At nearly two years of living in the RV full-time a lot of people have asked how we plan our trips. We generally have a ‘tent-pole’ events in April, July, September, and then October through the end of the year with our son and his family. In April we go to Oklahoma to play music with our friends. In July we go to Michigan to play music with more friends and in September we go play music with an even bigger group of friends. (Disclaimer: we do not pretend to be very good musicians!) Then we head to the Raleigh, NC area for our grandsons birthday and then the holidays. In between? Well that’s up in the air.
Two winters in a row we’ve spent time in the deep south. Last year was near Jacksonville, Florida and this year was Galveston, TX. In both cases we booked sites well in advance. By well in advance I mean start researching NOW and book by the July/August timeframe. The best campgrounds fill up quickly!
We use the RV Trip Wizard application that’s part of RVLife.com to find campgrounds. RVLife has an annual subscription of $59 and that gives you access to the trip planner that allows you to research campgrounds in the area you’re going and plan your route. You can create different trips with different locations and see your route. Input the dimensions of your RV and your mileage and the map will give you estimates on when you’ll run out of fuel. The campgrounds have reviews and advice from others that have been there. You’ll also see what services they have (30/50 amp, water, sewer, wifi, and other amenities) and the price that people paid and what discounts they may have received. The trip planner can also show you low clearances which is important too
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One thing to be aware of is that not all 4 star reviews are equal. We made the mistake of booking a week in a southeastern Georgia campground that looked like it had decent amenities and it had a 4 star rating. Let’s just say that everything about the campground was a lie. It had no wifi, no cable, no rec room, no pagoda on the lake (at least they had a lake) and the little tiny road drawn through the center of the campground map was a 4 lane highway with a median divider!
It was after the fact that we looked closer at the two, yes two, reviewers that gave the 4 star ratings and that was literally the only campground they had reviewed. So my advice is to look closer at the reviewers because it will say how many reviews they’ve done. My profile on RVLife is BKeeney and as of this date I’ve done 34 reviews and I’ve given 4 star reviews to 15 campgrounds. 13 received 3 stars, 4 received 2, and 2 received 1 star. So if you see a 4 or 5 star review from me you can believe it. I don’t believe I’m that picky and I try to be honest with my reviews so they’re helpful for others. I recommend you do the same!
RV Life also has a mobile app (iOS and Android) and it gives you some of the same features with the ability to search for campgrounds and see their details. It also can provide RV safe GPS directions. I’m not a fan of the directions simply because it doesn’t offer the breadth of travel features that an Apple or Google Maps has for things such as real-time traffic and accident updates. But since those two map apps don’t take into account height it’s better than them for tall RVs.
If we are not on interstate highways we will use our Garmin RV GPS. Again, it’s not as polished as Apple and Google Maps but it’s safe for RV’s and it has some features that none of the other maps have. With an RV specific GPS I feel safer when I know I’m not going to be on the interstate. Just remember that if a trucker is using your route you’re probably safe from low bridges and overpasses. Going through the West Virginia mountains last fall the Garmin GPS route was about 90 minutes longer than Apple Maps. Friends that moved to Appomattox, VA said we did the right thing (and wish that they had taken the longer route when driving their moving trucks). We’ve also found the RV Trip Wizard and Garmin estimates to be more accurate than Apple Maps when towing.
For many years we used the All Stays Camp and RV mobile app. It does have an online website that’s $34.95 for the first year and $32.95 after that. They also have some discounts for 3 and 5 year memberships. Honestly, it’s been many years since I’ve used the website but I use the mobile app at times. I think their filters are a bit more robust than RVLife but they don’t have the concept of the ‘trip’, at least in the mobile version.
Another service that we’ve tried is Harvest Hosts. For $99 a year you get a listing of thousands of locations around the country where you can camp for free. This includes, farms, wineries, breweries, and distilleries, museums and other attractions. The only thing they ask is that you partake in the hosts products. The website will allow you search by area and once you find a place it will show you max rig size and how many max nights you can stay. Once you zoom in to the specific host you can see their suitability (parking, pets, etc), amenities (gift shop, wine tastings, birding, hiking, etc), and parking directions.
One thing to keep in mind with Harvest Hosts is that most do not have any RV services. Some do and will charge a modest fee for water or electricity. So this means you’ll be living off your fresh water tank, and battery or generator so this option may not be for everyone. Since we’re working full-time and tend to stay in a location for a week at a time the service hasn’t really worked out for us but maybe this summer as we’re traveling between our tent pole events we’ll avail ourselves of their services.
I think RVLife and RV Trip Wizard is well worth the annual subscription and recommend it for planning. I’m not a fan of the RV Safe GPS built-in to the mobile app but you should try it out and see if it works for you. All Stays and Harvest Hosts are other options to consider. There are plenty of other website and apps out there to help you find places to camp.
Happy Camping!
This is cool to see how you are doing. I have considered something like this. One question, have you tried systems like star link roam, do have internet while driving?