Do Campgrounds Allow Screen Rooms?

[rgrugg]

If you're in Espana due to one or both of you being in the military, we thank you for your service. Trailer looks very nice. Interesting kitchen.

[Jo Agrafojo]

Originally Posted by Carol H

Jo I love the trailer I think you should bring it with you!!!

Ha! Would be a little expensive to ship it over - plus, having one in both places gives us the freedom to "explore" on both sides of the "puddle" (Atlantic).


Bob & Grace - We're not part of the military, but we feel the same way you do - appreciating the men and women in our armed forces. We're retired here (hubby is originally from here AND my Dad was from here also). So, we've got loads of family and friends -- in fact, in little towns here everyone knows everyone!!! But... both of our kids and grandchildren are in the States and we need to SEE them, PLUS the fact that we love the U.S., so we'll be back and forth.

[Marsha D]

We have a 10x10 screen house that we usually set up over the picnic table. Especially helpful if the bugs are bad or if it's raining.

[CindyL]

When I was looking at screenhouses, I found European ones and looked into buying one and shipping it here. I don't know why we don't have such nice ones.
However, then we found the FirstUp at Walmart, and it does the trick for us, fits up against the trailer and gives us another room. It becomes our livingroom, and we spend most of our time there, to be honest. Then the camper is the bedroom. Kevin even managed to close it up so much during a rainstorm in KY that we were dry when the tent campers were sopping.

CindyL

[Jo Agrafojo]

Marsha, thanks for the photo!!! The screen room over the picnic table is a great idea!

I plan to put a table out there with our coffee maker, toaster, grill and a Coleman 2- burner stove that I can cook on. Then we usually put another small table and 2 chairs out there, with an additional two comfy fold-up chairs to "hang out" in as well.

Cindy, just like you, we definitely spend A LOT of time out there because it actually doubles your living space! We tend to head inside after it gets dark or cool in the evening or if the weather is "too bad" outside. Here in Europe, we even have a floor (which I understand is not a good idea if there is nice grass underneath that the campgrounds doesn't want spoiled). It has to rain pretty hard for any water to get in. We have had some VERY windy weather when camping on the Mediterranean coast and hubby added extra ropes to tie it down - although he stakes it in very securely all the way around.

You wouldn't believe the stuff people here have in their tent houses (here they're called "avances"). --- Refrigerators, stoves, beds, tvs, bicycles, you name it. We won't go that far - ha! - don't want the neighbors to think we're moving in permanently.

[Kevin A]

Here is a link to the screen house that CindyL mentioned that we use with our UHaul trailer. It is a 10x10 FirstUp and we have both screens and wind curtains for it.

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...ing-40135.html

You will need to scroll down a few posts to find the pictures.

[Camilla]

I love those euro side tent awnings! I spend a little time once in a while browsing eBay in other countries and I always end up looking at those. I've seen a few of them over here but don't know where they got them. Seems one was from Canada.

Once in a while there is a Euro camper being sold in Craigslist and I just spotted one this morning. It's an old Bailey: Tin Can Classifieds - 1969 Bailey RARE - Powered by PhotoPost Classifieds

You'll find Sprites over here as well.

[Jo Agrafojo]

Kevin,

Thank you for the link! If, for some reason, we don't ship over a screen room from Spain, we'll definitely look into the First Up. I really appreciate the help!

Camilla,

Its funny how certain things that are "standard" in US/Canada are so different in Europe. We have tent camped in the US and TT camped in Europe - but now we have a "learning curve" all over again. RV/TT camping is a lot different in N. America than it is in Europe. Just a couple of small examples: hitches are different, terminology is different (despite language differences), campgrounds are set up differently - amenities are different, i.e., I'd never heard of or seen pull-through campsites in Spain or France and I couldn't imagine campgrounds in the US wouldn't have kitchens for campers to do their hand laundry or wash their dishes.
Everyone in Europe has a super heavy-duty screen tent that is made specifically to fit their TT and all of the campgrounds look like little tent cities with all of the screen tents - ha!

