Sometimes spending your weekend at home is just plain boring. There really isn’t much to do, but on the other hand you don’t have much of time before the weekend is over and it’s back to work again. How about a weekend RV getaway close to home? Not only can a quick RV trip alleviate the boredom, but it is cost effective too. A 200 mile, or less, round trip from home won’t cost much in fuel, food or campground fees and it might be just what the doctor ordered for some well deserved relaxation and time to recharge.
Lots of times, when planning RV trips, we tend to think you have to get away from home for it to be any fun. Truth be told there are probably lots of private and public camping locations and other fun destinations right under our noses that we’re not even aware of.
The other day I was searching the internet and came across a website that I visited before, but had forgotten about. It’s called Reserve America and it’s the largest provider of campsite reservations in North America, facilitating over 4 million transactions per year. You can visit Reserve America at www.reserveamerica.com
Using its “Find Camping Spot” feature I searched for RV sites close to our zip code. Sixteen choices within 100 miles of our zip code popped up immediately. You can scroll down the listing and click on the campgrounds that interest you to get detailed information on the description, services and amenities each have to offer. The “Find Camping Spot” search feature allows you to get more specific too, like searching by park name, dates, length of stay, amenities, size of RV and much more.
Quite honestly I was surprised to find so many camping destinations so close to home. With sixteen choices within 100 miles of where we live I think there will be many more cost effective weekend RV trips in the near future. It really doesn’t matter if it’s a 200 mile, or 5,000 mile trip, what’s important is you use and enjoy your RV.
For more information on private and public campgrounds check out our RV Campground Basics e-book or DVD
Happy Camping,
Mark Polk
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Dan
Thanks thats a great idea. We just bought our first travel trailer and truck . I ‘m just itching for spring to roll around. your article has reminded me of some parks that are fairly close to home. I ‘m going to check them out for starters before going on any long hauls .
Brad Fuller
Mark,
We like to do short trips as well as long trips during the year. In fact, there is a capmpgound only about 5 miles from us that we go to several times a year. It is one of only a few that get a 10/10/10 from trailer life. It’s nice just to get away from the house and feel like you are hundreds of miles away. Then when summer comes we do go thousands of miles on our long trips.
Brad
Pat Genereux
Thanks, Mark!
Our little state park, just 16 miles from our SE Iowa home, is a great getaway and just the right place for a weekend (elec hookup only)…sadly, Iowa, like many states, is talking about closing or cutting services like campgrounds at many of its parks due to the recession.
There are some things we can do to hopefully keep them open.
1. GO LOCAL RVing…as Mark notes it isn’t that expensive and it is really relaxing.
2. Use state/county parks when you can…create a balance with your use of private RV parks…we certainly don’t want them to go out of business!
3. In places like IA, AZ, etc. call, write, email, or go have coffee with your state lawmakers and see what you can do to prevent closures or curtailed services…find out from your state DNR folks if you can volunteer to help cut costs, but, be careful that your volunteering doesn’t mean job losses. Just check it out and see what is needed!
I know this has been a long, strange winter for many of us, but spring isn’t that far off…have a great RVing season!
A bientot!
Liz Bard
My DH just got out of the hospital. I told him I was rearranging the budget so we can go out once or twice a month (depending on other obligations we have) so we can have some fun in the RV. He is having kidney problems so I want to get him out while he still has the energy.
Manuel Enos
I agree with RVng close to home. During our off season, my wife and I go somewhere at least once per month just for a 3 day weekend to get away from it all and to keep the RV running and not sitting around collecting cobwebs. We take two real long trips per year but that monthly gettaway really is the cream of the crop so to speak..As for reserveamerica I am not a great lover of that site. I am a member since now days you almost have to be to get a reservation anywhere. However, call the park you plan on staying at for information because Reserve America usually knows nothing about the park since they are usually located in another state or across the country from where you are planning on going. I have also found that their availability list usually does not match what the parks have available..Typical for the new age techonology of computers…