Re: [A/S] What discount camping club cards are a real moneysaver?

[Terry Tyler <tylerbears@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Leon,

1 - Yes, some travel cards provide a 50% discount off the campground's
regular price. The rub comes when the regular price is $30 plus. We're not
impressed when the CG says, "That will be $15 a night, Sir." Generally, $15
is twice as much as we pay for a campsite.

2 - When it's peak season and CG owners can fill the campground with people
who willingly pay the full price, then a different  song and dance may
occur. It often goes something like this, "We can only let you have one
night (or two). And that will be $15 a night, Sir." Occasionally, the
campground will agree to three nights.

3 - A variation of the song and dance might be, "We don't have any sites
with hookups, but we have room in the overflow field. You may stay the week,
if you'd like. The dump station is nearby. That will be $15 a night, Sir."

4 - Another ruse we've heard is this, "We can put you on a W&E site, but it
has cable TV which is another $2 per night." Later, when we ask about using
the modem, the reply is, "Yes, the phone jack is on the wall at that desk.
The cost is $1 each time you connect." When I point out I'm using an 800
number and will only be on line for 3 minutes to collect my email, they turn
a deaf ear and say, "That's the rule."

Yet in all fairness, most campgrounds don't charge for using the modem
connection. More often, the phone jack is built into the pay phone. That's
the simplest for me. The pay phone is usually outside on a porch or under a
patio and I can use it day or night.

5 - Bottom line. In my opinion, there are other cards which are a better
deal than the 50% cards, but they too, require persistent attention to
detail. Theoretically, campgrounds accepting these other cards are supposed
to charge a" set fee per night" in their campground. It's not uncommon for
them to say, "We've had to raise the price another $2 a night because the
cost of doing business has gone up."

Or, they'll say, "We only have a few sites that aren't reserved." What they
don't say and what we find out when we go to our assigned site is it's along
the rail road tracks, or the Interstate highway fence, or next to the dump
station, or some other disadvantaged location.

6 - Again, in all fairness, most of the time (80%) one of our  several cards
will work out to be an average good deal, especially when the campground is
located on a well traveled Snowbird corridor, i.e. I-95 from the Maine to
Florida. I've found these campground owners to be thoughtful, polite and
helpful.  The campgrounds are usually clean and the roads are wide enough
for me to easily back into a site on my blind side. The owners know what is
needed by RVers and most of the time, they provide it.

7 - Sometimes, we're "invited" to a campground owners meeting in the
clubhouse with an inducement of coffee and donuts. Almost always (99% of the
time), that's an invitation to spend big bucks and become a member of their
park. The upside is these CGs are often better equippped than most. They are
on our list of places we'll stop at again, but skip the coffee and donuts.

8- In my opinion, there is only one card (and the cheapest one at that)
which is the best deal for those of us who are age 62+. The overnight
campsite cost is usually about $8 after the discount. The card is called
Golden Age Passport and it costs a one time fee of $10 for the life of the
card holder. With this card, there are no other fees are tacked on AND all
campsites are good ones.  Occasionally, the price is lower  (National
Forests) or higher (waterfront  sites).

These campgrounds are our first choice whenever oneof them is near the route
we're traveling. There are 386 National Park Service Campgrounds (NPS). Our
lifetime goal is to stay at all of them. So far, we've visited 112. There
are dozens of other types of federal campgrounds, i.e. National Forests,
etc..

The NPS campgrounds are on a par with Corps of Engineers (COE) Campgrounds
where our Golden Age Passport also qualifies us for a 50% discount.  Our
goal is to stay at all 900 COE campgrounds. So far, we've visited 224 .

9 - There are hidden benefits to the Golden Age Passport. For example, this
week we are staying at a Louisiana STATE Park. When I registered at the
office for a campsite, I showed my FEDERAL Golden Age Passport and the price
suddenly dropped from $12 a night to $6 a night (with no add-ons). That was
a first for us. Our W&E site is spacious, the roads and parking areas are
paved, the trees provide needed shade, there are showers and a laundromat,
security patrols are obvious, the staff people who registered me call me by
name when we meet (and I call them by their names) and our satellite signal
comes in at 90% strength (incidental fringe benefit).

10 - The most inexpensive deals are not advertised widely, but are  found by
word of mouth. For print data, the Escapees Club magazine has a"Days End"
column where dozens of new sites are  listed monthly. There is a computer
disk for sale with more than 10 years of accumulated information about
unadvertised RV parking places throughout the continent. We've contributed
to this data bank and we've used it. In our experience, the city parks, town
parks, village parks and county parks are often free with many having W&E
hookups (and dump station).

If you've read this far, you may have a better chance than most of finding
good deals. It takes persistence, attention to detail and more persistence.

11 - You didn't ask, but I'll mention this anyway. Some of our friends
prefer being "settlers" and staying for months at one place. That's not for
us. The excitement of traveling and being "explorers" quickens our hearts
and brings a smile to our faces.

Our 1977 31' Airstream has three solar panels, three deep cycle marine
batteries and a 1300 watt inverter. Boondocking with our Airstream is easy
for us and a pleasant experience. Having hookups is fun, too. It's not a
choice of one or the other. Our preference is to have a mixture of hookup
camping and boondocking instead of always doing the same old thing week
after week. Viewing the big picture, none of this is the real prize.

12 - The real prize is an overwhelming sense of freedom and independence as
we travel the continent exploring all its' well known attractions and its'
obscure nooks and crannies. For us, this is the essence of our RV lifestyle.

Terry

mailto:tylerbears@airstream.net