Long Term Stay Campgrounds

[hoosierguy]

This is to any of you folks that do long term stays at a campground...................



Now that I am retired and my wife is planning to retire this next spring, we are thinking about finding a location for longer term stays next winter starting in January through March. I don't have any problem finding lots of very nice locations. We plan to visit some locations in advance just to check them out.Some questions,



1. Generally how far in advance to you make reservations to ensure your location is available?

2. Do you reserve the entire time you plan to be there or one month at a time?

3. Any thing that I should be aware of in advance?



Thanks in advance for your input.

Guy

[mhs4771]

We stay at a smaller park,
so we'll make next winter's reservations before we leave in the spring (this
ensures us our same spot).<?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /></span>

With our park, the longer
you stay the cheaper the rate. So we do the entire 6 months in one shot. I
would highly advise against making any long term reservations without seeing
the park first. Like with anything on the Internet, they can make their sites
look huge or make a small pool look Olympic size. Some the interior roads are
so small with little or no room for maneuvering I don't know how you would park
one of the castles on wheels</span>

[SueMar]

We've only been fulltiming for 2 1/2 months and have just been "winging it" for the most part. The only time we had problems getting a site was for next week at Lazydays in Tampa. We didn't check when we made our service appointment and it turns out there's a huge RV show in Tampa then. Every site at Lazydays was reserved -- many since a year ago. One thing we've started looking for online, using campground zip before we book (especially if for a week or more), is distance to food stores and other services. Just stayed at a beautiful (and cheap!) campground on the gulf for a week. Only food store was one 4-6 miles away, very poorly stocked, lots of items past date and very expensive. It was at least 30 miles to anything else. We had thought about staying there for a month, but decided on just a week and are glad we did. A month there would have meant several 60 mile round trips for food. I could shop once a month at home and just go out for things like milk, bread, salad, eetc. but I had a LOT more storage space and much larger fridge. Another concern is medical care. Hopefully you'll never have to use it, but it is reasssuring to know there's something nearby. We did have occasion to seek care and, fortunately, it was "just around the corner" where we were staying then. Just my 2 cents. We're learning as we go!

[hoosierguy]

I have read on other forums that there are some very nice campgrounds in the Gulf Shores, Alambama and Fort Walton Beach, Florida areas. We are planning on visiting the area this spring to check out the area and campgrounds. Has anyone been to that area recently, and if so, what was your impression?



Does anyone know if you can reserve specific sites, or, do you just pay your deposit and take whatthey have available when you arrive months later?







Guy

[SueMar]

Reserving a particular site varies from one campground to another -- some will, others won't, some will take special requests (near the playground or pool for example)

[hoosierguy]

SueMar and MHS4771, thanks for your responses.







If anyone else has any thoughts, feel free to chime in.



Guy