and then arrive early as others are leaving. We lined up at Yellowstone at 9am one trip and we did get a site. Camping at just about any Provincial Park in ON that is within 3 or 4 hr. of Toronto can't be done without reservations and I expect the same of any other jurisdiction with a large city and plan accordingly when we travel. One strategy is to get a nice spot for the weekend and just stay put; otherwise getting a site on a Fri. or Sat. night can be very dicey.

I haven't really found this in the East--so correct me if I'm wrong--but in the West lots of towns have decent municipal campgrounds and they're often not in the directories because there is a charge, I believe, for the listing. In the wide open spaces of secondary highways, towns of 5-10,000 often have a campground. However, beware of local fairs, rodeos and other festivals and always have a plan B--which only works if you have time to implement it. We need a good reason to travel later than 4 pm and usually find towing for 6 hr. to be plenty.

Henry

Jim-Bev-2363 · 02-28-2011, 03:58 PM

Thanks Henry,

That is good information and what I was thinking about. Come to think of it we did travel mostly during 'off' seasons so that would help with the open spaces for rent.

jim

Jim-Bev-2363 · 03-01-2011, 04:11 AM

Thank you John for putting me in the proper place, again, LOL!

I do hope others will chime in with experiences that taught them valuable lessons while camping. For instance, my Wife and I did our honeymoon in a tent. A small Camel brand 8 X 10 that we had used before so it wasn't like we did not have experience. In St Augustine Florida at close to midnight we were so excited to finally be able to do some ocean front camping. There was a campground without a gate locking the entrance so I pulled in. A note on the door said to "find a site and checkin in the morning", so I found a site and set the tent up.

Being still hyper from fighting traffic I took a walk around to calmdown. Back at the campground office I was reading the bulletinboard and saw the note....... NO TENT CAMPERS!... Oh boy! I went back to the campsite, we broke camp all doom and gloomy and moved to the next campground that posted "Welcome Tent Campers".

Lesson learned? When going to a strange campground read the notes posted about their regulations 'before' setting equipment.

Jim-Bev-2363 · 03-03-2011, 08:18 PM

We have stopped in quite a few mobile home parks that also rent empty spaces to campers. Most have signs posted out front about renting to campers so a U-turn and we went back to find a most pleasant stay. Many times the parks had potlucks or entertainment and we were invited. Not all good camping is at normal camping sites. Be flexible and willing to make a U-turn.