Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 

Go Back   Keystone RV Forums > Keystone Community Forums > Campgrounds & Destinations
Click Here to Login

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 12-08-2019, 07:42 PM   #21
GrandmaL
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: Silver Bay
Posts: 4
We are Minnesotans and winter in the Florida Keys. After the first couple of nights when we stay at the same places each time, we do different routes and plan for approximately 300 miles/day. So we check the map the evening before we leave a place and make a reservation in the morning on the way. We're currently in Mississippi, and will leave here for the Florida Panhandle in the morning. Then stop a few other places for a day or three on the way to the Keys. I always try to make reservations because we never know when we might have a problem or a call from home that someone is ill. We don't want to have to cancel reservations in those cases.
GrandmaL is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-09-2019, 02:41 PM   #22
notanlines
Senior Member
 
notanlines's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Germantown, TN
Posts: 6,306
"In TX bay city to San Antonio to Corpus Christi and eventually arriving in Phoenix area around Jan 1. "
I kind of wondered about that myself. But when you're retired there are no 'correct' routes.
__________________
Jim in Memphis, Wife of 51 years is Brenda
2019 F450 6.7 Powerstroke
2018 Mobile Suites 40RSSA
2021 40' Jayco Eagle
2001 Road king w/matching Harley sidecar
2021 Yamaha X2 Wolverine 1000
notanlines is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-09-2019, 03:43 PM   #23
GrandmaL
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: Silver Bay
Posts: 4
Agreed!!!!
GrandmaL is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-09-2019, 04:30 PM   #24
larryflew
Senior Member
 
larryflew's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: Young America MN
Posts: 372
Quote:
Originally Posted by LHaven View Post
This sounds like the last time I let the DW navigate.
Even my DW got a good laugh. Thanks.
larryflew is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-09-2019, 07:18 PM   #25
Jim2366
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Midwest
Posts: 238
I received in the mail my senior pass for the recreation areas. I am looking to reserve a vacation in advance for this summer in Colorado. I am guessing I should do it in advance.
Jim2366 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-09-2019, 07:51 PM   #26
Gunny Mike
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: Peru
Posts: 133
At peninsula state park in door county wisconsin we had to put in our reservations a year in advance. We took a recon of the park a few months before our date and found the park really isn't big RV friendly. Ended up pulling out our yurt for the first time. Would of cancelled our reservations but our family lived there back in 1870. Space said a 55' rig would fit but I wasn't going to risk it.
Gunny Mike is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-15-2019, 02:59 PM   #27
linux3
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Western NY
Posts: 586
We could not even begin to plan in advance.
I really don't like pulling for more than 4 ~ 5 hours a day and we take way, way too many stops.
When the DM is sick of riding or I'm tired of driving it's "Hey google campgrounds near me".
Some days we only pull for 1.5 hours.
US 30 in Missouri we saw a sign for Walt Disney Hometown Museum in Marceline, Missouri.
We stopped and toured the museum and downtown. We walked around and in a hardware store on Main Street I bought some metric bolts to fix my bike.
I'm often amazed at just how long it can take us to get somewhere. But we have fun and that is the goal.
We are going up to Acadia Maine this summer with friends. They have the entire route mapped out. We do have reservations in Acadia but we are leaving a few days before the main group because who knows when we will arrive.
__________________
#####################
Rob
Bereft of TT and looking.
2020 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71 6.2L
linux3 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-15-2019, 04:56 PM   #28
JRTJH
Site Team
 
JRTJH's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Gaylord
Posts: 26,836
Rob,

You travel the same way as us. Some days we might make 400 miles, then next 20 miles. I think our shortest was in Galesburg, IL about 6 or 7 years ago. We broke camp about 15 miles east of town, around 10 AM, got on the interstate and while in the acceleration lane, saw a billboard for the Galesburg Railroad Museum. We pulled off at the next exit (2 miles I think) and found a campground in Knoxville, set up camp (about 2.5 miles from the previous camp) and unhitched, headed to the museum, Carl Sandburg's home/museum and wound up leaving a couple days later.

