[A/S] 1/2 price club

[Terry Tyler <tylerbears@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Guys,

This club provides a list of 800+ campgrounds which charge 1/2 of their
regular price if you join ($50) the "Happy Camper" organization.

http://www.camphalfprice.com

Included with a membership is an online trip routing service at:

http://www.freetrip.com

To those who have been reading my posts for awhile, this option won't come
as a surprise. The campground membership system has always been a volatile
one with new features being introduced, with old features being discarded,
with prices going up and prices going down, with companies coming into
existence and companies going out of existence and on and on and on. The
only thing constant is change.

Those of us who occasionally and selectively use specific aspects of various
campground membership systems are quick to recognize that Happy Camper is
only the latest in an ongoing parade of organizations who are trying to
provide a useful and economical service to RVers - and hopefully, make a
profit for themselves in the process.

It's readily apparent to me that our personal benchmark of less than $10 per
night for a campsite in a bonafide campground is easily reachable by anyone
who gives even the slightest attention to market choices.

Furthermore, as one of those RVers who consistently gives considerably more
than the slightest attention to the market choices, our yearly average has
been less than $7 per night for the last 14 years.  And we aren't even using
all the options that come to our attention.

Why do I mention this? Before we started playing the game of searching out
little known options, we thought the published information in slick
magazines and fat directories represented reality.  We quickly learned that
was only true because we read only those publications.

But, it was not true for RVers whose curiosity was strong, whose readiness
to try new things was refreshingly active, and whose inclinations took
particular delight in searching for the rarely publicized and seldom
recognized places to SAFELY park their Airstream.

Have we stayed at some unpleasant places for $5 or less a night? Yes. Have
we stayed at some unpleasant places for $10 a night? Yes. Have we stayed at
some unpleasant places for $15 a night? Yes.  Have we stayed at some
unpleasant places for $20 a night? Yes.

Likewise, have we stayed at some of the most delightful places for $5 or
less a night? Yes. And the same goes for $10 and $15 and $20 per night
places.

For us, the rub came when we realized we wouldn't have found the
delightfully inexpensive campgrounds or free parking spots had we limited
ourselves to the slick magazines and fat directories.

After we find one of these gems, we make a note of where it is and how to
find it again. For many RVers, this might be an exercise in wasted effort,
much like watching commercials on TV. Not so for us. Instead,  we find it an
enjoyable game - a playfully pleasant pastime that exercises our creative
juices and helps make traveling enjoyable anywhere on the continent.

The reason I mention this is to encourage Airstreamers to try new and
different campgrounds instead of the same old, same old places. Before
someone chides me for promoting this one sided viewpoint, we do have our
share of staying at "same old, same old" places once in awhile.

And, yes we do occasionally pay top dollar when we want to be in a specific
location for a designated purpose.  And yes, we foresee a time when "same
old, same old" will occur more often - as our needs change, as we change and
as our lifestyle goals are revised.

But for now - the anticipation and challenge of figuring things out on the
fly provides us with low risk excitement, high level satisfaction and
occasionally, slight consternation.  Granted, this may be a quirk of only a
few RVers, but for us, it is one of the features that makes the Airstream
lifestyle so enjoyable.

Bottom line - Everyone is different - and each of us does what best meets
our needs, but some windows of opportunity are open ONLY for a limited
period of time.  Or, as the old saying goes,  "You snooze, you lose."

Terry