We have been traveling for the last 8 months and our average length of stay in one spot is 6 days. Our longest has been 16 but we normally move every week. But I have found myself looking for a spot down south to sit for a month, maybe 2 and not move. I didn't think that would happen until the 2nd or 3rd year LOL.
Thinking about someplace in Texas I think. We spent a bunch of time in Arizona last winter roaming around.
Dance Chick said
02:52 PM Aug 26, 2013
I hear ya. Even though we aren't fulltimers and are traveling for about 9 weeks, I'm finding that I'm starting to think about staying longer than 6 or 7 days somewhere. We typically stay 4 to 6 nights and then move on. Staying a month somewhere that we really like would be awesome.
Loretta said
04:14 PM Aug 26, 2013
We find ourselves in the same position. We got this workamping job in SD and found out that we are really enjoying it. Now it is coming to an end and we committed ourselves to a position in Benson for the winter. We spent alot of time in Phoenix, and surrounding areas, last winter and never got to the southern area. To be honest, I like the fact that we can tour the area and not have to pay campground fees in exchange for 15 hours a week. Like you are saying, we thought this would come later in our travels. We are coming up to our 1 year anniversary on the 30th. Who knows what will happen in the spring. We have even been considering trying gate guarding. Yikes!!!
bjoyce said
04:52 PM Aug 26, 2013
Other than a 23 day stay at a repair facility waiting for back ordered parts, it took us 3-1/2 years to stay somewhere more than two weeks. Our longest stay is 91 nights (3 months) and we got a discount to stay that long. Of course we break the rule that after 2 years we are supposed to slow down, we really haven't after 10 years.
I will say that winter is the best time to stay put, the days are shorter, the locations with decent weather more limited, and you will have the company of other RVs. Except for workcamping, I don't understand staying long term in summer, that is prime season to see the country. In the north, it is the only time of year we can comfortably camp. We would have missed Alaska, the UP of Michigan and New England if we stayed put in summer.
In Benson/Tucson, I recommend the Tucson Attractions Passport, http://www.visittucson.org/deals/passport/. You will quickly save the $18 cost and find places you would not have visited without it.
Loretta said
05:07 PM Aug 26, 2013
Bill, thanks for that tip. Here at this park in SD we got a VIP Pass which allowed us to visit many sites for free. This is available to the workcampers so we can recommend these places to people who ask what there is to see and do in the area. We have estimated what we saved by workcamping for these two months and it is impressive.
Dog Folks said
06:23 PM Aug 26, 2013
Don't worry too much about it. The two things we have learned about full timing:
1. It is constantly changing or evolving.
2. There is no right or wrong. Everyone's lifestyle is unique and tailored to your likes/dislikes. That is the beauty of the lifestyle. Where else can you sit around and discuss where you are going to live next?
Hdrider said
07:26 PM Aug 26, 2013
Yep,, thanks for the tip Bill. And I don't see us staying put anyplace during the summer at all for a while.. just during the winter. Well maybe for a month when we go visit Diane's mom this coming summer, she's 88 and it will be at least another 1 1/2 years or longer before we get back there again.
And work camping I know will not happen for a while. Neither of us have any desire for that yet.
NWescapee said
11:00 PM Aug 26, 2013
LOL, so we've only been FT for a short period of time, but the 2 weeks we just spent in South Dakota in one location was great. In July we moved 7 times, mostly due to having 3 art shows in 4 weekends in 3 different parts of the state of Washington, plus closing on our house on the one weekend we didn't have a show. That was more moving around than we typically want to do.
In August we will only have moved 3 times, but 2 of those have been relatively long moves with 2 days of travel between sites. Coming up in September / October due to art shows we'll move about 10 times in 2 months, some of those moves are to get into the Bay Area for art shows and then quickly exiting after the show to avoid the high cost of camping. However, I think our total distance driving the entire 2 months is only about 300 miles so we're looking forward to much shorter distances to move.
We're looking ahead to November and December, deciding we're going to try staying 2 weeks at a time in various places. Our thought process with limiting ourselves to 2 weeks was the need to declutter and moving forces my clutter bug hubby to put stuff away, throw stuff away and get organized again. I'm afraid if we stay any longer I won't be able to find any surfaces in the RV.
cherylbrv said
11:05 PM Aug 26, 2013
Question - if you need / want to change your mind, are you better off to reserve for a short time and request a longer stay, or reserve longer and leave earlier?
Lucky Mike said
01:11 AM Aug 27, 2013
when you reserve longer and leave earlier........you most likely will lose that money for breaking your agreement.........reserve shorter and beg for longer usually works best!!!
Loretta said
03:06 AM Aug 27, 2013
I agree with Mike. Many campgrounds will not refund your money if you leave early. The one we are in now does not give refunds. The only time this isn't the case is if you are staying two-three weeks it might be cheaper to get their monthly rate and then just leave when you planned. Does that make sense?