Reservations ??? If we had them, we'd need an "tour guide assistant" to keep track of them and change them throughout the trip. Many of our "best memories" are from things we didn't plan, but stumbled upon while enroute…

If we had reservations and maintained a "strict travel schedule" we'd have missed much of the "best part of traveling in an RV".....
__________________
John



2015 F250 6.7l 4x4
2014 Cougar X Lite 27RKS
JRTJH is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-15-2019, 06:31 PM   #29
travelin texans
Senior Member
 
travelin texans's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Picacho, Az
Posts: 6,809
We have a close friend that winters each year in Yuma, travels all summer & has the route with all the stops planned/reserved before leaving Yuma. Granted he usually doesn't travel far most days, but still much too regimented for us.
__________________
Full-timed 10+ years
Sold '13 Redwood FB
Traded '13 GMC Denali DRW D/A
Replacement undetermined
travelin texans is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-16-2019, 01:04 PM   #30
linux3
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Western NY
Posts: 586
Quote:
Originally Posted by JRTJH View Post
Rob,

You travel the same way as us.

If we had reservations and maintained a "strict travel schedule" we'd have missed much of the "best part of traveling in an RV".....
Well said.
We like US routes rather than Interstates because there is a lot more stuff to see.
__________________
#####################
Rob
Bereft of TT and looking.
2020 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71 6.2L
linux3 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-17-2019, 08:32 AM   #31
sonofcy
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Qualicum Beach
Posts: 555
Quote:
Originally Posted by Viet_Vet View Post
I've been trying to plan a 2 1/2 month trip from NY to Duluth GA, Savannah Ga, down to Florida, then head west toward Houston.


All the planning has turned into a real chore, and I'm getting tired of trying to figure it all out. We have camped before, but never for this length of time, and usually just go and find someplace on the way to stay.


I was wondering if any of you full timers travel this way, and if so, how difficult was it to find campgrounds to stay without planning more than a week ahead. We will be traveling from 3rd week of December thru end of March, so probably peak season down south.


I'm thinking about joining Thousand Trails, and specifically would like to know of your successes or failures in finding a spot with minimal or no reservations with Thousand Trails. Info about last minute check-ins at non-Thousand Trails campgrounds also would be appreciated.

We aren't set up yet for boondocking, so we need full hookups.


Thanks in advance for any feedback you can give.
At the moment I am planning a one year trip around the USA and eastern Canada (I live in BC). The trip will start July 6 2021. Although I am planning for each day, I will not book anything until much closer to the time. I only travel 240 to 360 miles per day (4 to 6 hours) so it is easy to reroute to another spot. Also we will have 600AH of Lithium by then and and over 1,300 Watts of solar plus 2 2,000 watt inverter generators so can boondock for a week or more (limited by 40 gal black tank)
Wouldn't touch Thousand Trails for all the reasons mentioned in numerous posts here.
sonofcy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-17-2019, 08:34 AM   #32
sonofcy
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: Qualicum Beach
Posts: 555
Quote:
Originally Posted by linux3 View Post
Well said.
We like US routes rather than Interstates because there is a lot more stuff to see.
However, it's nice to have that median to protect you from head on collisions. I use both depending on the situation.
sonofcy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-24-2019, 08:00 PM   #33
Fishsizzle
Senior Member
 
Fishsizzle's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2018
Location: Oregon
Posts: 1,138
No more for us. Oregon is reservation for like 90% of all national Forest and State Parks. They fill up fast at the open and then tons of people cancel when they get their plans figured out. We wait a month or two after the open to see if anything better has popped up. Some never so. One site we love we have not been able to get for 15 years. People wait till midnight and push the clicker as a big group to get the site .
__________________
2017 Alpine 3661FL: For Sale
2021 Vilano
2020 F350 Crew DRW 6.7, 4x4, 10 sod auto, 4:10 gears
Fishsizzle is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-13-2020, 04:46 AM   #34
CWtheMan
Senior Member
 
CWtheMan's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Taylors, SC
Posts: 3,031
Meandering the USA

There is a lot of difference in travel habits of those that have a nomadic travel agenda as we did when full timing. The only reservations we made were for destinations. A destination being someplace we wanted to winter/summer down for a couple of months or a mid season rest stop in a popular tourist destination; like Nashville or San Diego.

