It's good to have a pup

[AZsix]

Reading the paper this morning I saw ads for tt's and motor homes with huge discounts, especially on larger 5th wheels and mh's. I'm talking some discounts well over 10K I have also seen a lot of them for sale sitting in front of peoples houses. Two of my neighbors have already sold their toy haulers with one keeping the old pup he has and the other going with nothing. I'm so glad I have a pup that's paid for!

[erich0521]

I'm so glad I have a pup that's paid for!

I think we are going to love our PU more with the $4.00 / gal gas.  Can you imagine pulling a big 5er on vacation?

[tlhdoc]

I enjoy looking at different trailers, but I am sure glad I have my PU.  I have camped in it for the last 10 seasons and never found anything else that I would rather have.

['tiredTeacher]

I'm so glad I have a pup that's paid for!

Me, too! Add to that, I'm glad my sailboat and canoe are paid for. I burned a whopping 6 gal. of gas last year pushing the sailboat out of Urbanna Creek to sail the Rappahannock River. The canoe hitches a ride atop the TV when the PUP goes fishing.

[spicyville1]

I saw the 1st commercial on TV today from a RV dealer here in the Dallas/Ft Worth area in a long time. They were offering huge discounts as well. I will have to admit that the economic slump is kicking me in the tail as well. Thank goodness all of our 3 cars,1 truck and the pup are paid for. Even with them paid for I do not travel as far as I used to for camping. Times are getting hard for all now that fuel and food is through the roof.

[A2SuperCrew]

We're also thankful we have a PUP, rather than something bigger.  In fact, I drove up north last Friday to get our PUP out of storage.  I was pleased with 15MPG on the way home!  

Driving by several RV dealers during that trip, it did seem like their spring inventories were smaller than last year........

We're heading to Yellowstone this summer, and wonder if folks with spots reserved for their big rigs will even show up due to fuel cost!

[AZsix]

We're also thankful we have a PUP, rather than something bigger.  In fact, I drove up north last Friday to get our PUP out of storage.  I was pleased with 15MPG on the way home!  

Driving by several RV dealers during that trip, it did seem like their spring inventories were smaller than last year........

We're heading to Yellowstone this summer, and wonder if folks with spots reserved for their big rigs will even show up due to fuel cost!

I was wondering the same thing. We may see more open spots in cg's this summer due to the high gas prices.

[cyclone]

We camped this past week-end close to home - apparently a whole lot of other people are also camping close as the cg was completely full.  We actually got lucky and just happened to check availability when a site opened up due to a cancellation.  I think, if anything, sites may be even harder to come by as more people will be camping close to home.

[MomboTN]

We camped this past week-end close to home - apparently a whole lot of other people are also camping close as the cg was completely full.  We actually got lucky and just happened to check availability when a site opened up due to a cancellation.  I think, if anything, sites may be even harder to come by as more people will be camping close to home.

I was just thinking that I may go this weekend and the local campground is booked.  All 87 spots.  The other campground in town has 90 sites and has 2 available.  I guess it is the holiday weekend.  One campground is at least a half hour from town and the town is an hour from the closest big city.  I think that some may camp closer to home but I think more people are just camping.  If people are going to vacation, camping is still cheaper with the cost of hotels, meals out and admission to whatever attraction may be near by.  Gas may be high but you are looking at another $100-$200 vs flights or other costs.  I was going to take the kids to FL for Mothers Day but the costs of flights were kind of high so we just went camping instead.  My wife wants to go camping this weekend and wants to go away to a campground we have not been to before.  
It has been pointed out on this sight that for every 500 miles in driving you are looking at a net increase of around $50.  $2.50 gal vs $4 gal.
I think I will be camping an extra couple weekends this year and skipping some of the plane flights.  People still have vacation time at work and either their will be more family around on Christmas and thanksgiving or the campgrounds will be more crowded this summer.

[cyclone]

Maybe I should have mentioned that I consider an hour or so as "close" to home.  Some closer than others but in that time frame I have the following choices that I can think of:

at least 6 COE cg's with hook-ups (and another without - that one is about 2 miles from my house).

4 or 5 state parks

Several private cg's - there are at least 4 just in Nashville, and more in surrounding areas.  I haven't camped in any of these, as I prefer the state parks or COE.  

Last week-end (non-holiday) when we checked availability at the COE cg's nearby - 2 were completely booked and we grabbed that canceled ressie for the last site in the 3rd.  

And, I can be in Kentucky in less than an hour, so there are probably more to add to the list.  All that being said - so far, the cg's look just as busy as ever to me.

[CajunCamper]

I was just thinking that I may go this weekend and the local campground is booked.  All 87 spots.  The other campground in town has 90 sites and has 2 available.  I guess it is the holiday weekend.  One campground is at least a half hour from town and the town is an hour from the closest big city.  I think that some may camp closer to home but I think more people are just camping.  If people are going to vacation, camping is still cheaper with the cost of hotels, meals out and admission to whatever attraction may be near by.  Gas may be high but you are looking at another $100-$200 vs flights or other costs.  I was going to take the kids to FL for Mothers Day but the costs of flights were kind of high so we just went camping instead.  My wife wants to go camping this weekend and wants to go away to a campground we have not been to before.  
It has been pointed out on this sight that for every 500 miles in driving you are looking at a net increase of around $50.  $2.50 gal vs $4 gal.
I think I will be camping an extra couple weekends this year and skipping some of the plane flights.  People still have vacation time at work and either their will be more family around on Christmas and thanksgiving or the campgrounds will be more crowded this summer.

MomboTN, you make a very good point. I have a neighbor that has a TT and for the last 5 years, it hasn't moved. Well over the weekend, he was cleaning it up and doing a little maintenance. He even stopped by my house when he saw me outside and asked me about a couple of the near by campgrounds. As we talked he told me that this summer he and his wife decided that they needed to scale back on the amount they have been spending on family trips and that getting back into camping seemed like the logical way to go. As he said, the TT is paid for, they can save money by staying in campgrounds and cooking their own meals.

I have a site reserved for a campground in Florida just 10 days from now and I know for a fact that they don't have a site available until the end of summer.

Perhaps, many folks are starting to bring their campers out of moth balls like my neighbors.

CajunCamper

[MomboTN]

I have a site reserved for a campground in Florida just 10 days from now and I know for a fact that they don't have a site available until the end of summer.

Perhaps, many folks are starting to bring their campers out of moth balls like my neighbors.

CajunCamper[/QUOTE]
 
We camp with a group of friends at Fort Wilderness  for a week in November.  Last year it was canceled because we couldn't get enough sites.  This year we had the same problem and will be going in Jan.  I think Disney is doing some work so there are less sites available but with as many sites as they have there, you would think 6 sites 7 months in advance would not be a big problem.