RV PArk or Campground?

When camping, do you seek out RV Camps or Campgrounds?
I am concerned with the overwhelming size of RVs when parked between them. By the same token we want to be in places that have clean showers and bath rooms, so roughing it may not be the best for us.

What brand of parks have been the cleanest in your opinion?

 

Welcome to the Forum, Trippster! It's informative and fun. In our experience (of tent camping; we're new TD campers), state parks tend to be the most pleasant because they are usually away from highways and more visually appealing. Each state seems to have a different culture in terms of their park amenities (in one of our first posts I commented that I was pleasantly surprised that showers were free; the responses indicated that free was more the norm than not). The commercial campgrounds seem to be more accessible to highways and cater to the big RVs, but are good if your intent is just to sleep and get out. I'm sure that the responses you'll get to your post will offer lots of opinions (Forum-users have a very wide variety of opinions!) Glad you've joined us. Kathy

 

Hey Tripp! Welcome! I love both for different reasons and Kathy's right about the overnight thing. However, I want to give you some information regarding RV campgrounds:

We currently live in our 5th wheel RV trailer in a very nice Yogi Bear Campground in Texas. We travel with our CI and it's stored in their storage area. This "brand" of campground is a destination campground and caters to families with children. It's a happy place, sites are large and the whole campground is covered with beautiful oak trees. During the summer it is jam packed with children and families walking up and down the road, riding bikes, etc. Everyone's having a great time, no wild partying, etc. So if you have kids or just don't mind kids (lots of them) it's a great place to be. But I think anywhere you go in the summer unless you boondock will be busy with kids. The bathhouses ae very neat and clean and would be great if you're in a CI. Your only problem here would be that so many people would want to have a "show and tell" that you wouldn't be doing anything else! I know - when we pull our CI out to load it up to go somewhere, we have a crowd coming around to see it! It is not right off the freeway, but 13 miles off! So we're rural, but as I said, a destination campground. There are many nice ones that aren't right on the freeway and still have shade trees and amenities - look them up online!

Texas State Parks are very nice and showers are free and they are quite numerous. Cheaper too! I hope this helped!

 

We used all kinds of sites so far. And it really has been dictated by what we wanted to do more than what the site look or size whether there are big RV's or not.
We love the state parks for a 3 day, week or longer. Most have been beautiful sites some with beautiful views others just peaceful laid back. Good rest rooms other than washington we found them to be free. In MI we found the best. I am handicapped and they had shower rooms that I could drive my scooter right into and besides the shower the sink and toilet were in the same room. Made life easy. The private campground were fine when we just wanted a safe overnight with bathrooms. We st ayed in Fort Wordon in WA where we were tucked between a long row of very large RV's but the area was looking out on Puget Sound and we loved exploring the fort--since the spaces were made for big RV's we had a ton of room and did not feel cramped - but we did look like an ant in a forest when we were a mile away. We stayed in one tiny private campground on the Columbia River WA side where our site had a wood deck overlooking the gorge I could have stayed there a long time. also stayed in a place like Linda was talking about. We just wanted a quick overnight it was clean, manicured and lots of kids and friendly people who live there all summer - worked for us for a sleep over but we would not have wanted to stay there longer as we generally are looking for quiet, nature, and some privacy.

 

For me, I have stayed in both. When the weather is pretty decent and the onslaught of rain hasn't set in, I like being at the state parks. Most have concrete pads, but I find with the wet, some of the RV parks are a little more convenient for us. We have a 4-year old who tracks everything in, and mud is just too hard to keep out. Like others said, it has a lot to do with where/what we are doing. Sometimes the RV park is the closest to where you want to explore.

I always prefer the state parks for the natue and the cost (it is generally a lot less, most are about half the cost...in Oregon the showers are free at the state parks, but not at the RV sites, and the parks I have been to lately have been pretty nice). At the State Parks, I also try to park in the tent areas (I get more privacy (generally speaking) that way and I like being away from the big rigs, plus it is cheaper). Out here folks have all sorts of different tents they put up, and I am finding with the trailer, my set up is actually smaller, so we fit just fine.

The RV parks serve a purpose, but we haven't been overly impressed with them so far. We have had a decent sites, plenty of room, and were left alone (Dottie was backed way back into the Northern Breeze due to the rain). The places was pretty empty at the time of year we were there...our weather was especially bad this year. It was noisy, there was no privacy, and only a few trees along the outside of the park, so no shade (if there had been sun), and we were between the highway and the railroad tracks. The 4-year old loves trains, but all night was a bit tough tough on us adults. It was loud. Linda's place sounds a lot nicer! Come to think of it, we did stay at a cool RV park in Moab. The main reason we picked it was it was super close to Arches National park and it had a pool (it was warm by our standards in October there, and a swim was awesome. I would go back there in a heart beat. It was a destination place, and was really kid friendly. More than anything it was just really handy!

I think it all comes down to personal preference, what you are trying to do, and what kind of time you have.

 

Thanks all for the info. National and State Parks sound like a winner. I am a photographer anyway, so they would be perfect.
RV parks will get the job done for just stay overs.
Thanks again!
Ken in Louisville

 

While we were waiting for our Camp-Inn to be built we purchased a membership with KM Resorts. In addition to their very deluxe resorts in Washington, it gave us access to Resorts of Distinction and Coast to Coast which we used on our drive back from Wisconsin. Since then, we've spent a bit of time at some of these resorts. They generally have more ammenities to offer than a state park, such as swimming pools, mini golf, club houses, internet access, etc... However, I've come to the conclusion that we prefer primitive camping over RV parks and state parks. I'd rather be boondocking. (BTW, if anybody in WA wants a great deal on our KM membership let me know). Not all of our relatives like this style of camping though, so we have made good use of our membership when camping with them.

 

Evan,
I would take you up on the KM membership, but I would think it would be expired by the time we get our unit in 2012.
What does KM stand for btw?
Thanks,

 

Are there any free camps near T or C NM area? Any one stay in the Walmart there?

 

Truth or Consequences, NM Quaint but don't blink or you'll miss it kind of place. 7,289 souls, but who's counting. Seems over populated by Necedah standards, truly the BIG city. 30 miles east is Spaceport America. Don't ya just love trivia....

 

Truth or Consequences, NM. A very cool name!

 

ha,ha, Gary. we must have been typing at the same time - but you're faster

 

Just looked at All Stays. Walmart listed as no overnights and everything else including the state parks are pay.