A new RVer question

We normally book our 3 month Florida winter stays while we're still there the year before. This year we couldn't book until early this month due to waiting on medical clearance. We favor state and national parks, and we were able to completely fill our schedule with one or two week stays at various parks in the central and northern regions of Florida, but site choices were very limited, with some parks only having 1-3 suitable sites available.

How necessary (or not) reservations are varies greatly with when and where you're looking to go. Popular campgrounds in major tourist destinations during high seasons or holidays absolutely positively do require reservations. Ordinary campgrounds in ordinary places during less popular times generally do not require reservations, though occasionally what may seem like not especially popular places or times could turn out to be the week of the annual Earthworm Farmer's Convention and Skateboard Race that draws skateboarding earthworm farmers out of the woodwork from far and wide, and they all stay at the local campgrounds.

Generally, though, it's not essential to have reservations for non-holidays, non-tourist destinations, especially on weekdays, and doubly so if you're willing and able to be a little flexible about where you camp.

We normally find a cheap place to hold up on three day weekends. We try to find a place on Thursday through to leave on next working days.
Worker bees are and sometimes must push the time table.

BeerBrewer wrote:


PS: I too agree, weekends should be for workers and I promise to stay out of their way whenever possible.

Thank you! Lol. Only 15 years till retirement...

Wow....what a relief! You folks are doing just what we'd like to do.

Thanks for your prompt responses!

Bob

PS: I too agree, weekends should be for workers and I promise to stay out of their way whenever possible.

Reservation are not always required.
Reservations can put you on a schedule. Retirement is time to move slower. You may find you want to stop other places that can ruin reservations you have scheduled.
We normally travel with no reservations. When a place is popular, we call a day or two before arrival and have gotten in without any issues.

We're on a 10 week trip from New England to the prairie states and back. We haven't booked anything any more than a week in advance. Some places we just show up. If we want to be somewhere at a certain time (like Lees Summit MO on Sept 29 to visit the DD), we book that and filled in to end up there. Nothing ruins a trip like ours (or the one you're planning) like needing to be somewhere at a certain time.

We did the same thing on our retirement trip - 6 months around the southeast. We stayed at most places a week and moved on Wednesday. We booked 2 weeks in advance at the most. We never got any further south in Florida than Ft Myers because spontaneous got real expensive.

Now, if you're talking about the Florida Keys in Jan and Feb, then yes, you need to book out in advance because most of those sites are booked when people leave the previous year. You can catch cancellations, but the involves hours on the phone calling around. You will have better things to do.

There's a lot of hype about the 500,000 RVs sold last year and where will all those people camp. etc etc. They will camp at the most popular parks - state and national - on summer weekends in July and August. The rest of the year belongs to us.

Edd505, pretty much nailed it. Any place with a beach will be crowded, be it the Gulf, ocean and even many lakes. Timing is also a key. As Edd505 said weekends are for workers, as a rule, but lately it seems that all of the retired Baby Boomers have gotten RV's and are hitting the parks. Trust me I know, I'm one of them!
Enjoy and if you plan your trip and don't have reservations as we most often don't, have a couple of back-up sites on your itinerary just in case.
Travel safe and enjoy our planet.

It all depends on a lot of factors I’ve never had any real problem.
Call me if you wish

No it's not true. I am on an extended trip right now (8 months) and only made reservations a few times at popular places. Most of the time you can call the day of or a day ahead and get a spot. If you want a popular site or longer stay (weeks) make reservations, most can get you in for a few days. Plan moves on weekdays, those still working fill site on weekend. After school starts, where ever you are, it becomes even easier.