Very general questions re CG/RVpark living

[OTW]

I haven't seen too much on this, so am asking what are probably "dumb questions" to most, but real ones to someone who hasn't done FTing. A variety of questions, right off the bat, so maybe you'd like to answer just one or all? (Any input appreciated!)

If docked in a seasonal campground or RV park (or other length stayover), you have your daily, weekly, monthly or seasonal space rent cost which may or may not include utilities (e.g., electric may be separately charged) but are there other costs that aren't obvious?

Do most RV parks have a honey wagon? If so what does that typically cost (from/to range)?

What do you all think of the portable blue tanks (called sometimes BlueBoy) for keeping up with your dump tanks so if you're docked long term and no honey wagon service, you don't have to hitch up and drive to a dump station, but just keep up with it?

Since you're living in close proximity with others, at night do you tend to close all your curtains or blinds? Or might it be like living in a fish bowl BUT where everyone just understands that and doesn't tend to "peer in" particularly?

At most RV parks where one would feel safe, but where transients come and go, are you generally okay with leaving chairs, table setups, etc. outside under your awning while you run errands? I know "it depends on the park" but say you're staying for a few days. Do you tend to be nervous about leaving stuff out?

A non-RVer's impression of large rig spaces where they're all lined up (e.g., parking lot style), it looks not appealing. However, once you're there and more used to it, as are the others around you, do you have a sense of privacy anyway? I mean, where you can sit under your awning, write, work, knit, ponder your navel, decompress... whatever, even though you may be only feet away from the backside of another rig. Is it the sort of thing where that small space just feels like "yours" and you don't feel like you're in the middle of a parking lot?

Also, regarding that line-up configuration, it would vary from park to park but what would be considered "unusually close" between the door of your RV and the side of the one right next to you? Is there some typical established space that most campgrounds/RV parks tend to allow per rental space?

If you are in the above kind of line-up and you have an odd sleep schedule where you might crash at dusk, but tend to get up at 3:30am, assuming you are quiet (very low soft TV or radio, drapes drawn so your lights aren't shining in a nearby RV's windows), would you envision any problem with that?

I'm sure more questions, but these are some basics I've been really wondering about.

[BirdbyBird]

Others will share more but I am here now so....

Most parks that cater to seasonal rigs offer full hookup sites (where sewer is included). State parks, some county campgrounds and National Parks and smaller parks may only offer electric, electric/water or no hook ups. If you are staying for two weeks in a state park you may need a bue boy or unhook go and dump and return the rig to the site. Several ladies here have experience work camping/hosting at campgrounds without sewers and I will let them add their observations.

The spacing of rigs in a campground can vary greatly. Some cgs have nice trees and bushes, others like many Thousand Trails parks barely have room to even put slides and or awnings out. Some look like big parking lots. You have to do your homework before committing. What spacing are you comfortable with? Do you want grass and trees? Sometimes you get what you pay for. Some parts of the country have much tighter spaces because of the cost of real estate. So much is location location location and what environment surroundings are most important to you. There are places that I can stay an overnight or a week that I would not want to stay for three months.

At night I always keep my blinds down as do most folks I know. For the daytime most of my windows have a dark tint on them and the ones that don't I have lined with removable screening that allows me to see out but no one can see in during the day.

At most campgrounds I generally leave my chairs, kayak, etc sitting out.

No one worries about who is up and who isn't unless someone starts up their big truck and lets it idle for 30 minutes outside your window. Weekend campers are more often that full-timers to use their brief camping time to "celebrate" and make noise but they are usually gone by Sunday afternoon.

Other costs might be cable TV if is isn't included in the seasonal package cost.....laundry...???

[Azusateach]

Tina pretty much nailed it.

When you think location, think about where most of the people like to go to get nice weather ---> Florida and the Southwest in the winter, and the Pacific coast in the summer. Location, and as Tina said, real estate, drives the cost of campground spaces. And people will pay, if it's an area they want to visit.

As a rule, any campground that caters to RVs will have at least a section that has full hook-ups. As far as a BlueBoy goes, they're really heavy when they're full. Remember that one gallon of water = 8lbs. So if you've got a 15 gallon tote, that's 120# of stuff. Once you've filled it -- and that can be a bit trick -- you've got to pull it to your truck, hitch it up, and then carefully tow it to the dump station, where dumping can again be tricky.

