We hit the road full-time last July with almost nothing of a plan. It worked because we stayed away from tourist spots. Also late summer/fall is sort the end of the high season for most campgrounds. We moved about once a week and we rarely, if ever, had trouble getting a space.Winter will be spent in Austin, Texas while we wait out the cold and make a few bucks before hitting the road again in early April. I imagine every RV in America will be heading out at the same time, which might make non-advanced reservations a little more difficult.How much advance reservations to most of you do? As RVing becomes more popular, are parks becoming more difficult to get in to? Do you plan every move ahead of time?Or do you prefer to wing it and press your luck?It's a tough balance between spontaneity and spending the night in the parking lot of a Flying J.Thanks and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

deprived wrote:How much advance reservations to most of you do? As RVing becomes more popular, are parks becoming more difficult to get in to? Do you plan every move ahead of time?Or do you prefer to wing it and press your luck?It's a tough balance between spontaneity and spending the night in the parking lot of a Flying J.Old chinese proverb : Lack of advance planning-- you have every thing to loose and nothing to gain"

we limit our reservations to places that are heavily visited...like yellowstone, custer state park, yosemite, grand canyon, etc. if you don't need full hookups, there are LOTS of campgrounds to choose from.if you stop a bit early...like 3 or 4 p.m., you will find better sites to choose from.if you are not absolutely against overnight stops at rest areas, walmarts or flying j truck stops, etc. then you're free of the worry of not finding an acutal campground for the one night stay.

Let me ask you something, you might be able to wing it going to a popular area at a popular time but you certainly won't save any money and you very well might not find a spot where you want to be. So how important is it to you to be where you want to be and how happy will you be if you have to pay double to go somewhere else or sleep in a truck stop because places are full?Maybe it will work out, maybe it won't but I wouldn't take a chance.

It depends a good bit on what area you are traveling to.We visited National Parks and popular attraction area's last year.We would not be inclined to head to popular areas without reservations.We are in our 2nd year of full time rv travel, moving often to see this amazing country we live in. For us, planning and research campgrounds and rv resorts in advance has worked very well. We generally make reservations for travels from April until October, leaving gaps in areas we want some flexibility. Id suggest reservations during that timeframe in any popular area's.

For our winter state park stays in Florida, we start making our reservations 11 months ahead of time the moment the reservation windows open. The private park we stay at the longest in FL, we'll make next years reservation when checking in this year to insure getting a site we prefer. For other parts of the country at other times of the year, we only make reservations at popular destinations and/or for holidays. Everything else is pretty much call as we go, or at most a day ahead of time.

Advanced trip planning? Yes or no? | Good Sam Community

16 Replies

BarbaraOK
Explorer
Jan 03, 2017
Reservations for Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, way ahead of schedule because people go out on those weekends in the PNW. For a lot of the rest of the summer, we do membership parks, so we just pick weeks, match with which park we want, and get out site online. When traveling through an area, we only do 200-250 miles a day and try to stop by 2:00 pm. Usually call about noon or 1:00 pm to see if they have room, almost always not a problem because we are ahead of everyone else stopping for the night. Stopping early also means we are all set up and get to watch everyone else try to jockey to get in - we can watch rather than be part of the afternoon entertainment. :W
Dutch_12078
Explorer III
Jan 03, 2017
For our winter state park stays in Florida, we start making our reservations 11 months ahead of time the moment the reservation windows open. The private park we stay at the longest in FL, we'll make next years reservation when checking in this year to insure getting a site we prefer. For other parts of the country at other times of the year, we only make reservations at popular destinations and/or for holidays. Everything else is pretty much call as we go, or at most a day ahead of time.
happynow
Explorer
Jan 03, 2017
It depends a good bit on what area you are traveling to.
We visited National Parks and popular attraction area's last year.
We would not be inclined to head to popular areas without reservations.
We are in our 2nd year of full time rv travel, moving often to see this amazing country we live in.
For us, planning and research campgrounds and rv resorts in advance has worked very well. We generally make reservations for travels from April until October, leaving gaps in areas we want
some flexibility.
Id suggest reservations during that timeframe in any popular area's.
Aridon
Explorer
Jan 03, 2017
Let me ask you something, you might be able to wing it going to a popular area at a popular time but you certainly won't save any money and you very well might not find a spot where you want to be. So how important is it to you to be where you want to be and how happy will you be if you have to pay double to go somewhere else or sleep in a truck stop because places are full?

Maybe it will work out, maybe it won't but I wouldn't take a chance.
TexasShadow
Explorer II
Jan 03, 2017
we limit our reservations to places that are heavily visited...like yellowstone, custer state park, yosemite, grand canyon, etc.
if you don't need full hookups, there are LOTS of campgrounds to choose from.
if you stop a bit early...like 3 or 4 p.m., you will find better sites to choose from.
if you are not absolutely against overnight stops at rest areas, walmarts or flying j truck stops, etc. then you're free of the worry of not finding an acutal campground for the one night stay.
MarkTwain
Explorer
Jan 03, 2017
deprived wrote:

How much advance reservations to most of you do? As RVing becomes more popular, are parks becoming more difficult to get in to? Do you plan every move ahead of time?

Or do you prefer to wing it and press your luck?

It's a tough balance between spontaneity and spending the night in the parking lot of a Flying J.

Old chinese proverb : Lack of advance planning-- you have every thing to loose and nothing to gain"

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Advanced trip planning? Yes or no?

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