New Snowbird Asking For Guidance

djgarcia wrote:

rk911 wrote:
Looking for some guidance from experienced snowbirds.

Up until now my wife and I had to spend winters at our home in west suburban Chicago. We have been able to leave Chicago around March 1st and head to Mesa, AZ for at least part of spring training. That has changed and we're now able to spend much more of the winter away from the cold and snow but we still have a few family commitments that will require us to stay home until roughly January 10th. We're trying to plan this as best as possible without having a date certain when we can leave home as weather at home will play a huge part. It's not so much when we can leave Chicago as it is IF we can leave Chicago as planned.
If reservations are needed must they be made months in advance or are the parks full of others like us meaning making reservations now? But if we can't lock down a departure date from Chicago how can we make reservations anywhere with the certainty of an arrival date? Bad weather that crops up along the way can play havoc with a schedule.

How do you experienced folks deal with that?

Using your cell phone will allow you to cancel or reschedule any reservations. Check each RV parks cancellation policy.

we're aware of that. we've been talking with other parks here in the Mesa area as we're thinking of changing parks when here. most told us that if we reserve from Date A to Date B but circumstances prevent us from arriving on Date A the reservation still runs from Date A to Date B. some said that they might be able to make an adjustment depending on availability of the original site. in other words we may have to move one or more times.

but it's not the destination park we're concerned with...just the "en-route parks". what we're trying to gauge is just how full or the daily availability of the "en-route" parks are likely to be. if based on your experience I'm overthinking the problem then just knock me upside the head.