Our habit was to sleep late and break-down around 9:30 AM. We would stop again as early as 1:30 PM if the stop included time to browse around. We always stopped by 4:00 PM to avoid the rushing campers who always seemed to arrive late. We NEVER went without elect/water connections or camped in someone’s parking lot. On the rural and state roads that we often traveled to avoid the rush, there are campgrounds that are not advertised except on a bill board. They are usually grassy and have at the very least, 30 AMPs and fresh water. We always allowed 150# of cargo space for waste water we may have to carry to the next stop. We have stayed in fields that had hook-ups without any management other than a drop box for paying an overnight fee. When out west look for Indian casinos. They all have some kind of RV parking from free to just a few bucks for elect/water. Most have a dump station. There are numerous casino parking places in MS. Some are first class and all provide transportation to and from the casino area, 24/7. At the one at Harrah’s at Tunica, each site has a flag pole. When you display your flag, a van will pick you up within 30 min. Tipping is allowed, LOL!

When you want to stay on the beach at Destin, FL you better call first. And, at those sites, size matters, just like it does, at most state and national parks.

Being retired military we always used military camping facilities when in our travel route. Some of them don’t even allow reservations, just first come first serve. One of the most modern ones is at Fort Bliss near El Paso. The only reservations allowed there are for those there to attend the sergeant majors course.
CWtheMan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-13-2020, 07:12 AM   #35
Keystoned
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2020
Location: abq, nm, usa
Posts: 373
We prefer to go on the fly but that is getting harder to do since many campgrounds have more reserved spots than fcfs. A few years back we went Yosemite in October thinking we could find a spot...no way, it was crowded. We had to go far away to some fair grounds campground late at night, which is another thing we don't like to do is be 'those guys', lol
__________________
Dan and Rita
Prefer not to be hooked up in a RV park
Keystoned is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-13-2020, 07:52 AM   #36
Roscommon48
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2018
Location: grand rapids
Posts: 596
just figure out the primary campgrounds and go from there. you have a route and just google campgrounds ahead of yourself as you travel


no one can tell you how far you will go in a day, just figure out what days you want to be in each of the places and then back up the days...keep it simple.
Roscommon48 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-03-2020, 06:27 PM   #37
Jim2366
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Midwest
Posts: 238
I use to enjoy doing this sometimes however now I get reservations. The state parks here in Missouri require them and no longer have first come first serves sites.
__________________
2019 Cougar 361RLW
Jim2366 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-04-2020, 10:40 AM   #38
Hblick48
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2018
Location: Folsom
Posts: 363
We have had Thousand Trails zone pass for 4 years. Worked out fine for us. Only time we have trouble getting reservations is at San Francisco (Pacifica).

Leaving on Sunday for two weeks at the beach in Oceano, CA. CG is part of the "Trails Collection" so that park costs $20/night. Then going to KOA Moss Landing for 6 nights. We also go to Thousand Trails and Encore in Palm Springs for 2 weeks each in December and January. You have to be out of the system for 1 week between 2 week stays, so we go to a non TT park in Desert Hot Springs for 7 nights.

Been on 2 cross country trips. Drive 300 miles max per day. When overnighting, we usually stay at WalMart or Cracker Barrel. Longer stays are pre planned with reservations. It takes a lot of planning to get it done. I use RV Parkey, AllStays, and Google Maps to plan. I also built a spreadsheet that I use for these extended trips. It can get very complicated. Fortunately we have not had to change plans due to mechanical, health, or pet emergencies.
__________________
2002 Montana 3250RL upgraded a bunch
2005 Ford F-250 6.0 Bullet Proofed - SOLD
2017 Ford F350 6.7 Lariet
Hblick48 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-04-2020, 02:33 PM   #39
JRTJH
Site Team
 
JRTJH's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Gaylord
Posts: 26,836
For us, the reason we travel is not to "get away" (we live so far in the woods that "camping" is what we do every day at home)... So, for us, traveling is a means to see things we otherwise would not see. We make no reservations during travel days and some days we might drive 300 miles, other days, we might drive 30 miles. Many times we have started the travel day at 8:30 or 9 AM and within a few miles, see something that we didn't know existed but is a site we'd like to see, so we would pull off the highway, spend a few minutes or maybe a few hours "as tourists" and then get back on the road, "several hundred miles behind schedule for the day".... Or, as we look at it, "It's 2PM, time to find a campground for the night (regardless of miles traveled)... We have, on more than a few occasions, left a campground and wound up back there for the next night because we "just didn't feel like driving that day".....

Reservations??? Only if we're staying for more than a week. Otherwise, finding a campground site is "part of the adventure".....
__________________
John



2015 F250 6.7l 4x4
2014 Cougar X Lite 27RKS
JRTJH is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Keystone RV Company or any of its affiliates in any way. Keystone RV® is a registered trademark of the Keystone RV Company.


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 02:36 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.