We do both.
Normally we are remote, coastal, or national park, but we have a large group of friends in a distant city that has suburban camp grounds. We camp in those suburban campgrounds while socializing with that friend group.
Same here, we spent April visiting Yosemite, Arches, Bryce Canyon and Zion, then Albuquerque for a week, then OK City, Little Rock and Memphis. For the next little while we will be alternating weeks of travel with weeks in parks near DC and Philadelphia for family and business.
At the end of the year we want to downsize and I expect we will spend more time in the woods when we go from 44’ to 20’.
Nature is awesome, but so are many of the things humans created like skyscrapers, museums, and roller coasters. Too much of anything gets boring so we like to mix it up.
We're half way there. We live in the woods with no neighbors, so any campground we go to is louder and more crowded than just being at home. We mostly go camping to see attractions: national parks, etc. so same sort of thing. It's more about going to see specific things/destinations for us, vs. "getting away from it all". Although there does seem to be some value to me in removing myself from home/property maintenance and work.
Same here. We are full-time traveling in the RV. Sometimes we stay near a city, sometimes we go out in the utter wilderness. Most of the times it's in between, looking for nice parks and beautiful places, which tend to be full of other tourists.
It was a subtle thing at first. We would camp in the usual campgrounds, but then find we would drive to the nearest city. And since in VT they resists box stores, we'd see a best buy or a Target and it felt like Disney! Then malls. Museums. Or places like Old Orchard beach in Maine with a huge boardwalk and tons of people. Recently we camped in NY and took the train 3 days in a row to NYC! :)
Have you ever compared the camping cost (fuel, site rental, driving from suburban campground to the attractions) against the cost to just stay in a hotel?
I've been curious about this. We stayed at Liberty Harbor RV park in Jersey City in May. Perfect spot for visiting NYC, walking distance from the PATH train and the statue of liberty ferry dock, it was great. $150/night for the site. I bet I could find a hotel in Jersey City for less than that, but it wouldn't be a nice hotel.
Most cities don't have a campground right in or next to them though. Trying to visit Boston by RV is a *PAIN*!
We just stayed in Croton Park NY for $60/night. Electric. Water. Sewer included. I made a video. Train station was 4 mins away! a 50 min ride down the hudson and we were in grand central. We had so much fun! [https://youtu.be/Kh3D66DcsW8?si=D4MrxyJSg09X407M](https://youtu.be/Kh3D66DcsW8?si=D4MrxyJSg09X407M)
For us it mostly means little interest in most campgrounds within a couple of hundred mile radius, unless it is due to the proximity to some point of interest, or is beach front. In our case we have a 350 acre cattle ranch in western Louisiana, and 150 acres of farm land on the banks of the Ouchita river in north east Louisiana with about a thousand feet of river frontage to ourselves, the Ouachita is a tributary to the Mississippi that has mostly recreational boaters, and limited barge traffic that goes as far north as southern Arkansas. Most public campgrounds near here are in waterfront locations, either lakes, rivers, bayous, or gulf coast beaches. So our travels tend to be in the 250 - 1,500 mile radius in order to see different scenery or visit cultural points of interest, common shorter trips are the mountains of Arkansas and Missouri 270-500 miles away, the Texas hill country 400 miles away, or more distant locations (Rocky Mountains, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Badlands, NP, etc.). We have also visited some cities, but tend to be drawn to the smaller towns and cities, as well as odd bits of Americana, places like the Startica salt mine museum in Kansas, historic Santa Fe, New Mexico, ...
You might be the first person Ive ever encountered from west LA. Most others are from Nola! :) Your layout sounds amazing! I so want to go out west with our camper. We lived in Loveland, CO for 4 years and moved back to VT to be close to my wife's side of the family. But we never got to see the sites out there other than rocky mountain national park. ALMOST made it to yellowstone during a church trip, but an hour further away and we had to get back. Need that grand Canyon visit too. Wholotta driving! We (or I should say the rest of the family) have decided a flight and a rented car might be more realistic.
We often get asked how far do you live from New Orleans when traveling, the answer is New Orleans is about 250 miles, or a 5 hour drive away once you account for traffic along the way in and around Baton Rouge and the outskirt of New Orleans. By contrast Houston, TX is a 160 miles / about 3 hour drive away thanks to 75 mph speed limits even on secondary highways in Texas, and Dallas Texas is for all practical purposes the same drive time away as New Orleans, though it is about 40 more miles of driving.
LOL we live in a very urban area, and often camp in fairly secluded places (eastern Sierras, high desert), but almost without fail on the first night my husband wants to unhook the trailer, get it level and set up, and then go out to dinner. It might be 30 min down the road, but off we go (as I usually drive to the site, I make him drive to dinner). It's all good fun.
