Campsite Reservations as Full-Timers?

[george637]

I was wondering if full-timers usually make campsite reservations well ahead of time. My husband and I are retiring the end of the year and will start our full-time life style the beginning of next year. We prefer to stay in federal (ACOE, federal forest service, or BLM parks/land) or state parks and would prefer not to make reservations in advance. We'd prefer to have the freedom to see where the road leads us; but we're also concerned that we might not find campsites if we do not reserve. We have a 35' Bighorn 5er. I'd like to hear from full-timers what their experience has been.

George & Linda
Along with Licorice (Goldendoodle) and Taffy (Terrier mix)
2016 Bighorn 3270rl
View attachment IMG_1613.JPG

 

[danemayer]

Re: Reservations?

Hi George637,

In Colorado, the state parks are spacious, but in many, you have to make a very early reservation.

 

[BarbandFrank]

Re: Reservations?

We are full time, and since our Landmark is over 42’ and won’t fit into some sites, we make reservations just about everywhere we go. We spent the last two winters in Florida at state parks and discovered campsites need to be reserved well in advance. Sometimes our plans change and we need to cancel reservations and make new ones, which is frustrating because you incur fees. if you do not make reservations, be sure to have solar so you can boondock if needed.

Good luck!

Barb

 

[jayc]

Re: Reservations?

We always make reservations for our destinations. The problems are the overnight stops along the route to the destinations. There are more and more people RV'ing and they are filling up the parks.

 

[mlpeloquin]

Re: Reservations?

You need to make reservations, and forget most of the parks in California. The a lot of them were put in when most trailers were short. So a lot of the parks are designed for short trailers like Lake Tahoe, Kings Canyon, and Yosemite ( a national park). If you want to visit these areas, there are nice privet parks near them. You can get into Morro Bay State Park dry camping. A really nice park. They do have water available and a dump station. There are a few full hookup sites, but 28' to 30' max. Some of county parks you would fit into now demand full payment in advance with registration on line. Don't be shocked at the $55 to $65 per night cost around Monterey/Carmel all the way down to King City. So if you want to visit California, reservations are a must to make sure you get a spot and to know if your fifth wheel will fit.

 

[wdk450]

Re: Reservations?

I bought a Lifetime Membership Transfer to Thousand Trails Campgrounds. With my contract I can stay in the system 365 days a year with 21 day maximum stays, and a minimum week away from the previous park. I can make reservations up to 90 days in advance of the check-in date. I mainly stay in California, and there are 14 parks in California. There are also 4 on the Oregon Coast, and a bunch in Washington, 1 in Las Vegas.
In my fulltiming situation, I have tried to project where I want to be 4-6 months ahead. I then use a Julian Date calendar (days of the year numbered 1-365), find the date I want the reservation to start, subtract 90 days from that Julian date to get a regular date to make the reservation. I then enter a reminder on that date on my Google Calendar to make the reservation, and I get an e-mail reminder about 3 days ahead of the day to make the reservation. I can always change an reservation, and do all of this online within the Thousand Trails Website.

 

[chiefneon]

Re: Reservations?

Howdy!

We have been fulltiming for over 12 years. We found that there are three times a year you need to make reservations Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day holidays. Arrive before the holiday starts and stay a few days after. But to add to that the last couple of years we have also found it increasing difficulty finding places to stay on the fly for more than a over night stay. We found this to be true last year on our trip to and from Alaska. There seems to be many more RVers especially during the family travel season. That’s why we opted to go to Florida during during the summer again this year. It’s hot yea but no snowbirds now and the RV parks are easy to get into even around Orlando and in the Keys.

” Happy Trails “
Chiefneon

 

[MTPockets]

Re: Reservations?

We travelled extensively for nearly 5 years and also preferred State, Nat’l Parks, BLM. We made reservations months in advance for 90% of our stays. Our preferred places weren’t always available due to the selected route, so we would reserve at other available campgrounds. Our policy was that we always stayed a minimum of two nights and any travel day was usually under 250 miles. This worked very well for us and never had to spend any time during the day trying to make a reservation or feeling the need to get in early to get a site since we had one waiting regardless of arrival time. If something came up that we wanted to stop and see, we did it and continued to the reserved location afterwards. I’ve seen posts where people say they rarely had a problem, but would guess they left early and arrived early. We never felt rushed or pressured to get a spot. Being retired is more leisurely than trying to get miles behind you on vacation.

 

[george637]

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences and wisdom with us newbies. I've started making reservations now for next winter.