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?

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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

Bob_Olallawa
Explorer
Jan 21, 2015
We have an RV lot about an hour away from home and use it as a weekend get a way. Set it up with 4 sites and a bath house. Has a community pool, playground and beach. It is a good spot to stay for a weekend or a week and has easy access for clamming,crabbing,and fishing.
Bobbo
Explorer II
Jan 21, 2015
We have never done a seasonal spot for a few reasons. First, we don't want to pay for a place that we are not actually using if we are not at the camper. Second, we have never found a place that we like so much that we want to go back there over and over without going other places in between. Third, if we did pull out of the seasonal spot for a weekend, or a week, we don't want to be paying for 2 spots at the same time.

Our first season, we went camping every other weekend (I work every other weekend). We went a different direction/distance every time. We got a good overview of the camping opportunities in our general location at different distances.
dieharder
Explorer
Jan 21, 2015
My first season, we went to Myrtle Beach for 2 weeks for Easter, PEI for 2 weeks in the summer, and weekend camping trips not terribly far from home.

Seasonal sites aren't for me. I don't like the idea of spending my vacation in the same place all the time. Too many great things to see. I wouldn't change a thing if this was new to me today.
jplante4
Explorer II
Jan 21, 2015
We live in a place where people go for the weekend, so we use the RV to escape the Cape whenever we could. We did mostly weekend (or Sunday-Tuesday) trips and one 2 week adventure to another beach spot (Hatteras). In between the coach sat in the driveway or storage. I don't think I could have gotten a seasonal spot around here for what we pay for storage.

For us, it was a discovery process. We didn't know if we would like the traveling life style and if we could do things we needed to do from the road. We discovered plenty, and those discoveries ended up costing us a lot more money :).
bukhrn
Explorer III
Jan 21, 2015
beemerphile1 wrote:
Some people like having a seasonal site, I've never understood it. I like my home. If I want to sit and do nothing, I would rather do it at home than packed like sardines at a seasonal campsite.

We have our RVs for traveling, I want to see something different and be somewhere different each time out.

With that said, I also wouldn't live anywhere that I can't have my RVs at home in my driveway so storage isn't an issue.

I basically have to agree with beemer, if I want to stay in the same place all the time, I might as well stay home, while we do have our favorite local spots,(within 2 hours) we love going to different places.
I too wouldn't live anywhere with an HOA, that dictates what I can or can't do with my property, my MH sits in MY driveway, next to MY house.
Lantley
Nomad
Jan 21, 2015
I'm not a seasonal spot kind of guy, nevertheless it is a personal decision. You can gain experience with your unit traveling as effectively you can with a seasonal spot. Actually you will gain more experience traveling because you will set up multiple times under varying conditions.
The main advantage of the seasonal site is convenience. No towing, no set up.
Pull up and in your car and you are there ready to go.
Con of seasonal is you are always at the same place with the same scenery,lump sum site fee. You don't get a chance to explore various places.
beemerphile1
Explorer
Jan 21, 2015
Some people like having a seasonal site, I've never understood it. I like my home. If I want to sit and do nothing, I would rather do it at home than packed like sardines at a seasonal campsite.

We have our RVs for traveling, I want to see something different and be somewhere different each time out.

With that said, I also wouldn't live anywhere that I can't have my RVs at home in my driveway so storage isn't an issue.
Tvov
Explorer II
Jan 21, 2015
Cost wise, the weekends you don't use your seasonal spot, you are still paying for that seasonal spot.

We camped all over, and never did quite find that perfect campground for a seasonal spot. Seemed that the beautiful campgrounds with all the amenities had seasonal people who were not polite (for a polite description), and the campgrounds where we had the most fun had fewer amenities. Every campground had its pros and cons, and we couldn't quite find that one campground worth spending the entire summer at. We are still looking! lol

A friend of ours bought a park model camper for one summer for her and her kids. They enjoyed it and the campground for the summer, and the next spring she sold it. Worked out well for her.

I would suggest checking out different campgrounds before committing to a seasonal campsite.
fla-gypsy
Explorer
Jan 21, 2015
bikendan wrote:
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.

X2
Sprink-Fitter
Explorer
Jan 21, 2015
We would never go to the same place all summer long, to many other choices to go see.