Things we've noticed while fulltiming this year

[correpat]

Since 2016, most of the hotels, restaurants, campgrounds and stores in our National Parks have been contracted to Delaware North, as Xanterra contracts have expired. DN has raised prices and taken over many of the individual park-level “money-related” jobs, such as setting entry fees, campsite fees, etc. DN charges much more for everything than Xanterra and the NPS without providing more services of making noticeable improvements. I’ve noticed prices have been much higher in 2020, but, when I’ve asked, the rangers and staff tell me the cost increases have been because of fewer visitors (read: buses filled with overseas foreign tourists) booking park-to-park itineraries.

[Virginian]

Originally Posted by TheWolfPaq82

In the words of Bachman Turner Overdrive...."You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet." I see it getting a whole lot weirder in the coming months.

Ha! You're really dating yourself with that comment.

[waybeck2018]

Originally Posted by [COLOR=Red

goblerblaster[/COLOR];2448105]After recently camping at Waveland Park on Blue Mountain Lake in Arkansas, I can say I saw no problems. This is a COE park with electric and water. $10 bucks a night with Senior pass. I had a flat on my camper when I got ready to leave. Camp maintenance guy went home and brought a 150 PSI air compressor while I drove 10 miles to a Dollar General to get a can of Fix-A-Flat. He helped me air up and I made the 50 mile trip home with no problem. Very nice park and everyone was friendly- except for the couple that had a 16 foot trailer and 3 yapping dogs !!! Leave your dogs at home... you may love them but nobody else does !!!

You are certainly entitled to your opinion, i.e." leave your dogs at home", but I am entitled to mine too. In the rare event my dogs "bother" you feel free to let me know and I will take care of it, with an apology. But do not blanket state for me, or anyone, to leave their dogs at home. FYI, there are places that do not permit dogs so you can feel free to camp there. I certainly won't be in those "Resorts" Otherwise have a great day, be safe and enjoy your camping experiences.

[CCrew]

Lots of campers with temporary tags, and lack of knowledge of campground etiquette. I'm good until someone strolls right through my campsite.....

Best one we've seen on our travels though were the new camper still with temp tags with the rear jacks torn out from under it and the whole passenger side torn up by what looked like it was probably a gas station pole.

[KC Forrestet]

Yep, supply and demand! Covid has hurt the world, but not RV parks $$$!

[slammer]

As a whole this year it seems people are way more uptight about Covid issues if you travel outside the SouthEast. In the South people are generally as nice as they always have been and the most you'll be asked to do is wear a mask in some locations. If you know the history of the post civil war south you'd know that this Covid thing is just a bump in the road compared to some of the hardships Southerners have faced, so they are just rolling with it. Plus Pie fixes everything.

[tdgysin]

We are fulltimers, mostly roving in the Southwest (i.e. Arizona, California, New Mexico...). Here, many of the RV parks depend upon our Canadian friends during their Season. Due to Covid, almost none of the Canadian group are coming down and many of the parks are ghost towns.

Parks are trying many things to make up for this lack, some are starting to charge more, which, as many of you have noted, doesn't seem fair to those of us staying, when the gym, pools, activities and social options are either extremely limited or closed.

As to the owners of the parks, we have found most to be happy to have guests who are staying, given how empty some of the parks have become. In general, we find most park operators to be efficient and taking what precautions they need to, given the Covid situation, social distancing and mask wearing.

It's a tough time for all. I think we all are looking forward to when this will be behind us and we can get back to some kind of normalcy in RVing.

Stay safe, everybody and happy travels.

[NMWildcat]

Originally Posted by tdgysin

We are fulltimers, mostly roving in the Southwest (i.e. Arizona, California, New Mexico...). Here, many of the RV parks depend upon our Canadian friends during their Season. Due to Covid, almost none of the Canadian group are coming down and many of the parks are ghost towns.

Parks are trying many things to make up for this lack, some are starting to charge more, which, as many of you have noted, doesn't seem fair to those of us staying, when the gym, pools, activities and social options are either extremely limited or closed.

