Date:         Mon, 3 May 2010 10:14:11 -0500
Reply-To:     mcneely4@COX.NET
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@COX.NET>
Subject:      Re: hookups ........
Comments: To: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <y2i6bc66ccf1005030746kc0b87f24qc1f1f5f47f1a669@mail.gmail.com>
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---- Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>   I'm with David on this.  I find 'hook-up' campgrounds noisy and crowded.
> If I'm gonna sleep right next to strangers, a motel room seems like a better
> deal...Specially since a lot of so-called campgrounds are almost as
> expensive as a cheap-o motel room.

Well, so far as price is concerned, that varies with the territory, I suppose.  My one and only (so far, knock on wood) use of a "hookup" type campground was in a Texas State Park (South Llano River, near Junction, Texas). I recommend it so far as state parks go, wonderful part of the world, that Texas Hill Country), where we paid $75 total for four nights, with hookups.  As I related in an earlier post, the hookups weren't of much value to us, but as with most Texas State Parks, they now come with the territory.  The other option is a walk-in tent site (park in a parking lot, carry camping stuff from a few dozen feet up to a half mile).  No vehicular sleeping there, of course.  I don't think I 'd want to stay in a motel I could get for $22, even in Junction, Texas.

But, I certainly will stay in a motel rather than in an RV park.  Never stayed in one, never intend to.  Certainly bears no resemblance to camping.

Whenever we go to the remote locations we prefer, we seldom find generators to be a problem, but there have been exceptions.  National Park campgrounds, unfortunately, allow generators except during "quiet hours," except in certain quiet campgrounds that they are now offering (some of those require reservations).  Unfortunately, some of the remote camping in national parks, like the primitive camps in Big Bend National Park, and Great Basin National Park, are seldom visited by enforcement personnel, so those who flaunt the quiet hour rule are able to do so with impunity.

So far as heat, making the coffee in the morning does warm up the camper, but of course it doesn't do anything for keeping the interior at a comfortable level (or even tolerable for some cold winter nights) for getting up in the night and so on.

David McNeely