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So, you’ve got your camper, you’ve done your shakedown cruise, and now you’re ready to hit the road for a real vacation…but how do you find campgrounds?  There are several ways – I usually use a combination of them depending on where we’re going.  Here are my top three, plus a few others.

1. Probably the easiest way is to google the name of the city or attraction and then the word campground.  You’ll get a list of campgrounds in the area.  Click through them to find out rates and availability.  This is probably my least favorite method – I like to know a little bit about the campground.
2. Two big name campground chains are KOA and Good Sam Club.  Both have memberships you can purchase which then allow you to save money on your stays at their campgrounds.  When we had our pop up, we paid $24/yr to be a KOA VKR member (it’s now $30/yr).  Typically the prices are higher, but when we were camping in a pop up, the extra cost was worth it because it meant that the bathroom/shower facilities would be clean. They also have books with all their campgrounds in them.  KOA’s is here and the app is here.  Good Sam’s is here and the app is here.  Their book and app contain more than just Good Sam campgrounds.
3. Woodalls – They are connected with Good Sam, but they have a variety of books available so that’s why I’m giving them their own line.  This is probably my favorite way to look for campgrounds.  The website is full of information and they also have a book you can purchase.  I like being able to look at a map and see what campgrounds are nearby, how they rate (based on a third party review) and then look up the website.

Here are a few other ways. I haven’t used them as much, but they may work for you.

1. Free and Low-Cost Campgrounds – All campgrounds in this book are $12 or less.  To get the $12 or less, they use the cheapest price for a campsite – it could be a senior rate or a resident rate.  The free campgrounds are normally primitive – no electric, no water, no dump station.  I like the idea of boondocking, but right now it isn’t something we want to try – way too hot in Florida!  However, in the future, we’re hoping to go on longer trips and staying somewhere free for a few nights would really help the bottom line!  Please note that only 44 states are included.  Make sure you do your research before heading out.
2. I came across a website for a family who was going to full time for a year.  I started following them on Instagram and followed tags to other fulltimers.  There are a lot of great campgrounds out there and these people find them!  Plus, you can get ideas for future trips.
3. A website I have just recently discovered (again, through some of the fulltimers I follow) is campendium.  They have a fairly comprehensive list of campgrounds that campers can review and upload pictures.  You can register and add your own reviews too.
4. When we bought our camper, they told us about RV Parks app.  We downloaded it, but haven’t used it much.  It’s here for Android and here for Apple.

How do you find out about campgrounds?

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After our initial shakedown cruise, we went on another short trip.  When we bought the camper, the dealership gave us some coupons for free camping.  One of them was a free night at nearby Sun-N-Fun in Sarasota, FL.  Of course, you can’t go for just one night so we paid for another night.  Let me say that this is not the type of campground we normally look for – anything with “resort” in the name tends to be pricey (we paid $58 for the second night).  However, they had a ton of things to do, but first, let’s talk about the campsite.

We had a premium site which means it’s a back in with a concrete patio.  I misunderstood when I called which is why we were in a premium site.  I actually just wanted a standard site (no concrete patio) in the shade.

Anyway, that big tree behind the car is on corner of our site along with big ol’ roots that I had to back over.  Then there’s the concrete patio on the other side.  Also, it’s on a weird intersection – it’s at an angle and there’s a telephone pole that I had to make sure I didn’t hit.  Add to it our general inexperience in backing up and it took some doing!  We finally got backed in and leveled and started hooking up…more problems.  Our water hook up is near the front of our trailer and the campsite water was at the very back of the site.  There was just no way to make our 25 foot hose reach.  We thought about hooking up and backing up some more, but even then we’d still be too far away.  We talked about filling our water tank, but the hose still wouldn’t reach unless we backed up some.  Then we realized that our sewage hose probably wouldn’t reach either.  *sigh*  Happily, my parents had given us an extension for our power cord so at least we had electricity.  WalMart was only 15 minutes away so I made a trip there, located a drinking water hose and a sewage hose extension.  Finally we were all hooked up!

Then we went to check out the real reason we were here – the pool!  It’s an olympic size pool and it is huge!  Since it’s summer, there weren’t nearly as many people as I imagine there are in the winter when all the snow birds are there (there are around 1700 sites).  Our kids had a blast swimming and hubby and I swam a lap or two (did I mention that olympic size pools are huge?!).

On our full day there, we bought water slide passes for the kids and I ($5 each).  I wasn’t going to get one, but the kids wanted me to so I did (they didn’t have to twist my arm!).  I went down a few times, but the kids – they definitely got their moneys worth!  Climbing 4 stories of stairs over and over tired them out!  The water slide isn’t a super fast one, but you can get some speed if you lay down (just remember to pinch your nose at the bottom – I got a nose full of chlorinated water the first time.  Bleh!).

One of the many paths all around Sun-N-Fun

They also have a mini golf course, ping pong, bean bag toss, carpet ball, tennis courts, disc golf, and foot golf (that we saw while walking around – there may be more).  They supply all the equipment.  There’s also a playground.  Plus there’s a gym for an additional fee.  There is no way to be bored at Sun-N-Fun!

Do you like staying at resort style campgrounds?

As I mentioned here, the first trip you take in a new camper is usually your shakedown cruise.  Typically it takes place close to home.  The idea is to see if you’ve forgotten anything that you can’t live without and to make sure that everything works right.  So, after we got our new (to us) camper home and loaded, we headed off to our new favorite camping spot for a two night shakedown cruise.

My new favorite view.

When I made reservations, I had a chance to pick a pull thru spot.  I was tempted, but I also know that I need to learn how to back in.  Our camper is only 21 feet long (our pop-up was 21 feet when it was all opened up – I think it was only 10 feet when it was closed).  However, when I’m trying to back into a spot, it seems like it’s so much longer!  I realize that I just need practice thus the back in spot.  I actually did pretty good this time and the sites are pretty level so no leveling boards required.

I managed to get us nice and close to our hook ups. Plus, we had a visitor wander through our site.

Setting up this camper is so much easier!  The beds just fold out, the slide is a button.  No cranking it up!  We get all set up and then wonder if we forgot to do anything!  We did forget a few things, but nothing major (garbage can, dishcloth, hot pad, paper towels just to name a few).  Honestly though, we managed – plastic store bags make good garbage cans, a washcloth can work as a dishcloth and a hot pad, and we had plenty of hand towels, just nothing disposable.

We were very grateful for the air conditioning!  It was a typical Florida day – hot & humid!  We tried to get out early to do our bike riding and geocaching, but it warmed up pretty fast!  The bike trail was a lot harder than I anticipated – sandy & grassy (in my defense it started out as packed sand).  It was a three mile ride and the kids did awesome (even though my middle child was certain he wasn’t going to make it to the end of the trail).

We enjoyed our new camper and are planning our next trip – also close to home just to be sure we really have everything.  Then we’re planning a couple longer trips.  What about you – do you camp?