Forum Discussion

Lilrhody's avatar
Lilrhody
Explorer
Jan 21, 2015

First season with your RV or travel trailer-what did you do?

The husband and I are having a difference of opinion. One of us wants to find a seasonal spot relatively near by and use that as "home base" for our trailer, pulling it out for a few specific trips over the summer. That way, we have somewhere to go easily every weekend. The other thinks we should use the summer to try lots of places, looking for a seasonal spot with easy in/out for next year, and renting a storage space nearby for this year. This would mean more set up/tear down, but perhaps expand options going forward.

What did you do your first season? What would you do if you were new now?
  • We like to tell people that we have a Cabin in the woods, a Beach house, a Mountain resort, Home on the lake . Home is where you move it..

    To my family that's what make camping fun. No camp ground is the same.

    look into joining a camping club in your area. the potluck meals, and camping
    friends.
  • 2014 was our first year with our hybrid. We went to different places almost every weekend except for one place we went twice due to friends having seasonal spots. We eventually want a seasonal to use as a home base, but will still hit up some new places throughout the season. Different strokes for different folks. I can see the advantages to not having to tow every weekend, but we like to expose our 3 yo to different scenery and available amenities.
  • We have a membership so we use it the most. Have many "camping friends" that we enjoy seeing most weekends. During the year we take 1 major trip of about 2 weeks and sometimes a shorter trip of about a week. It's pretty nice to have it all set up on a site and just show up, especially if you get off work late on Friday night. Hate trying to set up in the dark.
  • We bought a RV to travel to different places, not to go to the same place all the time.
    that's why they have wheels.;)

    We would never have a seasonal spot. There's just too much of this country to see and explore.

    We always have kept it at home, except for just one winter.
  • I would look at costs. How many nights will you realistically spend at the seasonal spot? How much more will the seasonal spot cost over the storage facility. Divide the latter by the number of nights. If it's less than $X per night for the seasonal, go for it. If it's over $X per night, don't. You have to agree before calculating what your $X is going to be.

    For me, my RV is stored at home so that was not an issue. However, my first year, I picked a different location for each trip. The next year, I went back to my favorites for a long weekend and then tried new locations for the other weekends.

    Several years later, I am still doing that. I go to a few repeats and try out some new sites each year. It works well.
  • We were planning to go full-time , but bought the motorhome and parked it at my brothers about an hour away with water and electric hookups. We left Friday when we got out of work and stayed until Sunday evening. Stored for the winter and then took off to travel the next spring. We are still on the road 4 years later and love it.
  • Both idea's have lots of merit.
    We like going lots of place though and have never found just one spot we wanted to spend that much time in. W are lucky to have a bunch of great state CG's and we have about a dozen of them we rotate through every season.
    I suggest you spend the first season exploring all that's available to you.