As to the owners of the parks, we have found most to be happy to have guests who are staying, given how empty some of the parks have become. In general, we find most park operators to be efficient and taking what precautions they need to, given the Covid situation, social distancing and mask wearing.

It's a tough time for all. I think we all are looking forward to when this will be behind us and we can get back to some kind of normalcy in RVing.

Stay safe, everybody and happy travels.

'Many of the parks are ghost towns'. I would love to see that, purely from selfish reasons.
All the pay for parks we frequent in southern NM/AZ are packed and you have to get reservations well in advance.

[Pontoon Don]

Someone mentioned how tough Va. had become. We love Fancy Gap Campground and Cabins. The prices have remained the same and the owners, Charles and Jennifer, are great people.

[Volvodriver]

First let me say thank you to all who have responded on this topic. All have had some good points and opinions and this has lead to a good discussion. We are currently in a no frills campground about 50 miles east of Austin and about 50 miles west of Bryan/College Station. With an easy walk to a DG and a small grocery store and 18 miles to a nice big Walmart the park has quite a few open sites with 30/50 amp, sewer drops and good water pressure. It fits our bill until we go to Aransas Pass in January for a winter.

Good travels to all and stay healthy.

Dave

[retiredcamper47]

Nobody has mentioned the cost of doing business - insurance. The cost has gone up on liability insurance the last few years. It has put the hurt on a lot of campgrounds. Just saying..........

[FarFromLiberal]

The costs of doing business, the costs of just living, etc etc.... campgrounds are like any other business and the families that own them, and are subject to the same increases in costs and the same hardships as the rest of us. Not too much downstream thinking going on when mandatory min wage is doubled in a short period of time, laws that cause healthcare costs to double in the same short time period are enacted, the list goes on. But it all trickles down to the consumer eventually, always has. Hard to walk around with a big smile on your face every day in these times with COVID when the future of your business and your family is so uncertain, maybe consider that before judging the daily demeanor of the campground owners.

[Daycruiser]

We're not even going to bother this year, going to drag the 5er out to Las Vegas for the Winter on private property and then head back to TN this spring and put the RV away for the Spring/Summer and let the Covid camper families have at it. Late Fall of '21 we'll head back out to Las Vegas again and then look at the situation for the Spring of '22 if things return to normal then we'll head out and stay gone for the Spring and Summer. Just don't feel like we want to compete with nor tolerate the Covid campers and their kids in overrun parks and campgrounds.

[NJKris]

And I thought he was going to mention how hard it is to get rid of a dead body. This is why I can't full-time. One of us would have to die.

[Oaklevel]

Originally Posted by tdgysin

We are fulltimers, mostly roving in the Southwest (i.e. Arizona, California, New Mexico...). Here, many of the RV parks depend upon our Canadian friends during their Season. Due to Covid, almost none of the Canadian group are coming down and many of the parks are ghost towns.

Parks are trying many things to make up for this lack, some are starting to charge more, which, as many of you have noted, doesn't seem fair to those of us staying, when the gym, pools, activities and social options are either extremely limited or closed.

As to the owners of the parks, we have found most to be happy to have guests who are staying, given how empty some of the parks have become. In general, we find most park operators to be efficient and taking what precautions they need to, given the Covid situation, social distancing and mask wearing.

It's a tough time for all. I think we all are looking forward to when this will be behind us and we can get back to some kind of normalcy in RVing.

Stay safe, everybody and happy travels.

In the Mid Alantic where we camp the campgrounds for the most part have been full of campers up through Halloween. ( The campground we go to has 850 sites). Thanksgiving will be full again and the campground is booked solid and I have been trying to change sites with no luck. I also tried for our one of our normal weeks in October in 2021............ already booked solid..............

If you want a site in summer of 2021 you have to hope for a cancellation. No lack of campers here.

Normal here would be less people camping.

[smkauffman]

We haven't camped anywhere but our driveway this year. Campgrounds were closed for half the season and the events we planned to go camp for were all cancelled. When campgrounds did start to open back up so many area attractions and activities near them were closed or severely limited we just didn't bother.

On a bright note the owners of the campground have been pretty nice. Maybe I should have been a little surly with myself occasionally just to round out the experience