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Full-time RV travels in the United States and Canada
Save on camping without a membership with Camp Half Price
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We, like many retired people, are on a fixed income. We need to stretch our $$$'s where and how we can. Here you will find many of our $$$ stretching ideas and strategies. One of the best cost cutting purchase was our Resorts of Distinction Plus membership. One reason we take our time traveling to our winter destination is because we enjoy the ROD+ parks and FREE camping. With our membership we can stay two weeks twice a year at each of the Resorts of Distinction Plus parks and one week twice a year at their regular parks for just our membership dues every year. We pay less then $100 membership dues per year. We did have an initial investment to purchase our Home Park membership with American Campgrounds in Kalamazoo, MI. We originally bought our Home Park membership which also gives us Outdoor Adventure privileges the same as our homepark. We also purchased our Coast to Coast Deluxe membership at that time. Coast to Coast allows us to camp at their affiliate parks twice a year for two weeks at a time for Deluxe parks and twice a year, one week at a time for their classic parks. We pay $8.00 per night at these parks. The nightly rate is increasing to $10/night commencing Jan. 1, 2008. The rate includes a full hook-up. A couple of years later we bought our Resorts of Distinction Plus and AOR Gold A couple of years ago we purchased a Life Membership with American Campground so we no longer have our Home Park dues to pay every year. You are probably thinking that we spent a lot of money to have free and low cost camping. At the time we bought into American Campground in Kalamazoo it did seem like a lot of money. If we were going to buy again we would do a bit more investigating. We would probably look on e-bay and the RV magazines to buy a re-sale membership. We would probably have bought in at Outdoor Adventures, Lakeshore in Davison, because it is closer to the route we normally travel through Michigan. American Campgrounds and Outdoor Adventures are owned by a brother and sister. We as members can use all of their parks as our homeparks, whether it belongs to the brother or sister. We do have additional benefits at our homepark of Kalamazoo, but they don't relate to this, so I won't go into detail with them. At todays rate of $25 to 50 a night, we could pay for our memberships in less then 280 nights at an average of $25/night. We as fulltimers have saved more then that many times over. At the end of this year (2007) we will have stayed 366 nights with no charge except for our original membership and our yearly membership to Resorts of Distinction. This is one of the best value memberships going. Resorts of Distinction parks has Naco/ Thousand Trails, and Western Horizon parks in its directory along with others. We have about 250 parks to choice from. As I sit and write this I am at Abita Springs a Western Horizon, Sunbelt park in Abita Springs, Louisiana. It is a beautiful, friendly park with tall pine trees and lots of nature. There are lots of birds here, along with a resident gator and other wild life. Doug likes all the comforts of a full hook-up. I grew up in the country with nature at my back door for over half of my life. We both enjoy nature, but do not find it necessary to chase into the wilds to enjoy it. It is all around us in 5 star resorts as well as state park. Not all 5 star resorts are in the middle of a heavily congested metropolitan area. Many of the Resorts of Distinction parks are a bit off of the beaten path. We can choice where we want to be and what our surroundings will be. We can make all of our reservations online or we can call their 800 number. We travel from one park to the next, never getting in a rush to reach our destination. This spring we stayed 41 days in four separate parks in Florida and Alabama. This fall we stayed in one homepark plus four separate ROD+ parks totaling 56 nights since we left our seasonal site in Ontario. That 97 nights total for 2007 alone could have cost us up to $4,850.00, yet we have just paid our yearly membership of less then $100.00. We realize not all campers would agree with our method of travel or staying in 5 star resorts all of the time. All we can say is everyone to their own. This is how we travel and we enjoy all the comforts of the 5 star resorts along with nature at its finest. That's what this lifestyle is all about. We all enjoy whatever we want to and travel in the style of our choice. Live is about choices.. If you would like more info you can email me here
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