For past several years of RVing around the USA, we generally steered away from staying at RV Resorts and commercial campgrounds. We instead favored boondocking, public campgrounds and staying with friends. In our first year traveling in our small 16′ T@B travel trailer, we only paid for camping a few nights in total. And in our 3 years of traveling in the Oliver Travel Trailer, I believe we only stayed in a commercial campground of any sort less than a dozen times.
This was primarily because our units were so small and self-contained, and designed to go anywhere we could pull them. We typically only stayed in RV Parks & Resorts when it was the only option to be where we wanted.
With the bus, we’re already noticing a change in this.
After two days of getting the bus able to roll down the road in the 110+ Arizona heat, our first week in the bus was a RV Resort. It was the closest place to pull in after completing the transaction, and we didn’t give it much thought. As the resort accepted Passport America for a 50% discount for a week, and that worked out cheaper than our AAA or Good Sam rates – we went ahead and signed up. At only $44 per year for membership, we more than made that back on our first stay.
Since then, we’ve found ourselves staying at more and more resorts. For instance, when attending Photoshop World in Las Vegas, the closest and most convenient place was a resort. We found ourselves really enjoying indulging in their pools and hot tubs – and also used Passport America there.
Serendipity Invites
And wouldn’t you know it, as soon as we pulled in to Vegas – we got an invitation to head to St. George RV Resort in Hurricane, UT. A fellow busnut couple manages the resort there, and asked us to come in and teach a couple classes about tech and RVing in exchange for a free stay. As we were craving some time to focus on work & bus projects, this suited us great.
But I have to admit, we were a bit hesitant to be hopping to another RV Resort so soon.
We’ve now been here a week, and it’s been awesome. Michael & Christi are awesome and so very welcoming. This is one of the most impressively run parks we’ve ever encountered. We’ve noticed them taking the same level of customer service with all their guests, not just us because of our special busnut connection.
They really make use of the community facilities by organizing all sorts of activities, shows and outings for their guests – including Michael’s own entertaining show that we caught this weekend. The social calendar here is almost too distracting to keep us focused on our own projects. Their location is pretty gorgeous too, right next to BLM land with ample hiking opportunities.
It’s been really nice to have access to so much right from where we’re parked.
Their pool, hot tub and and bath facilities are incredibly well maintained, and they also offer a game room with foosball, air hockey and billiards. Lots of fun for a quick break from projects.
Of course, it’s all made better because our fellow bussing technomadic friends, Ben & Karen, decided to join us here this past week too.
Are we becoming RV Resort junkies? Probably not. But we certainly are enjoying being exposed to another form of RVing to add to our arsenal to mix things up. It certainly doesn’t suck to have access to a hot tub!
Next up?
We’re sticking around St. George for this week, as we’ve been invited back to give some more talks. If you’re in the area at all, here’s our speaking schedule:
Monday, September 19 at 7pm – ‘Boondocking Basics’
Tuesday, September 20 at 7pm – ‘Mobile Internet Options’
They’re both free talks, and like this blog – we share because we like to, not because we have anything to sell (well, aside from our mobile apps). We now have 4 seminar style talks put together, and remain open to the opportunity to do similar such presentations in other locations as we travel.
Sometime later this week, we’ll probably start meandering eastward via Utah and Colorado, with a destination of St. Louis by mid-October. But who knows, things always tend to shift for us and we never know until serendipity tells us where we’re going.
Wow Cherie,
Sounds like a phenomenal trip you are having! I have always dreamed of getting a decommissioned mini bus and converting it into a traveling home. How is your bus on gas mileage? Do you have amenities inside?
Thanks for the great post!
-Ryan
Hi Ryan – it’s more of a life than a trip, but thanks! The bus is getting about 7-7.5 mpg. We have a full tour of it at https://www.technomadia.com/zephyr. Enjoy!
I would encourage you to consider ereaders as a topic for sharing. I am a self-published independent fantasy adventure writer, and have been following your adventures for about a year, now. With a mobile lifestyle mobile book (and other media) purchasing and management just makes sense.
