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Getting Frustrated


geO

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My wife and I finally are getting ready to hit the road again in a few weeks and every RV park we've tried  for reservations is booked. How do you guys find locations and why are we having such a frustrating time with this? We want a full hook up site and any tips or tricks are welcome!

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We use two apps: Allstays and Ultimate US Public Campgrounds.  We tend to look for state parks, county parks, and COE parks.  Many have FHU.  Some of the nicest campgrounds we've stayed at were state parks.  We stay at commercial RV parks when there's nothing else.  Once we find some possibilities we check RV Park Reviews to see ratings.  Mike

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Texas Hill Country | 2016 Elite II #135 | 2020 Ram 2500 6.7L

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You won't want to hear this, but unless you can camp midweek, this is standard for highly populated states without much public land. When your only choice is developed campgrounds, you have too much competition. One reason we moved from Seattle across the state to Spokane is to get away from the weekend hoards, and to get closer to National Forests and other federal and state lands. The availability of free dispersed  or low cost camping in DNR, NFS, and COE campgrounds GREATLY reduces the demand for full hookup state parks and the like. Plus the population density is orders of magnitude lower.

 

This problem was highlighted for us when we picked up our trailer on a Monday in TN and didn't have any trouble until the weekends. You must have long term reservations for those days. There just aren't enough available spots to meet demand in a booming RV economy.

 

Sorry. Move west, but not to the coast, problem solved. Or at least greatly reduced.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

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SOLD 07/23 "Mouse":  2017 Legacy Elite II Two Beds, Hull Number 218, See my HOW TO threads: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/john-e-davies-how-to-threads-and-tech-articles-links/

Tow Vehicle: 2013 Land Cruiser 200, 32” LT tires, airbags, Safari snorkel, Maggiolina Grand Tour 360 Carbon RTT.

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I think it's much easier to find a slot without full hook-up. Remember your Ollie is made to boondock, dry camp, wild camp. Are you going to stay two weeks somewhere? Two months? You are young never mind about hooking up and dumping once every 10 days. I'm twenty years older than you and I don't mind it. Use the shower room and toilet at the campsite and you can go for weeks without dumping. You will have thousands of more places to camp if you can do this! Otherwise, you need 30' camper like my brother and stay six months. You might have to plan a year ahead to get a nice place in Texas to stay for six months and usually the fee is quite a bit cheaper. Just my opinion, not to upset or belittle anyone. I had to come to terms with this as everyone who chooses an Ollie does. The first thing I learned is there are more campers all the time and a limited number of spaces. Go figure!

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J-Rhett


Oliver Legacy Elite II (Irog)


1995 Ford F-250 x4 Turbo Diesel


Trek Bikes, Hobie Cat Kayak

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In TN at least, you can't reserve a state park site on the day of arrival. This allows drop-ins to take spots that are not reserved previously. We have had good luck MID WEEK by looking for unreserved sites online, then stopping for the night. By Friday night all sites were reserved, darn it....

 

Obviously the prime sites get snatched up early, you may end up close to a playset or away from the view or beach.

 

I was amazed to discover that there are almost no sites in TN that do not have full or partial hookups. (Meriweather Lewis State Park is one exception - no hookups and free.) That is weird when you look at the situation in the West, where this is much less common. It also makes for very expensive recreation, when you have to go to a commercially run park that is trying to make a profit, and charges you $40 or more for your one night stay.....

 

I think it ruins the experience. But when all "campable" lands are run for profit, there is nothing you can do about it, except plan for a long trip through states with lots of free lands.

 

federal_lands.jpg?1422311293

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

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SOLD 07/23 "Mouse":  2017 Legacy Elite II Two Beds, Hull Number 218, See my HOW TO threads: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/john-e-davies-how-to-threads-and-tech-articles-links/

Tow Vehicle: 2013 Land Cruiser 200, 32” LT tires, airbags, Safari snorkel, Maggiolina Grand Tour 360 Carbon RTT.

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Still in the learning phase of traveling and thus far I've learned making reservations early in the week lands you more opportunity. Found a nice little site just outside New Orleans for $20, not bad for full hook ups and the location.

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geO - I think that we paid more than $20/night at the Jude Travel Park in New Orleans, but, Jude was fairly close to the French Quarter (10 miles or so).  If you have not already, try doing a "Search" for New Orleans on this Forum.  I wrote a trip summary including New Orleans and there are several other mentions of it there.

 

Have a fun and safe trip!

 

Bill

2023 Ford F150 Lariat 3.5EB FX4 Max Towing, Max Payload, 2016 Oliver Elite II - Hull #117 "Twist"

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geO – I think that we paid more than $20/night at the Jude Travel Park in New Orleans, but, Jude was fairly close to the French Quarter (10 miles or so). If you have not already, try doing a “Search” for New Orleans on this Forum. I wrote a trip summary including New Orleans and there are several other mentions of it there. Have a fun and safe trip! Bill

 

Thanks Bill! I'll do a search!

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On the other side of the coin:: as someone that lived in a commercial campground, it was always something to see state and national campgrounds, with million dollar bathhouses. And to top it off, they only charged $3 to $9 a night and they have the best views and beaches.  A commercial campground would find it hard to do that and keep the road graded. The state and federal are paved as well. Our tax dollars at work. And the competing government is the ones that licence and regulates. We do like to see the government parks are starting to be self supporting, as some are starting to show needed upkeep and maintenance. We stayed in 5 or 6 over the last month that were understaffed or on the honor system...

 

That said, I also like to camp free, with full hook ups and concierge service...

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Don't be afraid to drive in & ask even if online booking shows the park is full. We camp quite frequently in Georgia State Parks. Georgia uses an online booking system & they are normally fully booked by February each year but you can drive in & they will give out the sites that were canceled or people didn't show up, etc. We pulled into Mocassin Creek SP on friday morning & got a prime site on the river side. Each morning Clair went up to the camp store to see if we could add another day. We were able the stay the entire Memorial weekend without moving from our site. Most Georgia SP sites have water & electric, clean bathrooms, a dump station & a few of the parks allow you to run a hose to their drainage grates for gray water. We enjoyed hearing the local musicians by the park's evening bonfire.

 

Kathy

Clair & Kathy Reed - plus our travel companion: Emma


2017 Legacy Elite II - Hull# 245


2014 Ram 1500 3.0 V6 Eco-diesel 4x4


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