Reservations or not?

[Cypressloser]

Not sure if it's been mentioned but, if your RV is over a certain length picking up that phone is a no brainer.

Working around certain events or holidays - always a challenge.
Traveling on a set schedule - NEVER, I'm done with that part of my life.

[GreenImp]

Seems like a general trend (with exceptions) towards the retired/full timer lifestyle having the freedom to travel without reservations, and the "weekend warriors" that only get a handful of short trips in each year needing reservations for their "local" parks.

[Brother Les]

Four camping trips planned... four reservations made. I pick where I want to be in a campground. I will never just 'show up' and hope and pray for a 'spot' or have to 'settle' for a bad/inferior location that is left over and no one wanted.

[timfromma]

Originally Posted by Brother Les

Four camping trips planned... four reservations made. I pick where I want to be in a campground. I will never just 'show up' and hope and pray for a 'spot' or have to 'settle' for a bad/inferior location that is left over and no one wanted.

I have never seen a campground where you get to choose your site. Every campground I've ever made reservations at have always guaranteed me a site, I just don't know which site until I show up.

[OYO]

Originally Posted by timfromma

I have never seen a campground where you get to choose your site. Every campground I've ever made reservations at have always guaranteed me a site, I just don't know which site until I show up.

Maybe it's an eastern thing, but most all the state parks allow/force you to pick a spot (via Reserve America). Georgia is one of the few exceptions I know of.

[Brother Les]

Originally Posted by timfromma

I have never seen a campground where you get to choose your site. Every campground I've ever made reservations at have always guaranteed me a site, I just don't know which site until I show up.

Been camping for waaay over 40 years..... Hundreds of trips and sites... I can count on one hand the amount of 'campgrounds' that have said.... "We have a 'site'... just do not know until you get here".... One... two... three... I think about three times in over 40 years... I camp at State Parks... Federal Parks... Corp of Engineers (use 'Reserve America' site) and God knows how many private campgrounds.... I think that the 'few' places of 'no site' until you get here...' were like 'float places by rivers of pay by the person + camper/elec...

[KMP44]

Originally Posted by tomlista

One of the nice things about an Rv is no time restraints. If you want to stay , stay, if you want to leave, well leave....

For a 2 month trip, this is definitely one of the best things about RVing.
You'll stumble on some great places by chance (and find a few duds as well) but we love to keep things flexible, especially with overnight stops. If we see something interesting along the way, we might not get as far as we planned in a certain day. We rarely have issues finding overnight sites, especially on weekdays.

Destination spots like Yellowstone - get a reservation for sure. As you gain experience, you'll find the style that works for you. As you can see from the responses, there are many ways to approach your trip planning.

On the rare occasions we have the time, we like to keep it flexible. We've lucked into some first come/first served walk-up sites and openings from last minute cancellations. Not being tied to a rigid schedule makes for a relaxing vacation for some and a whole lot of anxiety for others!

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by timfromma

I have never seen a campground where you get to choose your site. Every campground I've ever made reservations at have always guaranteed me a site, I just don't know which site until I show up.

I don't know where you camp but I've been camping all around the West for over 33 years and every public campground reservation I've made has guaranteed the campsite I selected.
Maybe you use Private campgrounds.

[Jmkjr72]

Originally Posted by timfromma

I have never seen a campground where you get to choose your site. Every campground I've ever made reservations at have always guaranteed me a site, I just don't know which site until I show up.

Here in wi state parks you pick your site and several of our favorites let us request a specific site. Only 1 of them may not guarantee the site we requested if the site is a lot larger then our rig. They will guarantee one in that area and if a larger rig doesn’t reserve the larger site they give it to us

[Scrapper]

I want to add that here in central Wisconsin if you want to camp at private campgrounds on holiday weekends you have to make reservations well in advance. Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day weekends are almost always booked full one month in advance.

[Houston Remodeler]

Time for an amusing - we don't have a spot for you - anecdote;

We drove into Sedona pretty much by accident and fell in love with the place. Since it was a Thursday afternoon Rancho Sedona had several spots to choose from. The place is stunning !!

