Books/sites/other

[BasilFawlty]

Planning to be full timers from April and at least a year. Looking to get a 38RL with all the bells and whistles.

What books or internet sites are good to find the best places to stay around the US?

Not only cheap but just great value for money. Also where the hidden gems might hide and generally if a place is well run etc etc. Saw some full timers that said don´t go ahead and invest in a lot of memberships etc. just plan via internet.

Any ideas?

(my English is terrible but getting better the longer I stay in this great country!)

[Dave&Ginny]

Here's the problem with websites......About 5 years ago we had to do some business in a town. We looked over the websites and saw this very nice looking site with a white picket fence around a pond.

The pictures didn't show all the junk semi trucks and piles of gravel. The fence and pond were both there but it took a very unique angle to get that picture with a camera. I have heard of some folks that look at Google maps to get views.

[BasilFawlty]

oh ok! I meant more like when I travel i use Tripadvisor or Booking.com for reviews of hotels and restaurants. And Lonely Planet sometimes to find things to see and small tips.

Maybe there is something similar for rating of places to park my RV.

[johnboytoo]

I've not found an all inclusive thing to use for our trip planning, but I do take in the ratings/ideas from all over...
campgroundreviews.com
www.allstays.com,
the Good Sam rv travel guide book,
good sam trip planner (http://www.goodsamclub.com/travel/) ,
google reviews,
what ever and where ever I can find info, even with a google search...

But for routing ideas, I typically use google maps and focus in on the satelite and street view to see what it looked like when the sat passed over and the google camera car passed by -
it's the best I can do other than getting on the forums and asking "Have you been here ? "

good thing about google maps is MOST of the time, it's copy write 2013 or 2014 so pretty recent stuff... As an example here is one I worked up for our trip to savannah in a few months: Itinerary

We've even been known to take the goggle route and follow it along in street view to make a virtual drive to be sure it is not a one lane road

I do appreciate ratings from others,
but until we find out their taste and expectations are similar to ours,
it can lead to surprises... good luck and go find out if you like it!

[Oriana]

I research with rvparkreviews and Good Sam. Once I short list I then check them out on Google street view for the approach to the entrance and finally take a look at Google Earth.

The Google Earth view may be a couple of years old, but it gives you a general idea and doesn't lie like photographs can.

[BasilFawlty]

I found Good Sam but rvparkreviews was new t me, thanks for your help!

[BasilFawlty]

Thanks! Seems that Google does a great job. I love the Lonely Planet but hat is more what to see when I arrive at a place and to plan a route.

When it comes to security I feel that US is a pretty safe country to RV in. I can not say that on all places in Europe. Seems that it is easy to get together with people here and get tips and thoughts and all here speak English! Try to speak English in southern France...

[0nTheRoad]

If you have a smartphone I suggest Allstays Camp & RV, it has been a great help to us. You can also access from your computer (http://www.allstays.com/Campgrounds/campgrounds.htm).

For reviews we use RV Park Reviews (http://www.campgroundreviews.com), not perfect but we've found that the reviews will give you SOME useful information.

I too use google maps and google earth to look at the campground and the surrounding area for access/egress and a general feel but even that isn't foolproof. I was looking at a campground on google a few days ago, looked pretty good...then I visited the park, sites were very small and roads were terrible, didn't pick that up with the overhead photos and there was no mention of these issues on any of the sites I researched.

Bottom line, there is no foolproof way to know.

I've found that word of mouth and even this forum are great tools for finding good campgrounds.

[BasilFawlty]

I just downloaded it to my iPhone/iPad!

[johnboytoo]

Oh, one other site I forgot to mention: http://www.irv2.com/forums/f38/ has many others asking the same questions about places they've not been.

Heck, we started camping when we were working overseas in Iran, we would just throw some stuff on the back of the YZ-400 dirt bike and wing it.
Have some stories to tell about some 'invigorating' places! but that was when we were young and invincible, now we like to research !

even though http://millcreekranchresort.com/ is probably as nice a park as we'll stay in, I really like to spend time at NEW places !

So it's ask you nice folks that are close to those places we may want to visit.

[Willbetravlin]

I have often used Allstays, but don't completely rely on it. Found a nice little park west of Alexanria, La by just doing a Google search last year and told the owner it didn't show up on Allstays. She told me they were fairly new and she could not afford their fee to be listed. I'm sure that like almost anything else, you can fooled when you arrive at what appears to be the local salvage yard instead of that nice place your phone told you about. I'd say, if it hasn't happened to you yet, you haven't traveled very far. 😜

[BradPAjax]

I have used an app called RV Parky as well that was visitor reviews and pictures of the park.

[Willbetravlin]

We've used Allstays extensively and have looked at RV Park Reviews and RVParky. They seem pretty good, but I've been told that some of them charge a fee for being listed. That can leave some nice, new parks out, if they are getting a start, but must prioritize their spending. Sometimes I have had good results just searching Google for campgrounds or RV Parks near a city.