Questions

For length limits you have to check in advance, you may want to pick up one of those national campground guide things, some of the info will be out of date before it is even printed, but for the most part they do have good info in them like max lengths. I can tell you that Connecticut has a 35' limit at most parks, and a 29' limit at a select few parks.

As for the where to stay thing, here is my advice for what it's worth. Gather a small sum of money, say $500 to $700 and pick several types of RV parks, Private resorts, KOA, Jellystone, State, Federal, Military, casino parking lot, Walmart parking lot, and anything I have missed on this list and stay a day or so at each type THAT IS WITHIN YOUR COMFORT LEVEL. You might want to start with the state and federal campgrounds only because the sites tend to be larger, and you may want that extra room the first few times out. Or if you don't have a rig yet, you may want to even dare I say "tent it". Keep doing this until you find what you really like, and what you really hate. You will be surprised at what becomes important to you in a campground when you use this method. Think of it as money well spent on a first class education that you are going to use for the rest of your life.

Once you figure out what you are really looking for in a campground you can target the discounts that you are going to get the most out of.

Best of luck to you.

We almost never use KOA. They usually cost way too much for what you get. We are members of Good Sams and have saved enough over a years time to recoup the membership. The same with Passport America. PA members stay at their member parks for half price. Three nights in a PA park paid for the annual membership. The only problem with PA is there are not that many member parks and they are usually out of the way.

We use military campgrounds as much as possible. We like the security of being "inside the fence" and we enjoy being around people who understand and think like us. We also like being close to the commissary which we never use when at home. (The closest base to our stick house is a 50 mile round trip.)

Very seldom use state parks due to bad experiences. We've found in several states, including our home state of Oklahoma, that their tourism departments don't understand the money that RVer's bring into and area and they spend their money on other areas instead of campgrounds. Federal Corps of Engineer parks used to be that way but seem to be getting much better. Many of these will only have electric or electric and water. Seldom will you get a sewer hookup, which is fine if you are not staying long.

Yeah - Gear BOx, you're right about the length -- I'm short (Truck Camper) so, I don't ever have that problem.

But, getting ready to go full-time in a year or so when my wife retires, we'll still stay pretty short as we don't mind small space -- we lived in an 18 footer just fine while we built our stick house -- took 18 months. A little different than camping, I know. But the reason we go is to be out of the camper during the daytime to see the country ... and at night, we must do with whatever we have.

We're looking at 26' now, and it seems plenty big enough for us [huge compared to our 18'], and plenty light enough for my PU towing. And, although we plan on "mostly" fulltime RV'ing, we may keep a small condo on Cape Cod because both our families are in the area -- within a few hundred miles anyway... but, still after all these years camping, I like state parks and national parks better than most of the private CG's we've stayed. Everything has it's goods and bads -- and bblhd had the right idea -- try each one for a few days or a week and see what you like and what you "need" -- sometimes you get surprised but it will sure make your final choice easier with some experience behind you. Don't rush it...

is there a length limit at these places. One I looked up only took 30 or 34 ft rv's

I'm currently managing 15 National Forest campgrounds and I've learned a few tips. Campground guides ae good, but not a true indication on size of rigs accepted. Here, we have many sites advertised as 20' sites and I've seen 40' rigs fit into them. On the other hand, I have a few campgrounds that advertise 40' sites, but anything over 25' would have a challenge getting to the campground (narrow, single lane road on a cliff and tight turns and small turn-outs).

We have a 36' rig and have rarely had size problems. But we have had an occasional problem because the sites or road were too small. If in doubt on a campground or area, the only safe bet is to call and talk to someone who physically knows about the campground. The national campground reservation system doesn't know squat about the campgounds.

I Think the best advice I can think of for a "Newbie" RVer is to always ask about a discount. Lots of civilian RV Parks/Campgrounds will give a 10-15% discount just for showing them your ID card. Some - mostly USAF - military campgrounds will give a discount to Golden Ages/America the Beautiful card holders. Personally, if I was just going to travel around for a few months between careers I would visit as many Military Campgrounds as I could schedule. Most are very enjoyable to be at and very comfortable for the military retiree.

FastEagle

Thanks for all the info. We have a 37 foot toyhauler. So size will come to play in some campgrounds. Hopefully we can stay at Military bases 99.9% of the time. I will keep reading..getting a lot of useful info from you guys.

Dh has been staying in VA in our smaller RV, we traded...so we are kinda new, but not totally.