Membership Campgrounds

[berginaperzina]

Recently we went to a sales pitch at a Thousand Trails campground. We were not that impressed with the one we toured, but did think that if you get the whole package they are trying to sell, it becomes expensive.

We also felt that they do have some nice sites, but is it worth it to tie yourself into something like that? Or would it be better to just go around free? One good thing: We did get $100 in free gas and a nice three days, so our stay was worth it.

[tbutler]

Jose and Karen,

You pose a good question here. The answer lies within you, not from others. I looked at your information on your profile and it looks like you enjoy the outdoors, camping near streams, fishing, hiking. I certainly haven't seen all the parks in any of these membership programs but my impression from what I have seen is that they are pretty much people who enjoy being in a retirement resort kind of community as opposed to a campground outdoors experience. You mentioned a favorite campground in Oregon. Did you get the same feeling about Thousand Hills?

We are full time, no home to check on except where we are parked. We enjoy moving around and traveling to new locations. We hike, bicycle, explore and tour. The membership parks never seem to be near the places we want to be so we have never felt the need to tie ourselves to one program or another. Now, having said that, we do spend our winters in a retirement resort community so we get that experience during the time of year when we really don't want to be traveling most of the rest of the country. We have two almost opposite lifestyles with our two seasons of travel. In the winter we play tennis, golf, bowl and swim. We have happy hour with friends, eat community meals, have dances and musicals and plays for entertainment. When we hit the road we visit friends and relatives, children and grandchildren, travel to new parts of the country, attend rallies or conventions, whatever interests us. We like to get to national parks and nature areas that are often remote. Our campground fees go up in the summer but it isn't forever. People who have park memberships seem to talk about the money they are saving. We'd rather get out and see the things we want and not be tied to a few locations.

Depending on how you want to travel, membership park programs could fit your needs or not. If you do decide to go with a membership park program, individuals who are members do sell their membership and you may be able to save some money going this route.

[berginaperzina]

Tom and Louise,

I do agree with what you said. We do like to be free and go to different places and do whatever comes to mind that day. We are not going to retire for another couple of years and then we plan to travel two to three months at a time, come back home to stay a while and see the girls and our grandson and off again. As far as cost goes, those membership resorts are very expensive; it would probably take a long time to spend that much in camping fees at individual parks. Good thought you posed: No, it did not have the same open and free-spirited feeling as the Oregon parks or as national parks do.

Good food for thought.

Thanks

[2ducks]

Any feedback on Coast to Coast or RPI?

[berginaperzina]

nope, not at this time

[akmshrm]

We are members of all of them, we use Thousand Trails each summer. We have the membership that allows us to go from park to park. We have stayed in vairous locations around the US also. But use them all summer and that pays our dues and also makes a serious payment on the membership also. Coast to Coast we use frequently but not as often as we should. We haven't used RPI - though we are members of it also. Along with the RPI we get Enjoy America which gives us half price camping. We are also members of CampClubUSA and have used it extensively. All of them are good, some more expensive than others but all equally useful in certain circumstances. Again, it's an individual needs type situaltion.

[wagon217]

We have use our Thousand Trails membership for a couple of years now. We have a National plan with RPI and Enjoy America. We like the park that is local to us, although gets crowded in the winter

We have visited a few of the parks in the western region in Texas and one in Nevada. Our annual dues verses our usage is averaging less than 20 dollars a day.

Most of our travels out of state is destination travel, and overall not many of the Thousand Trail or RPI parks are not always convenient to where we want to be located.

Probably the most important issue for us is wherever we stay must be able to accommodate our larger motor home.