did I make a mistake?

[nicole.b]

WOW I bought a 2016 23' flying cloud. I was hopping to spend the winter in warmer climates. there aren't many places I can go. actually every state park in florida is full already, and the available rv parks are too expensive for me to stay at. so Florida is out. I looked in Texas and all the places I was interested it are full already too. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but I don't like the idea of just driving around looking for a place to spend the night. very discouraged at this point. I don't want to have to go in the middle of a desert and hope for the best. this sucks!

[PaulnGina]

Here's a suggestion: get an Arkansas State Park guide and spend the winter here. Even in the NW corner of the state, our winters are relatively mild. During the times it is supposed to be really cold you could move to a park in southern Arkansas.

There are a lot of beautiful places to stay here.


PaulnGina
1987 Avion 34W
1995 Ford F250 7.3L PowerStroke

"I don't mean to sound degrading but with a face like that you got nothing to laugh about"

[Lily&Me]

Yep, don't try to go as far south this year.....try any of the border states and you will find vacancies.

Pick a few areas you would like to explore, and go from there.

Make a different plan next year.


Maggie

[dkottum]

Drive another day or so to the Southwest and you will find plenty of park venues at great prices. I think you'll like the weather and open country better as well. We're signed up at a real decent AZ rv resort (Voyager) next Jan-Feb-Mar through Thousand Trails for $1700, plus another 30 days free and discount camping at their other affiliates.

We try to take a different route each year, and go far out of the way exploring the country as we make our way to our destination. Six month trip overall. It's a great life.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by nicole.b

WOW I bought a 2016 23' flying cloud. I was hopping to spend the winter in warmer climates. there aren't many places I can go. actually every state park in florida is full already, and the available rv parks are too expensive for me to stay at. so Florida is out. I looked in Texas and all the places I was interested it are full already too.

There are Corps of Engineers campgrounds in 44 states, and most of them are beautiful, with fair to good tree cover, plenty of green space between campsites, and almost every one of them is built beside a lake or waterway.

You can look them up here: http://corpslakes.usace.army.mil/visitors/visitors.cfm

You can usually only stay for two weeks at a time, but if no one has reserved your site you can usually make arrangements to stay an additional two weeks. Because of the duration limits I've never been to a CoE campground that was clogged with snowbirds.

Most CoE campgrounds have dump stations instead of sewer hookups, which also tends to weed out the snowbirds. But surely the need to visit a dump station once a week or so wouldn't discourage an Airstreamer! A few CoE campgrounds are dry camping, but most have electric and water hookups.

And the price is hard to beat, typically no more than $25 a night. If you qualify for a National Park Service Senior Pass (over 62) or Access Pass (handicapped) most CoE campgrounds accept the passes for half-price camping. The least I've paid per night at a CoE campground with the Access Pass was $9 per night, the most was $12 per night. I've stayed at several CoE campgrounds— in Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Texas— and haven't yet found one I didn't like.

[Dizzee2020]

Gone with the Wynns, gonewiththewynns.com, did a blog post and possibly a video over a year ago about this subject. It could be of some help if you are inclined to doing some boondock camping in snowbird country.

[Rich W]

Originally Posted by nicole.b

there aren't many places I can go. actually every state park in florida is full already

