do you always make reservations?

[rollout]

Do you make reservations ahead of trip or just find something when you are about ready to stop for the nite . we will soon be going on our first trip and did not know how easy it was to find overnite parking without reservations.

[moosetags]

We make reservations if it is Friday or Saturday night. Otherwise, we don't usually bother.

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by rollout

Do you make reservations ahead of trip or just find something when you are about ready to stop for the nite . we will soon be going on our first trip and did not know how easy it was to find overnite parking without reservations.

Welcome to the forums. If you have never been to the area before, reserving something would be a good idea. If it's something you want to come back to, you can look around and see how busy it is. If it's busy, then reserve, if not, show up redy to camp.

[thecatsandi]

Only if I know I need to be somewhere or I expect it will be crowded. Otherwise, no I wing it.

[Boondocker]

You can do that? Only the first night at Yellowstone and form rallies

[Alumatube]

When we plan on being in a specific place at a specific time we do. Otherwise we just go by The Next Exit book and see what we find, since we never know how far we will go or where we will end up each day of traveling. And we certainly aren't averse to staying in a Wal-Mart parking lot!

[ZoominC6]

Stopping over for the night, we do IF;
It's Winter and it's Florida,
It's peak Summer travel season in a popular area,
SOMETIMES on a weekend day,
otherwise we just wing it.
If you run into a problem remember; WalMart, Cracker Barrel or church parking lots and always ask first.
Happy Trails

[njoysrvin]

We usally make reservations ....but even if you don't make them , remember to ask for discounts ..ie. AAA , Good Sams , etc.

[BamCamper]

I like to travel off season and weekdays whenever possible to avoid crowds so I almost never make reservations. I like being able to find a place that seems nice rather than be stuck somewhere that isn't so nice. I've driven into places that I've found in tour books and turned around and driven right out because they were so awful. The exception where I would call ahead would be if I wanted to camp somewhere very popular like a National Park on a weekend.

[rambn]

Originally Posted by rollout

Do you make reservations ahead of trip or just find something when you are about ready to stop for the nite . we will soon be going on our first trip and did not know how easy it was to find overnite parking without reservations.

I'm new to Airstreaming, and my first extended trip begins July 5. I have reservations for that weekend, and the following week in south Lake Tahoe. After that, I head northwest to Oregon where I plan on playing it by ear. I checked out many of the websites and it seems that some parks have campsites on a first-come-first-served basis. Hopefully they'll have some campsites at least during the middle of the week, anyway. I often go camping near San Diego, CA. and I do the same thing. It works out pretty well, even on weekends so long as I get there early on Friday.

[CaddyGrn]

We usually just "find something" ~ however I usually have my laptop with campground maps, info, etc. or several books to refer to if we are in an area we are somewhat unfamiliar with. We often aren't sure how long we will travel, so we don't like sticking to a big schedule. If it is the height of tourist season and we are in a crowded area (like Lake Tahoe) we would make reservations. Otherwise we look early for a spot... say before 2:00 or 3:00 p.m. and usually can find something.

Good luck and happy camping.

Mrs. NorCal Bambi traveling in S Tardis

[gaylejoe]

This past summer we traveled through the midwest and usually made our reservation the same day that we would arrive. There are enough RV parks around and we had no difficulty finding a spot. We even go into the Fishing Bride RV in Yellowstone making our reservation the same day we arrived. This was in June. There will be times when one would need to make his/her reservations days in advance. We did not have any problems making our reservations the same day through out our 12,000 trip.

[dwightdi]

Most people carry cell phones now. Most campgrounds and parks have phones. When you are planning a trip a few phone calls to the places you might stay will tell you how busy they might be around the time of your trip. If they say they are always booked solid, reservations might be in order. Some parks do not take reservations. The use of the cell phone on the road in the early afternoon can save you from going out of your way and being turned away from a full campground. I would rather not be in a position of trying to find a Walmart parking lot at 10:00 PM when I can not get into a park or campground.

[tin sista]

Originally Posted by rollout

Do you make reservations ahead of trip or just find something when you are about ready to stop for the nite . we will soon be going on our first trip and did not know how easy it was to find overnite parking without reservations.

If its just sort of an overnight parking thing, and you aren't in a heavy demand area (snowbird regions) you might be able to wing it. I can't speak to that as I get a lot of joy out of planning a trip and reserving the sites. We're tied to a work schedule so we can't always get to a campground before dark on a Friday night, and don't want to scramble around trying to get one, been there, done that, not good for us course I know plenty of well adjusted folks who have a great time winging it!

We make reservations at most of the public parks(that is state, national parks) cause in Michigan camping is a popular pasttime. For example we've already got reservations for most of next summer set up as of last week. These are sites that are waterfront, or oceanfront (South Carolina), and in high demand. Some really popular state parks in Michigan, like Ludington, are tough to get into in the summer without a reservation.