We love our class C and want to get as much camping in next season as possible. We typically camp about 20 days a year, beginning with a short, 3-day trip in mid-March. We've been thinking of ways we can increase the number of days we can us the rig each year. Weekends are the real issue here. Aside from annual vacation, we have only weekends to use the rig. Leaving on a Friday evening only to return Sunday afternoon is a bit much for us. All that preparation and driving for just a day away doesn't work for us. We're thinking of an alternative solution and we'd love to hear from anyone who has considered or done this:
We have a few favorite campgrounds, and our trips have always been within a 3 hour radius of home. We're thinking of purchasing a seasonal site for 2009 at one of these campgrounds so that we would not have to prep and drive the rig every weekend for a rushed get away. Once gas and daily rates are compared, seasonal sites are still a bit more expensive, but then again we'll be using it a lot more--just about every weekend!
I had both a class C and a 44ft park model on a rented lake front site. I dought if I would buy a site until I was sure about it. We got tired of setting in the same place fast. Of course you could go off when ever you wanted to.
2008 Itasca Sunrise 35A
2006 44ft Breckenridge
2008 Honda CRV Toad
2007 ZR1 Colorado Toad
2008 Pontiac Solistice GXP "Brazen Orange"
2008 26ft Car Mate-Car "We Traveled To Alot Of Different Places While On Vacation, Until The wife Asked Directions"
Guess you could rent a site for a month, instead of a whole season, which would giv e you 4 weekends away at a particular place....then shift to another site. The trip home at the end of the month would also allow you to clean up and check all the systems again, before the next "month".
We've never done this, but I'd also wonder about vandalism or thefts, if we were to leave our "Home away from home" vacant for 5 days each week?
You might also think about asking your boss about some "flex-time", so that you can pull a long weekend once a month. Might mean a few extra hours each week, but if you can take off on Thursday, you might enjoy it more.
No matter what you do, you'll want to get away as much as possible....and that seems to be your goal. Good luck!!
Bill & Claudia / DD Jenn / DS Chris Dogs: Sophie, Abby, Brandy, Kahlie, Annie, Maggie & Beau RIP: Cookie (Sheltie) & Gidget (Lab-mix) over the Rainbow Bridge.
2000 Winnebago "Minnie" 31C, Ford V-10
Purchased April 2008 FMCA# F407293 The Pets
We're still thinking about it. The idea of renting a site for a month wouldn't really help since we can't be there during the week. It is strictly the weekend problem that we are trying to resolve. As for asking the boss for "flex time" I wish I could but as a teacher, there is no such thing. Unlike the myth I've often heard, I have never had a summer off----could never afford to do that. So I teach summer school thru early August each day Mon-Fri. Three free weeks in August are my vacation.
I like the idea. Your post is inspiring me to look for exactly the same thing. I'm already paying $500/yr for storage, what's a few hundred more for parking it at a CG fully set up and ready to camp? Win/win.
I am able to go camping every weekend April 1 to November 1 because I leave a park trailer on a seasonal site 1.5 - 2 hours from home. Even if I don't get away from work until 5 or 6, I get home and am on the road (thanks to my better half doing all of the packing and having the other vehicle ready) and am doing a golf cart tour of my second neighborhood by 9 PM. There is no way I could do this every weekend if I had to set up and break down camp! We also have a class C and ended up renting the lot next door to use this as our guest quarters. We have not gone all out on that site and could move it easily if we decided to go some place else for the week or weekend. Ou campground is 95% seasonal and we have a great neighborhood.
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1992 Fleetwood Tioga Montara Special 27 Class C
2007 Gulfstream Innsbruck 36FRS Park Trailer
We have the exact same problem. I hate to make the payments for so little use but there is 'hidden' value in all those mini-trips and opportunities to get away. If gas wasn't so darn expensive, it would not be so bad but add the burden of weekend trips to expensive gas and it is a turn off.
Here is what I do:
- I make the trip on Friday night an adventure in itself. We eat on the road (kids and wife do) something the kids like. We try not to rush to the campground. Any time is a good time to get there as long as we wake up in the morning to a nice cup of coffee in the middle of the woods and have time a small fire on Friday night.
- We buy the food close to our destination and basically 'go shopping' on Friday night. This makes the almost endless task of leaving town more bearable.
- I rent Sundays and stay late in the campground. It is amazing how we tend to treat Sundays as a day to get back and not one to enjoy. We usually camp 2-3 hrs away.
- I keep it really simple when we get there and go to 'convenient' campgrounds (leveled, hookups). When I get there, I pull out a few chairs, BBQ and that's it. I used to take bikes, porta bote, awnings out, red carpet etc... By the time, I was done setting up, I had a headache and most of Saturday was gone.
- We do the 'call in sick' once in a while even though our limiting factor is kid's school.
I don't think that I could rent a place and park the MH there. We might as well rent a hotel. A big part of camping for us is seeing new things and going to different places.
I am looking forward to retirement but then again it may not be as much fun w/o the kids.
It's a personal choice. You have to ask yourself if you would be content staying in the same spot all summer....not that you still couldn't pack up and drive it off somewhere for a week or weekend. But if you are going to park it at a campground all summer, every summer you probably could have saved many thousands of dollars and bought a travel trailer.
The reason we bought ours was to travel to different places and see new things. The thought of parking it in one location all summer doesn't appeal to us but I could see where it might to a young family with children or an older couple who didn't like driving much any more.
We take many two-night weekend trips but try and stay within 80 or 90 miles of home for that length of time. That way we are set up on our site by by 6:00 p.m. on Friday and we can stay until after lunch on Sunday. It seems worth it to us. We don't have children at home anymore so we can get ready to go pretty quick.
Thanks for all the advice. I think we'll do a modified version by going semiea-seasonal at our favorite campground----about half the summer for a deep discounted rate, based on many stays there and maybe the economy hitting them a bit. We will then take some short trips to other interesting places in the NY/NJ/DE area.
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