h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

As you're all no doubt aware, we're flying out to the States in May and renting a small camper van type thing.

Which means we'll be pulling up over night in places. Now, I've heard of these RV park things, but how do you use them?

Do you need to book in advance? Do you have to always pay cash? Are there things to look out for to avoid?

Hi, Pastey. It probably depends on the policies and bookings of individual RV parks. I recommend that you use one of the standard guides such as Woodall's.

For instance, I went to Woodall's web site
www.woodalls.com

and filled in the dialogue box, which asked:
1. "Facility name includes" [I put in "rv park"
2. city [I put in Tucson]
3. state [I put in Arizona]
I clicked on search

The site produced 15 rv parks within 50 miles of Tucson.

You can click on the link for each park and see what the situation is there.

Good luck.

Paul

p.s. There are other guides, too.

Thank you paulh! That site looks a gods send for finding places.

Still need to figure out how to use these places though

The RV rental center should offer you all the advise you'll need
in terms of hooking up water and electrics. Leave plenty of time
to learn the subtleties of igniting the propane cookers and how
to adjust the satellite dish...

The RV parks themselves will have lots of posted signage regarding
their rules and regs for garbage disposal, liquor restrictions, hours
of 'no noise' and the number of non-registered guests you might be
allowed to lure in for a cuppa.

BTW: If you're in Arizona look for the motorhomes and trailers with
Canadian flags. They'll be friendlier in respect to accents and other
'forrin' aspects of your party. But they'll also be full of sad health
stories like why they moved to Arizona for the air and warmth.

Ask others at Truck-Stops and Rest-Stops along the highway for
suggestions concerning 'free' parking in isolated country/lakeside
locations but weigh the risks regarding bandits and rattlesnakes;
notwithstanding that no RV Park can guarantee total freedom from
such potential risks. Government (Federal and State) Parks will
have the best locations but often they limit or restrict motorised
RVs in favour of backpacking tenters. Some may allow RVs under
21 feet or so.


~jwf~

I don't know whether Arizona is on your itinerary, Pastey, but it's a state that has a lot of parks for Rvs and motor homes. The links at the Woodall site will have phone numbers and perhaps email addresses, so you can check the places against the route you'll be taking, and can find out what you'll have to deal with before you find yourself on the road after midnight with no prospects of finding a place for the night. There are significant numbers of people who spend their lives on the road in motor homes.

I hesitate to recommend a private, for profit, company. You might like to look at the AAA Website (Automobile Club of America) They offer free tour-guides and maps to members (including the trip-tick - a flip map book of your route with notations about important things like construction areas and 'speed-traps') They also offer towing and certain road-side assistance.

It is quite possible that you RV rental agent might offer the same or better information, but it might not hurt to look.

I would also look on the web for a listing on each spot you will be visiting. Especially those where you expect to arrive at the end of your day's drive.

F S

Glad to see paulh of Boston is still running with us!


He makes a good point:
>> There are significant numbers of people who spend
their lives on the road in motor homes. <<

Yes an incredible number, especially now the boomers
are retiring and going off to look for America. I'd be one
of them in a heartbeat if I had the financial where-with-all.

And in places like Arizona beware of what may look like
just another RV park which turns out to be a wilderness
camp of homeless people living the classic western myth
of lawlessness in clapped out trailers and motorhomes
bought on credit cards and never paid for. It's damn
near Mad Max in some places in the southwest.

Yup, stick with the Federal and State parks as much as
you can or if necessary one of the bigger franchises like
Good Neighbor Sam's or KOA. Of course there are others
but it'll take some good research to find them. Pictures can
be deceiving so be sure to check the 360 view on Google
when you see idyllic locations under shady trees beside
flowing waterfalls from snow-capped mountains.

Oh and don't be singing "Ding Dong".


~jwf~

As in "Ding dong, the wicked witch is dead?"



I find this a fascinating thought. The fact that, there over the pond, the baby boomers are happy with leaving everything and adopting an itinerant lifestyle, presumably to the end of their days, using their money that way.

In Europe, especially here in Germany, your whole life is spent building up the infrastructure for a peaceful retirement in a home in the place where you grew up (it often really is) and acquiring as much as possible to tie you to that place. If anyone thinks it's an interesting topic, we can start a new thread.

Otherwise, I am looking forward to seeing the recommendations of everyone else for Pastey's holiday.

What is your route Pastey? (I think you might have said this somewhere else...)

We're flying into Las Vegas, driving up to northern California, then across through Yellow Stone, through Death Valley, across to Alburqurque and then back through the Painted Desert to Las Vegas.

The van we've hired is quite a small one, size of a people carrier / mini-bus.

Which reminds me, I need to get you $100 to put on red...

- it's such a small, petty emotion but I can't help it!

I hope you provide us with lots of info on your trip so I for one can live vicariously through you

Deb

I'm planning to pick up an all you can eat data sim card for the time I'm over there, and have already got a netbook charger for the van, so photos and updates should be plenty!

This Amercan baby boomer will ~never~ spend her golden years tooling around the US in an RV. I don't camp. Ever.

My idea of roughing it is staying at a resort that doesn't have a bar in the pool.

Is there room in the van for a stow-away

That would mean less room for beer I'm afraid 2legs.

So no.

you could just store the beer inside me...

We drive on the righthand side of the road in the U.S., Pastey. I hope you can get some practice in before you take to the road.

Getting practice in is going to be hard But it is something I'm a bit worried about as it's been almost 20 years since I last drove on the continent.

I'm hoping the first stint between Vegas and Bakersfield will be an easy one to run me in gently.

If you practise driving on the right before you leave England, you'll be able to brush up on collision avoidance, emergency braking and dealing with law enforcement into the bargain.

I can't see a downside to this.