Reservations When Full Timing

[IrishIroamed]

Just curious ~~~

Guessing most of you had a set date to start full-timing. Also guessing you usually make reservations 6 months in advance of most destinations. But if you have no idea what area you would end up in, how hard is it to get reservations for a week or two, a month in advance?

In more populated areas, I'm also guessing most weekends are reserved very early (like around Chitown), so what do you do when you want to book and only during the week is available, but no weekends? Then what?

The reason I'm asking is that if I decide to put the house on the market, and if the house sells, and if I decide to take early retirement, I may skip town quickly. I have general directions picked out (depending on season), but reservations would be made by the seat of my pants so to speak.

Lots of guessing and if s here. Sorry to be so vague.

[Birdie]

Cheryl the only times I have made way out front reservations was when going to a place where if you wanted to stay you had to. That was Denali NP, Trailer Village at Grand Canyon NP and at one cg in Nova Scotia. If I know the area is busy when I want to go I might make a reservation a month out...but that is a mighty big might. Mostly I call in the morning for that night. I do want to know that I have a place to park at night. Sometimes I plan a week out on where I intend to be with the RV parks in mind but I don't reserve. I will know I am going to the NE for the summer but not exactly where there. Too much planning takes away from my mind wandering. If I make a reservation and pay my money then change my mind I might forfeit my deposit. I am really too tight to do that more than once every 2-3 years! Too little planning makes me very stressed. Needs to be just right! It has to fit you and it may take a little traveling before you find what fits you. Highly exacting work could be you want to let go and just go day to day or week to week. Take a breath and and let life flow at your pace.

[Bethers]

Pretty much what Birdie said. But I rarely even call the same day. I may call to see if places have spaces. I'll make reservations for a gtg. My thing is truly in jello. I do understand those wanting Florida State Parks in the winter needing reservations. But that's another reason I don't go to Florida often.

You'll find what works best for you.

[Liz]

Same as Beth and Birdie. I make few reservations, but do scope out possibilities on my route. I made a reservation for 5 days at Yosemite last year about 2-3 months in advance. 5 days was all that was available at the time. But I stayed in the area just outside Yosemite for over a month...at COE parks, Escapees park, etc. If you get stuck without a site on a weekend...there's always Walmart.

[IrishIroamed]

Thanks ladies! Knew I could count on you for answers. Guess my worries are based on what I can find around home on short drives after work on a weekend. Appreciate the knowledge of your travels.

[JudyJB]

Weekends are harder, and summers are harder, but mostly that applies to places where vacationers go. Think about where you would take your imaginary three kids for the weekend. That place will probably have a lake and swimming or a pool. It will definitely have a playground. DON'T GO THERE! It will be packed with families, and you won't enjoy it anyway. Smoky campfires, screaming kids, arguing parents, people playing music--AARRRGGGHHH! (That's a quote from Peanuts.)

Places that are away from everything and just scenic tend to be a lot easier to get into and less crowded. That applies to a lot of COE campgrounds and even some national parks that are off the beaten path. For example, it may have changed now that California has had rain, but one of my favorite and cheapest place in California was Lake Hensley, Hidden Lake COE Campground. The last few years, the lake was down to a puddle, so all you could do was kayak. That made it the PERFECT place!! Mostly empty even on weekends and very pretty views of the mountains in the distance, so who cared if the lake was dried up???

Anyway, I do make reservations 6 months in advance, but I tend to choose out of the way places. Just need to think a little differently than all those hoards of campers who are competing for spots.

[snowball]

I think the only time we made reservations cause it was at the "heads" and I wanted
time with Sparkles we had to change them has we got caught up in wind that the truckers
were even pulling off and sitting out...it's jello plans for a reason...although on my way up to
Utah wish I had made reservations!!! somewhere who knew the campground would be full and cause
the Virgin River was full it wasn't it's normal 27 a night but we do what we have to in
the end...
sheila

[IrishIroamed]

Thanks Judy & Sheila.
Even on the weekends around here, I try to avoid being near the playground if possible. Guess I'm just getting old & cranky. Did I ever really scream that loud? Doubt it. Mom was a true believer in children should be seen and not heard.

...Smoky campfires, screaming kids, arguing parents, people playing music--AARRRGGGHHH! (That's a quote from Peanuts.)

Thanks for the giggle. Gotta love poor old Charlie Brown.

[JudyJB]

Actually, when I was growing up, our mothers mostly sent us outside for the day to play when they got tired of us. We had a lot of outdoors freedom and lots of woods to play in, but I remember the given reason for banishing us was mostly because she had just cleaned something and did not want us to get it dirty! Since I lived in a neighborhood with lots of cousins and kids around my age, we had a lot of to keep us busy. So I suppose we were also pretty noisy.

Worst screaming campground experience I had was when a local state park decided to have a "call Big Foot" contest. The calling (hooting, hollaring, screeching, screaming, etc.) continued late into the evening.

Back on topic: Irishroamer, I don't know where you are from, but one thing that really surprised me because I am from a very cold Michigan is that people in warm places go camping on three-day holidays such as President's Day or Martin Luther King's birthday. I am constantly amazed at how packed campgrounds can be on those and similar weekends and have been caught without a place to stay a couple of times until I realized I had to plan for those.

[daydreamer08]

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