Wife is getting cold feet. Help!

[Steve R]

This weekend will be the first time my wife and I will be looking at a trailer together. Up until last night I think she was just being polite about my enthusiasm on the subject. Now she's crunching numbers in her head and asking me how much it costs to stay at campgrounds or the resorts we hear about. I was able to put off specifics last night by saying that it'll cost less than the hotels we usually stay at but I know she'll want to hear some dollar amounts eventually. So, what does it cost to stay at your favorite places?

[Morgan]

Zero, my favorite sites are dispersed camping sites.

Five bucks, my second favorite is federal campgrounds.

[Steve R]

Zero, my favorite sites are dispersed camping sites.

Five bucks, my second favorite is federal campgrounds.

Double huh. What are dispersed camp sites and federal campgrounds?

[Steve R]

OK, I see where this may lead. Maybe I should clarify my question. My wife will require full hookups and a place to take a shower. We'll have a shower in the trailer but that'll only be used as a last resort (no pun intended) by her.

[Morgan]

OK, I see where this may lead. Maybe I should clarify my question. My wife will require full hookups and a place to take a shower. We'll have a shower in the trailer but that'll only be used as a last resort (no pun intended) by her.

Ah, that wasn't clear in your original post. Someone else will have to give you prices on resorts.

Alternatively, you might look up Trailer Life and check prices in the areas you want to visit.

[Byron Kinnaman]

If you were to go to http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/ you would find information on your National Forests in California. Some of National Forests will describe "dispersed camping". There should also be a listing of Forest Service Campgrounds.

Be aware. If you expect amenities you won't find many, dispersed there's nothing but a place to park and maybe a fire ring. Many Forest Service Campgrounds provide only a place to park, a table, a fire ring, and vault toilet. A few provide flush toilets, showers, and electricity. Most, but not all, provide water, some with a hand pump.

The cost is $0.0 for dispersed and $5.00 to $18.00 for "improved" campsites.

RV Parks run from the around $20 to $35, some even more.

It all depends on what you want. I'm with Morgan, in low rent district by preference. Dispersed Camping with nothing but nature around you. Dark nights with lots of stars and quiet.

[D Shubel]

Zeb, we used to tent camp and I required camping in a campground with bathroom and shower facilities. I get really cranky without a shower. One year, all the good campgrounds were full and we had to tent in a dispersed site right on the shores of Lake Superior. What spectacular beauty!

I told my husband I didn't need a shower house as long as I had the lake, the beach, the awesome rocks at my doorstep. The year after that (2004) we purchased our project Burro and this year (2007) we finally plumbed it and were able to shower in it on our vacation...along the shores of Lake Superior.

Several of our friends and family had large stickies that they had purchased on loan. This year, due to the economy, they sold their trailers because they only camped in them once a year, had to have a special tow vehicle to pull them, and had to find a place to store them when not in use. Their large rigs were not giving them enough pleasure.

Our camper is paid for in full. It is my hobby and passion to modify the egg to be our ultimate camping luxury while boondocking. I hope to talk my husband into full-timing in it once our first grader is out of school.

So, I converted from a timid tent camper to a luxury (in my sense of the word) boondocker.

All the best to you and your wife!
Donna

[Roger H]

You're on a slippery slope. You can't buy a trailer and claim you'll save money. Even if you buy a nice one for $5k, that will buy you a LOT of nice hotel rooms and meals out. If you get nutso and buy a new 25' Bigfoot rear queen (and you don't even want to know how much they are new), there's not a big enough sheet of paper to calculate your costs on! Then, there's added expense towing; your fuel economy will suffer while, and you'll have at least one extra set of tires to replace and bearings to maintain. Then there's maintenance on the trailer. Then there's insurance payments... If you finance it, there's monthly payments and interest (although the interest may be deductible if you have a bath and shower as a second home). Then, you have to find a place to store it, and if you live somewhere with really nasty winters or really REALLY nasty hot summers, you may want to pay for inside storage. If you're doing a financial analysis, and trying to justify it from that perspective, just give up. You can't make it work.

The real beauty of having your trailer is that you can go where you want when you want, and if you find a campground, great... if you don't, you can park where you can park. If you want to use it at a "destination resort campground" you can. If you want to eat out you can, but you don't have to. You don't have to pack your suitcase every day and unpack it or carry them around. Your 'stuff' is in your trailer. The biggest plus for me is that I sleep in my own bed with my own linens and shower in my own shower where ever I go. I don't worry about whether or not my bed has "fresh" clean linens or how well the bathroom was cleaned after the last occupant, or whether the last occupant of the room was a meth lab. THAT is priceless. Further, the pets can come along, and when I visit relatives or friends who live some distance, I don't have to inconvenience them by staying in their guest room.

It's not a financial decision, it's a lifestyle decision.

Good luck, but you can tell her I said that, to me, my trailer is worth every penny I've spent on it .

Roger

[Donna D.]

Sleeping in my own sheets. Priceless. Have her read this article on Bed Bugs found in ALL hotels. Bed Bugs

Anyone catch the Oprah show last week on the bed bug topic?

Excuse me, I have to go scratch.....

