Glamping what the heck is that

[Jim W]

Will I use to rough it camping in the 60's (Boy Scouts of America), then my wife and I started tent camping when we were first married in 1970. We graduated to COX tent trailer. We had that for several years when we upgrade to a Star craft 8 pop-up bought used. When I was approaching retirement age, we went back into RVing and bought a used 2006 5th wheel trailer. I am now on my third unit and I never ever plan on sleeping on the ground again or boondocking were I have to ration water or electricity, to enjoy RVing.

That is what is so wonderful about RVing you can camp in any style you want and still enjoy the outdoors

To me these are the type of RV parks that I like, ones with full hook-ups were I can be clean and warm day in day out.

 

[CAROLINA CUMMINS]

Since we upgraded to a TT from a tent last year I have been searching earnestly for some good boondocking spots here in NC(In the wild not Walmart parking lot ). Found a few but boondocking in the East is tough. So we stick to State Parks and some of the smaller family owned campgrounds that are quiet/off the beaten path. When we tent camped however there is a lot of dispersed camping sites avail for that. Looking forward to heading out West sometime to boondock.

 

[Ozymandias]

Travel in style, like in the good ol days.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glamping

 

[Tuesdak]

Adding to the overall concern is the "Limited Access" to our popular National Parks that are bluntly having a hard time dealing with the extreme number of visitors. Tourism and preserve the jokingly used word of pristine don't mix easy. For example a few months in advance I can get a week long reserved spot in the North Rim Grand Canyon. I am not sure I can click fast enough to get a spot in Yosemite National Park.

"Campground reservations are available in blocks of one month at a time, up to five months in advance, on the 15th of each month at 7 am Pacific time. Be aware that nearly all reservations for the months of May through September and for some other weekends are filled the first day they become available, usually within seconds or minutes after 7 am!"

Some popular National Parks are slowly turning into a day's notice lottery reservation system. YUCK for any planning of a trip around that short notice! Guess I need to watch the "documentary" of the said park on the outdoor RV's TV.

I spent a good amount of time looking up a trip we took 9 years ago delivering an RV and the unloaded return trip through Yosemite National Park in CA. You make time to see the country as it's a perk of delivering RV's. I went through pictures, like the waterfall in the pic above, to recall what route we took: Wawona Rd north to catch the 120 going east. Some bad wreck closed the road and took 3+ hours to scrape off the road. Way behind and now late in the evening with more or less nothing around for dinner per the GPS. The only place the GPS found was some weird shared plate dinner at a campground and we squeaked in only because the very last couple seats were open. This trip was some of the inspiration behind wanting a truck camper. (We later found the 27' AF 5er fit our needs and truck better.) Regardless it would have been for comfort passing through Yosemite National Park because any camping spots appear gone a few minutes after they open up. A Class B Van would also be a good choice. Simply put I wouldn't want to take the 5er through that route because there isn't any place to stop and see the sights with it hooked up. Correctly stated by KATOOM: the 5th wheel RV is a "base camp". (Vs. a truck camper or Class B van and grey area of small motor homes.)

@Jim W makes a very good point. Adding to it I like to keep the boondocking option open esp. as a "Plan B".

@KATOOM Can't Camp at random locations is a big concern. Makes wandering lazy trips with no timeline to make it to the next spot difficult. I mentioned outside the Arches National Park without a reservation, late in the day after traveling, and traffic just turned into a miles long parking lot. Yeah, where can we stay? Ok, My bad: I thought that park was just a minor a wide spot in the road rather than The Grand Canyon of UT ... Learning curve. For tomorrow it may be Sunday and you are in UTAH.

Yeah, need reservations ALWAYS for Friday and Saturday nights or a big boondock location(s) in the trip plan.

"A car and hotel works just as good..." Done lots of that all over the USA. Not that Arizona is special, but, most of the west is few and far between. Esp. away from the few freeways AZ has. Ugh! Budget cuts stupidly closing rest areas all over The USA (also affects trucking). However paying to use a dirty restroom when and if one can be found, dirty hotels if there is any vacancy, and places to eat tend to have business hours. Just saying using a shovel to hold the TP has it's own risks.

I recall being in Lake Havasu unexpectedly and faced with "No Vacancy" from ALL hotels in a large area. Going by boondocking toyhauler RV's running AC off their gensets... IMO odds are better at times to find a place to go boondocking rather than to be forced to sleep in one's vehicle in extreme weather.

 

[Ozymandias]

In the West boondocking is the way to go - but it is limited with a Fifth compared to Pickup Camper.

We are always alone in the desert, way behind the crowd of snowbirds with their Trailer piling up along the main roads. They really pile up here, hard to imagine but it is.

 

[Cummins12V98]

We have our own lot in PalmSprings, CA area as our Southern home base. We also have our home in the NW that we spend the Summers at in our RV

.

We are always in our RV and love to sleep in our own bed. I guess we are GLAMPERS.

 

[Tuesdak]

@Cummins12V98 Not sure you are "roughing it" enough in the wilderness to be a GLAMPER there? I do think that's an example of a Luxury RV that makes the tents look like they ain't even trying.

Roughing it somewhere east of the Mogollon Rim with only 30A electric hook up and one of the few spaces in this campground that have electric. I have to fill up water and dump at a station that may "gasp!" have a line... Some campgrounds here sometimes do not include the dump station fee in the rates if they even have one. I have run into closed dump stations due to campground equipment failure. Some fuel stations offer a dump... speaking of long lines.

Seriously this is the kind of places I get enjoyment from with our RV. The picture doesn't show the lower temps at 8000' vs. the 115 in Phoenix. You can just see the RV in the next space over and example of the room the campsite space has. The picnic table for the site is on the extreme right of the pic.

