Suggestions for reducing camping costs?

[daveandsandyclink]

Staying in truck stops and parking lots is not my idea of camping. There's a difference between getting from point A to point B in short order and an enjoyable trip with a new Escape. Look at this trip as a vacation. When will you get a chance to explore the western US again? Start creating memories. Stop in the state parks and national forest campgrounds, use the gas buddy app. and as suggested cook & eat the food you would normally consume at home.

[Donna D.]

When Jim (cpaharley) bought his 19' trailer, he plotted and planned a trip to pickup his trailer at Chilliwack. Those plans busted.

But the idea is good. How many miles you would be comfortable tugging along and how many hours? I can eat cold food for months, chicken salad, tuna salad, BP&J, cereal&milk... whatever it takes to go from A to B. "Cheap" is different for different folks.

[Mike Lewis]

I intend to take it easy, especially at the beginning, and keep my drives to a few hours or less. Long stays, short hops.

[Buddy]

Have not tried this but it might be a useful app, lists all of the sani dumps stations....
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sani...0299?ls=1&mt=8

[kstock11]

I am fortunate in making my pickup trip coinside with the start of retirement. Have done a lot of business travel where every night is planned ahead. Our goal is to keep travel to an average of 100 miles per day. Stay in National Parks,forests - using my senior pass and solar. We picked up a lap top and DeLorme maps to plan a few days at a time. The farther from home, the more we want to explore. No Walmarts or truck stops for us!

[Ruthe]

I think it depends how late at night one stops. If absolutely all we were doing was sleeping and then leaving early the next morning, a Walmart or a rest area could work -- We have done that, but only on a couple occasions. Usually we would stop by late afternoon and then even if it was for one night we would want to be not only in a nice place, but in the absolute best spot in the campground. Having several hours in the evening made the travel day an integral part of the trip. To make dinner outside and just look around at something new is what I love about travel trailering.

[daveandsandyclink]

Mike you didn't indicate your spring pickup date. As you know from living in Florida, the farther south you travel, the warmer and more humid it will likely get. Trying to sleep in parking lots is impossible. Without shore power for air conditioning, your left with two choices. Shut the windows to keep out the noise and smother...or keep the windows open and experience cars and large trucks moving through the night. Walmarts, truck stops, and the roadside areas can be 24 hour crime locals where local scumbags prey on travelers. Get a campsite and save cost else where if you must. You are invited to plug into my house for a night if you need to here NW of Houston. Enjoy your very long trip home with your new Escape.

[padlin]

The best we can do to save cash is stay in public CG's, stay out of restaurants, and limit expensive tourist attractions. Like Ruthie we prefer to pull over early, as in mid-late afternoon and enjoy camping, Walmarts and such are not in the picture. If I were driving a long day, pulling over at 8 or 9pm, I might try one.

[lefttee]

Has been mentioned before in other posts but we found "Allstays RV Dumps" (Android devices) and "Allstays Walmart ONP" very helpful. As seniors, our National Park pass saved us the most money. We also found several nice campsites by stopping in minimarts and chatting up the locals. It may not be a novelty for some, but the blackberries growing wild and free in Chilliwack were a real treat for us. If and when we decide on a 21 or 5.0, we will pick it up in July or August and have blackberry pancakes again.

[smilycook]

If you stay away from major cities like Seattle, Portland, and Denver you should be able to drive all the way across the western US without having to pay for camping. There are so many spots off dirt roads on BLM and Forest Service land that would easily fit your camper.

You can camp for free on BLM land about 20 minutes from downtown Boise so the possibilities are endless.

Find the free dump stations and get the solar installed and you will be good to go for lots of free camping.

[Donna D.]

Remember too the saying "You may never pass this way again." I understand this will be a destination trip for you, but please take the time to see some of the areas of the country you may never have an opportunity to visit again. I'm not talking tourist trap stuff, just the country as you go by. Safe travels, always!

[Ruthe]

On a two and a half month cross country (and back) trip to Yellowstone we went really slowly-- sometimes only 100 miles a day with frequent stops. We liked Ohio so much we thought about staying there all summer -- until the biting flies came. Then we finally got to Laura Ingalls Wilder's home in DeSmet S.D. -- visited everything -- and Terry said, "If pa and ma could do it, we can do it" and that night he drove until 1 a.m., pulled over at a rest area -- we transferred four kids to the airstream and slept for a few hours. We must have eaten a very quick breakfast and then drove and drove -- when the toddler slept, we didn't stop for anything -- until we reached Yellowstone. Where we stayed for a month. (It was interesting to us that we could stay overnight in the rest area. I'm pretty sure you can't do that in the east.)

[Mike Lewis]

Okay, more questions:

- How long does a 20lb capacity propane tank last, say in the spring/fall, i.e. with intermittent use of the furnace, one person showering / day, that same person attempting to cook, etc.?

- Passport America has been mentioned. What about Good Sams or Escapees? Does anyone have experience with them, and is membership in either appropriate for what I want to do?

thanks again,

Mike L.

[padlin]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

Okay, more questions:

- How long does a 20lb capacity propane tank last, say in the spring/fall, i.e. with intermittent use of the furnace, one person showering / day, that same person attempting to cook, etc.?

- Passport America has been mentioned. What about Good Sams or Escapees? Does anyone have experience with them, and is membership in either appropriate for what I want to do?

thanks again,

Mike L.

