The RV Resort vs Just a Hook Up

A World of Conveniences

There are hookups (How you doin'? ~😘). And then there are hook ups (do I hear AC and shower music?).

Even being fully contained, there is something to be said about being able to hook up and use water and power without having to consciously monitor and measure everything we are doing. Showering with abandon. Doing Laundry. Turning on the microwave while both AC units are running. And having a pool to cool off in when the temperature is 106 °F and you are in the middle of the desert.

Photo by Dewi Karuniasih on Unsplash

But of course, such conveniences, such "amenities" come with trade offs. Usually it is in the form of cost, space, privacy, views, and/or peace and quiet.

Speaking from the perspective of a mom in a traveling family of four (two of which are kids who still think the dinette seat is a napkin and refuse to wear the same pajamas two nights in a row, but refuse to change their shirt after three days despite the Nutella and ketchup stains) and two rambunctious (and often smelly) dogs - no matter how much I love boondocking and state parks, sometimes we just have to stop off somewhere we can hook up and plug everything in - like the vacuum.

Resorting to Amenities

Every RV "Resort" we have stayed at has a pretty standard list of amenities that they offer. Water. Electricity. Sewer or Dump Station. Bathrooms and/or Showers. Sometimes there are laundry facilities. Sometimes there is a pool and/or a clubhouse. To me, the last two are the difference between an RV 'park' or campground and a 'resort'. Apparently not every 'resort' would agree with me.

Photo by Etienne Girardet on Unsplash

And there are so many degrees of quality in those amenities that I make sure to do enough research so that I am not surprised or disappointed. I try to read the reviews from more than just one website.

Location - Action vs. Relaxation

We have also noticed that location can often trump any of the other amenities when comparing value of said amenities. The closer that an RV park or resort is to a popular destination or attraction, the less they have to do to fill up their park versus a park even a couple blocks down the road. Being able to be right in the middle of what is going on, being in town, or being able to walk to venues and nightlife is a big deal.

 

Our children are occasionally allowed to pick an adventure. That usually means we end up at a resort adjoining a waterpark or 

However, if you have moved beyond those days of being in the midst of all the action you probably prefer the quiet of the resorts farther from all the hustle and bustle. You can also take advantage of the cheaper prices that usually affords. For us, that means campgrounds 30 minutes outside of Moab or West Yellowstone. Everything we might want to do is there easy enough to access when we want it, but none of the business when we don't.

Location - Availability vs. Schedule

The spots farther away from popular attractions also tend to be more available, particularly on weekends. And if you haven't booked ahead, finding large blocks of time in a single spot, such as one or two weeks at a time, is almost impossible. We have seen families that have to switch sites in the middle of their stay because reservations are site specific and the campers coming in did not want to give up the site they specifically reserved. And I don't blame them - even sites that are supposed to be equivalent don't always turn out equal.

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Bottom line, if you have a schedule you have to keep - plan ahead and book your sites early.

Location - Cost vs. Convenience

For us, we haven't yet had difficulty in finding a spot to land. But there have been times where we have paid quite a bit more than we would have liked or more than we thought the location was worth just because it was close to someplace heavily trafficked. Paying $85 and $95 a night to be on the shores of Bear Lake can seem pretty steep when you are used to $15 to $35 a night in state parks, especially when you don't really get more for your money.

Convenient locations can also cost you peace and quiet. We have stayed at a few places where convenience was the priority, but the road noise is pronounced because it is right next to a highway or the area is busy. Or because the park is tucked up next to a railroad track and you might experience the occasional midnight train.

Location - Sharing vs. Caring

Some of the resorts we have been to have been quite large. And with that many people around, pressed into close quarters, everyone doesn't always behave in the most thoughtful manner. 

And in some of the bigger or more crowded parks there are all kinds of fun noises from the masses, like the constant packing and parking and unpacking of rigs. Sometimes you are awakened by an early morning pull out (6AM, really?). One park was particularly fun as everyone sitting on a particulalry lovely afternoon watched one couple vocally relieving their stress at each other when the parking and packing was not living up to expectation.

Or your park neighbor might have six kids and you have to listen to their camper door slam 152 time a day (Yeah, I counted. Oye!).

