We found a problem with homesteaders last year and again just last week. We are retired and bought an RV 3 years ago. The first time we used it was at Sea Mist campgrounds at Dam Neck Naval Station in Virginia Beach. A very nice campground with full hookups. No problem getting a reservation the first time. Then last May we made a reservation. They wouldn't let me reserve a particular site, said the site would be assigned when we arrived. When we got there we found all the sites near bathrooms and the boardwalk to beach were taken with "long term" campers. We took another site and stayed 5 days. Went back the first of September and found the same thing. "Long terms" we're still there, complete with lg propane tanks, vegetable gardens in planters, fire pits and yard decorations.
The last week of Mar 2016 we went to Cherry Point Marine Air Station and found the same type of problem. I had made reservations for 2 sites. We could not pick our site until we arrived. We got there around 2:30 on a Sat. The office is closed on weekends so we went to the park host's site to check in. No one was there. He had posted a list of sites with names and the lot number on his door; ours was not listed. Using the info posted we determined which empty lots were left. (4) and pulled into 2 lots side by side. The host got home around 7 and told us that we would have to move by Tue because someone else was assigned the lots we were on. (Rule - no pre-assigned lots) after discussing how we got our lots and reminding him of the rule, we said we would talk to the manager on Mon. Long story short, we stayed where we were. The park was full and it was very obvious how many of them were "long term".
I understand the active military can save a lot of money living in an rv at a military campground but the campgrounds are suppose to be short term camping spots. If they are going to allow long term campers in the campground the number should be limited as well as the spots they use.