Going into any campground can be a crapshoot when it comes to nice neighbors. Sometimes you luck out, sometimes you don't. if you worry about getting obnoxious neighbor you might never go anywhere. Or you'll decide to boondock where there's not a soul around. We go to a "campground" in San Diego -- prime tourist area, especially in the summer -- where we can almost reach out and shake our neighbor's hand. The campground is older and wasn't designed with big rigs with multiple slides, so it's really crowded. But it's a wonderfully located place, and for young families very safe. We stay there because it's centrally located and makes playing in San Diego easy. We don't go to put out our chairs and enjoy a quiet evening next to the rig. I must say, though, that many of the larger campgrounds strictly enforce quiet hours (typically 10:00-7:00), and it makes for quiet evenings. For us, choosing a campground is based on what we want to do when we get there. If we want to stay put, then we try to get a really nice site. If it's simply a place to park the RV, then a "parking lot" will do.

We also have darkened windows, and have just purchased a windshield screen so we can see out and still keep our privacy. It seems a little dark, however, when we've had it up, so I'm not sure how much we'll use it. But it'll be helpful for cutting down heat during the summer. You have to remember, though, that trailers aren't known for their abundance of windows, unless you get a larger one with a big rear picture window. We had one in our 26' Starcraft, and loved it. But because it was in the back of the trailer we usually didn't have to worry about privacy.

Being on the West Coast, things are really different out here. I don't know if this helps, but it's our experience.

Laura

[Acadianmom]

I don't full time or spend more than a week in a campground but I'll tell you some of the complaints I hear about. I think that most campgrounds that offer monthly camping would have full hookups. The exception to that would be state parks. Our state parks have let people say longer than 14 days when we have had hurricanes or floods where people were out of their homes for a long time. One of the Alabama State Parks I stayed in one time had long term rates in the winter time. The portable blue tanks are heavy when full and if I ever bought one I would get one with 4 wheels. I have only seen people pulling them behind a vehicle.

You will run into inconsiderate people everywhere. They will park vehicles in empty sites and in the way that makes it hard to get into your site. If the campground management makes people follow the rules it is better but some places people just do what ever they want. I don't know about the rest of the country but in South Louisiana there is a lot of partying on the weekends. The last time I camped at the state park near me my neighbors played music so loud that people were complaining. It was country music so it wasn't bothering me but I might not have felt the same way if it had been something else. If you are running your air conditioner you really don't hear much of what is going on outside.

What I hear about being stolen are bicycles and the expensive ice chests. I have never had anything stolen. There are some people that just turn their kids loose and don't pay attention to what they are doing. And a lot of people don't think that the rule of dogs being on a leash don't apply to them. I don't like having a dog charge at me when I'm walking.

I don't think your inside lights or TV would bother your neighbors but some people don't like for you to leave your outside lights on. If you are up in the middle of the night banging doors they would probably hear that. Some places have a lot of construction workers staying. The guys with the diesel trucks will be up at 4 in the morning making noise and going to work.

Martha

[MelissaD]

We are probably one of the few with a seasonal site at this time. Due to health issue this is our best option. We can pull out for a trip if we want too.

I pay a yearly rate of around $1,600 for a 40' x 80' site with full hookups. The electric is metered meaning I get a monthly electric bill. I am also responsible for maintaining my site like cutting my own grass. The flip side is I can land scape it and put a 10'x10' storage shed on it if I chose. There are some basic rules or codes, but I can make the site mine. It allowed me to have a 10'x20' concrete patio poured next to my camper. The season is April 1st - Nov 1st and I store my camper on my site in the off season. I just don't have water or electric in the off season. I have a card key to let me on the property anytime I want access.

We have two other families we camp with. They have adjoining sites with us and that makes it really special. We share a common fire pit and eating area. In all there are probably 10 families that we are "camping friends" with in our section of the campground and will share a campfire with. When you camp with the same group of people it tend to form a neighborhood. It's odd that I know more about my camping neighborhood than my actual sticks and bricks neighborhood.

