No campground spots available, what to do?

[SweetWaterSurpr]

So my better half had a trip she wanted to take but didn't quite get to making any reservations until a week before. Of course almost every park is full at the stops she wants to make. What do most of you guys do when this happens? This will only be our 2nd major trip in our new RV so we are still rookies.

[TangoFox]

The downside is you have no way to rescue him/her without actually calling the campsite or some other way.

In our situation, if she's in our truck, she's only a few hundred yards away from us, so I can quickly run back and open the doors if something happens. For example, I had a fuel filter problem which caused an air bubble in the fuel line, it shut off my motor but didn't shut off the AC, so it was blowing hot air into the truck cab. The system alerted me immediately, and I was able to get to the truck in a minute or less and open the doors and cool it off. It only got into the 80s, which was still less than OAT.

There are more advanced systems (that you subsequently pay for) that will do all sorts of things, like honk your horn, roll your windows down, pop open doors automatically (which could be bad if your dog will run!), etc when it gets too hot.

My system works for me because she's never in an area that's far from us, and we can check on her in a moment. If I were spending a day away from my camper, then I would have to either ensure someone at the site can check on her if it goes off, or have another plan.

If you're too cheap to do it the professional way, and don't need an automatic intervention, what you should look at: A Bluetooth Dongle Phone Line to Cell connection (people use these to have their cell phones ring to House lines and vice versa), and Freeze / Water / Heat alarm dialer. And a spare cell phone (I use my wife's)

If you want automatic intervention, you would have to go another way, or engineer another part of this system.

YMMV.

[SweetWaterSurpr]

TangoFox wrote:
Some people mentioned not leaving their dogs at the park. We bring ours with us. She's a lazy 100 lb Pit/Lab/Boxer mix. I rigged a system that basically emulates the same as an expensive "K9" alarm. It calls me whenever the temperature is over a set limit, if it loses power, or if it gets below temperatures (which is usually not the problem in Florida). It uses one of our cell phones through a blue tooth connection. I think the entire setup cost me $100, and I can call it at any time through Skype and see what's going on.

So whether she's in the truck, or the truck camper, we can check on her and the vehicle. It will tell us the temperature too.

Now that is really great. I'm considering doing a setup like that so I can keep my eye on thing when we are away from the RV

[bigred1cav]

Inquire at Veterans Posts about staying a few nights.

[TangoFox]

Some people mentioned not leaving their dogs at the park. We bring ours with us. She's a lazy 100 lb Pit/Lab/Boxer mix. I rigged a system that basically emulates the same as an expensive "K9" alarm. It calls me whenever the temperature is over a set limit, if it loses power, or if it gets below temperatures (which is usually not the problem in Florida). It uses one of our cell phones through a blue tooth connection. I think the entire setup cost me $100, and I can call it at any time through Skype and see what's going on.

So whether she's in the truck, or the truck camper, we can check on her and the vehicle. It will tell us the temperature too.

[SweetWaterSurpr]

I know that's how most do it, but I would rather not tow that way. I keep my vehicles in rather great condition so I prefer to tow them with rubber off the ground and in an enclosed manner.

[rockhillmanor]

Why don't you just hook that Jeep up as a toad and ditch that heavy trailer? Sure would make a diff in towing with your Class B.

Are you aware that you can hook up the jeep directly to your MH?

Cause we can tell you how to do it, real easy! :B

[SweetWaterSurpr]

Image fixed. We will be more aware of our needs for the next trip.

[rockhillmanor]

SweetWaterSurprise wrote:
So my better half had a trip she wanted to take but didn't quite get to making any reservations until a week before. Of course almost every park is full at the stops she wants to make. What do most of you guys do when this happens? This will only be our 2nd major trip in our new RV so we are still rookies.

Find a CG elsewhere in the general locale. You have a toad with you so being right on top of an attraction you want to see is really not necessary.

I RV'd to the Boston, MA area ONCE. I will never go back to that area ever again. RV'ing and CG's are a real pain in that area.

That said. You will have a problem almost everywhere with the large dog. Most CG's have a weight limit, number of dogs limit and banned breed list. You have 2 strikes against you out the gate with the Mastiff.

KOA
Pick up a KOA CG catalog to keep with you. They are the most pet friendly CG's I have found. I use KOA CG's exclusively when ever I can when traveling. I like their CG's and I never have a problem with them having more than 2 dogs.

Fairgrounds
Almost all towns big and small have a fairgrounds. They have RV parking and hookup lots for the exhibitors during the fair. In the 'off' season you can always find a spot open.

I found out about fairground rv parking during a breakdown with the MH where the police helped out and escorted me to one. I now use them all the time. Peaceful and inexpensive.
My best fairground of all time is the State Fairgrounds in Iowa.


Late at night pull in
You can pull into almost any CG after hours. There will be a sign on the office to find a spot and check in with them in the morning and/or their will be a box to drop your check in and then you pull in and park. And almost all CG's leave one row of sites open for traveling RV'ers that pull in for one night.

BTW: 6 years full-timing and I have NEVER made a CG reservation.:W

[tenbear]

SweetWaterSurprise wrote:


Little shot of the setup when we hit Maine.

Your image didn't work. Here is a link telling how to include pictures.

[SweetWaterSurpr]

Little shot of the setup when we hit Maine.

[SweetWaterSurpr]

Single day at a casino overnight, then 4 days at an actual campground. 2 days left on the road

[NYCgrrl]

SweetWaterSurprise wrote:
This thread will have tons of solid info for those who find themselves in the same situation I was in.

So where did you find yourself ultimately?
How many nights in traditional campgrounds and how many at casinos?
I can think of a few places I'd stop for a rest along I-95 but then finding a place to store/park a bigger rig whilst I day tripped at nearby locales would stymie my brain.

[SweetWaterSurpr]

This thread will have tons of solid info for those who find themselves in the same situation I was in.

[Sailordive]

Old-Biscuit wrote:

kalynzoo wrote:
Not sure what your requirements for a campground are, but there are Good Sam Campgrounds (found in the Good Sam or Trailer Life Books) KOA campgrounds found on KOA.com, and there is also RVparkreviews.com that list campgrounds by area. We always travel with our dogs but honestly your 200lb dog will be a major problem in finding a campground. Many campgrounds are restricted by their insurance policies (which are hard enough to maintain) and dogs will be limited to less than 20lbs. Some breed are also excluded.
That's not to say you can't travel with the pets in the future, but you may have to do some serious planning, research, and make advance reservations to find facilities friendly to your needs.
Good luck.

200# and a Mastiff.......Mastiff is on the list of banned breeds

Ok, I have seen some parks with a list of banned breeds, probably less than 20% I have looked into, for ever place I stay I look at a dozen I have never seen a weight limit.

My top 3 ways to find places are the Allstays App(definitely is not all inclusive, Overnightrvparking.com and Harvest Host. I will then separately check the State Park website to make sure some were not missed or if they list alternatives. If those 3 don't work calling the Chamber of Commerce or even the place you want to visit.