CAMPING GROUNDS

Buzby and I decided to camp as many times as we could to save on road trip expenses... and to enjoy nature more. We started looking for camping grounds before our American cross country road trip. While planning our road trip, we tried to find campgrounds near our goal destination for each day.

Actually, it was really hard to make solid plans on where to camp, because our overall road trip plan was just a rough guideline! We weren't even sure if we could make it to some of the campgrounds on any particular day! However, a loose plan is necessary so we decided to make a list of campgrounds.

Find a ticket box or camp host. There is a camp site map, envelopes for payment and a payment box.

One concern was if we should make reservations or not. Especially, not having a reservation on July 4th was scary. We didn't want to be stuck with no place to sleep. We decided to make reservations for first 2 weeks and July 4th because it was our first time camping during the trip. We wanted to have the campground's information to be able to reserve a campsite in advance.

Most campgrounds have websites, one is able to make reservations and pay through their site. Some campgrounds take reservations, some are first come/first serve basis. Making a reservations has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage of making a reservation for a campground is if we would have a place to stay for sure. The disadvantage of making a reservation for a campground is if we don't stay or use the campground, there is still a fee. Some places charge $10 for a cancelation fee. If you cancel on the same day, you won't get any money back. I listed every campground where we camped in the side bar. You can click on the campground name to see details of the campground.

Typically, you get an envelope at a self-pay station at the entrance to the campground. You need to fill in; the date, name, address, license plate number, how many nights, phone numbers etc. Enclose your fee and drop it off in the self-pay post at the station. A Camp Host will check through the park, at regular hours, and will mark your campsite as paid.

Each campground has their own envelope to fill out the information and put money, and then drop it into a payment post. Each campsite has its own style. If a Camp Host is present, then you can pay and get a ticket.

Find an available campsite, if a ticket is in a clip on a pole... this means the site is taken.

If a site doesn't have any ticket on the pole, then you can put your ticket.