Harvest Hosts

To each his own. I'm willing to try it. When DH and I fulltimed, we often visited wineries (DH didn't drink, me only occasionally) as they typically are set in the beautiful countryside and many have restaurants. I will not spend a night in a Walmart parking lot, never have, never will. Okay for you if you want to, but not me. Also belong to PPA and use them occasionally.

Just another tool.

Dale

deadticket8 wrote:
Where are these parks $20-25 night with electric? I'm all over that! Im going cross country in spring. Planning mostly one and two night stops on way out and back.

It varies. In prime tourist areas, not so much but we are usually staying for a few days in those areas anyway so HH wouldn't apply anyway.

We use Campedium a lot for planning and you can set it to filter based on price.

Also, Passport America if you will be doing longer trips is well worth it. Yes, there is a cost to sign up but when averaged over 20-30 nights, the cost is negligible. If you just camp locally, it's highly dependent on if there are PPA parks that are local and you can meet the restrictions.

Looking at this past fall, we did a 3 month trip, slowly wandering from Michigan to Montana. 70% of our nights were in the $20-25 range. Of the short single night stops, it was 83%. Where we got nailed was staying inside Yellowstone and Grand Teton but that was about location and HH wouldn't have helped.

Although I don't have a membership we have stayed at a HH site with a friend who did. Our experience was great we only talked to the host on the phone they were closed when we arrived and closed when we left. It was a winery right by the expressway away from all the traffic with a nice yard and parking lot to camp in. A few other campers also, but not crowded and everyone picked up all trash.

We would have gladly made a purchase but didn't get the opportunity. I will see how often my friends use it to pay. I could actually host, but I don't think I want traffic on my small horse farm. I don't have anything to sell either.

We use their facilities twice, we paid full price the place was clean and well cared for. the space was larger than most other places we have seen.

We are not members, but I'd stay there again.

Their website has a map showing approximate locations of hosts.

We looked to see if a membership would be good for an Alaska trip. As above, one night stops heading somewhere else seems to be the best case scenario.

We've been members for years.

We really enjoy using H H whenever we take a long road trip. We use them en-route, not as destinations. Most of the H H locations have been some of the nicest locations we've ever camped at. Some - not so much. But even the un-nice ones, you're only there for an overnight, so who cares, really. The nice ones are super memories. Some of the best memories are the conversations with the small business owners who developed these wineries, farms, breweries and so on. Wonderful success stories of the American dream. If you like meeting people, and you can engage them in conversation about themselves, it's a real win.

I consider the expectation of a small purchase to be a very fair trade-off for the experience of staying overnight in a unique location. Heck, even at Walmart or Cracker Barrel, if you boondock in their parking lot you make a purchase, don't you?

The issue of having to become a member to learn the locations is an essential part of the business model. If the locations were made public, then why would anyone join? Why would hosts agree to let just anyone park overnight in their location with no accountability and no expectation of any benefit of doing so?

Members are expected to produce a current membership card when they arrive, and Hosts are expected to ask for that card and to keep track of who has stayed. If you, as a non-member, managed to discover a Host and stay overnight, you essentially gamed the system. If that's what floats your boat, well - OK then.

-Speak

I joined to see what was really on the list, to find the local Wineries that allow overnight, and have not used it yet. I did look in my local area, and there were some commercial places and some places owned by people who just like to host other RV'ers. Here are the current statistics:

Wineries 771
Farms 1546
Attractions 1194
Breweries & Distilleries 545
Golf Courses 0
Boondockers Welcome 3295
Total 7352 / 7789

Good info. I never liked Walmart as all night traffic but that changed with covid. And some Walmarts are actually nice, like Ticonderoga, NY. Where are these parks $20-25 night with electric? I'm all over that! Im going cross country in spring. Planning mostly one and two night stops on way out and back.

Scottiemom wrote:
The recommendation for purchasing is $20, not $30-$40.

For a quick overnight just wanting to plug in, most of the time we can find a place for only $20-25 for the night and if you're just staying a parking lot, you can do walmart for free.

Really only makes sense if you are planning to patronize a lot of wineries anyway.

The recommendation for purchasing is $20, not $30-$40. They do ask you to call ahead to make sure they can accommodate you as most places have limited availability. I don't drink a lot of wine, but many of the wineries offer other items for sale and some have cafes/restaurants. There are also significant churches on the list.

I will be taking delivery soon on my "new" to me coach and it is equipped with lithium batteries and some solar, so I thought boondocking would be a good option occasionally. I don't have a problem with RV parks, but they have gotten crazy expensive in the last year or two, with little difference in the way of amenities. But I will continue to use RV parks as well, and hope to include state parks more than I do now.

My dog doesn't like RV parks. He hates traffic noise and will spend all his time indoors rather than hear it. I finally bought a membership to see if staying at wineries or other low=key places would work better for him. I'm thinking he would like that a lot better. He likes other animals and dogs and cats.

Dale