We're RVing, for real!

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

aMarie

Active member
Joined
Jan 8, 2012
Posts
43
Finally, and it's SO fun!  We're not too awfully far from home...  at the Evergreen RV grounds in Dundee, OH. It's spotlessly clean, great pool area, picnic areas, laundry mat, small general store, a grill at every site too. Just a few small issuers, so far. Zone 2 & 3 heaters don't seem to be working, cool air comes out. Zone 1, in the front of the coach works very well. Techs didn't do a good job of hooking the Direct TV up, kept telling me a different receiver box each time. I called Direct TV and they sent someone to us to fix it, but the wiring is wrong and they won't redo it, the tech at the RV place has to do that. We have one tv and are thrilled to have it. Haven't used the stove yet as I put dinner in the crock pot in the morning. Just trying to make sure everything inside is organized. We have our dogs with us so they really enjoy the walks around the park. There are plenty of trash cans so it makes it easy not to have to carry their poo bags very far. Yesterday I sat in the RV and did NOTHING but look out the windows at the beautiful scenery for about an hour. Ahh, it was pure bliss!

The cost for full hook up site is $49 a night, we used our Good Sam for 10% off of that. I don't know what the average cost is for full hook up so not sure if this is average or not??  Back to the RV grounds, just came home to take care of the cats and chickens.

Thanks to all of you soooo much for your help and the great info on this forum!!

aMarie
 
I'm new too and so far we have just done one quick over night trip...we loved it and can't wait to go again.  We are going on the Friday after next for two nights this time!

As far as the $49/night...seems like that's probably more than average.  We stayed at an Army Corp of Engineers park and it was only $20....super nice/private set up too.  I'd imagine with many RV Parks/Resorts you get what you pay for and if you are paying a price like that I'd expect a lot of amenities. 
 
Isn't it fun??  We're having a blast!  There are other buildings on the RV grounds I haven't even explored yet as I'm always walking one of the dogs. Although the dogs would like to see the people and explore the amenities with me, some people don't love my dogs as much as my dogs love people.  I'm happy to hear the price is a little higher than the norm.

We're staying until Tuesday and then taking the RV back in to be rewinterized & heaters checked until we figure out where we want to go next. We're thinking TN? Somewhere that isn't as cold as it is here! BRRR!

aMarie
 
Oh, forgot to add.. even though it's cold there are about 15 other RV's in the park. They're making full use of the pool and game room LOL
 
Congratulations. We are sure you will enjoy camping for years to come.

The average cost of camping will determine how you do it, where you do it, and what you like.

Over the years we usually have just Dry Camped (Boondocked) at Wal-Mart, Truck Stops, various Free Camp areas, etc. most of the time when we plan to only stay over night, just one night, usually enroute to a destination. When we plan to stay more than one night, or otherwise desire to stay in a paid campground, even for one night, sometimes in commercial, sometimes in a State Park, COE Campground, Forest or Park Campground, we are willing to pay the fee knowing what we want.

As Life Members of Good Sam and Passport Campers, we usually camp in Commercial Campgrounds at a discount when available. Just to give our personal example, not applicable to anyone else, in 2011 we stayed at campgrounds and/or Boodocks of all types for 114 nights. I keep a speadsheet record of all of our camping-travel expenses and our campgound only cost for 114 nights in 2011 came to $1,824.

We have been RVing for over 50 years so obviously we pretty much know where we will be staying almost every night on the road and have learned to use our personal pattern. Others will certainly vary from our experience. We are presently using our 5th RV, (5th Wheel models since as a Rancher I have multiple trucks) and our present one is a Montana Model 3750FL pulled by one of our Dodge D3500 Diesel Duallys.

Welcome to the great RV Camping Group.
 
Back home long enough to spend some time with the cats (they are very unhappy!) and take care of the chickens. We are having so much fun!! There is so much to learn, wow! I can't figure out the washer - but glad we decided to keep it. I've pushed all the right buttons, all the correct lights came on, and even read the dreaded manual, still no luck.  It's supposed to snow starting this afternoon, up to 6 inches by morning. The dogs are going to love their long walks around the grounds in snow, yay! They have areas that are for dog potty and even provide clean up bags for those that forget them.
Oh, the shower rooms at the RV site, heated tile floor, huge private showers, very nice! Guess I'm used to the old ones where using them was at your own risk with all the mold and bugs.  W're staying until Tuesday and then have the RV winterized again that day.