[Bethers]

Honey wagon service at cgs... Not the norm. I stayed at one park that had it in Alabama. They had no full service site except for workers. You signed up if you wanted the honey wagon which was available two days a week and you paid for it. Otherwise you unhooked and used the dump station, no charge.

I'm workamping right now, for the first time, without sewer to my site. They provide a blue boy for the three workamper sites without sewer. If I couldn't back the golf cart (they also provide) right up to my sewer, my back would already be out and I wouldn't do this. Since I can, I hook up the golf cart to the empty blue boy in location to fill it. Filling it, easy. Then I drive to the dump station and empty it. After it has emptied about 1/2 way, you must stand it up to allow gravity to remove the rest. My first time, that was more difficult, and my back wasn't happy. Since, I've got it down and it's easy. That said, on the Road I wouldn't have the golf cart etc that allows this to be easy. If you were at a cg with enough room to back your truck to where your sewer connection is, it could be okay. Don't count on that. if normally unhook and go dump before I'd use a blue boy while traveling. And, I have to admit, I don't think a blue boy used to empty black tanks ever gets really clean. I wouldn't want to travel with it.

[IrishIroamed]

Regarding the portable waste systems, I did some research on these also in case I can find a seasonal campground for this summer. I wasn't thrilled with what I saw on the Blue Boys, but Camping World sells the SmartTote (right now on sale $60 off). This option seams pretty easy to use and wouldn't be a back breaker for lifting / tilting to make sure it's empty, which would be done at the very end if needed. Check out this video (4 minutes long) on the website. For me, I'd go with this brand.
http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/rv-toilets-tanks/thetford-smart-tote.htm

[Bethers]

I'm using a Thetford. Just seems everyone uses the name blue boy.

[JudyJB]

I seldom stay in commercial campgrounds because of the lack of privacy and the crowded conditions--noise, etc. State and national parks, for the most part, put sites much more spread out, hence more privacy.

Frankly when I do stay in commercial campgrounds, I am more worried about the permanent residents than the "transients" since some of the permanent residents in some places live in campers that are run down and look as if they cannot afford anyplace else to stay. Certainly not all, but some commercial campgrounds are strewn with trash, so I just don't feel comfortable there--much of this depends on management. A well-managed commercial campground is very safe.

The important thing is to use something like rvparkreviews.com to check out a campground. If it were me, I also would want to stay somewhere a few days to check it out before I signed a month or several month contract. And I also use Google maps to check out campgrounds and choose campsites. Those little maps they show on campground website and even the photos can be very misleading!!

But the main reason for my choice of campgrounds is that I like scenery and am still in travel mode--I want to see things and keep slowly on the move. And I also have not had anything stolen. In fact, my biggest problem is that I use my motorhome to go out exploring and have had people running down the road after me thinking I have forgotten my water hose! And I did once have a maintenance person think I had left my "Be Right Back, Campsite Occupied" sign on my site, so he was in the process of taking it and my water hose to the dumpster as I returned and caught him. And this was a large state park. I asked him if he knew what "be right back" meant!

[OTW]

Cheryl-- That LX model (the 18gal.) looks really great. If it turns out I need to use a portable, that's perfection. Thanks for the link!

Judy - good advice! Can I ask what size MH you have? Do State and Nat'l parks tend to be able to accommodate a TV + 26-ft. TT? Because I'd be taking my time going across country, for sure.

Another question that's actually very important in my case for business. How does wifi tend to be in campgrounds? I assume only private ones would have it, but is there any sort of independent wifi thing that you can buy where you can connect independently of a campground? Otherwise, and people may not know the answer to this but might, once every 2 months I need excellent connection, as I upload about 130MB of data, then within that same day at some point some misc. re-uploading edited corrections (smaller upload). I was thinking maybe in those cases a library might have high speed. (I know nothing about internet cafes but maybe that's another option). But anything anyone could add to the whole world of wifi, connections otherwise, would be really helpful.

I also know little about Florida or other "escape Northeast Winters" locations. In wintertime, do they tend to be buggy? If so, since RV living is conducive to a lot of outdoor time, how do you deal with that?