Although some comment on generator noise: the hours you can use em are limited to 4 (here) and sometimes 6 hours a day depending on the campground. IMO the damn near constant random horn "honk" in the distance when someone locks a vehicle is much worse and more so at larger campgrounds. I swear some campers can wear the door locks out!

@Ozymandias I do enjoy the perspective of other RV types especially truck campers. The choice of RV's to meet what one wants to compromise on or not is a challenge without that perspective. I can't replace my RV with a new one that has this short length as Northwoods AF doesn't make one this short anymore and the Nash line compromises the queen bed length. My new truck with it's higher capacity puts some non-slide hardside truck campers in reach weight wise.

 

[Cummins12V98]

Ok it does get dirty at times! This was 2016 at Quartzite, AZ.

 

[Ozymandias]

Ok it does get dirty at times! This was 2016 at Quartzite, AZ.

View attachment 118785

Ah you have been on the Snowbird Pile!

 

[jacknife]

KOA = Keep on Adding $$$$$

 

[jgillott]

There is a similar thread running over on the RV forum I am involved with on "Glamping". Some good reading there also.

https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f7/we-dont-camp-73019.html

 

[GAmes]

A few years ago, on the way to Alaska. This provincial campground is between Jasper Natl. Park and Grande Cache, AB. The box on the back contains our generator.

In the site next to us was a little cutie.

 

[Cummins12V98]

Ah you have been on the Snowbird Pile!

Yes and accidentally got out into some bad AZZ ruts that I was VERY concerned about!

 

[Tuesdak]

@jgillott Dhart's explanation over there of: it's RVing rather than the other stuff that is not RVing is spot on.

@Cummins12V98 I won't question that again. Ruts bring back memories where I would say Social Media would have more fun with "The RV journey" rather than a Glamping destination alone. Took a power line road and sunk a 2WD (had a working gov-lock though) pickup to the differential in sand outside Las Vegas. The 4x4 tow truck got stuck trying to get to me. I was later pulled out by "Yellow Iron" who also pulled out a FWD car further down the road. They didn't charge me to go back and pull out the loaded cargo trailer. (Laughter may or may not have been involved to where they couldn't do the actual paperwork for 2 trips.) Disconnecting the trailer got me a little more forward. Yeah it's a bad 20 year old Polaroid picture. No, GMC roadside assistance towing doesn't cover off-road towing. Yeah, I first walk more of a questionable road now before driving on it... That afternoon literally stuck with family is a priceless memory. I suggest Glamping, like a hotel room, would not have much to say about the actual journey.

I finally see how this is going to go down at the water cooler.

"So what did you do last weekend?"

"I went GLAMPING!"

"Nice! Did you get there with a stump pulling 400 HP 1000 Ft Lb Cummins Diesel?"

"No, I..."

"What, still cant figure out your Smarty Touch?!"

"No, No, I don't own a diesel pickup. I paid over $300 a night for this cool luxury tent. And a small fortune for room service meals. It's all over my social media!"

"HAHA! How cute. You must have been roughing it on a shoestring budget. I blew $300 in just Diesel Fuel alone yesterday. You ever see single digit MPG and ever considered GPM is a thing? Anyway check out the photos of Luxury I was dragging to this site that suddenly sprung into existence when I got there. BTW these things are so optimistic about the actual 8.6 MPG and even with the speed limit only 55 on the steeper grades. Yeah it IS uphill both ways! How did you guess? " (It's up and down grades all the way from Phoenix to The Rim...)

Single digit MPG for those expecting 40+ MPG is an interesting PRICELESS look.
.

 

[KATOOM]

Tuesdak, you seriously need to upgrade to a better camera.

 

[snadamo]

@Tuesdak i wouldn’t be surprised if we’ve crossed paths up there at some point. It’s our go-to area to get out of the heat.

nice to see a lot of AZ folks around here.

 

[Tuesdak]

Tuesdak, you seriously need to upgrade to a better camera.

Noted.

The Yellowstone pic above was the last shot before the digital camera battery died, Have one trip it died many times in a day and the backup phone camera was used so much in a row it overheated the phone. I do frame a few shots for quality now and then.

I don't recall if 100% of the blame was on that "instant" camera 20 years ago for the towing recovery pic. At the time it was the only tool available and I kept it in the truck for just such occasions. As an aside a bad wreck previously destroyed one Polaroid I used for this purpose (and the new truck I owned for only two weeks just before getting this pictured pickup). Regardless that was a rather high end for a consumer Polaroid: 1981 vintage design 660 "SUN" auto-focus model. The sonar auto focus on it was different and I recall unique. The Polaroid Light Management System, a simple and imprecise control to manually lengthen or shorten exposure times with flash override was an art to use and you got what was left of the 10 pack of film to figure it out IF the battery in the film pack held up. So considering the following reasons I don't have a better pic: cost of another shot may not have been worth it to me at the time (esp. as "sun" meant just that daylight shots and bad night shots), was the last shot in the film pack, or the damn film pack battery died in the middle of spitting the second exposure adjusted picture out.

I'd go back in time for a better pic... Polaroid is actually making a nostalgia comeback. And, no, no thank you.

 

[dblake]

We quit going to KOAs decades ago. Too expensive unless you want a gym, pool, jacuzzi, racket ball court, yoga classes, etc., etc. Lots of RV parks are putting up the stupid yurts as well.

 

[Ozymandias]

Boondocking far abroad is the true Glamping, just stars above, coyotes howling, serenity!
That's the true luxury of todays overcrowded world.

 

[Regcabguy]

I remember when RV camping was wherever you could find a place to park it and actually enjoy being outdoors...

Yeah,lots of open space camping out there but you can't get to it in a Glamper.