Tuesday, January 17, 2012

What is Your Traveling Style?

Zephyrhills, Florida

It’s supposed to get up to 77 degrees for the high today, but down into the 50’s at night.   Can’t complain.  That’s about perfect winter weather in my book.

I read blogs every morning and enjoy seeing where everyone is at, what they are doing, and where they are planning on going.

One thing I’ve noticed is the difference in traveling/camping styles that we all have.

Some people are very social and spend a lot of time with other people.  Some people (like us) seem to be loners, and spend most all of their time with each other. 

Some people get heavily involved with the activities at the campground.  Some people (like us) get involved in our own things.

It’s not that we don’t enjoy spending time with other people.  We do, but we don’t want to “go steady.”  Smile

Some people go to one spot and stay for months.  Some people move every 5-7 days.  We are somewhere in the middle, I guess.

Some people like “resorts” with paved parking pads, full hook-ups, no trees and lots of activities. 

Some people only camp at state parks or the equivalent.

We really love state parks, but have found that we also really love full hook-ups.  We find that state parks can be pretty expensive when you full time.  

We can get much better rates using our memberships and discounts.  We miss camping in state parks, with all the nature, and we will probably spend more time in state parks this year.  We just hate to have to conserve water and Al is not a big fan of the “blue boys.”  I love being able to use my washer and dryer!   My how we have changed since we started full timing. 

Although this is our first year of full timing,  Al and I seem to have developed our traveling style.  We find we hate to move too often.  We would probably be perfectly happy staying put for 4-5 weeks at a time.

Just about every moving day, at least one of us mutters the phrase…. “I hate to move.”   It’s funny how much it takes to pack up, but how little time it takes to set back up in a new location.

We are getting more comfortable driving the “big guy” and are a little less nervous getting in and out of the campsites.  Notice, I said a “little” less nervous.  I still worry plenty!   Smile

Partly because of our Thousand Trails membership that allows us to only stay at one location for 2 weeks at a time,  partly because Al still has his Pest Control business to do,  and partly because my Mom is in Tampa, we have found ourselves staying in one place for only two weeks.  It gives us plenty of time to explore a new area, but not enough time to sit back and relax!  One of my goals this year, is to take more time to relax!  I just have to get Al on board with that.  He can’t seem to just sit still.

We find that we never just stay home and relax or read a book.  We seem to run somewhere just about every day.  I thought we would have some reading and relaxing time while in the Keys, but that never happened.  

We decided that we will probably stay put here in the Tampa area for a few months.   We have paid for our site here through March, so I guess that’s a good idea, huh?  During the winter months in Florida, it’s a good thing to lock down a place to stay before things get too crowded.

To avoid the dreaded “hitch-itch”,  we have been trying to get some ideas for future travels.

We definitely are planning to head back to the Keys towards the end of March.  The plan is to stay about 5 weeks.  Although the camping fees are dirt cheap, diesel fuel isn’t, so a longer stay will be smarter financially.  Smile You can always justify things you want, can’t you?

We have been talking about summer plans.  We can’t be too far away from Tampa for too long, but a trip to Washington DC has been discussed.  We have also thought about Pensacola, Florida, Savannah, Ashville,  and Charleston.  I guess we will see how it works out.

My picture of the day.

Smiley

IMG_9758

16 comments:

  1. I would like to move around more often in the winter but family keeps at one park for the winter... However we do travel a lot from April to November. We love both cement and nature ~ also we love being with friends but if we have to be alone we have no problems with that. We are BEST friends!!! So we are pretty flexible. We are also going to DC this spring... April 29th I think!!!
    Have fun & Travel safe
    Donna

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  2. You just described what will most likely be our style, though we will be moving back and forth across the country, we think we'll be at each place 2-4 weeks and we love state parks and to get out there and see new things. We're not overly "social" either, though we do strike up conversations and I'm sure we'll make a few permanent friendships on the road and maybe even attend a few larger group outings as time goes on. Of course we're not full-timers yet, so who knows how things might develop once we are! There's something for everyone out there, and no one right way to do things.

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  3. Because we own rv sites at Rock Crusher Canyon (Crystal River) and River Vista (Dillard, GA), we spend most of our time at those 2 parks with shorter 1-2 week trips during spring, summer or early fall. Now that we're fulltiming, we are not into the "rustic"/ boondocking style. But we definitely are not into all asphalt/concrete parks either. If you've never been to Asheville area and Biltmore, you gotta go!

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  4. Nice to read your blog. We love full timing. We like to stay put for 3 mos in the winter and travel 3 mos. In the summer we would like to travel more but in Canada it is very expensive to move around so we tend to stay put and take off in the jeep. We enjoy doing things just the two of us very much but also enjoy all the friends and family that come to visit us. Do you have inflatable kayaks? That would be fun!

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  5. We are pretty much loners too. We generally visit with folks around us in campgrounds, if we all stay around long enough, and sometimes a lasting friendship will develop, but not too often. We have a book that we write those special folks in to try to stay in touch. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't.

