Leaving on first cross-country tomorrow!

[OTW]

Well, not sure about the expert part. I'm getting confidence on backing/turning, but you know how that goes. There's some beginner's luck and that can get you in trouble so I'm far from feeling cocky.

Glad to hear it wasn't just me finding that these campground owners... er, uh, "stretch the truth" rather liberally. I don't like making a reservation for a particular campsite though, and then arriving to be told magnanimously "we gave you an upgrade to one with sewer connection and we aren't charging you for it." Only to find that yes, it does have the sewer so I don't have to step on the brake on my way out of the park (big deal) at a dump area, but that said claimed "upgrade" means getting squeezed into a site that shouldn't even be a site in the first place. As for your satellite situation, that lie would annoy me even more. I think they gotcha. You've driven to a place you've reserved (usually with no refund if you don't take it) and you're on your way through, staying for only one night, probably tired and not into shopping elsewhere. But this is THREE campgrounds out four where they painted a picture that was not the case. I'm going to be much more specific in the future and make them confirm their answers with some detail because at that point you can book elsewhere.

What I did find interesting at one campground was the psychological game obviously found to work as it was used the same by both the mother (my first time there) and her son (2nd time) was that if you find something wrong --compared to what you had reserved-- they both had the trick of trying to intimidate you by acting as though you're being unduly picky. She got me on that one the first time, but when he then did the same thing also on my 2nd visit, I stood straighter and said, "yes, that's what I mean," and looked him just as straight in the eye as he'd used, expecting an answer. And he backed off (a la "ooops, she ain't buyin' this"). I just found it annoying that they both seemed to have a ready shtick for when people arrive and aren't given what they were agreed to be given.

I LOVED the trip though. And yes, fellow campers were VERY helpful. And interesting! I had very nice neighbors every time.

Speaking of satellite -- a fellow camper was telling me he had just a regular housetop dish that he would just put in a sunny clear place, and he'd get Dish Network off of it. Is that how yours is, or is yours mounted on your motorhome? This sounded like a pretty good idea. Beats what they call "cable TV." Some of this "cable TV" seemed to have such basic channels only that I'm not sure if it matters over an antenna.

[Bethers]

You are describing why I rarely make reservations... And why I choose, if a cg, normally state, county or COE parks whenever possible.

[JudyJB]

Unlike, Beth and several others, I do like the security of reservations, but it depends on the place and time of year. For example, you can almost always find a spot during the week on the spur of the moment assuming it is not summer or someplace that is very busy like the Oregon coast where I am right now.

When I started out, I stayed in a lot of commercial campgrounds, but quickly switched to almost all state and federal campgrounds for several reasons. First, you pick your own space. That means no more being assigned a spot under the only huge tree in the campground when you asked for an open spot for satellite. Second, you get a MUCH bigger spot for less money and often have a view of nature instead of your neighbor's sewer hose and picnic table!

Also, I use Reserveamerica.com and Recreation.gov to reserve sites, but first, I check with RVparkreviews.com to check out potential sites along my route. Then, I use Google maps to see what the campground REALLY looks like. Finally, when I am at a campground, I take the map they give you on check-in and mark sites I might want to stay at next time.

You can get a portable satellite that you can move around your site and possibly use at home, but there are several problems. The first is aiming it to find a satellite. There are portable, self-aiming satellites, but I chose the kind on my roof because it is just easier. Plus, I did not have storage space for the dish because I have several smaller "basement" storage compartments instead of one big one. Having it on the roof means moving my whole rig instead of just the dish. The other problem is that you need a receiver, as well. You could take the one from home but that means unhooking both the receiver and the satellite each time you travel. I don't know of anyone who does that, but maybe someone on this forum does.

Your home unit is almost certainly NOT a self-aiming satellite, which means you have to look up asimuth and ??? at each location. Then setting it manually means having one person inside and another outside by the satellite aiming it while yelling back and forth with the inside person through an open window. Really. With mine, once I am plugged into electric it automatically starts searching for the three satellites it uses.

And you may have trouble getting local channels. Because mine was bought as a mobile unit, I just call DISH at each location and they reset it for me. Not sure you can do that with a home unit.

