The RV Life

This past July, we had wanted to rent an RV and go from Phoenix up through Durango/Silverton/Ouray with our 2 dogs. Then up towards Steamboat Springs (I spent many childhood summers at my grandparents cabin in that area and wanted to go see their former cabin/land and that area now).

RV rates were not too crazy, but literally every RV campground in the Colorado Rocky Mountain region was sold out for pretty much this entire past summer (I started to try and plan this trip in February).

So that crushed my dreams of trying out the RV life for a week, but we did just end up driving (left the dogs at my moms in Flagstaff) and staying in hotels (Ouray 3 nights, Glenwood Springs and Mountain Village (Telluride) on the way home).

RV camping availability is so limited, I guess it is a good sign for the industry and outdoor enthusiasts, but a pain in the ass trying to plan anything.

So Gary I hope you can find something to tow, but somewhere to stay (RV park) may be a challenge next summer...

We needed to go to Texas for my daughter's wedding back in June. We didn't want to deal with masks and other restrictions so we bought a motorhome, loaded up the dogs and headed out. We used the Good Sam app to find RV parks to spend the night. We would estimate where we were going to be at the end of the day and call ahead to reserve a spot for a late check in. Never had a problem finding a place. We took another trip to Northern California a month later. The only trouble we had was one RV park didn't allow RVs over 10 years old. We begged them to make an exception and had to send pictures of our rig and they let us in. Every RV park we stayed at had plenty of open sites.

We got lucky. We found a really clean, low mileage, 20 year old coach, dirt cheap. 35 footer with all the bells and whistles.

Not having a towed vehicle to get around turned out to not be a big deal. We got good at casing out the places we needed to go to make sure we could find a place to park the beast.

About the generator ban, it is only California (so far,) and this is what the text reads:

(a) (1) By July 1, 2022, the state board shall, consistent with federal law, adopt cost-effective and technologically feasible regulations to prohibit engine exhaust and evaporative emissions from new small off-road engines, as defined by the state board. Those regulations shall apply to engines produced on or after January 1, 2024, or as soon as the state board determines is feasible, whichever is later.

So,
Get a generator made before 1/1/2024.

G-man, Having camped with you before, and knowing you all these years I can not wrap my mind around you driving a "Class A" motohome, and camping in designated camp grounds...? The world must be nearing its end. To offer my 2¢, with the Astro you might want to look at pop-ups. They make some pretty legit ones these days with all the amenities of Class A or C's, and much less hassle with storage. If nothing else you and Jan are always welcome to spend the weekend with us up north.

If you travel to LA you don't need an RV park. You can just park that bad boy in any neighborhood you want. Feel free to stay for months. You can empty your sewage into the storm drain. If you get hassled by police or anyone else just tell them you're homeless and they leave you alone they might even give you a free cell phone and an EB T card for free food.

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I have had great luck with my Forest River R-Pod. It's well-designed and has some pretty cool features. In fact, I have been living in it full-time for almost two years (which is not for everybody).
I even camped in a blizzard last year (four-feet of snow in four days) if anybody wants extreme RV'ing advice.

If you get that RV and, end up in Washington, stop by. I’ll make you both salmon and, dungenous crab.