Photo by SCOTT FLEMING on Unsplash

Sometimes being right on top of your neighbors means you can hear them talking about you through the window when they don't realize it's open. It's always fun to cough and smile when that happens.

And lets face it, most RV parks don't have great views. Most of the time you have to keep the shades drawn so that you aren't looking into your neighbor's windows while they are eating their breakfast and drinking their morning cup o' joe. You would actually have to get on top of your rig or stand in the road to see the water or mountains from your campsite.

 

More often than not, you have your neighbor's utilities sharing your outdoor space. Forget cooking or eating dinner outside; those "air tight" sewer rings aren't always as tight as they say they are. There is something to be said about dry camping and not having to worry about smells from those noxious holes in the ground (or worry about someone smelling yours).

Laundry

I usually save up laundry for two or three weeks and do it all in one shot to economize time since you can usually do multiple loads at the same time in a commercial facility. But, I have learned not to count on commercial facilities at an RV park.

I have yet to come across laundry facilities at any RV park with truly commercial machines. Most parks install the modified household machines with coin slots installed which are not really up to the task of the constant use and don't have the capacity of even the smallest actual commercial machines. Especially the dryers. Why is it always the dryers that never really work well?

Photo by Christian Chen on Unsplash

After a harrowing experience with an RV park laundry facility where it took more than 6 hours to get 4 loads done, I have pretty much stopped counting on there being good laundry facilities at any of the RV parks. Whether it is 2 loads or 4, I can usually get all of the laundry done at a laundromat in about 2 hours. A laundry mat just makes more sense for us.

The Conclusion

I suppose, like any place that provides lodging (or parking your lodging), each place is going to do better at some things than others. Hotels are judge differently based what is important to each of the guests. Beds vs pools vs gym, etc.

Having never RV'ed before this summer, it has been a learning experience that has slowly shaped the way we select our stopping locations.

Nowadays we spend more time in dispersed campgrounds and boondocking. But when we do need to go into town, we now lean heavily toward places where the only amenities are hookups (power, water, and sewer). We have moved away from using "Resorts" as a landing place, unless that is the only option available.

If we want an amenity, it has just been easier to go where they specialize at that. Pile the laundry up in the truck and go where laundry is the business and I am more likely to find decent machines. Go to a lake or waterpark if we want to spend the day at the water. Go to a proper restaurant. Visit the library for the afternoon.

Basically, we have been less disappointed in our stops and we spend more time exploring. We are less tempted to hang out at subpar pools or at the camper just because we paid so much and want to get our money's worth out of the stop.

For us, we just want the necessities. The adventure is something we prefer to add to the stop ourself.

Traveling Across Texas

Texas is a big state. BIG. Really big. I mean, hard to drive it in a day, fill up your gas tank three times kind of big.

So stopping at a host of Texas state parks and campgrounds is likely to happen if you are moseying your way from the Central region over towards New Mexico and Arizona.

The great news though, is that Texas has a lot of great parks. In less than two years, we have already stayed in quite a few of them. Some of our favorites include Taylor Park Campgrounds at Granger Lake, Jim Hogg Park and Cedar Breaks Park at Lake Georgetown, Live Oak Ridge Park at Belton Lake, Yegua Creek at Lake Somerville, Lake Brownwood State Park, and San Angelo State Park at Fisher Lake.

    

  And boy, were they all different and unique. From Austin through San Angelo to El Paso, we managed to camp in piney woods, cedar stands in the hill country, woodlands lakes, prairie grasslands, and in the outskirts of the Chihuahua desert.

    

And the best thing about all of these places was that all of the sites we visited were very generous and spacious, particularly since they were all reasonably priced and all had at least power and water, most were full hookup.

    

My only advice for making such a trip, though, is don't do it in the heat of summer! We started out in the middle of May and it was already hot. By the time we got into New Mexico, the daytime temperatures were hitting the triple digits by noon.

If we had it to do all over again, I think we probably would have made our move to travel in early April so that we would be able to enjoy the outdoors in Arizona a little more. But, with a little planning, we still managed to have fun in all the spots we stayed anyway. Live and Learn.