to reserve or not to reserve

[kwise_6]

I’ve been RVing for about a year now, and every time I plan out a road trip I am careful to include reservations at parks along the way. However, I’m getting the bug to just get on the road and go – not necessarily knowing in advance where I will end up on any given day. A carefully planned road trip would obviously negate the freedom of taking it day by day for a change. I’m sure many others have done this, and I’m just wondering how often they may have run into any serious problems with finding space at campgrounds. I’m sure geographic locations (very popular locales) as well as seasons would play into this scenario. Nonetheless, I would be interested to hear what others have done along this same line. If anyone would like to share their experiences and insight, I would certainly appreciate it. Thanks!

[Bayoubass]

We hate to make reservations also. Hate to have to rush to get to a place planned ahead of time if something slows us down or we find a nice location on the way. And if you make a reservation and the place is not what you expected, oh well, you are stuck. Seeing is believing and so many parks/campgrounds are not so comfortable/clean. Now if we know the place because we have been there and also know we can make it within time, we will book it in advance. Common sense rules here.....

[stevenicol]

...for my lovely wife and I it boils down to she has to have a place to land that will be there fore certain; now if you want to have a little more excitement and throw caution to the wind, hit the road and see what you find; but, California is a happy and popular place to be camping, so finding a site my be tough,

Good luck, happy camping, and enjoy the adventure!

[dcason]

If you are open to staying a night at walmart, rest area, etc. you could put this to use. If you want to settle in somewhere and it must be a campground, And you are in high season, don't mess up your vacation by not reserving.

I have always wanted to just take off, decide the day before I get the itch and just quick throw clothing in rv and take off for our usual 6 weeks to 3 months. Have not done it yet...too much of a planner but I will!
Donna

[Veebyes]

10 seasons & something like 1500 nights behind us, we seldom make reservations. That is not to say that reservations are not made. Much depends on the where & when we are.

Sunday to Thursday reservations are very seldom needed anywhere. Even weekends one can often wing it. The trick is to get where you want Thursday or early Friday. Seems that most CGs will have a few non reservable sites.

All bets are off if you are rolling into an extremely popular area or when there is a special event going on. That is when booking way ahead becomes a necessity.

The FHUs are always going to go first, then the W/Es, then the long dry ones, finally the small dry sites. It helps not to be fussy & flexible.

[PyrateSilly]

It all depends on where and when you are wanting to go. If we are under a time constraint then usually we don't even try for a campground. We drive for 500 or more miles then just stop at a truck stop, rest area or welcome center. This trip coming up will be like that. With the RV not going to finished getting fixed early enough we have to be on the other coast with a week or less. Not the driving we wanted to do but hey you gotta do what you gotta do. The granddaughter is headed to Space Camp mid June and we are her ride, lol.

Now when we went over to the UK Nov/Dec time frame it was after the crowds and we were able to just pick a place in the morning while having breakfast to see where we wanted to stop on our tour. Would never do that during season but then we figured going when all the towns are dressing up for the holidays was a good time go, lol.

[RRinNFla]

A little math lesson.

RV sales are up.
RV rentals are way up.
RV parking spots are not keeping up.
Do the math.

[rockhillmanor]

K3WE wrote:

ncrowley wrote:
It depends on where you are going...if you call sometime around noon, you can usually get a spot where you plan to stop that day.

DING DING DING! WE HAVE A WINNER!

The time of year matters, weekday vs. weekend matters, popular vs. unpopular destination matters.

If you are going to a popular place at a popular time, you better have reservations.

If you are just running down the road between 'here and there', there's often no need.

AND, the call ahead at noon (or even later...DEPENDING) suggestion is excellent too. Our very first RV trip, our first night out was a comic tragedy and after 1.5 hours driving around we found a motel!

X2

I full-time. The first time out I made a reservation at 9 in the morning for that night. I hung up hit the road and there was a 12 car pile up on the interstate. There was no way I was going to make that CG.

I called back within the hour only to find out that they had already charged my credit card (which they said they only needed for the reservation and would only be charged when I got there)....long story short I lost the money, no refunds they said. :R

Since that day and for 6 years on the road since I have NEVER made a reservation and have always found a CG to rest for the night.
Almost ALL CG's leave spots in the front row open all the time to accomodate 'traveling RV'ers'.

And here is something many do not know.

I sure didn't know you could do this until I was RV'ing to a sporting event with 2 other MH's. We were going to make a straight run no stopping for the night to Atlanta. Around 10:00 at night the lead driver got leg cramps and couldn't continue. All he said was for us to follow him.

Shocked to me, he pulled us all into the first 'closed' CG off the interstate. We parked up front in empty spots went over to the office and low and behold there is sign that said late arrivals should just find a spot and see manager in the morning!!!:B

Almost all CG's have this courtesy. They even will have box for you to put in a check and/or a map where you should park.

Since then I never have a care how late I might have to find a CG.

I do when there are Holidays coming up find a nice CG around Tuesday (again no reservations) of that weekend for the night and in the morning I extend my stay then I just sit and stay until the holidays are over. For me I just don't want to be on the road with my MH on holidays anyway.

[tragusa3]

We are about to experience the dark side!

I enjoy planning and enjoy knowing things are set in place. It doesn't remove the adventure for me, it allows for adventure.