Despite the differences, campers are GREAT people everywhere!

[rgrugg]

Pull through sites are for the large RVs. Most private RV parks have laundry facilities (coin operated) as do a fairly small number of state parks. National campgrounds normally have no hookups or laundry or shower facilities. If you're age 62 or above you can buy a "geezer pass." The government calls it a senior pass which sells for $10 and is good for life. Must be a U.S. citizen to be eligible. It allows free admission to national parks, historical sites, etc and 1/2 price camping at most federal campgrounds. Or you can spend $50 to join Passport America which is good for a year and participating private campgrounds/RV parks for 1/2 price. Each individual park sets conditions for itself only. There is a website for it which you can google.

[Carol H]

I have found that many of the state, national parks and some private campground (providing they allow tenters) do have some type of dish washing station that you can use. Some though just have a central water supply and grated pit for dumping your dish water.

[Jo Agrafojo]

Hi Bob & Grace,

Hubby will be eligable for the "Geezer Pass" next year. Thanks for the info.!

What I meant about kitchens was more along these lines - rows of big sinks just to do dishes : (we have coin-operated laundries here too)

[honda03842]

For those interested in the trailers pictured in the thread here's a link to their brochure in english.

Dethleffs - Welcome to Dethleffs!

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Jo Agrafojo

What I meant about kitchens was more along these lines - rows of big sinks just to do dishes : (we have coin-operated laundries here too) ]

Yup some of the bigger parks have them - the dry camping section at Death Valley National park has a nice big set up like that. - they did have coin laundry as well. You will not find coin laundry at most of the state parks though - most private places do have it though.

[Jo Agrafojo]

Originally Posted by honda03842

For those interested in the trailers pictured in the thread here's a link to their brochure in english.

Dethleffs - Welcome to Dethleffs!

Since you published the Dethleffs site, I'm going to publish another site for a real cute little European egg-shaped TT called the Eriba Puck (made by Hymer). I love these little campers - we almost bought one, but then saw our little Dethleffs and knew it was perfect for us. We see a lot of these little Eriba Puck's all over at campgrounds. Thought you'd get a kick out of seeing it!

Welcome to the UK Eriba Forum - Please Read This

[Dan Jones]

While we're looking at cute trailers, don't forget the Knaus Schwalbennest.

Knaus Schwalbennest

Great design and cabinetry even in an extremely small trailer.

Dan

But it's not and egg...

[CindyL]

While the Eriba is not fiberglass, we frequently discuss them or have them posted for sale here. And there are lots of VW fans on this site, even a thread or two talking about redoing VW tugs.

Count me as one. We won a tall, tacky trophy when we entered our previous fiberglass camper, our Burro, in a VW show with our Eurovan. Our Uhaul has blue highlights to match our VW single cab pickup if we ever get it running.

Thanks for the link.

CindyL

[honda03842]

Jo, Thank you for the link to Eriba. All my motorcycle friends will find it interesting.

Would you please tell us if your trailer has a torsion bar suspension?\

Thanks

[Jo Agrafojo]

Originally Posted by honda03842

Jo, Thank you for the link to Eriba. All my motorcycle friends will find it interesting.

Would you please tell us if your trailer has a torsion bar suspension?\

Thanks

Hi Norm & Ginny, Good question. My hubby, who is the "technical one" of the two of us says he doesn't know. He looked on-line to see if he could find any info., but says it will have to wait until the next time we go over to the TT. He says it has an "ALCO stabilizer" on the hitch, which keeps the TT from swaying. I'll let you know, once we find out!

[Jo Agrafojo]

Originally Posted by Dan Jones

While we're looking at cute trailers, don't forget the Knaus Schwalbennest.

Knaus Schwalbennest

Great design and cabinetry even in an extremely small trailer.

Dan

But it's not and egg...

Dan, we see lots of Knaus TT's here - they are very common. The little ones sure are cute! I don't know if there are any FG travel trailers over here. Haven't seen any.