Cross Country Round Trip

[Matty Rich]

I’m planning my first really long trip; we are headed from SoCal to Upstate NY and back. End of July into mid August.
I found an app called RoadTrippers that’s been pretty helpful for planning the route and finding campgrounds. Seems like KOA’s will make the most sense. We will be arriving late evening and checking out early on most days.
I don’t have much experience with campgrounds, I do mostly dry camping.
I haven’t looked fully into the KOA’s, their membership or policy’s.
Does anyone know if it’s easy to switch from one KOA to another KOA on the same day? Example, we are running behind schedule and can’t make it to our planned KOA that day and need to switch it to one that’s not as far.
Or we have a mechanical issue and need to delay our arrival.
Just trying to be prepared as possible for anything that might happen.

As far as trailer prep, I will have new tires put on all 4 + the spare. And also planning on doing a disc brake upgrade which I’m really pumped about and been wanting to do for a while.
Tow vehicle is good to go. Just did the tires and brakes.

[LHaven]

KOA's are independently owned, so as far as I know, they don't have any more of a mechanism for swapping your reservation from one campground to another one than a Motel 6 would.

I don't know what your budget is, but KOAs, like "resorts," are on the pricy end of campgrounds. They charge a significant premium for the name.

Most people go by the prices and star reviews posted on whatever their favorite campground-finding app is. In 25 years of RVing, I think we may have stayed at four KOAs total. In fact, I think we have stayed at more ex-KOAs than KOAs. (Disclosure: the one in Williams AZ is like campground Disneyland for little ones, and is worth the differential.)

[jasin1]

i would get a Harvest Host membership and read the reviews to decide which ones make the most sense..some of them have a few full hookups spaces…i’d do the koa every other day or so to empty tanks if need be or hit a state park and then use the dump station….We have stayed at HH and it works out perfectly for us for a overnight that is more secure then a Walmart parking lot.

I cancelled a KOA mid trip and they wouldn’t transfer it to another after i realized the place i booked was outside of my route plan

Maybe your time is limited but we have found driving no more then five- six hours makes for a much more enjoyable trip…that lets us take time to see a small town or two along the way.Its also no fun for you or the other people at the campground when you pull in at night and attempt to setup in the dark with your headlights and noise and then make a noisy retreat early in the morning….enjoy the entire trip…it’s not just a race to a destination.

[NH_Bulldog]

I agree with Jasin, Harvest Host is a great idea, especially if all you intend to do is arrive late and leave early each day. I have a KOA membership and we stay in a few each year, but they are an expensive option for a simple overnight parking space. About the only selling point for many is that because it is a franchise, you know what to expect, no matter where you are. My wife says it’s the McDonald’s of campgrounds (even similar color schemes).

We use the RV Life Pro trip planner on a PC to plan trips. You can enter all your specific vehicle and trailer info so it plots a route safe for your set-up, and you can tell it how far you want to go each day either in miles or hours. It will show all the campgrounds in that particular area so you can read reviews, link to their sites, etc.

All that being said, hopefully you have already been making plans/reservations. The closer you get to the Northeast, the site availability becomes very tight during your planned travel dates. We made a big multifamily trip plan for 3 weeks in August from New England out through the midwest and around the Great Lakes. We had a bit of a struggle securing sites for our group for the trip when we made the reservations in February. We recently had someone ask if they could join us, but we couldn’t find any availability for any stops on our itinerary. .

[sourdough]

Don't lock yourself into KOAs. I'm a member but really don't know why. They are overpriced and after you pay for the membership...they're still overpriced. As was mentioned they are independently owned so what goes on at one KOA won't have any bearing on another. The good thing about them is that you at least know you're not pulling into a fly by night or questionable type of place. Harvest Hosts may be a good option, I've never stayed at one so don't know.

Plan your route and make reservations early - now would be a good time if it's not too late. Getting RV sites is getting more and more difficult in some places. Making changes on the fly used to be no problem but can put you in a parking lot overnite these days if you aren't careful. 2 weeks to make that big of a trip isn't leaving much time to do anything but drive. Be sure and try to limit your driving hours so you have time to enjoy the trip and at least get a glimpse of what it is you're traveling through/by.

Make sure you have a TPMS for your trailer. The new tires is a very good thing and I'm sure you will be very impressed with the disc brakes. Don't know who's doing it but you will need to dial back your controller or you'll be locking everything down. Good luck on the trip and have fun.

[chuckster57]

Times have changed, but we used KOA on our cross country road trip in ‘09. Get the card for the discount and it helps. We liked the fact that they each had minimum standards and I would plan my next stop the day before and reserve a space online. Never had any issues except or Douglas Wyoming KOA got pissy when we showed up 45 minutes before “check-in”.

[jsb5717]

We like and use KOA parks. But we also like Good Sam parks and any other private parks with good ratings and fair prices. We also like State and County campgrounds...their prices are typically lower than the private ones and are in some beautiful settings. I just do my research to make sure they are set up well for larger rigs and have good reviews.

Haven't used Harvest Hosts but we have friends that use them and have good things to say about the places they've been.

Bottom line...there are many, MANY good parks to choose from and several good tools for finding them. But there are also sketchy parks as well. The cancellation policies vary a lot depending on the park so read the fine print. With most all of them if you cancel last minute you won't likely get any refunds so just prepared for that. Do your research and you'll be fine.

[Matty Rich]

Thanks everyone for the insight. All makes sense.
Unfortunately time is pretty limited for this trip, so our days will be spent doing some long hauls. My lady is comfortable driving the rig, so we will switch off a couple times a days.
My buddy did Harvest Host for a few of his trips. Had mixed feelings about it.
He’s got a huge 45’ bus and said he had issues at some of the properties.
Mentioned some were very dark, lots of trees and difficult to park; especially after a long day of driving.
Either way I’ll looking to Harvest Host as an option as well.
I did get the KOA membership, not much of a discount but better than nothing.
I did noticed some of their facilities have a “reserve your space” option. Meaning I can pick a select site. While it might get a little expensive, the convenience of knowing I’ll get a good site with easy pull thru access is something I’m willing to spend a few extra bucks on.

Has anyone stayed at the KOA in Nashville? Or have any good campgrounds they can recommend that’s fairly close to the city? That’s one of the city’s we planned on stopping at for an extra rest day and would love to get out to see the city. I work in the music industry and surprisingly have never been to Nashville long enough to get out and enjoy the city.

[linux3]

Originally Posted by Matty Rich

Has anyone stayed at the KOA in Nashville? Or have any good campgrounds they can recommend that’s fairly close to the city? That’s one of the city’s we planned on stopping at for an extra rest day and would love to get out to see the city. I work in the music industry and surprisingly have never been to Nashville long enough to get out and enjoy the city.

Pre-COVID we stayed at the 2 Rivers CG. The KOA near by as a KOA Resort and rather expensive. 2 Rivers was friendly, clean and very nice. We had a full hookup back in that was roomy.

In Nashville you want to go to Broadway. Traffic is bad and if there is any parking it's expensive. Based on advice from others we went to the Grand Ole Opry and parked in their large and free lot then took Uber in to Nashville.
Round trip Uber was cheaper than 1 hour parking on Lower Broadway.