[snowball]

I use Direct tv have a satellite and receiver we had it installed after we moved into the 5th wheel...and yes if I had the
money would prefer a on top of the roof one...however I have other things that thousand needs to go for...so we used to yell and ect to get it set up...now that my husband has passed away I do the next best thing wait till someone will come out and hook me up..most of the helpers have a magic thing that zero's in on the satellite and bingo there it is...for net work we signed up for east coast and west coast so I never have it reset that was a pain....but like I said if I had my wishes I'd go for the on roof one...when they set us up they some how disconnected the antenna and we can't use the antenna in the living room dh figured out how upstairs but didn't fill me in on it...so I use Direct
sheila

[OTW]

Hmmm, I do have that couple's email address for a recipe I said I'd send them so will have to ask them how they set up their dish. They don't have Dish Network themselves at home, a friend of theirs does. They had the sat. dish though so asked her if she'd get them a 2nd receiver and they pay for it to her each year in advance. There are two of them though, so they probably signal back and forth.

As for state and local campgrounds, I've never stayed in one with a trailer OR camped on battery power, nor carried water in the fresh tank (just got it sanitized in Ohio, it wasn't yet before) but way back when (30+ years ago in California), we did stay in a state park in the mountains several times and those roads were both hilly and winding and all very narrow. But all you describe sounds very appealing. When you say you pick your own site, does that mean you haul your whole rig through the winding roads within the park? Or do they take you around in a golf cart or something? That latter question might earn guffaws but that's how ignorant I am of them. No clue if they do that or if they just hand you a map and you're on your own because I'm still very afraid of wrong turns I might have to worm out of.

[Bethers]

Many state and local and COE cgs have electric, btw.

[Pooker]

Well, I can address the satellite subject. I have a rooftop sat. bubble. When I bought Sere, the previous IO (Idiot owner) had removed the satellite brains (discovered later), so I had a local RV place fix it. They installed a brain box inside a cabinet and hooked it up to Directv. I just bring my box from the house into the rig, hook up the cable that comes from the brain box to the back of my house box. Takes less than 2 min. Turn both boxes on, and wait for it to search for a signal. Usually works like a charm unless there's a tree or heavy clouds or something blocking the signal. It's not hard at all.

Years ago we had a portable dish and the beeper signal finder. That's when you needed the azimuth, etc. numbers. There were times when my DH would spend hours trying to get a signal. I don't have that type of patience, hence the visit to the RV dealer where I handed over my rig and said, "Here, fix it so it will search on its own." They did. I have friends who own one of the newer portable dishes for their 5th wheel and he sets it up in no time and the thing does it's own searching, too. They are happy with it.

Pooker

[Cudedog]

... And why I choose, if a cg, normally state, county or COE parks whenever possible.

I'll definitely second that.

Although my west-coast camping experience doesn't nearly hold a candle to Beth's, by and large the private campgrounds I have stayed at - or checked out and decided not to stay at - have generally been bad to abysmal (with a couple of exceptions).

The county, city and state parks I have stayed at have generally been pretty nice - haven't found a bad one yet.

An added plus is that many, if not most, privately-owned campgrounds have does-not-allow restrictions against my chosen breed of dog. A breed of dog I know fairly well, having owned this breed for nearly forty (yes, 40) years. In California, Oregon and Washington, at least, the only restriction I have found thus far is that the dog needs to remain on a leash. No problem with that, wouldn't have it any other way.

Like Judy, in my old age I am finding that I tend to prefer having reservations, when possible. Less stress for me, as it gets close to stopping time.

Anne

[Cudedog]

Many state and local and COE cgs have electric, btw.

One of the state park campgrounds in Oregon that I recently stayed at had electric, bathrooms, showers. . . and laundry facilities!

$26.00/night. My kind of campground!

Anne

[JudyJB]

I stay almost entirely in state and federal campgrounds and a large percentage of them have at least electric. Some also have water hookups and many of the new ones also have sewer hookups, like where I am right now in Oregon. There are two big reservation sites most state and federal parks use:

- Reserveamerica.com for state and commercial campgrounds. You need to set up an account with your email and a password. https://www.reserveamerica.com/welcome.do

- Recreation.gov for federal campgrounds. Same thing about setting up an account. https://www.recreation.gov/

Both work almost identically. Just type in the name of a state and fill in the boxes on the left or expand the map on your right because it does not show all campsites. I usually click on RV sites and select that I need 30 amps of electric. I like paved campground roads and paved sites, and a lot of them have those as well.