Welcome to snow birding

Here's some info I have learned about Florida snow birding

• Snowbirds stay 6 months. If you stay less, well, you're a snow flake.
• The longest you can stay in a state park is 14 days, then you have to leave for a day and you can return. You can even go to another park, then return. (Some cheat, putting one reservation in one name, the spouse in the other.)
• The further south you go, the harder it is to get reservations. Northern parks still have spaces even well into the winter months, but yes, it's cooler there, but warmer than back home.
• There are cancellations. Our first year, in December, I found 14 days at a very desirable park in a great spot at the first 2 weeks of February. Someone had to cancel because when I tried to book it this year, it was already booked for the month.
• You don't need to find 2 weeks. We stayed 2 months this year, the longest in any 1 spot was 8 days, most were 5 days or less. You have to do some moving around, within the same park or among parks. That makes it very interesting. We got to see several parks over the course of 2 months, enjoying each of them. Most are within an hour or two of each other. (Beware, reserveamerica cancellation fees apply to each reservation.)
• Hillsborough River SP outside of Zephyrhills has a lot to offer and they usually have a lot of spots. Keep watching the reserveamerica site for vacancies. Lots of friendly folk, the river, walking trails, bicycle and kayak/canoe rental.
• State parks are nice, but expensive. Most are in the mid 20/day range. Look at the Carefree resorts. There are several around Zephyrhills, about $19 a day for full hookup. Some want a 2 month rental but we stayed at Settler's Rest on a day to day basis. It's quiet, affordable and they have on-site activities. It's close to Zephyrhills shopping, dining (some nice restaurants), groceries, etc. It's also close to Hillsborough River SP, just pay for a day pass and enjoy the park.

So don't be discouraged, you just have to learn the ropes. Our second year was much more crowded than the first but we stayed twice as long (a month of state parks, a month of a Carefree resort) and didn't make the first reservation until mid summer. After the first week of March we drove (5 days through FL panhandle, LA, MS and AR) up to Texas and spent another 2 weeks before going home. The weather was fairly warm (windy but warm), cool nights and lots to see. We had a great time.

[RickDavis]

If you don't need full hookups and don't have to be on the beach there is plenty of camping opportunity in FL.

National forests, state forests, water management areas etc.
We just returned from 2 months in Florida and after backing out 11 days at planned events had a camping bill of $10.00.
Try googling free and low cost camping and also check out the Escapees club and their Boondockers group.

Although I avoid private parks I know there are many that will provide full hookup sites for $300 a month or so.
It just takes a little research and you can find many affordable uncrowded and very nice spots.

[dkottum]

That's the thing, get out there and you will quickly learn the ropes from your own experience and the many, many nice people you will meet along the way. The friends we have met snowbirding are golden. We have friends who rent their house out for the winter season in AZ and move out to the Rv park because we have so darn much fun.

[Mrjkq]

I live in Southwest Florida & during snow bird season we are over run as far as campgrounds, restaurants, hotels even gas stations say nothing about traffic. It's great for our economy but for residents those 4 months are sometimes over whelming. Our Airstream doesn't move from storage until May when we head out to visit our kids from Buffalo to Las Vegas.
Good luck in your search but I'm sorry to say Florida during the season is Full.
Other coastal areas like Alabama & Texas might work.

[westcoastas]

If you've looked at Texas, why not drive another day and get into Utah? If you don't have one already, get a GPS device and seek out boondocking sites via blogs. WatsonsWander.com is a good one with GPS info. They have a lot of posts regarding the Southwest.

There are plenty of people here on airforums to help you through boondocking if you need any help, often within minutes. When you hear people say the best things in life are free, most of them are talking about boondocking in the great outdoors.

[n2916s]

Salt Springs Campground (part of the Ocala National Forest) has dozens of "walk-up" sites and you can usually get in. Flamingo Campground in Everglades NP will have sites but three days will cover it...

Hit Reserve America's website at least daily -- we have found lots of sites at the last minute due to cancellations.

Larry and Penny Thompson County Park in the Miami suburbs often has sites at the last minute as well.

Mike

[SteveSueMac]

Hi there. You've gotten some great advice here so far!

As to your question of whether you made a mistake...if you meant in terms of buying your new AS - I'd say absolutely not! Once you figure out all the options available to you, you may find (as I do) that it's the best therapy money can buy - far better than any Rx for things that ail you...

If there's a mistake, it may be in your expectations, which don't have enough information behind them to get you to thinking you're being negatively impacted by vacuum forces so quickly. 😀

If I can veer off for a sec - I've often told the story here of how my wife and I took a safe RV driver course the first weekend we had the trailer. What I don't often share is how ticked off I was at Tom (our instructor) early on. Why? Because he went over everything SO SLOWWWWWWWWLY......

