American campgrounds and the Coast to Coast Deluxe program!!

[D White]

Is anyone out there a member of the American campgrounds, Coast to Coast program? If so, how do you like it, and do you feel it's worth the investment? Thinking of joining, but would like comments good or bad from some of the members.



Thanks,

Doug

 

[Doc Tinker]

I am a member of Outdoor Adventures (a Coast to Coast park) and I know several other TDR members who are. I bought my membership the conventional way, and probably paid too much for it, but I've gotten good use from it. Fortunatly my home park has expanded from two campgrounds to five campgrounds and four sister parks, of which I can camp for free (minus the annual maintenance fee). One of the new parks is within commuting distance of work, so I can stay there often without taking vacation days.



Most of the Coast to Coast parks are not close to any attractions. This is good or bad, depending upon your camping style. There are Good Neighbor parks, who honor the Coast to Coast membership, that are close to attractions, but it will cost more for you to stay at them, but they are still a lot cheaper than staying without a discount (about half). An example: We stayed at a Good Neighbor park, for ten days, near Orlando. Those ten days cost me a total of $110 for a full hook up site. The campground had a mobile home park on half of the property and the grounds were kept immaculate. That stay was a few years ago, so the price has gone up a little, but not much.





If you buy - -



1. There are alternatives to buying the normal way. Some of the guys here have purchased second-hand memberships for a lot less than the norm.



2. Get a locked in annual maintenance fee. Mine is locked so I pay the same each year as I did for the first year, which was in 96. They will let you lock in, if you ask, to make the sale.



3. Pay attention to the Home Park Packages. There are usually several packages that you can negotiate. One of my friends (not a TDR member) bought a ten year membership. My package will be passed on to my children when I kick off. Other packages allow inclussion of family members, like siblings, children and parents so they can camp when you're not there.



4. I believe the lions share of the cost to buy in is the Home Park's. You have to buy into a Home Park to get into the Coast ot Coast program though.





There is more... So stay tuned.



Why did I buy in? I wanted to buy some property in northern Michigan, so I could run up there for the weekends. After pricing property, thinking about insurance and taxes, figuring the cost of putting in electricity, a well and septic and then being locked to going to the one place all the time, the Coast to Coast program kept sounding better and better.



If you don't camp a lot, don't do it. I don't think it would be worth it.



Doc

 

[D White]

Hey Doc,

Thanks for the info, It does seem like a lot of money to buy into our home park, so I'm hopefully going to get more replies on this subject from other members. Just wondering what others think after being in for a while.



American Campgrounds has 12 parks, I think, that will cost nothing to camp at. Other than the maintance fee, like you said. Two of which are only about an hour from me. One of them is on the Schroon River in NY, which I think is COOl.



Of the parks you have been to, how would you rate them?



Are the sites roomy, or packed in so tight you can't even have campfires?



If the majority are just packed in, that's not what I'm looking for.



I like parks that are on some sort of water, pond, river, lake, it doesn't matter. With some trees between sites, not just a field with campers packed in. I'm sure everyone likes something different, thats what I like.



Hope to here from you again,



Doug

 

[Deezul1]

I have looked into this also and have found that by going through a "used" membership broker I could save a lot of money. There are "Home Campgrounds" that are in places not many people go that were for sale for as little as $250. 00 plus annual dues and stuff compared to $5000. 00 for one in a real popular place. The benefits and usage package is the same no matter which one you chose. These were in the Coast To Coast group. Look in the back of Trailer Life magazine for listings.

 

[Doc Tinker]

Sorry Doug, I missed checking back in on this thread for some reason.



Of the places that I've been to, the campgrounds are well cared for. Most of the campsites are reasonably sized but not as large as what I've experienced at a lot of state park campgrounds.



The Coast-to-Coast magazine, which is part of what you get for your annual dues (Coast-Coast requires annual dues of about $70, which is over and above your home park dues) is an excellent magazine that has a feature article on a highly rated Coast-Coast campground each issue. I have yet to make it to one of the featured parks, aside from one of my home parks, but they all look like excellent places.



Like I said before. . Most of the Coast-Coast parks are not located close to major attractions. Actually, the only one that I'm aware of that is, is the newest of my home parks, which is located close to Flint, MI where there are several nearby attractions, like Frankenmuth.



All of my home parks are either on a lake, river or large man-made ponds (yeah, man-made doesn't cut it ). One of the parks has a canoe livery on the Rifle River. I suspect that many of the Coast-Coast parks have similar arrangements.



Doc

 

[D White]

Thanks guys,

I'm looking around for a second hand membership, prices seem a lot cheaper than new ones. The 125 mile rule has me looking for one farther away, from what I understand I'll be able to use all the parks close to me that way.



Thanks again,

Doug