Gosh, so many replies! Thanks, folks! Rather than trying to answer you individually, since many of you made similar comments, I'll try to explain my reasoning for the original post. We've been to Yellowstone twice before....once camping at Fishing Bridge, and once staying in Gardiner. So we're familiar with how long it takes to get places. So we would like to stay inside the park if possible. But we'll be coming from the Black Hills area, and Cody, and there (because at Cody is over July 4th), we're also paying nearly $40-50 per night. A month of paying rates like that doesn't make camping very affordable. We're only just now getting seriously into camping with the RV on long distances, and we had hoped we could pay less per night for camping.
Since we have a generator, and since we are NEVER at the campground or hotel when we're in Yellowstone, we just hated to spend that much if we would be out in the park all day. We usually keep a cooler with us for food, and since we're avid photographers we like to be out early and late in the day. So we have pretty long days!
But I see the point many of you made. Why risk it? I guess we should go for the sure thing. And I like the idea of spending some time in West Yellowstone. Perhaps I could shorten our stay at Fishing Bridge and while there only do things closer to that part of the park. Then we could move west and stay a few more days to see the geyser areas and such.
Unfortunately, the only park that had any availability for reservations during the time we need was Fishing Bridge. I can keep calling to check and see if any other campgrounds become available. That could save us a bunch of money. But I certainly won't cancel Fishing Bridge until I have something else definitive lined up.
A couple of you mentioned dry camping. Do they allow that in Yellowstone? I didn't think they did. Please advise.
Again, thank you all for your advice and suggestions!
