Seasonal Campsites

[Day Dreamer]

We had a seasonal campsite for over 10 years for weekend use. Towards the end we had no time to use it for two years so we sold the TT. Fast forward to me thinking about "life on the road". After traveling around for a year or 2 it would be nice to settle in somewhere for 6 months or so for a break (I imagine). 

We paid about $2,000 per season which ran from April through October. That's under $350 per month (after $10 per month utility bill). Less than gas money for a month. 

I could even come home and season here for the summer and hit the road every November thru March. 

Anybody working seasonal campsites into their lifestyle?

 

[Almost There]

I do but only because I have to spend 6 months of the year in Canada and 5 of that in my home province of BC so I work summers at a national historic site.

While I love my job, if and when the summer comes that I'm not working I will be very  happy to float all over the province exploring every nook and cranny of it.

I guess it depends on what you want out of your nomadic life - me I love to explore and travel. I figure there's enough out there for me to see that I could be kept busy for decades. Others are much more content to sit and find other things to do with their time.

Maybe don't make such long range plans, You're not on the road yet, you don't need to plan for anything more than the first few months. It's okay to know that there are alternatives but let your initial plans be written in jello..

 

[Riverman]

It's fun to travel, but at times I simply need to just go home for a while.

 

[MrNoodly]

It's fun to travel, but at times I simply need to just go home for a while.

I'm one of those "Home is where you park it" people.

I haven't had a place I consider home since I moved from San Francisco in 1989. Everything between then and vandwelling were just places I lived.

 

[highdesertranger]

don't forget the Long Term Visitor Areas(LTVA's). 180 bucks for 6 months, but no amenities. or Coyote Howls, 500 bucks a year, again no amenities. there are deals out there you just got to find them. highdesertranger

 

[MrNoodly]

LTVAs have vault toilets. Coyote Howls East ($550/year) has showers, restrooms and water at each site. Coyote Howls West has full RV hookups.

 

[highdesertranger]

"LTVAs have vault toilets"

some not all.

highdesertranger

 

[cyndi]

A seasonal site in MA is my plan B if I can't find any moochdocking, for the summer

 

[bullfrog]

We simply have two home bases that are usually used 6 to 9 months a year. One is supplied by our seasonal employer and our motorhome is allowed to stay year round after many years of being good seasonal employees. The other we rent in a central location to where we winter and keep a travel trailer and a truck with a homemade camper there for my son and his family and us in the winter. The lot has no utilities but with solar and a generator, water with dump and trash bin available it is a great place to camp and it is less than $1,000 for the 4 or so winter months we are there. It is like being on BLM land and being able to stay and store things year round. We still find time to travel using our tent or small camper usually staying on BLM or in National Parks.

 

[jimindenver]

La Posa south LTVA has water, dump, trash and vault toilets. It's $180 from September 15th through April 15th. The Summer pass is $75 , good for all the services and up to two weeks in any of the LTVA's. (5 if I am right)

 

[bullfrog]

You can stay in one area with short moves and still have access to water,dump, trash and even free hot showers not to mention free wifi buy getting an annual National Parks Pass and spending days in the park and different nights on near by BLM , National Forest and State Trust lands. Many areas offer all three within 25 miles or less and make boondocking much easier. The key to this is having a simple set up and take down, basically a bed, folding chair and hiking style meals or a nearby Subway or taco stand with fish tacos for me.

 

[Kaylee]

bullfrog: Thanks!
Please list some of these areas, in particular ones with "free hot showers".