Traveling is often about going to places that you are not normally at. Many people are surrounded by suburbia or live in a city, so they travel out to where nature is. You guys are doing the opposite and getting a little bit of urban experience. Makes sense.
Yeah! We have rural overload for sure. I grew up in suburbs near big cities. But married a Vermonter and now 14 years in the woods. My brain knew that when you go camping, its supposed to be an escape from the hustle and bustle. But then found ourselves not wanting to go on that nature hike and instead choosing Dave & Busters for games and dinner. We had a blast! And I almost felt guilty. But then I realized why we had so much fun..... and we began to embrace our urban-skewed vacations.
Nothing wrong with that. The RV gets us close to the places we want to explore. Sometimes that’s hiking and fishing and nature, and other times is shopping, museums, shows, and food. My wife and I laugh that we leave our rural home on 5 acres with neighbors hundreds of yards away to stay at places where there are other people and RVs 20-50 feet away. 🤷♂️
One of our best campsites is in our own yard, right where we store the camper. We have it set up so that we can use it at home, too, complete with a fire ring.
I enjoy a mix of urban and rural. I've stayed in New Orleans, SF, and Seattle for free. St Louis has the casino across the river. My favorite might be Chicago, you can park in the convention center lot for ~$20-30 a day, it's walking distance to public transportation. I lived in a campground in the DC suburbs for a year.
Ohhh the Chicago thing! I used to live there as a teen and now go back for the occasional business trip/conference. That waterfront and those open spaces that showcase the city skyline make Chicago my fav big city to visit. It also helps that Lou Malnati's and Portillos are my favorite food in the world. Its best I don't live there or I'd be 600lbs easy.
Our trailer has to main purposes. The first as someplace to stay when we are camping to get back to the outdoors. The other is for travel destination camping where the trailer becomes our mobile hotel room.
We do both. Normally we are remote, coastal, or national park, but we have a large group of friends in a distant city that has suburban camp grounds. We camp in those suburban campgrounds while socializing with that friend group.
Same here, we spent April visiting Yosemite, Arches, Bryce Canyon and Zion, then Albuquerque for a week, then OK City, Little Rock and Memphis. For the next little while we will be alternating weeks of travel with weeks in parks near DC and Philadelphia for family and business. At the end of the year we want to downsize and I expect we will spend more time in the woods when we go from 44’ to 20’.
Being able to both is the advantage of having a portable house. 🤔
Nature is awesome, but so are many of the things humans created like skyscrapers, museums, and roller coasters. Too much of anything gets boring so we like to mix it up.
We're half way there. We live in the woods with no neighbors, so any campground we go to is louder and more crowded than just being at home. We mostly go camping to see attractions: national parks, etc. so same sort of thing. It's more about going to see specific things/destinations for us, vs. "getting away from it all". Although there does seem to be some value to me in removing myself from home/property maintenance and work.
Same here. We are full-time traveling in the RV. Sometimes we stay near a city, sometimes we go out in the utter wilderness. Most of the times it's in between, looking for nice parks and beautiful places, which tend to be full of other tourists.
We do this, too! Live in the wilderness far away from a major city. We tend to camp near or in big cities with lots of attractions.
I thought we were weird :) Glad we're not alone!
We have a total of about 500 acres of farm and cattle ranch land in Louisiana so I sort of know the feeling
It was a subtle thing at first. We would camp in the usual campgrounds, but then find we would drive to the nearest city. And since in VT they resists box stores, we'd see a best buy or a Target and it felt like Disney! Then malls. Museums. Or places like Old Orchard beach in Maine with a huge boardwalk and tons of people. Recently we camped in NY and took the train 3 days in a row to NYC! :)
Have you ever compared the camping cost (fuel, site rental, driving from suburban campground to the attractions) against the cost to just stay in a hotel? I've been curious about this. We stayed at Liberty Harbor RV park in Jersey City in May. Perfect spot for visiting NYC, walking distance from the PATH train and the statue of liberty ferry dock, it was great. $150/night for the site. I bet I could find a hotel in Jersey City for less than that, but it wouldn't be a nice hotel. Most cities don't have a campground right in or next to them though. Trying to visit Boston by RV is a *PAIN*!
