Cammpground Rant

[garmp]

What is going on all of a sudden????
Planned a trip to the Hill Country of Texas for about three weeks in April. We are not ones for reservations and pretty much play it by ear. Plan an itinerary of the general areas with campground options and the approximate dates and go from there.
We will be leaving the mid-west to Texas shortly, and after researching campgrounds of our choice find that most all are FULL on the weekend, especially Easter weekend. Who'd a thunk! Even our local parks are full. Where'd all these people come from?
When did RVing become that popular?
Sorrow is the days gone past when we would just pack up and hit the road in a general direction and always find a nice campground. Guess I'm/we're just getting old and crotchety.
Thanks for letting me rant

[OleManOleCan]

Parks are fillijg up faster. Larger campers being sold and the longer spaces are filling up the fastest.

Two solutions I use.
1. Camp in the middle of the week.
2. I went with a 20' camper this time around.
There are still some smaller spaces availaible.

[garmp]

We just returned last week from the Hill Country. Wild flowers were every where. The Texas parks are insanely crowded. Especially on the weekends. We had to resort to a private campground (which in most cases we are anti) for the final weekend in Texas, cause we didn't plan far enough ahead.
All in all a good trip and a really nice state to visit. Interesting places all over. Ready to do it again.

[charming]

dryfly wrote:
Just got back from 3 weeks in the Hill Country hitting 7 Texas State Parks. All were full on weekends and most were near full during the week. Lot's of folks from up north spending time in Texas, but just lots of locals spending time in the parks.

Texas SP's went to site specific reservation system in Feb and it was amazing how many sites were reserved but unoccupied. I'm sure this will improve as cancellation penalties have increased.

I've been visiting Texas State Parks for 40 years and would not attempt to plan a trip nowdays without reservations. But.......I'm finding the same thing in most other surrounding states. Camping ain't what it used to be.

We probably crossed paths on our travels through the Hill country. It appears that Fredericksburg TX has become the place to go.

[dryfly]

Just got back from 3 weeks in the Hill Country hitting 7 Texas State Parks. All were full on weekends and most were near full during the week. Lot's of folks from up north spending time in Texas, but just lots of locals spending time in the parks.

Texas SP's went to site specific reservation system in Feb and it was amazing how many sites were reserved but unoccupied. I'm sure this will improve as cancellation penalties have increased.

I've been visiting Texas State Parks for 40 years and would not attempt to plan a trip nowdays without reservations. But.......I'm finding the same thing in most other surrounding states. Camping ain't what it used to be.

[Wiscampsin]

Another thing is that some private campgrounds have switched to a majority of seasonal sites. Guaranteed income all season, less costly as most require the seasonal campers to mow their own lawns reducing costs of gas and hourly employee pay.

[ppine]

Spring comes early in Texas, too early.

[Airdaile]

charming wrote:
I tried to find a public campground somewhere near I-10 close to the Alabama Mississippi state line, no luck. So the extra 2 days here and a night on the road.

Did you try the casino in Waveland. They have a parking lot with hookups right on the Gulf.

[charming]

We are winding down on a 3 month road trip. We try to stay in state parks and coe parks as much as possible. I had to scramble several times with reservations. Even where we are now we had to wait for a cancellation to add 2 days to our stay.

I tried to find a public campground somewhere near I-10 close to the Alabama Mississippi state line, no luck. So the extra 2 days here and a night on the road.

[John_S_]

One of the beauties of a motorhome is that we are self contained and for a night or two we can use a rest area or a walmart on our trip. I have stayed at them when traveling but also one time when I just went out for the weekend and could not find a campground. We toured in our 24 foot class C then. I also hav e used this in my bigger Foretravels the same way.

[Trekkar]

It all depends on what you want to do.
1: Peace of mind by living by reservation. (until life happens and you miss a date!)
2: Play it by ear and be prepared to adjust on the fly.

Either way, you're STILL out (hopefully) enjoying your RV.:)

[austinjenna]

Been that way for a long time. Don’t know why you think you can get a spot for 3 weeks with no reservations? That is just not possible........even 30 years ago

I agree. You might have to change your trips from just winging it to a more planned out approach.

[maddog348]

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[dodge_guy]

Been that way for a long time. Don’t know why you think you can get a spot for 3 weeks with no reservations? That is just not possible........even 30 years ago.

[Hammerboy]

JKJavelin wrote:
This is not helping: We are staying at an RV park tonight in Benton, Arkansas on our way back to Wisconsin. They are closing at the end of the month to make way for a new Ford dealership.

That's so they can sell more trucks to pull all these new RVs. Makes perfect sense :B

Dan