The biggest hurdle to a last minute camping trip

This time of year we get A LOT of requests for information on camping with us, as do many other RV owners. Many people are finding its not as easy as it used to be to just go camping for the weekend. You get excited about it, but when you try to make your plans, it doesn't come together. So why is it that way now?

Well, the first and most glaring issues is that there just isn't enough camping spots. Covid had a lot to do with that. With many places shut down, people looked to nature for relief. A lot of people. According to industry reports from manufacturers of RV's sales were up over 400% in 2020. They couldn't keep up. Other turn to folks like us that offer rental services. One of our partners, Outdoorsy reported a 4600% percent increase in bookings during the period of April to October 2020.

This would make it sound like there are not enough RV's out there. While it is much tighter the bigger problem is the lack of good RV sites left available during the summer months, especially weekends. If you are planning to go out, book the spot and make plans for the campers weeks in advance, if not months. Holiday weekends are near impossible. We have had a number of potential customers in the past 2 months that called, wanted to book, but then called back as they assumed spots were available to get to. I can tell you that I did a random check of some of the top RV Park/Campgrounds in Southeast Virginia, which does have a lot of great parks. Most all of them are completely booked up for at least the next 3 weeks, or longer.

The other thing about camping with an RV don't try to get a more undeveloped site, and try to make it work. Ideally with an RV you want electric, water, and Sewer hookups. We do not even take gigs that do not have power and water. But the sewer is important as well. Keep in mind that the average travel trailer can go about 3 days on average until the gray and black water waste tanks are full. Once they are full, they have to be cleaned out or bad things will happen. Really bad.

So what to do? Plan your trip out a little later. Once you know where you want to go, find the nearest campground for your trip. Be sure to look at state parks as well. There a couple of great ones in our area (First Landing State Park and Kiptopeke State Park on the Eastern Shore). If you plan on renting, ask one of us owners! We have been to nearly every park in the area and can give you an idea of what to expect. Just be sure to take the time to plan it, and understand that there is a whole lot more people out there camping than ever before.