And I think he did it intentionally! He could see me getting steamed and he would put on a wry smile while fiddling with the brim of his Stetson cowboy hat (the only prop missing was a weed between his teeth!) before weaving a slow, long yarn about how everything to do with camping is about slowing dowwwwwwwn......

He made his point.

That's what I'd offer to you too. It won't happen overnight, but you'll figure it out in time - which is actually part of the fun! - and before you know it, you'll be enjoying it more than you ever imagine possible!

Like I said - you got some great recommendations here. Another would be to consider the AllStays app for searching campsites, possibly joining Passport America or other types of orgs, maybe even your local WBCCI chapter that might have some great tips for you, and enjoying the folks and insights here in the forum.

Enjoy and good luck!

[Nuvite-F]

Originally Posted by nicole.b

WOW I bought a 2016 23' flying cloud. I was hopping to spend the winter in warmer climates. there aren't many places I can go. actually every state park in florida is full already, and the available rv parks are too expensive for me to stay at. so Florida is out.

Welcome to Airstreaming!

Since you own an Airstream, you can join WBCCI and stay at any of several Airstream parks in Florida.

Mystic Springs, out in the boonies north of Pensacola, almost always has space available for $11 a night with full hookups! We found it to be a friendly place.

http://wbcci.org/airstream-parks/cla...c-springs-cove

Paradise Park is another Airstream park that usually has space available.

http://www.paradisepark.us/

To stay at either of these places you will have to join WBCCI, $65 a year plus local unit dues. ( Some "virtual" units like the Washington DC Unit and Four Corners Unit only charge $1 a year unit dues.) For further information see http://wbcci.org/

[Frank&Mike]

LCRA parks are some of the nicest in Texas ... and often have availability. Check them out:

http://www.lcra.org/parks/Pages/default.aspx

The following is our favorite of the LCRA parks:

http://www.lcra.org/parks/developed-...ture-park.aspx

There are so many state parks in Texas ... I'm surprised you cannot find availability:

http://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/

[kb0zke]

We stayed at a pretty nice commercial campground in Corpus Christi, Reed's RV Park. Don't know if they have any vacancies but worth a try. Also Bar M RV Park in Pleasanton, TX, was pretty open when we were there.

[Foiled Again]

I'm a bit in the same boat, but I've decided to wing it - and to avoid the BIG tourist traps and take my time this winter touring the south.

Don't forget the NEAR South - Savannah Georgia is well worth a trip, and though I've never visited those who've stayed at Top of Georgia Airstream Park love it. You might also check "courtesy parking" --- but I'd guess that most native Floridians roll up the welcome mat in winter. Join the Moose Club. Many have free or near free parking for RV's though they limit the time you can spend in one place.

And I haven't been to Biloxi Mississippi since Katrina but it ought to be back up and running - casinos and beautiful beaches mostly. Spend the winter running the whole gulf coast for that matter.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by Frank&Mike

LCRA parks are some of the nicest in Texas ... and often have availability. Check them out:

http://www.lcra.org/parks/Pages/default.aspx

The following is our favorite of the LCRA parks:

http://www.lcra.org/parks/developed-...ture-park.aspx

Thanks for the links. I never knew that there was a Colorado River in Texas (LCRA is Lower Colorado River Authority), or that there were so many campgrounds on it. Definitely some places to check out later.

[mimiandrews]

Thanks for the links. I never knew that there was a Colorado River in Texas ...

The Highland Lakes chain of reservoirs on Texas' Colorado River are all beautiful and all have campgrounds. In addition to what the LCRA has, there are state parks there also. I've not had time to explore very much, but have been to Inks Lake State Park three times already and am headed there again next week, Lord willing and weather permitting. Beautiful doesn't half describe it. Weekend reservations are all but impossible there this time of year, but weekdays are easy to get.

I was in the area for a rally and to visit friends a couple of weeks ago, and the wildflowers are crazy beautiful this year. Go see it soon if you can.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by mimiandrews

I was in the area for a rally and to visit friends a couple of weeks ago, and the wildflowers are crazy beautiful this year.

I saw on the website that they're giving away packets of Bluebonnet seeds…