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

[Lilrhody]

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?

[bukhrn]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

We would never go to the same place all summer long, to many other choices to go see.

[cyntdon2010]

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.

[vanreever]

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.

[mdamerell]

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.

[bikendan]

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.

[toedtoes]

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.

[doxiemom11]

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.

[ScottG]

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.