Hdrider said
11:45 AM Aug 27, 2013
Mike and Loretta are both right from what I have read and heard. Sometimes a monthly rate equals as little as a 2 one week rates combined so if you left anytime after the first 2 weeks you would be ahead. But keep in mind that most monthly will charge for electric also.
And after trying to leave early once and being told there were no refunds I started reading the fine print more often and realized that NO refunds are very common.
cherylbrv said
03:51 PM Aug 27, 2013
Does one usually need to "beg" for a longer stay?
Loretta said
04:30 PM Aug 27, 2013
cherylbrv wrote:
Does one usually need to "beg" for a longer stay?
It depends on where you are and what time of the year it is. For instance, at the park that where we are working they are booked in August for the Sturgis rally. If you can get a reservation for a certain amount of days you may have a hard time getting it extended. Most of the time, though, there is no problem asking to stay longer. Also alot of campgrounds in an area where there is something going on may raise their rates for the activity so you may have to go further out. There are all kinds of variables.
Hdrider said
05:28 PM Aug 27, 2013
The last time we asked to stay longer we had to move sites in order to do so,, but it worked for us.
NWescapee said
05:34 PM Aug 27, 2013
Depends on where you are, currently we're in a state park, waiting for some work to get done on our truck. However, we're waiting for the parts to get here so if we can't leave by Saturday as planned we will have to move. The state park is fully reserved for the Labor Day wekeend, I've found the county fairgrounds have capacity so that's plan B. We try to always have a plan B since there are so many variables and this life is requiring lots of flexibility.
We have been traveling for the last 8 months and our average length of stay in one spot is 6 days. Our longest has been 16 but we normally move every week. But I have found myself looking for a spot down south to sit for a month, maybe 2 and not move. I didn't think that would happen until the 2nd or 3rd year LOL.
Thinking about someplace in Texas I think. We spent a bunch of time in Arizona last winter roaming around.
We find ourselves in the same position. We got this workamping job in SD and found out that we are really enjoying it. Now it is coming to an end and we committed ourselves to a position in Benson for the winter. We spent alot of time in Phoenix, and surrounding areas, last winter and never got to the southern area. To be honest, I like the fact that we can tour the area and not have to pay campground fees in exchange for 15 hours a week. Like you are saying, we thought this would come later in our travels. We are coming up to our 1 year anniversary on the 30th. Who knows what will happen in the spring. We have even been considering trying gate guarding. Yikes!!!
Other than a 23 day stay at a repair facility waiting for back ordered parts, it took us 3-1/2 years to stay somewhere more than two weeks. Our longest stay is 91 nights (3 months) and we got a discount to stay that long. Of course we break the rule that after 2 years we are supposed to slow down, we really haven't after 10 years.
I will say that winter is the best time to stay put, the days are shorter, the locations with decent weather more limited, and you will have the company of other RVs. Except for workcamping, I don't understand staying long term in summer, that is prime season to see the country. In the north, it is the only time of year we can comfortably camp. We would have missed Alaska, the UP of Michigan and New England if we stayed put in summer.
In Benson/Tucson, I recommend the Tucson Attractions Passport, http://www.visittucson.org/deals/passport/. You will quickly save the $18 cost and find places you would not have visited without it.
Bill, thanks for that tip. Here at this park in SD we got a VIP Pass which allowed us to visit many sites for free. This is available to the workcampers so we can recommend these places to people who ask what there is to see and do in the area. We have estimated what we saved by workcamping for these two months and it is impressive.
1. It is constantly changing or evolving.
2. There is no right or wrong. Everyone's lifestyle is unique and tailored to your likes/dislikes. That is the beauty of the lifestyle. Where else can you sit around and discuss where you are going to live next?
And work camping I know will not happen for a while. Neither of us have any desire for that yet.
In August we will only have moved 3 times, but 2 of those have been relatively long moves with 2 days of travel between sites. Coming up in September / October due to art shows we'll move about 10 times in 2 months, some of those moves are to get into the Bay Area for art shows and then quickly exiting after the show to avoid the high cost of camping. However, I think our total distance driving the entire 2 months is only about 300 miles so we're looking forward to much shorter distances to move.
We're looking ahead to November and December, deciding we're going to try staying 2 weeks at a time in various places. Our thought process with limiting ourselves to 2 weeks was the need to declutter and moving forces my clutter bug hubby to put stuff away, throw stuff away and get organized again. I'm afraid if we stay any longer I won't be able to find any surfaces in the RV.
I agree with Mike. Many campgrounds will not refund your money if you leave early. The one we are in now does not give refunds. The only time this isn't the case is if you are staying two-three weeks it might be cheaper to get their monthly rate and then just leave when you planned. Does that make sense?
And after trying to leave early once and being told there were no refunds I started reading the fine print more often and realized that NO refunds are very common.
It depends on where you are and what time of the year it is. For instance, at the park that where we are working they are booked in August for the Sturgis rally. If you can get a reservation for a certain amount of days you may have a hard time getting it extended. Most of the time, though, there is no problem asking to stay longer. Also alot of campgrounds in an area where there is something going on may raise their rates for the activity so you may have to go further out. There are all kinds of variables.