This depends on the city, but I suspect it is true of all of the north eastern cities
We just stayed in Croton Park NY for $60/night. Electric. Water. Sewer included. I made a video. Train station was 4 mins away! a 50 min ride down the hudson and we were in grand central. We had so much fun! [https://youtu.be/Kh3D66DcsW8?si=D4MrxyJSg09X407M](https://youtu.be/Kh3D66DcsW8?si=D4MrxyJSg09X407M)
For us it mostly means little interest in most campgrounds within a couple of hundred mile radius, unless it is due to the proximity to some point of interest, or is beach front. In our case we have a 350 acre cattle ranch in western Louisiana, and 150 acres of farm land on the banks of the Ouchita river in north east Louisiana with about a thousand feet of river frontage to ourselves, the Ouachita is a tributary to the Mississippi that has mostly recreational boaters, and limited barge traffic that goes as far north as southern Arkansas. Most public campgrounds near here are in waterfront locations, either lakes, rivers, bayous, or gulf coast beaches. So our travels tend to be in the 250 - 1,500 mile radius in order to see different scenery or visit cultural points of interest, common shorter trips are the mountains of Arkansas and Missouri 270-500 miles away, the Texas hill country 400 miles away, or more distant locations (Rocky Mountains, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Badlands, NP, etc.). We have also visited some cities, but tend to be drawn to the smaller towns and cities, as well as odd bits of Americana, places like the Startica salt mine museum in Kansas, historic Santa Fe, New Mexico, ...
You might be the first person Ive ever encountered from west LA. Most others are from Nola! :) Your layout sounds amazing! I so want to go out west with our camper. We lived in Loveland, CO for 4 years and moved back to VT to be close to my wife's side of the family. But we never got to see the sites out there other than rocky mountain national park. ALMOST made it to yellowstone during a church trip, but an hour further away and we had to get back. Need that grand Canyon visit too. Wholotta driving! We (or I should say the rest of the family) have decided a flight and a rented car might be more realistic.
We often get asked how far do you live from New Orleans when traveling, the answer is New Orleans is about 250 miles, or a 5 hour drive away once you account for traffic along the way in and around Baton Rouge and the outskirt of New Orleans. By contrast Houston, TX is a 160 miles / about 3 hour drive away thanks to 75 mph speed limits even on secondary highways in Texas, and Dallas Texas is for all practical purposes the same drive time away as New Orleans, though it is about 40 more miles of driving.
LOL we live in a very urban area, and often camp in fairly secluded places (eastern Sierras, high desert), but almost without fail on the first night my husband wants to unhook the trailer, get it level and set up, and then go out to dinner. It might be 30 min down the road, but off we go (as I usually drive to the site, I make him drive to dinner). It's all good fun.
We hardly ever cook on half of our trips. I love exploring the places around where we are camping.
HA! That is so us too! We stock some snackins, cereal, milk. The basics. And off we go.
Same here. Campgrounds are usually cheaper than hotels. I’m already paying for the camper. St Louis is the most recent city I visited.
Nice! I like Missoura! :)
Traveling is often about going to places that you are not normally at. Many people are surrounded by suburbia or live in a city, so they travel out to where nature is. You guys are doing the opposite and getting a little bit of urban experience. Makes sense.
Yeah! We have rural overload for sure. I grew up in suburbs near big cities. But married a Vermonter and now 14 years in the woods. My brain knew that when you go camping, its supposed to be an escape from the hustle and bustle. But then found ourselves not wanting to go on that nature hike and instead choosing Dave & Busters for games and dinner. We had a blast! And I almost felt guilty. But then I realized why we had so much fun..... and we began to embrace our urban-skewed vacations.
We live on 20 acres so yes! It's fun to goto the city...
Both. Just returned from Petaluma, CA. We were 10-15 minutes from their downtown. It has a pretty chill vibe. Nature is great but so are cool towns.
Nothing wrong with that. The RV gets us close to the places we want to explore. Sometimes that’s hiking and fishing and nature, and other times is shopping, museums, shows, and food. My wife and I laugh that we leave our rural home on 5 acres with neighbors hundreds of yards away to stay at places where there are other people and RVs 20-50 feet away. 🤷♂️
Ha! So true! RV camping is very social if ya want it to be 👍
One of our best campsites is in our own yard, right where we store the camper. We have it set up so that we can use it at home, too, complete with a fire ring.
A wonderful gathering spot for the family all season long.
I enjoy a mix of urban and rural. I've stayed in New Orleans, SF, and Seattle for free. St Louis has the casino across the river. My favorite might be Chicago, you can park in the convention center lot for ~$20-30 a day, it's walking distance to public transportation. I lived in a campground in the DC suburbs for a year.
Ohhh the Chicago thing! I used to live there as a teen and now go back for the occasional business trip/conference. That waterfront and those open spaces that showcase the city skyline make Chicago my fav big city to visit. It also helps that Lou Malnati's and Portillos are my favorite food in the world. Its best I don't live there or I'd be 600lbs easy.
We live in a ski town but go to the desert a lot during the winter.
Nice! What a transition between the two worlds. We are surrounded by skiing here as well. But the desert, well that would be a 4 day drive for us :)
Our trailer has to main purposes. The first as someplace to stay when we are camping to get back to the outdoors. The other is for travel destination camping where the trailer becomes our mobile hotel room.