    We've always felt like one week someplace was usually enough. That remained to be true last year in our adventure year. By about that amount of time we've seen everything there is to see in driving distance and feel like it's time to head on down the road ~ even though sometimes it's not too far!

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  6. I've decided I like staying a couple of weeks in one spot - that's usually long enough, which will work out well when I'm back on the road. I want to boondock lots of BLM areas, which are free for 14 days, and I loved the Long Term Visitor Area permits that you can get for $180 for seven months. What a bargain that is for boondockers! And then, looking forward to staying for a bit in a park with full hook-ups, as I have planned for February, is quite a treat! :)

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  7. I too want more down time to read and relax. Seems I have to have at leat 2 weeks or more in a location for that to happen. Although we are not terribly social people we have made some good friends through the RV-Dreams Rally. We seem not to meet very many of our fellow campers at parks for some reason. We don't have much trouble conserving water so full hook ups aren't something we seek out although they are nice. We do love state parks but you are right that those $25-$30 a night fees with no weekly or monthly rates usually get expensive.

    I'm thinking you are a genius if you can go to the Keys for 5 weeks in lter March but now I realize you'll use your 1000 trails for 2 weeks, go to a state park for one and back to the 1000 trails for 2 more. Did I guess right??

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  8. If we are not workamping, we like to move about every 7-10 days. We really enjoy camping near water and find the corp of engineer parks and state parks to be the best. We like meeting up with friends and our alone time too. This lifestyle has been a great fit for us.

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  9. Well you know us! We are the weird ones that really aren't the typical normal RVer's. We love adventure and are always on the move. We love the outdoors and enjoy searchin out things to do in the area. We like to socialize but also love to do things as just the two of us. Boondocking or next to free camping/parking is our thing we are definitely not RV Park/Resort kind of people but we do occassionally like to go to a campground if it is in a small out of the way place.

    That's the nice thing about RVing, there is just about something out there for everyone.

    Kevin and Ruth
    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

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  10. "It’s not that we don’t enjoy spending time with other people. We do, but we don’t want to “go steady.” -- That about describes us. We're not on the road full time yet ... but will be at the end of the year, and looking forward to it. As for DC in the summer -- unless you like humidity, I'd try for spring or late fall.

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  11. Interesting topic! Traveling solo, I choose to volunteer for refuges and stay a few months at a time. This gives me someone other than Emma to talk to, and I've developed a few lasting friendships along the way. I am also able to visit surrounding areas in depth.

    Since I most dislike the driving aspect of this lifestyle, it suits me. Since it's mostly a "couples" lifestyle out here, I pretty much avoid RV resorts with all those activities. It has been my experience that couples seldom include a solo in their activities.

    Different strokes for different folks. How cool is that?

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  12. I think we are still developing our style of travel. We enjoy the state and county parks and COE parks the best but you are right it can be expensive. I think at about 2 weeks I get hitch itch but I am learning that staying a little longer and learning to relax is good too and fits my husband a little better. We are like you and find spending time with each other is what we like best but we have found others along the way that we "click" with and we enjoy time with them as well. I think our style will continue to change and evolve as the time goes by.

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  13. Great topic to think about! We have not developed a style since we've not been FT for even two months yet.

    We have two new grandbabies on the way on each side of the country, so we'll be bouncing coast to coast in the next 4 or 5 months.

    Hope to slow down someday!

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  14. I have been meaning to join your blog for absolutely ages! Finally remembered to do it today. Ugh, don't like alligators.

    Mike and Dee
    gonerving.blogspot.com

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  15. Our son just came for the weekend, and we went to James Island Campground. They offer daily shuttle to Charleston. Here is a link to their site.
    http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Enjoy-Winter-Savings-at-James-Island-County-Park.html?soid=1102640287370&aid=WwSr6MzadyI

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  16. I think we are more like Kevin and Ruth in traveling style. We are solared up and have huge holding tanks, so we can boondock for 8-10 days before needing to move on.

    We love to see more and more of this great country. Spending about a week or two in a location and then I think I would want to change the scenery out the windows again. So many things to explore and see and learn.

    But also some down time for my fiber work and relaxing in a lawn chair while doing it is pure heaven for me.

    We don't care for any RV park if we can help it, and prefer boondocking, not just for saving on the budget but also for the peace and quiet.

    We once stayed in a campground where we were so close, we could hear the guy in the next rig--- snoring, burping, sneezing and ummm other sounds. Had to keep the windows closed or we could hear every little thing he said. We had another rig right tight up to our back side with four noisy little yapper dogs, and then the one on our patio side dumped his tanks with just sticking the hose into the open sewer hole (no donut) and whew did it stink! It was about 6 feet from our picnic table and we were getting ready to eat breakfast.

    On our last long trip (7 weeks) we only stayed in an RV park 3 nights. 2 nights was to visit with friends camping there, and 1 night was so we could drive through Sedona in our toad and leave our dogs in the air conditioned rig all day with the windows shut. Otherwise, we probably would have boondocked that day too if the temps had been lower.

    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    Karen and Steve
    (Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/

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