The next morning we had to return to Flagstaff for a tow veehickle repair. While setting in the dealership lobby we decided to return to Sedona for a few more days. When we returned to Rancho Sedona, they were sold out (duh) There was nothing nearby either

Then we had a stroke of common sense - sign up for one of those timeshare tours and get a free weekend of RV hookups. As a bonus they gave us a 2 hour 4x4 jeep tour for $30pp. We stayed 3 days, strolled the streets of Sedona, had a few wonderful meals, drove up the canyon, and enjoyed ourselves for the grand total of $60.

Surprisingly they waited until we were ready to leave to schedule our 90 minute required tour of their version of Shangri-La. That's when we threw our plan into high gear. When they asked about our income and livelihood, we casually mentioned we are high-end remodeling contractors of some 39 years.

While they were shepherding us from condo to condo, with the other customers within earshot, we made sport of dishing every cheap fixture, finish, or repair they had made. "This is a remodeled unit? What do the original ones look like? Y'all get these things delivered and set up on cinder blocks? When are y'all fixin' to add the top layer to the asphalt? Your brochure said "Luxury Living" Well sweetie, this ain't luxury"

They couldn't wait to show us the door.

[Hoglou]

5 w's apply. The who, what, why, where, and when are important.

What I mean is that if you are in a 40 ft tag you will look for diesel pull thurs for fuel, who you have with you (aka kids) you prob wont stay over at wally world, go to Sturgis in early August you may end up in Deadwood (done that).

We (as a C w/toad) follow a previous post of reserving our destination and "winging it" each day on the road. An example of Ocean Springs MS, we dropped the coach at the mall and checked out three campgrounds in the jeep. (during Cruisin' The Coast, neat time). This may be difficullt with a 5ver, where I would think landing sites would be important to know in advance, I sure would. But at the same time we are "capsule style" (think space shuttle) with everything we think we need to have to enjoy the trip, but we dont have an expansive temp home to stretch out in. Def nice to have, but large has some addition cost to the 5w's we (today) are not ready to pay.

Each rv is a compromise of available space and ease of use that will determine who, what, why, where and when it is used. Would I go to B? Prob not today, as I like the home base camp style w/toad. Would I go to a super C? Maybe, low 5w cost. A 5ver? Sure if we were not as fluild in our travels, maybe. An Integra A, sure just send me the title and I will make do..

Just my 2 cents....

[howellma]

Originally Posted by Hoglou

5 w's apply. The who, what, why, where, and when are important.

What I mean is that if you are in a 40 ft tag you will look for diesel pull thurs for fuel, who you have with you (aka kids) you prob wont stay over at wally world, go to Sturgis in early August you may end up in Deadwood (done that).

We (as a C w/toad) follow a previous post of reserving our destination and "winging it" each day on the road. An example of Ocean Springs MS, we dropped the coach at the mall and checked out three campgrounds in the jeep. (during Cruisin' The Coast, neat time). This may be difficullt with a 5ver, where I would think landing sites would be important to know in advance, I sure would. But at the same time we are "capsule style" (think space shuttle) with everything we think we need to have to enjoy the trip, but we dont have an expansive temp home to stretch out in. Def nice to have, but large has some addition cost to the 5w's we (today) are not ready to pay.

Each rv is a compromise of available space and ease of use that will determine who, what, why, where and when it is used. Would I go to B? Prob not today, as I like the home base camp style w/toad. Would I go to a super C? Maybe, low 5w cost. A 5ver? Sure if we were not as fluild in our travels, maybe. An Integra A, sure just send me the title and I will make do..

Just my 2 cents....

We live in Ocean Springs! And drive an antique truck around for cruising the coast, it's an awesome site. We do reservations as we do mainly local trips and the good campgrounds fill up. When we do our annual trip to the smoky mountains I leave nothing to chance. But our time off is limited, as we both work still and have to make the most of it.

[gectisme]

We mostly winged it for the last 20 months. It’s super nice not having to be somewhere on a certain date. We never had any big
Issues, the DW called around and found somewhere for us to stay. We camped Fishing Bridge, Yellowstone, late last August with no reservations. Drove up around noon from Cody, got a spot and stayed for 5 days. We had to check in with the Ranger Station each morning and moved to different camp sites a couple of mornings but that wasn’t a big deal to us. I think NMWildcat hit it on the head, don’t go peak of the season and you stand a good chance of getting into a campground.
[emoji106]

[BooBoo23]

Beginning in January of 2018 there will be 13 state parks in Georgia that have site specific reservations and 9 of them have limited FHU's.