We've now made 3 different 2 month trips. The first was reserved EVERY single day. It was an amazing trip! We had one breakdown that caused an adjustment, but other than that, we had wonderful spots in all the right places. Year 2, we had a few key reservations at the beginning and then winged the rest. This year, all we know is we are driving west! LOL

I'm uneasy this year, but anxious to see what it feels like to be on the road just going where the wind blows.

[K3WE]

ncrowley wrote:
It depends on where you are going...if you call sometime around noon, you can usually get a spot where you plan to stop that day.

DING DING DING! WE HAVE A WINNER!

The time of year matters, weekday vs. weekend matters, popular vs. unpopular destination matters.

If you are going to a popular place at a popular time, you better have reservations.

If you are just running down the road between 'here and there', there's often no need.

AND, the call ahead at noon (or even later...DEPENDING) suggestion is excellent too. Our very first RV trip, our first night out was a comic tragedy and after 1.5 hours driving around we found a motel!

[ChuckV1]

wa8yxm wrote:
TO a very great extent it depends on when you are traveling.

Example: Next weekend is memorial day.. July 4, Labor day.. All busy days

This weekend within 50 miles of Xenia, OH.. Very busy (I just got back from Xenia) In fact I was unable to get a reservation for the full weekend. (Changed when I got here and down-graded my site needs.. NOTE: Not a hardship at all.. I don't need sewer for this short a stay)

OH, The main crossroads in Xenia in the morning.. Forget it, parking lot, as thousands of folks like me descend on the fairgrounds.

(I had a very good day there today. Beat most of the traffic because I had a plan that worked very well.. Got everything I wanted to do done, Spent the money I planned to spend. Very happy.)

For fellow Ham Radio Operators reading this.. As I said, for most traffic was a witch. Thanks to good maps and a willingness to "Adventure" and my plan (Eat breakfast in Xenia was the plan by the way... Linda's Cafe, about half a block east of Detroit on the south side of Main) Dinner too. The specials this evenign were 3 for 3 on my favorites list) I avoided most of the traffic jam.

The fairgrounds layout was fantastic.. I got to EVERY exhibitor's booth, Ever Flea Market spot. And more... NO problems, all in one day. WIth the old arena you got lost more than anything.

Was wonder how the layout went, a number of us talked about if the flee market was set up ok ... Stayed north of Dayton last year one exit above I-70, so it was pretty easy to get to the park and ride ..Wonder how they worked the park and ride out this year with changing locations

73 W5KAV

[Clay_L]

In 11 years of full timing we usually tried to stop for the night at about 3 o'clock. About an hour before my wife would pull out the Trailer Life Directory or our travel journal (In the journal we had lists of places we had stayed before with notes about them) and start looking for a place. Then she would call ahead for a pull through site. She rarely had to call more than one RV park.

[NCWriter]

It's not that you will have a problem pulling in somewhere to overnight, it's the quality of the place. If you just want to sleep anywhere, sure, you could wing it unless you are in certain parts of the US. (Some parts of the NE have minimal public land campgrounds and not many commercial ones either. Out west, we've driven long desert stretches recently where there were no open rest stops and it was many, many miles to a gas station. Wouldn't have wanted to be out there as darkness came, hoping for a place.) So at least plan ahead during the same day.

But if you like state and national parks in high demand places, enjoy great views out your windows, waterfront sites, excellent and clean commercial campground facilities? You might consider planning ahead.

Back during the recession, it was easier to book close in than it is now. We notice dozens of shiny, new RVs daily on the roads and in the CGs...lots of new retirees come of age daily. More competition for sites.

For me, the atmosphere at the campground or RV Park is part of my enjoyment of a vacation, and I enjoy the research. I like knowing where we'll sleep and spend a few days in special places. But I'm a planner and others consider it confining. So it's an individual choice.

[jerseyjim]

On the road....coast to coast (4 times) my experience(s):

Leave early like 6-7 AM. Pull in to a chosen cg around 3PM. No problems getting a site for the nite.

Never even try for a spot without reservations if a holiday weekend. Especially within 100 miles of a major city.

Watch the weather. Major snow/ice on, say I-40...the RVs tend to move south to I-20...then to I-10. One would need reservations then. Figure out where you might be at the end of your day...and lookup campgrounds (Trailer Life Guide, for instance) and call. You should know this info when you leave for the day. Call ahead.

On our trips E-W or even N-S, we seem to use KOAs quite a lot. Then seem to have the interstates locked up...easy in, easy out and for the most part not bad places....PLUS most of the sites happen to be pull-thrus. (No guarantees, tho).

Our "comfort zone" is 300 miles a day. 6 hours. Hope this helps a little bit.

[bikendan]

we tried "winging" it in our new TT, for a 7 week trip starting in mid-March.
we started in Washington and headed south through Oregon and California and back.
we thought, "hey, it's March and we shouldn't need reservations".

WRONG!!!
some private parks were upset that we didn't make reservations and only had a few spots we could take, cause they were almost full.

in Ventura County, we had to bypass 3 public coastal campgrounds cause they were full. luckily we were able to find a spot at the last minute, but it was very stressful.

we had to move 4 times in the San Diego area, in a 10 day stretch. and that was with 8 nights reserved.

what we didn't realize was that spring break now goes from February to May, with schools all getting out at different times.
so many campgrounds were full.

we learned a big lesson. if you want to camp along the West Coast, MAKE reservations! anytime except winter.