Seasonal camping thread

[riderskate]

Looks nice Geo. I have never been to Lake in Wood yet but I go Oak Creek often, it's only about 10 minutes from lake in wood, it is also in Narvon.

[aceinspp]

Interesting thread. Like all the ways folks have set up there areas. Guess not for all tho. This one thing I would never consider to many cons. Besides I go to camp to relax and travel and see things. Enjoy. Later RJD

[Platokidd]

We thought about leaving the a/c on, set at 83 degrees. Figuring it might make it less work for the fridge.. Then just decided to open the roof vents a couple of inches since we have lids.

What say you?

[crunchman12001]

My neighbor leaves his air on, says he hates to come there to a warm 5th wheel. This is my first year, old habits die hard. I lock mine up tight but am starting to lean towards leaving the air on but hate to wear it out and have it break down on me. I do have the MaxxAir vents but I keep that closed too.
It will be helpful to hear what the others do here.
crunchman

[Iwritecode]

Originally Posted by Platokidd

We thought about leaving the a/c on, set at 83 degrees. Figuring it might make it less work for the fridge.. Then just decided to open the roof vents a couple of inches since we have lids.

What say you?

We leave our A/C off and our vents closed every week. I'd rather not waste the money to run the A/C when we aren't there. It doesn't get that hot that often to make that much of a difference IMO.

We drove through your CG this past weekend. Probably drove right past your site at one point.

We are looking at the possibility of moving. It's a pretty slim chance right now but we want to know what else is out there if the need ever arises. A lot of the people we hung around with in our CG have already left for one reason or another.

[Iwritecode]

I am beginning to fear that our CG is not long for this world. The owner(s) have been struggling mightily for a few years and this year seems to be the worst it’s ever been.

At least 3 seasonals left at the end of last year. Two took their trailers with them. One left theirs and sold it to another person that hardly ever uses it. 4 seasonals have already put their trailers up for sale this year. One is on a double lot so that’s a double hit if they end up pulling out. One couple came in towards the beginning of the year but couldn’t come up with the payments for their lot rent so they won’t be back. There is rumor that 2 or 3 more seasonals will be leaving at the end of this year.

We just drove around the CG this past weekend and were pretty surprised at the number of empty lots. We’ve been camping at this CG for about 12 years and it used to be a really great place. It was busy every single weekend and there was always something to do. Now we are lucky if we get half a dozen weekenders on any given weekend and there are almost never any activities happening.

Security and rule enforcement are almost non-existent so everyone pretty much just does whatever they want.

My wife and I have been searching around for another CG. My parents and her parents also have trailers in the CG so if we go, they will likely go with us. I love my trailer and I love camping, but it’s just not enjoyable in a CG with so many things that need to be addressed and never are.

Worst of all is the river that runs through the CG floods. A LOT. IIRC the last big flood was in 2007. That’s when everything started going downhill IMO. Every couple of years it floods bad enough to make using our trailer impossible. A couple years ago it got bad enough that we had to pull our trailer out to higher ground. So we’ve been researching places that don’t have flooding problems. I think we’ll end up paying more, but it might be worth the peace of mind of knowing we won’t lose our trailer some weekend when we get too much rain.

[Platokidd]

Rather not say where, but you know. See anything like this last weekend?
So glad to have the high ground!

[Sharps45120]

Does it count if you own the property you seasonal camp on?

DH and I got tired of hauling the RV and losing pre-paid sites due to changes in work schedule, so we bought a 1/4 acre lot near Pymatuning. In the 3 years since, we've acquired another 5 contiguous lots and just got approval for the sewer line extension project. We've spent the last 4 summers hauling water in and waste out.


Just got an electric meter hooked up to the newest lot that already had a well, shed and electric pole, so by next season, we'll be on that lot. Have to stone the driveway since a bunch of trees grew up in the 10 years or so since the place was last used.


We sold the toy hauler last year and bought a 5th wheel, but may end of trading that in for something more along the lines of a park model.


Howdy to everyone!

[Sharps45120]

Crunchman, we loved Indian Creek! Used to go up with the bikes in the summer and stayed at Indian Creek in both a tent and the toy hauler. Really nice place!

[lgray]

Originally Posted by Sharps45120

Does it count if you own the property you seasonal camp on?

DH and I got tired of hauling the RV and losing pre-paid sites due to changes in work schedule, so we bought a 1/4 acre lot near Pymatuning. In the 3 years since, we've acquired another 5 contiguous lots and just got approval for the sewer line extension project. We've spent the last 4 summers hauling water in and waste out.


Just got an electric meter hooked up to the newest lot that already had a well, shed and electric pole, so by next season, we'll be on that lot. Have to stone the driveway since a bunch of trees grew up in the 10 years or so since the place was last used.


We sold the toy hauler last year and bought a 5th wheel, but may end of trading that in for something more along the lines of a park model.


Howdy to everyone!

Just out of curiosity, why are you looking to trade your fifth wheel for a park model? Our seasonal is a fifth wheel in a 576 site park of which, about 400 of them are park models. More and more are trading their park models for either destination trailers (Cedar Creek’s are sweet) or fifth wheels. What they have found is that the park models believe it or not are not built as well as a GOOD fifth wheel or destination trailer yet cost more. In addition, they depreciate very quickly, faster than the other options and on the FL coast are about $2,400 a year to insure, if you can find coverage.
IMO, as much as we complain about the quality of our fifth wheels, they do make a very good seasonal…after all they are supposedly designed to be hauled down the road.