You enter the dates you want and pick the sites from the map or lists shown. Many campgrounds also provide pictures of individual sites, but you can also go into Google maps and compare that to the maps of available sites. When you get to your campsite, you have the site number and will be assured you have a site YOU like, instead of what some commercial campground thinks they can get away with sticking you in!!

Right now, in Cape Lookout State Park in Oregon, I have a full hookup site with electric, water, and sewer. It also has paved roads and paved campsites, although it does not have a laundry. I could have chosen a no-hookup site for a few bucks cheaper, but it is nice not to worry about driving to a dump station. And I picked this site because it has a fairly clear southern view for my satellite. $30 per night, including tax.

[OTW]

OMG, my apologies for abandoning the thread -- somehow I lost count that I'd left it with an asked question, and here are answers to an MIA.

Okay, I'm sure feeling better about state/fed campgrounds after reading this. I think my picture of them was almost Wild West, no supervision, etc. (Had an experience like that in California many years ago which stuck with me).

I was going to try to stay in one in Vermont the weekend of 10/22 but Vt. state campgrounds are all closed down at that point. Some apparently seem to allow "off season" free camping (either no or very reduced supervision) but that doesn't start until November sometime. I'll make a point of trying a few after winter now, for sure.

Have to say my small sampling of private campgrounds en route to/from Ohio left me pretty underwhelmed though, and the cheapest rate was $34 after Good Sam Discount and I didn't think much of its very small-width sites. My one brush with KOA (which had excellent reviews, a la "wish all KOAs were like this) was $44/night and the worst of the lot that I stayed at, in terms of not at all truthful (this was the "level" site where my stabilizer jacks wouldn't come anywhere near the ground level on one end of the trailer, lol). So yeah, definitely want to try state/fed ones. I'll probably become a diehard convert based on what you all have written here.

Oh yeah. Forgot. Re my growing conclusions re private campgrounds, this one struck me as classic because it dawned on me that one of the others used this answer also. Recently I did call a private CG in northern NH to TRY to get an idea of their place before booking (want to attend a reunion after the state ones are all closed). My question: Do you have any campsites that'll fit my rig that are pretty level? Her answer: "I'd like to think all our campsites are pretty level." Later in the same conversation due to some things she'd said, "Are back-in sites larger or prettier than the pull-throughs we've been talking about?" Her answer: "I'd like to think that all our campsites are pretty." OMG, I'd "like to think" that someone is going to will me 7.4 million after taxes, but what does that have to do with reality? LOL. Sheesh.

[Acadianmom]

About all I can say for KOA campgrounds is that they have good signs and I can usually find them. I seldom make reservations so might end up at a KOA. I haven't stayed in one that I thought was worth what they charge. I had sticker shock a few years ago when I stayed at one on my way to New Jersey. It was almost $60 and the electricity kept going low when everyone was cooking dinner. It's hard to beat the COE campgrounds, especially if you have the National park pass and the fee is 1/2 off.

Martha

[OTW]

It seems when I checked there weren't COE campgrounds in the northeast, whereas they appeared to be plentiful in the west. But yeah, I was pretty turned off on KOA just from that experience. Would not have been so drastically disappointed if I hadn't read rave reviews about it being the best KOA that people had stayed at.

I did (whew) skirt in right under the deadline on getting the national senior pass before it went up to the whopping jump to $80. Not as many national CGs here as in other parts of the country either, but any stays at them at any point would pay for the cost of getting the pass. Once I go full-time snowbirdsville, I have a feeling I'll appreciate all things camping related that are fed/state.

It seemed to me though that the ReserveAmerica reservation fees could dent their favorable overnight charge if not staying more than one night. Maybe I need to get a bit more brave and not get all clutched up if I don't have advance reservations.

[Acadianmom]

Yes, the $6 reserve america charges is kind of aggravating if you are only staying one night and you have to pay it even if you just show up at a park. The state park was able to add a day to my reservation without charging me another $6 when I showed up a day early in New Orleans.

I use to wait too late to start looking for a campground and would end up trying to find a park and register in the dark. At least now I try to get off the road before it gets dark. I am too unorganized and never know when I will get on the road and how many stops I will make.

Martha

[OTW]

Huh? I thought ReserveAmerica reservation fees were specifically for them to process reservations. You're saying that if you don't make a reservation but just do a walk-in, the fed/state campgrounds charge the reservation fee anyway?