As we begin our annual summer traveling treks, we were wondering what discounted campgrounds our readers would recommend for us to join?  With your recommendation, do you know the cost and % of discount?  Currently we are members of  Good Sams Club.  Thank you in advance.  Joe and Sharon McNary

Hello Joe and Sharon,

I enjoy the extra discount that the good SAM folks offer, it is about the same as KOA, but we have found that the KOA camps are very outdated(not all but most) and the KOA tends to be not big rig friendly with extra charges for items that should not cost extra (50 amp service).

My wife and I have found that the independent camp ground and the Indian casino parks have more to offer and the rates are competitive.

We have found that a Woodall camp grounds book is indispensable we just go for the best rated.

Jerry

Jerry,
We use Passport America campgrounds (one or two day stays) when traveling, but not for extended stays since most of their campgrounds have restrictions on the length of time that they will honor their discount.

Passport America campgrounds give a 50% discount off of their "regular" rates. The "regular" rates are sometimes higher that their current "promotional" rates, but the 50% discount is almost always a good deal. Passport America membership cost $44 a year. $79 for 2 years, or $109 for 3 years, but 2 or 3 nights of use a year will pay for the membership, and you start saving money after that so it is a good deal for almost everyone.

Passport America may or may not work for you, but I would recommend that you check it out at;  http://www.passportamerica.com/

Gerald  

Violet and I have used Passport America for several years.  For the first couple of years we stayed in enough parks to get our money back and more as we traveled.  Recently we planned a whole trip from CA to Ohio and used all PA's.  Once you get your PA campground book it's easy to plan for a whole trip.  We were lucky on that one as there were numerous parks on our way.  PA parks are now putting more and more restrictions on when you can and can't use the parks and also for a reduction on the number of days one spends there.

If you belong to a membership park and also belong to Coast to Coast affiliate it is a good one, but their prices have risen.

We also use the Elks International campground book to look for their camping facilities, but they are limited as to parking.

There are a number of dry camping locations around the country for free: namely Wal-Mart, K-mart, Lowes, Home Depot, and Cracker Barrel.  If you happen to stop at Cattleman's Restaurant near Fabens, TX (east of El Paso on I-10), for dinner you can stay there over night (great steak dinner).

If you have access to the Corp of Engineers they have regional maps of their campgrounds, also.

Hope this helps a little

Mandy

All of the above are good sources.  Here is an interesting one:

http://www.freecampgrounds.com/index.htm

Larry

We use http://www.rvparkreviews.com and the Good Sam Campground Directory. We like the RV Park Reviews because of the Google Earth link gives you an overhead satelitte look and some idea of entry and what the park looks like. We even look at the roads to the prospective campground. There is a link under the links on the BAC home page also.

We have Passport America and love it. If you buy Passport, do NOT buy Happy Camper also as they cover many of the same parks. I don't recommend membership parks (Thousand Trails, Coast to Coast, etc) UNLESS you expect to use them a A LOT each and every year. If you do buy into a membership park, go to the resellers to buy one. They have the best prices. We are FMCA, Good Sams and Escapees members. Each of those organizations has discount prices at parks.
We are also Elks, Moose and VFW and we can sometimes park in their lots or small RV parks. We don't like to dry camp but WalMart, Flying J and Indian Casinos usually let you park over night free. In Canada Irving truck stops are good places to stay. City campgrounds in small cities are often $10 and under. Days End is a CD sold by a member of Escapees (Guy Gipson) and gives low cost to free places to stay all over. Many are dry camp but many are electric and water low cost sites. We even found a city park in Days End that had 30 amp and water for up to 72 hours for FREE. Yes, we stayed there and it was great. Golden Age/America the Beautiful Senior Pass ($10 lifetime cost) gets you into National Parks, Forestry, Corp of Engineer parks, etc. Entrance fee waived and usually 50% off camping fee. I think it's Louisiana which even honors Golden Age in their state Parks. As Florida senior residents we get 50% off in Florida State Parks. Check your home base state for possible senior discounts in your state parks.
We are presently in Canada and Passport has saved us a lot of money. Canada has gotten really expensive. Most of the campgrounds are running $30-$40 Canadian a night. So 50% off is a big deal. We used Passport across Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and now in Nova Scotia. I would say we have saved about $300 Canadian in the last 4 weeks alone using Passport. They even have some parks in Mexico.
The real issue for you is to analyze where you want to stay and look at each of the organizations to see if they have parks where you want to go and are they friendly for your size coach. Many of the Passport parks in the north eastern US have small campsites. But the NE is not really friendly for big rigs anyway. So if you wanted to camp in the NE only, Passport would probably not be a good deal for you. Since we travel all over and many months a year, Passport has been a real money saver for us.
So what's your lifestyle? Where do you want to stay? Answers to those questions will help you decide what if any organizations are good for you.