 

[bullfrog]

Right now it is just starting to warm up in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area which is bordering BLM land so literally you can drive out the gate at Wahweap (although I do believe they charge a couple dollars of quarters to shower, the lodge has a really great lounge and wifi) cross the highway and camp on BLM land. Organ Pipe is the same way although they use solar heated showers and has BLM land next door in Arizona. Natural Bridges and Canyon Lands National Park in Utah are bordered by BLM lands and all at their nearest points bordered by BLM land which borders Glen Canyon National Recreation Area's northern end with Hite having all the national park amenities with the possible exception of wifi as cell phone reception is spotty to none which also means you need to consider your medical health and needs. Classic Air offers evac for less than $100 a year if you already have health insurance but your "Golden Hour" is more likely not gonna happen. Bullfrog has it all including a clinic but Labor Day through Menorial Day it is only open on Fridays and is an hour's drive away from Hite. Bullfrog is an hour's drive from Hanksville Utah that has a small grocery, which is an hours drive from Green River which has a better grocery, clinic and a tavern, which is an hours drive from Moab which has a great City Market, small hospital and several taverns which is an hour's drive from Blanding which has a small grocery. Just one big circle and there are several more possibilities all with in 2 to 4 hours drive. End of March till mid May and end of September thru the first of November the temps usually stay above freezing and below 90 degrees. Summers are hot and winters are cold and always a chance of wind. I don't mind the heat so much when I can soak in the lake most of the day and having fresh fish tacos for dinner but the cold kills me so we go south to southern Arizona around Organ Pipe in the winter. Talking to locals and gate attendents will usually get you good camping spots just outside the parks and insites to what goes on inside them. An annual pass is a really good buy if you use it.

 

[IGBT]

While I still get the itch to travel (and we just bought a new Ford Transit van so...)  I can't get over how cheap our one bedroom apartment in a nice little mountain town is ($525 a month including all utilities but electricity).   There are many RV spots that are more than that and all you get is some gravel and a shower you have to share with 40 other people.

What it says to me is that a) RV spots are overpriced or b)  Our apartment is really cheap!

 

[bullfrog]

You can find an apartment in Tucson with a year round lease for about $450 but utilities in the summer would probably make it higher and you would have to live simply as everything you left at home would probably get stolen! Even buying a small unimproved lot taxes, insurance and utilities or fueling and maintaining a generator, hauling sewer, water and trash gets costly. Simple living is great but you would be better off probably sleeping in a van just outside a National Park or city going to the gym, eating cheaply at with coupons and enjoying nearby services. When there are two of you or you have pets can make that even difficult at times so we started looking at alternatives.

 

[eDJ_]

I once met a guy from Columbus, Ohio who was working on his commercial airplane pilot's rating and living out of this old primer red VW Camper Van.  He had discovered the Cheap RV Lifestyle on his own it seemed and when he saw my rig at this roadside rest area we were in he walked over to talk for a bit with me.  

He said he was flying for this air taxi service that contracted to Funeral Homes by transporting the deceased from where ever they had passed on back to their home city for funeral service.  He lived in the northern areas in the summer and in the south in the winter.   He was working at this to log up required hours of flying for a commercial business.

His angle was to pull his rig inside the hanger with the plane provided that there was enough room.  The airport had restroom & shower facilities for pilots he said  and there was 115 ac in the hanger with the airplane.  But come colder weather he would ask for a southern assignment and fire up his VW Camper and drive south to work there.

His rig was something like this one but  in much rougher condition.  It had the screened crank out side windows with curtains too.   I remember most the bumper sticker that read, "I'd Rather Be Flying".....and I think he was more into flying than Cheap RV Living......but Cheap RV'ing can serve each of our own unique needs if we put our minds to it.

 

[bullfrog]

Back in the day I used to do something similar using a VW bus as a rolling tool box and the pop up on the roof bed. I would take on special trouble shooting /restoration projects at car dealerships after hours usually from about 4PM until midnight while the regular bays were not being used then just lock up and sleep up top till 8AM when I could get some help pushing out the disabled vehicle I was working on or get paid and just put down the top and go on to my next project.

 

[dellaterra]

While I still get the itch to travel (and we just bought a new Ford Transit van so...)  I can't get over how cheap our one bedroom apartment in a nice little mountain town is ($525 a month including all utilities but electricity).   There are many RV spots that are more than that and all you get is some gravel and a shower you have to share with 40 other people.

What it says to me is that a) RV spots are overpriced or b)  Our apartment is really cheap!

Wow, my ears perked! Where, if you feel free to disclose, is such a low cost mountain town? I am loving nomading, but sometimes feel a bit of a twinge for a true home base when I might be frail or just wanting the same view everyday