Things To Look For In A Campground

Above, The Beast at the Ely, Nevada KOA. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

When traveling, I usually plan my daily drives with campgrounds along the way in mind. I generally try to arrive before dusk. Setting up camp in the dark is not something I like to do.

I usually use several sources for finding the "right" campground. I use the Good Sam campground directory (now called Good Sam RV Travel & Savings Guide), the KOA Kampground Directory and Woodall's Campground Directory. And, I check RV Park Reviews (I am a contributor) to see what other RVers say about the campgrounds I am considering.

Do It Yourself RV has an article on six things to look for in a campground. A lot of it depends upon one's needs and wants. But the article has some handy tips.

They begin with:

If you’re trying to plan your first springtime camping trip, you may be feeling a bit overwhelmed. After all, there are a lot of campgrounds to choose from, and picking the one that’s right for you can feel intimidating. What should you be looking for and how do you find that information? 

Luckily, there are ways to narrow down your choices and help ensure you have an awesome camping trip in the ideal campground. Read on to learn what experienced campers look for in a campground, and what you might want to keep an eye out for as well.

To read more, go here.

Off-Season RV Travel

Above, the Williams-Grand Canyon KOA. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

RV traveling during the off-season takes the worry out of finding a campground/RV park with vacancies.

There is one disadvantage to traveling during the fall and winter months is that many campground/RV parks are closed for the season. So one has to plan their trips with this in mind and find places to stay that are open all year. The weather is another consideration. I constantly monitored the weather with my Weather Channel app and used my CB radio's weather band (whenever there was a weather broadcast station in any given area).

Above, the Elk City-Clinton (Oklahoma) KOA. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Speaking of weather, the drive east was fine. The temperatures were in the 70s and 60s during the day and down into the 50s and 40s at night. But during the drive west, since the route was further north, it was much colder with daytime temperatures down into the 50s and 40s and into the 30s and 20s at night. It rained one night while heading east (at the Springfield, Missouri KOA). I got snowed on in Cortez, Colorado and it rained in the Four Corners (where Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico meet) area.

Above, the Springfield (Missouri) KOA. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

I had no difficulty in finding open campgrounds during the trip. I made reservations at only two: Graceland RV Park in Memphis and Goulding's Lodge Campground at Monument Valley. Graceland RV Park did fill up during my stay, so it was a good thing I made reservations there. Goulding's had plenty of open campsites, but since Monument Valley was in the midst of "snowbird" (people who are from cold, snowy states who winter in warmer/drier states) country, I felt I should reserve two nights just in case.

Above, the Covered Wagon Campground in Abilene, Kansas. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

As far as the non-reserved campgrounds I stayed at, only the Albuquerque KOA Kampground looked nearly full. But I still got in anyway.

While en route to Metropolis, I tried to keep my miles-per-day to under 500. While planning the trip, I used the Good Sam, Woodall's and KOA campground directories to plan my overnight stays. I mainly used KOA Kampgrounds as I have a KOA Value Card, which gives me a discount. I racked up enough bonus points through the card that I saved $20 at the KOA in Needles, California.

During the return trip home, I winged it (except, as mentioned, the stay at Goulding's). Probably the most difficult place to find an open campground was in Durango, Colorado. Luckily, there was one in the Durango Year Round RV Park. There were mostly long-term people there and the place had equipment of some sort all over the place as well as antiques. The place actually looked creepy, sort of in the vein of slasher horror flicks. It was about 15 miles outside of town.

Above, the enclosed porch of the Durango Year Round RV Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, the Durango Year Round RV Park. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

But, as I said, most of the campgrounds had plenty of room and this was good as there were no noisy neighbors to have to contend with. Since children were at school during this period, I didn't see very many during the trip, just older adults.

Above, The Beast had the Meteor Crater RV parking lot all to itself. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Besides being easier to find campgrounds with plenty of vacancies, attractions along the way did not have any crowds to contend with. I was the first in and The Beast was the only RV in the RV parking lot at Meteor Crater, Arizona. There were only a dozen or so people at the Eisenhower Center in Abilene, Kansas.

Graceland was busy, but the crowds were not bad. I only had to contend with large crowds once I got into the Grand Canyon Village at the South Rim.

I may do another off-season trip next year (just not quite so far). But I may begin it a week or two sooner before colder weather starts to set in.

A Visit To The Auto Club

This morning, I went over to the local Automobile Club of Southern California office to take care of a vehicle registration matter thanks to a screw-up by the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

Once that was done (it only took a few minutes), I purchased a couple of campground directories by Woodall's that they had for sale. Since the price was a very reasonable $5.95 each, I bought two different directories. One was for the Far West and the other was for the Frontier West, Great Plains and Mountain States.

The Auto Club has ceased to put out their own campground books and now sell directories and guides by Frommer's, Lonely Planet, Woodall's and others instead. They still put out their TourBooks and I picked up several of them, including Colorado & Utah, Northern California, Southern California and Arizona & New Mexico. The TourBooks are still free.

Along with the books, I also picked up some maps of Northern, Southern and Central California Public Lands Campgrounds and California's Gold Guide Map (featuring the late Huell Howser). The maps, too, were free.