RV Campgrounds

In this Baby-Boomer traveling video by Seasoned Traveler find out about the great places to park and vacation in your RV.

George: Now once you get behind the wheel, familiarize yourself with the truck. Sure, it’s very similar to your SUV at home but it’s twice as wide, it’s three times as long and it’s much higher and then once you’re confident and ready, it’s time to take on the highway. Of course, when you get to where you’re going, you’ll need a place to park and relax. There’s a lot to choose from, some 16,000 public and private camp sites stretch from one end of the nation to the other and there are more in Canada and Mexico. They range from the primitive to the posh with a wide assortment of amenities. The average nightly fee is $25 but plan to spend more at fancier RV resorts. You may also have to pay more for extra persons travelling in the vehicle. Camp sites tend to fill up fast in the high travel seasons, winter in the south and the southwest, summer in the north so here’s where mature travelers, have an edge. If you can travel in any season, you can avoid big crowds and higher fees. It’s best to make reservations in advance with the campsites directly either on the internet or by phone. Always inquire about discounts for older travelers or you could decide to live dangerously. Bud and Ruth Spezzio of New Jersey never book, they just go. Bud: We came and called here yesterday and pulled in, I said do you have a site, yes, here you are and what I do is usually is take it for one day to pull in, to see how I like it, all the hookups and everything works. I go over and say alright, make it two days, or three days or if Ruth doesn’t feel like going further or I don’t feel like going further, we extend it for a week. It gives us that flexibility that I don’t have to be down the road by Friday. I have to be in such and such a location. George: If you decide to play it safe, there are books available. The Woodalls is considered the bible of RV enthusiasts. It lists all the parks. State tourism departments list RV sites. There are national chains like KOA which offer discounts and occasional free nights. I’ve driven from Atlanta to Alligator Point Florida on the sunshine state’s panhandle. There’s a ritual each time to stop and it’s similar to checking into a hotel. We’ve got reservations for three nights. The name is Bauer. You pay for your site and you find out where to park. Then you get to your place driving in or backing up and finally you prepare the RV for the stay. So now what we have to do is plug in, remove the plug from the truck itself and now we’re going to plug into the electrical outlet that comes with the campsite, that’s all the way around here. And finally, you prepare the RV. Come in here and have a look. Lights. The water’s on. Everything seems to be fine. Every so often, you’ll need to pay for sewage disposal when your waste and water tanks need to be cleared and you’ll need to top up your propane tank if you use power while you’re not plugged in at the campsite or just to guarantee you have plenty of hot water for cooking, washing the dishes and showers. There’s a small cooking area and a dining table. This vehicle is meant to sleep six although it would be a pretty tight squeeze. The bathroom and the shower are much smaller than yours at home. Outside your camper, there’s a whole new world. At our site, there’s the Gulf of Mexico just a few steps away, soothing waves, swaying palms and glorious sunsets. There are lots of enticing amenities, upscale bathrooms, pools both indoor and out, whirlpools, laundry rooms, TV rooms, playgrounds for the children and some camps are near golf courses. Others have spas and tennis courts. One of my stops was at Wales West near Foley Alabama. It looks like a real honest to goodness Welsh village including replicas of a manor house, an old fort and a train station. It even has a train which the owners says is the world’s most westerly welsh steam powered railway and campers get to ride along when the train is running. Nearly all RV-ers say one of the biggest attractions to RV life is not the train, not the pool but the people. Male: You have to be a certain type of person to be an RV-er, a lot of people think it’s like the old fashioned gypsies and it’s not. You meet the same type of people as yourself and they’re a wonder, very very friendly group. George: The retired among them will travel for many months at a time picking a spot reserving an RV park and staying put from one to three months just relaxing. But some 750,000 RV enthusiasts don’t relax, they actually take on part time or temporary work. John Billingsly helps out at the KOA Alligator Point Park trimming the trees, doing minor carpentry work and lots of other odd jobs. John: I retired 2000 and did a bunch of odd jobs and took off to Florida for a month I think it was and found this place by mistake and been coming back here ever since spending it two to three months here a year. It’s nice. It’s a vacation but it’s more than that to me. George: John Billingsly a former police officer says he’s not the type who can just sit and look at the sun for hours on end. For other people, RV is a full time commitment in more ways than one. Take Bill Bitner for example who just bought a luxurious new fifthwheel unit. Bill: We got into the RV and we wanted to take home with us and most people like to get away from it all, we like to take it with us when we get away from it all. George: He spends the winter months in Florida because all summer long, he owns and runs a KOA campsite in Michigan not far from Lake Huron. Bill: The free spirit, you just pick up and go whenever you want and you go where you go wherever you one anytime you want. You’re not chained to a place, you just pick up and you can go. If you want to go to the mountains, you go to the mountains. If you want to go to the beach, you go to the beach. If you want to see the grandkids, you go to your kid’s house and you par in the driveway for a few days. You spoil the kids and you leave.