[Acadianmom]

Judy can probably answer most of your questions about wifi because she works on the road. It seems that most campgrounds advertise that they have wifi but whether you can use it is another question. I don't have much luck with it. The state park near me actually has good wifi but I don't think all the state parks do. I have a Verizon tablet with limited data that I use for a hot spot to connect my computer. I can just use the tablet but I don't like to have to use the small screen. Another thing about some of the state parks and corp of engineer parks is that they are away from towns and major roads so you might not even have cell phone service. Everywhere I have been the reception along an interstate is good but not so good on the side roads.

We have DSL at home and it is not very fast and lately seems to have a lot of problems. We live in the country and that's all we can get unless we would go to a satellite service. My son works from home so if he has a lot to do he goes to the library in town.

Martha

[BirdbyBird]

Many of us have MIFI units or use our phones as a Hotspot. For folks that travel a lot or full time the thought of using public WIFI is too unnerving. We do banking and other transactions that don't need to be out there on public systems. Campgrounds that do have WIFI often have statements that it is to be used for checking email, etc and not for streaming or large data uploads or downloads.

[OTW]

Thanks, I'll look into MIFI (don't yet quite know what that is or how it works). Yes, I would be doing sensitive stuff like you do also, so public network... not too overly exciting to ponder all those possibilities, lol.

[Azusateach]

Depending on where you plan to travel, and if you're going to get a personal hotspot, you might look into the Karma Go. It runs on the Sprint network and works pretty well if you're not out in the boonies. I have one and love it. No contract, and your data never expires.

Laura

[JudyJB]

I have a 32' Class C, but I don't tow anything. I think if I stayed in one spot for a long time, I might tow, but for the week here and week there kind of travel I do, I believe it would just be a pain to haul around that second vehicle. I take my motorhome out and always manage to park somewhere when I run errands or do sightseeing. Went out yesterday and stopped at Walmart, Einstein Bagels, Kohls, and finally the Ponce Lighthouse. At the lighthouse, I did have to park around the back in a large city lot meant for boat trailers.

As far as fitting in a large trailer and a truck at a state or national park, usually it is not a problem, especially if you plan a bit. For example, Yellowstone is tough, but Grand Canyon has a "Trailer Village" that holds bigger RVs. The campground I am in right now is older and has only a few sites for a large combination, but it does have some and some are right on the ocean. There are several big rigs parked here, but the number of spaces is very limited. (Smaller is always easier to find a place.) Across the street is a brand new part of the state park that will hold just about anything. What you can do to check this is to go onto ReserveAmerica.com or Recreation.gov for federal parks and check the size of some typical state and national parks. Actually, I think it is just as easy to get a big RV into a state park as in commercial ones. Basically, the older a campground is, the harder. State, national, and COE parks that are redoing campgrounds are building bigger and farther apart. And I think this is true of newer commercial campgrounds. Every state and national park will tell you the sizes of each spot you might want to reserve.

OK, about WiFi. Because I need reliable access, I have a Verizon Jetpack. You buy it and sign up for a two-year contract just as you would with a cell phone. (It connects to the internet through Verizon cell service.) However, you can buy a used Jetpack or mobile hotspot through places like eBay, which means you might not have to sign a contract with Verizon, but you will have to pay for gigs and a connection charge, plus a SIM card. And Verizon is the one most full-timers use because it really does have more coverage. I am online 6-12 hours a day and use about 20-25 gigs per month. This and unlimited cell phone costs me $225 per month, which is expensive, but there are cheaper plans. Advantage is that my connection is secure and private with a password.

Campground WiFi is heavily advertised but often not usable because it is weak and they limit use. You can buy an antenna that helps you get a signal, but that does not increase speed. Mostly campground speed is about like using an old phone modem. Ditto for places like McDonalds! Almost no state and national parks have any internet access unless you are sitting in their visitor center, and that can be iffy.

Understand that even with my private connection, there is NO downloading or streaming of TV shows or movies!!! That just takes too much bandwidth and is much too expensive. My daughter-in-law downloaded a movie once for my grandkids when I had extra usage, but that one download used 30% of my monthly allowance!!!

I have 50 to 75 students in my college class each month, and weekly each one submits two assignments in Word. Usually one I have to download and one I have to grade online, but I manage to stay within my 40 monthly gigs. I taught a couple of graduate classes a year or so ago that required PPT files and those were much bigger, but I managed.