20lb tank, totally up to you. We go 2 weeks in the fall in N.E. as well as a couple weeks during the summer and have yet to empty a 30 lb tank in a season.

Try this http://www.frugal-rv-travel.com/RV-Membership-Clubs.htm web site, they already did the work of looking at the different travel clubs.

[BCnomad]

Bob's link is now:

RV Membership Clubs

[steve dunham]

Originally Posted by padlin

The best we can do to save cash is stay in public CG's, stay out of restaurants, and limit expensive tourist attractions. Like Ruthie we prefer to pull over early, as in mid-late afternoon and enjoy camping, Walmarts and such are not in the picture. If I were driving a long day, pulling over at 8 or 9pm, I might try one.

We have the same style of camping . We often camp with several other couples who find an excuse to run into the closest town everyday ( Food ,drink ,recreational shopping) At the end of the trip they complain how expensive "CAMPING" is. We eat and drink at our campsite and are able to plan our trip costs and budget

[kstock11]

We were amazed at the non commercial campground options that we found in our 6700 mile trip back from Chilliwack. In addition to State Park & National Park & Forest, we also found National Recreation Area (Lake Mead @ $10/night), Core of Engineers, City, County, Municipal, etc. With 48 nights camping, our average cost was just under $19 per night. (Granted, that was with the senior pass) A lot of reservoirs have campgrounds that were run by the water authority or else, city or county.

[padlin]

Walmart's

For the first time we tried out a few WM's this fall driving cross country. The original idea was to save a few $ when all we were doing was traveling from point A to B, but we found traveling through Labor Day weekend without reservations, they were almost the only place one could stay. Stretched out the traveling day to 7 or so left us a lot of time before dark. Dinner, amounting to fried chicken or some such from the store, and some shopping for whatever we needed at the time worked out pretty well. What didn't work out was the noise, they are busy places even after they close, if they close. Deliveries must be setup for closing through 1 or 2 am, and they get a lot of deliveries, even on weekends. Bright lights left on all night. If you're lucky you can find a darker area, but then that's where everyone else wants to be too so you get them coming and going all night. Of course the car lights and doors opening and closing off and on woke my wife up numerous times, who in turn woke me up to go check on them.

One night had the parking lot cleaners show up at 2 or 3 am with a huge vacuum, no sleep there for an hour and a half.

Have you ever seen the huge grain silos out west? the ones that look like something out of War of the Worlds? Well in harvest season they run all night, at least the one that's right behind Walmart in the middle of Ohio, or was it Indiana, or maybe Iowa.

In a pinch they are available and free. In a fiberglass trailer with minimal noise deadening, don't expect a good nights sleep, even the white noise machine didn't help. Yes, we have the extra insulation pkg. From our experiences, I think WM's are the new hub of town activity.

Don't get me wrong, I applaud WM for allowing overnights, it does come in handy.
It just wasn't worth staying there just to try to save a few bucks.

As Donna says, YMMV.

[cpaharley2008]

I had good success with rest stops and some states have really nice ones, Iowa for example. They have large parking slips, away from the trucks, some have picnic gazebo's. I think Ohio even offers electric ($) hook up at some rest areas while in South Dakota some have a fenced dog run and a rv dump, both free. The nice thing about rest stops is your GPS should tell how far the next one is and if one is not up to your liking you know where the next one will be. I have the Rand McNally rv GPS that has a lot info for a specific area, for example for those with pets, the closest vet.

[dave macrae]

Originally Posted by padlin

**Warning, Rant**

Walmart's

For the first time we tried out a few WM's this fall driving cross country. The original idea was to save a few $ when all we were doing was traveling from point A to B, but we found traveling through Labor Day weekend without reservations, they were almost the only place one could stay. Stretched out the traveling day to 7 or so left us a lot of time before dark. Dinner, amounting to fried chicken or some such from the store, and some shopping for whatever we needed at the time worked out pretty well. What didn't work out was the noise, they are busy places even after they close, if they close. Deliveries must be setup for closing through 1 or 2 am, and they get a lot of deliveries, even on weekends. Bright lights left on all night. If you're lucky you can find a darker area, but then that's where everyone else wants to be too so you get them coming and going all night. Of course the car lights and doors opening and closing off and on woke my wife up numerous times, who in turn woke me up to go check on them.

One night had the parking lot cleaners show up at 2 or 3 am with a huge vacuum, no sleep there for an hour and a half.

Have you ever seen the huge grain silos out west? the ones that look like something out of War of the Worlds? Well in harvest season they run all night, at least the one that's right behind Walmart in the middle of Ohio, or was it Indiana, or maybe Iowa.

In a pinch they are available and free. In a fiberglass trailer with minimal noise deadening, don't expect a good nights sleep, even the white noise machine didn't help. Yes, we have the extra insulation pkg. From our experiences, I think WM's are the new hub of town activity.

We won't stay there to save $ again, it just wasn't worth it. We'll stay only if it's the last option we have. As Donna says, YMMV.

We have stayed in a walmart once with no rest to be had, very simlar experience to yours. I have stoped to sleep in several other places whith much better results. We have found the rest stops in rural BC for the most part really good. Most of them are off of the road a bit and quite nice. I must admit I have a hard time paying for a campground to simply get a bit of sleep on my way somewhere. That being said I do hope as I get older I do better job taking my time a bit more. I have been acused of trying to stuff 28 hours worth of stuff into a 24 hr day ( its a work in progress:)