[Iwritecode]

Originally Posted by Platokidd

Rather not say where, but you know. See anything like this last weekend?
So glad to have the high ground!

Yes, yes I did.

According to the NOAA measurements, it's gone down a foot and a half since yesterday. So I think we'll be ok for a little while at least.

[Sharps45120]

Originally Posted by lgray

Just out of curiosity, why are you looking to trade your fifth wheel for a park model? Our seasonal is a fifth wheel in a 576 site park of which, about 400 of them are park models. More and more are trading their park models for either destination trailers (Cedar Creek’s are sweet) or fifth wheels. What they have found is that the park models believe it or not are not built as well as a GOOD fifth wheel or destination trailer yet cost more. In addition, they depreciate very quickly, faster than the other options and on the FL coast are about $2,400 a year to insure, if you can find coverage.
IMO, as much as we complain about the quality of our fifth wheels, they do make a very good seasonal…after all they are supposedly designed to be hauled down the road.

Thanks for the advice on park models. It was just something DH mentioned when we talked of moving over to the new lot - mostly I guess because we could maybe leave it on the lot year round, whereas with the 5th wheel we have an RV permit instead of an 'occupancy permit' for the property and must have the camper off site from late November until mid March. He mentioned even a mobile home, but that's a good bit down the road.

By the way, I love the pics of your RV park! It's gorgeous. I love FL, but my other half, not so much. We've been all over down there and he's not really anxious to make another trip.

[Platokidd]

Originally Posted by Iwritecode

Yes, yes I did.

According to the NOAA measurements, it's gone down a foot and a half since yesterday. So I think we'll be ok for a little while at least.

The long time campers say this is nothing. But for us and several other newer campers it's a lot of water.

[lgray]

Originally Posted by Sharps45120

Thanks for the advice on park models. It was just something DH mentioned when we talked of moving over to the new lot - mostly I guess because we could maybe leave it on the lot year round, whereas with the 5th wheel we have an RV permit instead of an 'occupancy permit' for the property and must have the camper off site from late November until mid March. He mentioned even a mobile home, but that's a good bit down the road.

By the way, I love the pics of your RV park! It's gorgeous. I love FL, but my other half, not so much. We've been all over down there and he's not really anxious to make another trip.

Thanks on Melbourne ORA. If you get him down there at the right time, he will find more than enough to do…it grows on you quick. We get down there every 6-8 weeks, all year long. Class C it to state parks and more local trips.
That is very interesting on the permit and licensure. In FL, the park models and RV’s all have regular plates. Park models are seen as the same as RV’s as they technically have wheels.
One other side note, the RVIA standards allow for a park models to be no more than 400 square feet, a fifth wheel, is now approved for 436, or at least it was a year or so ago.

[crunchman12001]

Originally Posted by Sharps45120

Crunchman, we loved Indian Creek! Used to go up with the bikes in the summer and stayed at Indian Creek in both a tent and the toy hauler. Really nice place!

Hi Sharps45120,
I am glad you got to enjoy Indian Creek in the past.The park staff has added more seasonal sites past the totem pole and they are already filled. The Andrus boys are pretty much running the place and have made many improvements. The resturant and bar have been completely remodeled and the parking lot has been concreted.
The management stays out of your way as a seasonal and lets you fix up your site to your desire. The campground has many ( 100's ) weekenders and has a long waiting list for new seasonals. It will be exciting to see what happens this winter.
crunchman

[Sharps45120]

Originally Posted by lgray

Thanks on Melbourne ORA. If you get him down there at the right time, he will find more than enough to do…it grows on you quick. We get down there every 6-8 weeks, all year long. Class C it to state parks and more local trips.
That is very interesting on the permit and licensure. In FL, the park models and RV’s all have regular plates. Park models are seen as the same as RV’s as they technically have wheels.
One other side note, the RVIA standards allow for a park models to be no more than 400 square feet, a fifth wheel, is now approved for 436, or at least it was a year or so ago.

We both still work and have a teenager just entering high school, so the best we can hope for is the 2 week Christmas break. DH works construction, so summer is boom time for him. The one area he really liked was around Astor, FL, the Lake George area. If any return visits are scheduled, it will likely be there. I, on the other hand, am in love with the Keys, but it's a 1300+ mile trip and very spendy.

[Sharps45120]

Originally Posted by crunchman12001

Hi Sharps45120,
I am glad you got to enjoy Indian Creek in the past.The park staff has added more seasonal sites past the totem pole and they are already filled. The Andrus boys are pretty much running the place and have made many improvements. The resturant and bar have been completely remodeled and the parking lot has been concreted.
The management stays out of your way as a seasonal and lets you fix up your site to your desire. The campground has many ( 100's ) weekenders and has a long waiting list for new seasonals. It will be exciting to see what happens this winter.
crunchman

I'm glad the campground is thriving. GOTL is a gorgeous area and a lot of fun to ride along the shore to Ashtabula. I wonder if the Bum Boat is still docked in Ashtabula. That was one funky place to get a beer!

[Iwritecode]

Originally Posted by Platokidd

The long time campers say this is nothing. But for us and several other newer campers it's a lot of water.

Yea... that was nothing. It can get so much worse. It only got to about 6.4 ft. Wait until it gets up to 9 or 10 ft. It's not even a matter of if... it's when.

The last really bad flood was April of 2013. It was up over 12 ft. That's the one where we had to move our trailer.

[Iwritecode]

Here's a pic of what it looks like when it's "bad".

[Platokidd]

Originally Posted by Iwritecode

Here's a pic of what it looks like when it's "bad".

your pic dont show up