Something I would also encourage, for those technomads and less mobile techies, is exploring the independent media producers who are now able to produce and distribute their works on their own. The established media distributors have some good content, but the indies offer a lot more.
You are invited to read “Marcus of Abderus and the Inn at the Edge of the World,” the first novel in an exciting new fantasy adventure series. Available now at Barnes and Noble.com. Did you enjoy visiting Middle Earth? Valdemar? Spend some time at the Edge of the World. Come for the view. Stay for the adventure.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/marcus-of-abderus-and-the-inn-at-the-edge-of-the-world-michael-lockridge/1104684009?ean=2940013195776&itm=5&usri=michael%2blockridge
Hi Michael – thanks for chiming in. I’m not sure follow though. We already have a full eBook out – https://www.technomadia.com/store/answers . Is that what you meant?
I was amazed at how much changing the size of our RV changed our style of travel. It sounds like you are experiencing something similar. All travel is good travel, though, so I’m sure you will find the best way for you in the bus.
It’s nice to mix things up, for sure! With the 17′ trailer optimized for off-grid living, somehow it never seemed like a worthwhile expense.
Would love to see this show but won’t be able to make it over there. We’re probably going to be buying our Class A next month.
I would love to see more about the solar install.
Hi Doc – we’ve not yet done a solar install on our current rig, so we don’t have anything to share there yet.
But we did document our last solar install:
https://www.technomadia.com/2010/04/technomadia-solar-faq/
I did see the install on the trailer. We’re looking at 2 used class A’s. One has solar, the other does not. The difference is that the solar one is 2 years newer but about $10K more. We’re just trying to research before making our decision.
Yup.. do lots of research.
Thankfully, these days – solar on RVs is pretty commonplace, and it’s a lot easier to track down information and even kits.
We looked at some buses with solar already in them, and while tempting to save effort & time, we determined that we’d just end up re-doing them anyway to our own specs.
We’ve not yet dove in head first into solar research, as the lithium ion has been our big project. But in the coming months I’m sure we will be and sharing as we go.
If you look up Geeks on Tour (you’re both listed on HitchItch), they do tech workshops at various rv rallies as a way to make a living on the road. They are considering sponsoring a tech only rv rally with another couple, TechnoRV. But, they are all pc people. You might consider contacting them to do sessions for Apple fans. They mostly cater to retired folks, but there’s definitely a niche out there. Gee, Ben could possiblly go along to do a photo workshop. Just a thought…..
Thanks Sandybee… we have seen them on the interwebs before, but have never crossed paths. Really should make a point at some point. Aside from the whole PC vs Mac thing, seems like they are cool folks 😉
Isn’t PA great?!! For anyone who travels alot (especially on weeknights), it can save quite a bit on campground fees. I recently was making my way across the Plains and stayed at a PA park with full hookups for only $11/night! Almost impossible to find a state park or forest service campground that cheap (although, they usually are much prettier). Another discount deal I’ve just started using is called ReadyCampGo (thru Equity Lifestyle Properties– the ones that own Thousand Trails and Encore Resorts). For $49 (or only $25 if you’ve got CoachNet emergency road service), you get 15 nights of camping for $25/night. Many of their resorts also participate with PA, so it’s a nice way to get a discounted rate if staying during a weekend or in-season when the PA rate might not be available.
Thanks for the tip on ReadyCampGo.. seems like it could be a good solution outside of PA stays.
Thanks for the recommendation on a good RV park–absolutely loved that area and hope to make it there again soon. I also hope you consider taping your seminars and making them available online at some point. Have fun with them.
We probably won’t record the actual seminars.. as they’d be way too lengthy to have a video format. But we might consider doing condensed versions as a podcast sort of thing in the future.
For now.. too many projects on our plates to give it any serious consideration.
However, the talks are really just exerts from past posts and info found on this blog:
https://www.technomadia.com/store/answers
https://www.technomadia.com/2010/10/how-to-find-rv-parks-campgrounds-and-free-boondocking-updated/
https://www.technomadia.com/2010/09/excuses-connectivity/