One huge blessing that has come out of the chaotic past year has been the chance for American families to spend time together as they re-discover the great outdoors and the joy of camping.
Mountains, Beaches, Forests,
and all the surrounding
National, State and Local Parks.
With other forms of vacation travel limited, many people are turning to camping. As RV sales continue to rise, campgrounds are bustling. It is great to see families gathered around campfires enjoying gooey smores and the great outdoors.
With the increased demand, many public campgrounds have gone to a reservation-only system which means that parks fill up way in advance ... especially on the weekends. Not ideal for spur-of-the-moment planners like us. With our van, we are small enough and nimble enough to find some nice sites during the week, but securing a spot on the weekend can be a bit of a challenge. During our recent stay at Fort Desoto County Park, we needed to figure out where to stay on the Friday and Saturday nights in between our two weeks at the park. We wanted to hang out in the Tampa/Clearwater area so ...
Boondockers Welcome and Harvest Hosts to the rescue!
From there we were able to walk around his cute St Petersburg suburb of Gulfport and add another craft brewery coaster to Doug's collection.
On Saturday we took a short seven mile drive to enjoy a day at the beach. Besides great beach walking, Madeira Beach also happens to be the location of our all-time favorite brewery/restaurant ... Mad Beach Brewing. We're so glad that we saved room for dessert, as they served up a delicious creme brulee cheesecake that paired perfectly with their Imperial marshmallow porter.
On Sunday morning we said good-bye to our host, drove to a local park, got out our bikes, and hopped on the nearby Pinellas Bike Trail. The trail led us to downtown St Petersburg, through a beautiful bayside park, and to another outdoor restaurant. We shared the local fish and chips basket so that we would have room for one more scrumptious dessert.
This flexibility and ability to explore new destinations is possible with our Harvest Hosts and Boondockers Welcome memberships. Here is more information for those of you who may be interested in finding unique camping experiences as well as safe, inexpensive boondocking locations.
Harvest Hosts
Harvest Hosts connects RVers with businesses that have space for them to park overnight. These businesses range from farms to wineries to breweries to museums to golf courses. A membership costs us $79 per year and allows us access to most of the Harvest Host locations. If we wanted to include the golf courses, there would be an additional fee. We contact the business ahead of time to reserve our spot and need to arrive during their business hours. Instead of a camping fee, we are encouraged to make a purchase at the business.
Not a problem when we stopped at a Harvest Host brewery in Montana's oldest community.
I was equally content with a Harvest Host winery stopover in the middle of Florida's Muscadine grape region ... a sweet wine lover's paradise!
Some of our favorite Harvest Host locations in the past year have been ...
A ''you-pick-em'' blueberry farm in northern Idaho ... yes, it is possible to eat six pounds of blueberries!
An Oregon coast farm that made its own cheese, wine, and ice cream ... how does one choose???
And an eastern Washington farm with very attentive donkeys ... as long as you had carrots!
Harvest Host Positives:
- Fresh local produce
- Large parking areas
- Often the breweries and wineries have food also, so it gets me out of cooking for the evening which is always a good deal!
Harvest Host Negatives:
- Most locations allow just a one night stay.
- Locations of farms and wineries are sometimes in out-of-the-way, rural locations.
- Camping isn't entirely ''free'' as guests are expected to make a purchase.
- There are no electric hook-ups, so you have to be set up for boondocking. If there are other RVs parked nearby, generator noise can sometimes be an issue.
- Mask mandates and social distancing rules vary depending on the part of the country which sometimes makes it difficult to comfortably patronize their business.
- Popular locations such as wineries can be as busy as campgrounds on the weekends!
Boondockers Welcome
Boondockers Welcome matches private homeowners with RVers who need a place to park for anywhere from one to five nights. A yearly membership costs $50 and gives us access to over 2000 parking locations just in the US. There are also many more locations to discover in Canada when the borders open once again. The parking locations vary depending on how much land the homeowner has. Because of our small size, we can fit in a small driveway/side yard or stretch out in a large open field overlooking Mount Hood.
Our ''neighbors'' have included curious pups as well as stand-offish horses.
So you may be thinking ... Why would people want to allow strangers to stay on their property? We were wondering the same thing when we first joined ... and the answer was immediately clear. These are people who truly enjoy traveling and sharing experiences with fellow vagabonds. The website posts reviews of both the hosts and the guests, so we all usually know what to expect before we arrive. Reservations and communications are easy as they are all handled electronically via text messaging. When arriving at our host's home, we have found it easy to share many enjoyable conversations while maintaining social distancing. We appreciate the chance to form new friendships with people who make us feel right at home!
Boondockers Welcome Positives
- There are twice as many Boondockers Welcome locations as Harvest Hosts locations
- Locations include both rural and urban homes
- Yearly membership fee is less than Harvest Hosts
- Communication is all handled electronically and by text messages
- You can stay from one to five days depending on the host
- Quite a few hosts provide water fills and electric hook ups and usually just ask for a small donation ($5 to $10 if you use the hook-ups)
- No need to ''purchase'' anything
- Every host that we have stayed with has been so nice! They provide a wealth of information about local parks, attractions, events, hiking, and biking.
Boondockers Welcome Negatives
Gosh, it's hard to think of anything negative ...
- No loud noise, parties or campfires allowed
- There most likely are not hook-ups, so you have to be set up to boondock
- Some hosts have restrictions on dogs, children, generators, etc, but the rules are clearly stated when requesting a stay
As you can probably tell (if you made it this far), we are huge fans of Boondockers Welcome and Harvest Hosts. A quiet resting spot near to new places to explore and hosts (and their pups) who become good friends ... What is not to like??
Check it out for yourselves. Let Boondockers Welcome and Harvest Hosts come to your rescue and enjoy your small piece of paradise!
PS ... if you do end up joining either program, feel free to put our name down as referring you, and we all will get an additional month of membership ... win-win!
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