Reserving campground sites

[Simon3xUD]

Hi all,

This past weekend, we took our new TM (now dubbed "The Chateau" ;D) on its second trip. The first was dry camping at a dog agility trial. This time we stayed at a campground with water and electric for another agility trial.

I had called ahead to reserve a site at this campground (Pine Cone Family Campground in Freehold, NJ) and told the gal I spoke with that I had a trailer that was 30 feet long when open.

When we got to the campground, we realized that it was going to be an "adventure". The directions we were given to our site proved to bring us in the wrong way for backing into our site so Janet had to drive around to come in the correct direction. Then, we found that the trees were so close to the road (which was only about 10 feet wide itself) and site that it was a long, drawn out process to get the trailer where it should be. Of course, it would have helped if Janet and I were speaking the same language when it came to giving her the information she needed to properly back the trailer :-[. After that, we quickly decided to unhitch and just take our TV (full-size conversion van) to the trial site the next day.

Then, we had our first real oops when leaving on Sunday morning...again, thanks to those close growing trees >:(. What looked like a small clump of leaves turned out to be a more substantial sapling which got hung up in a leveler jack as we were pulling out of hte site. The plate got all twisted and so did the scissors too...argh! At least it's bolted to the frame and so shouldn't be too difficult to replace.

Anyway, what could I have told the campground when making the reservation that would have ensured we were given a more suitable site? Sure wish they'd had some pull-through sites available! I know they are new owners and perhaps didn't know what to ask themselves. I'm thinking that in the future, I should just give campgrounds the full length of the TV and trailer (open) combined so we don't find ourselves in such tight spaces again. Will that work or is there a better way?

Thanks,

[Windbreaker]

Something very much like that happened to me once at a KOA. When ask the size of the trailer I said 27'. We got a 27' space, no place to park the TV, I now say 47'. Sure solves a lot of problems.

[B_and_D]

We had the same thing happen to us the last time we went "camping". Actually is was a really developed RV park. The site they assigned was so small, and people were parked across the street, it would have been really hard to get in there. We asked for a bigger site, and luckily they had one.

In the future, I guess it's going to depend on where we're heading. If we know that we'll be lucky to get a site (like in our State Parks here) I'll say the minimum that we can fit in. If it wil be in a larger RV type park, I'll say that we need a longer site! Trees are always a challenge.

I've heard others recommend getting those 2-way radios so the person parking the trailer can communicate with the person who is spotting. My husband sometimes doesn't understand what I'm signaling, but we've gotten better at it.

[kempert]

Replacing a scissor jack is real simple. You can call TM, or the jack manufacturer (if you can get the number off of it), and order one. I'm sure that they are under $60 (including shipping). All you have to do is to take off 2 or 4 bolts, take off the old jack, and replace it with the new one.

[RockyMtnRay]

For State Park and Forest Service campground reservations (I avoid commercial "RV Parks" like the plague: blech, ptui, ptui :P), I use the actual open length (23 feet for my 2720SL) as the length of the trailer when filling out the reservation form. These reservations consider the TV and trailer as separate entities...I've found the sites in these public campgrounds are almost always spacious in width (quarter acre to over an acre each) so the TV can usually go alongside the trailer or be angle parked in front of it. The parking areas aren't always very deep though and are often limited to 30 feet or less. By specifying a shorter length, I can often get access to primo campsites that can't be used by longer RVs.

[shunter917]

I always tell them 30' for the 3023 we have. Most sites are either wide enough or long enough to accomodate both TV and TM. Trees can be a pain or a blessing depending on where they are located.

Be careful when giving an extended length to get a longer site - many campsites have length limits of 35' or so and will not make reservations for you if you claim both TV and TM in your length estimation.

It sounds like the roads at the park were too narrow to begin with, which can really cause a problem getting backed in (trees or not)!

[PopBeavers]

We just got back from a weekend at Pinecrest Lake, CA. I reserved a 40' space. With the 2720 plust the 20' for the TV I barely fit. No space along side because forrest service campgroudns have thos little concrete blocks marking the space fo the TM+TV. I had less than 3' of extra width.

I guess it just depends.

[Queeniereads]

I always ask for a pull thru and do not always get them. We were told (maybe on an early Forum) to call it a pop-up when buying insurance and a travel trailer when reserving a space. LOL I would tell them the full dimension of the TT including the hitch. THere should be ample place to park if you pull to the front or back of the space with the TM. Now, we will be camping this weekend and hope to find all of this true. ANd, PS...we did find that Walkie Talkies helped until one of them had the batteries die and just squalked. Queeniereads aka Judi