[Kristen Beck]

Hi Zeb,
My husband and i stay at the "full hook up"camp sites as well. I need my showers and my electricity for blow dryer and flat iron, so we can relate. Ours have cost us, since we are good sam members, 27 a night on average. Thats at an RV Resort at diamond Lake. But you can figure for full hook ups it will be around that. We pull our 13' scamp with a honda element and we get pretty good gas mileage, no major fluctuations in cost there, if the subject comes up. It was the best thing I ever did convincing my husband we needed this. when we are sitting in scampy watching the DVD's on our lap top computer not being eaten alive by bugs, eating our fresh popcorn we just made on our little stove (not full of bugs), i'm pretty sure he's happy we got it too. Not to mention the attention you get at campgrounds, wait until you park it. The other campers start swarming like nats wondering what it is and how much room could it possibly have inside. I love it, People are shocked when they peak inside and they always ask if they can, don't be surprised. I will never go back to tent camping, EVER! Hope you can convince her, it is totally worth it.

Kristen
Medford Oregon
Good LUck!

[Steve R]

Roger H - She wasn't asking for a complete cost analysis, just what the campgrounds charged. The background of the question comes from when a friend of hers stayed at a place here in San Diego and was told that it cost over $200/night. I think she's expecting something around that amount everywhere else. I just got back from the bookstore and after reading through a campground directory I'm now able to show her that most campgrounds are much less than the one in San Diego. No need to confuse the issue with some of the other costs involved.

Donna D - Good point on the bed bugs. That is definitely news worth using.

[Steve R]

... Not to mention the attention you get at campgrounds, wait until you park it. The other campers start swarming like nats wondering what it is and how much room could it possibly have inside. I love it, People are shocked when they peak inside and they always ask if they can, don't be surprised. I will never go back to tent camping, EVER! Hope you can convince her, it is totally worth it.

Kristen
Medford Oregon
Good LUck!

This is the second time I've heard of the attention given to the small fiberglass trailers in campgrounds. Are they really that unique? Does the attention become bothersome?

[Byron Kinnaman]

It sounds like you've never been in any campground of any kind. You've also indicated you're not sure how your wife is going take the RV thing. I suggest that you might want to rent a small motor home go to the kind of place you're imagining. Find out if both you and your wife would enjoy that type of thing. The reason I say motor home is to avoid the need for a trailer hitch. The experience is close enough to get the idea.

[E. Graham]

Zeb,

I can sympathize with your wife wanting to stay in places that have showers and 120V electrical service for hairdrying! I'll summarize what we've learned about the options over the course of a 9-month road trip across and up-and-down our country.

National, State, Regional, County, and Municipal Parks -
- may have showers; each is different
- where there are showers, there is usually 120V electricity to dry hair
- cost from $15 to $25 per night

RV Parks
- offer full hookup to 120V electricity
- have showers
- cost anywhere from $15 to $55 per night depending on whether you are in the middle of nowhere or close to a large city

RV Resorts- offer everything that RV Parks offer BUT also offer "resort-style" activities and amenities, (e.g. golf, spas, children's programs, water parks, and so on).
- can cost more than $100 per night depending on the amenities

I agree with Byron that a few weekends in a rental RV will give you a LOT of information that will help you make a good choice.

Cheers,
Petit Lapin

[DaveK]

This is the second time I've heard of the attention given to the small fiberglass trailers in campgrounds. Are they really that unique? Does the attention become bothersome?

I've never found it bothersome, but I've never been in a campground where someone didn't want to ask about the trailer. Kind of fun, so far.

[Greg A]

Zeb,

They do attract the lookie-loos and you become a part-time tour operator. (fortunately the tours don't last long)
However, the most enjoyable thing has been that 9 out of 10 times as they step out of the Scamp they say the exact same thing: "Well, It's all you need." This does not seem to be state specific either.

[Roger H]

Zeb, my Scamp 16 attracted tourists like moths to a flame. It was amazing. I came back one afternoon to find three women circling the trailer and eyeing it like a loose diamond. They spent 45 minutes looking over every nook and cranny after I arrived! It is fun though.

You asked the time and I told you how to build a watch; my apologies. Please tell your wife that Campland by the Bay is outrageously priced, and frankly I'd have a tough time staying there if it was $10 a nite. Our county parks here charge $7/nite for sites with water and electric. I think the State parks in Iowa are $20/nite. The Linn County parks charge $15/nite for water and electric sites. I don't think I've ever paid more than $35/nite for a full hookup site with sewer.

I hope that helps!

Roger

[Jen'nBarb]

In the end I still believe it is cheaper than the hotel route. If you take care of your trailer it should get a good price on resale. heck my old, not in good shape, Boler is worth more now than when they were manufactured!

You save on meals, get to take dogs and not have to stay in the grottiest hotel room..... no bed bugs! Often a very nice view from the rear window.... for $25 to $30/night it's a great way to travel.

Besides if all the hotels are sold out can you even imagine spending the night in a walmart parking lot without one.....;-)

jen

[CharlynnT]

Maybe it is not the cost but something else about The Whole Idea that makes her wary.

If she is asking about showers and blow-dryers, perhaps she is concerned about your response to her I-am- camping-grimy-gritty-charcoal look.

For example, I know my hair looks very very weird when my husband says, "And may I say, how radiant you look this morning!"

(That means -- my hair is sticking up all weird and I likely have last night's fire-pit charcoal on my face.)

Are you OK with dirty/broken fingernails? Smears and smudges? "Radiant" hair?

If either of you are expecting photo-shoot-ready looks, then you will need Full Service.

[CindyL]

Zeb:

I did not camp before we got our trailer. And now that we have it, we camp full hookups. And I am not happy without the screen house being set up besides, as it keeps down the bugs and gives us more room. That being said, we go more places.

We don't hesitate to plan trips now, since the camper has cut the cost. Before, with hotel/motel costs and meals, we thought long and hard before we took a trip. Now, we can justify more trips, because it costs less, because the campgrounds are less and we can cook some of our own meals. And sleep in our own bed.

CindyL