I'll start a notebook to keep track of costs, great idea, thanks! In a couple weeks we want to go to TN. It'll be fun looking up places to stay!

aMarie
 
We plan to take the cats as well, just not the first time! We have 4 cats, 2 of them I think would be fine, the other two are a little more difficult (freaky). THen I worry about them getting into the slide outs.... is that even possible, could they get stuck or hide in them? I have a crate for them to travel in but when we're parked they can be out. Have any tips for traveling with cats? The dogs are easy.

Thanks!

aMarie
 
Marsha/CA said:
We take our cats with us! 

Marsha~
We would not go anywhere without 'Lenard'.... Family goes on vacation, then 'Lenard' is 'in'!  We used to have him with us in the TV when we had a TT, he just can't handle that, now, he's in the 5Ver with his litter, food and water, man is Lenard happy.  We stop at rest area and open the door... Lenard is on the couch with one eye open, happy as can be!  Lenard and I are racing for old age against each other, unfortunately (cause it hurts) I think I'll see him go first, that's why we go through so much trouble to make 'his' vacation match ours.... like running a generator all the way to the campground in the summer.... so 'Lenard' is comfortable!  I enjoy taking care of him like we do... just our way.
 
If you think a weekend away is fun, wait until you spend the winter in Arizona / Florida / Texas.
We're spending our first winter in AZ and have done the Quartzite rally in SW Arizona, and it was
awesome.  We head home mid March with plans to be in Moab UT in May.  Come join us. .  It's Happy Hour ! ! !  ! !
 
What is a Quartzite rally?

I wish there were such a thing as a RALLY FOR NEWBIES so we can learn all the things the dealership doesn't tell from people who own the same kind of RV or ones that have similar set ups. We've asked a ton of questions, have things written down but until we actually do them it (we haven't dumped yet) it's very intimidating. That is something we would gladly pay for!!

It's so cold today, trying not to think about what the wind chill might be. We didn't get as much snow as predicted (yet) but have very high winds, brrr! Zone 2 & 3 heating isn't working, cool air comes out. Zone 1 heat in the front kitchen area works very well so we're either too warm or too cold.  Lots to learn and still having fun!

aMarie
 
What is a Quartzite rally?
See this web page by Bob Buchanan, for a lot of info. A rally is, of course, a gathering of people and RVs in one place. Quartzsite, AZ is west of Phoenix along I-10, 20 miles or so east of the California border. A very small town, in Jan. and Feb. it hosts what some call the world's largest flea market (several city blocks), along with gem and mineral shows, RV shows and car shows, among other things.

During this winter fest there are 10s of thousands of RVs in the area, most boondocking on BLM land within a handful of miles of QZ (ours is about two miles out). In the Rallies Shows and Events section of this forum are a couple of topics about QZ, an 8-page locked one about info and sign up, and an unlocked one about Arrivals and Rally Activities.

When you roam through the above web site and those two topics, you'll get a better idea of what a QZ rally is.

BTW, One of our members (Kim, I think) coined the term Frally, for Framily Rally (Framily is Forum Family).
 
I wish there were such a thing as a RALLY FOR NEWBIES so we can learn all the things the dealership doesn't tell from people who own the same kind of RV or ones that have similar set ups. We've asked a ton of questions, have things written down but until we actually do them it (we haven't dumped yet) it's very intimidating. That is something we would gladly pay for!!

The Escapees club has events call Boot Camp just for that purpose.
 
A rally sounds like great fun!

Thanks for the link to the Escapees. I checked it out and sent an e-mail, hopefully I'll hear from someone soon.

Yesterday the windchill was about -0 and the water line froze. I put a tiny heater in the compartment, turned off the water pump (I don't know why I turned the pimp off, just did). Within 20 minutes we had running water so it must not have been frozen solid. There are no puddles or ice under the tanks either. I left the heater on all night.

While we really love our RV and traveling I sure hope we start to feel more comfortable and learn more soon. I'm reading until my eyes hurt haha

aMarie
 
Back
Top Bottom