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| Sunset at a Mega-Resort |
This post is primarily about some pre- and during covid expenses, finding longer stay opportunities, tools, etc. For finding short-stay locations we use Good Sam's, FMCA & the Roadtrek International Chapter, KOA, Allstays, etc. We also have some older, printed Woodall Guides from AAA (we are AAA RV members), G marks these with our experiences about campgrounds, resorts and so on.
The Allstay people abandoned the Android platform a few years a ago, so it is no longer our first choice. However, it does get good reviews and if you are an Apple user it might be a good choice.
Social Media - Fakebook, etc.
I'm not a fan of social media for a variety of reasons. However, there are a number of groups which are focused and are not public; i.e., to post questions or replies one has to be a member and the administrators screen the membership. That type of group keeps the trolls at bay and may also reduce the number of voyeurs and casual, bored internet surfers. I do like the Roadtrek International Chapter-FMCA. One has to pay a small annual fee to join and one has to own a Roadtrek. The cyber-rally email system is very helpful to Roadtrekkers. One can post an email and all sorts of Roadtrek owners will quickly reply. May not be the best choice during real emergencies.
Reservations
I should add that we always make reservations, even the morning of, if our itinerary changes. We have been doing that since we began RVing in 2013. It is surprising how many think they can just drive up and get a spot. Based upon our discussions with other RVers and personal experience, the larger the rig the more difficult it may be to find a campsite. With the 21 ft. Roadtrek we have called for a reservation, been told that there are no openings. But, after explaining the small size of the RT (no slides, etc.) we were told, "Oh, we can accommodate that" and were given a small pie-shaped site, or whatever.
Our Approach to RVing - longer stays with in-between treks - Costs
Our approach to RVing is to stay at a few sites for longer periods, and connect those stays with shorter treks of a week or a month. In this way we are, for all practical purposes "full time RVers". Doing this requires a financial commitment to a resort or campground, or several. We get the same site each year. This approach may not be the cheapest; we seldom boondock. However, we reduce our daily costs because most campgrounds and RV resorts offer discounts for long-term campers. Check the quarterly or semi-annual and annual prices to the daily or weekly rates and you can make a cost comparison.
For example, our annual lease at a "mega-resort" which includes a covered site, shed, etc. is about $15.60 a day. We do pay an additional amount for electricity consumed at about $0.1329 per kW including taxes.
Our other long-term location is about $14.75 a day. It includes a large deck and a pond location. Electricity is extra at about $0.14 per kW including taxes.
Doing a little arithmetic, using this approach and $16 a day which includes an allowance for electricity, our annual cost for a nice site throughout the year is about $5,840. For a six month stay in one of our campgrounds the cost would be about $2,900 plus electricity. In other words, the rents are about $490 a month.
Of course, most campgrounds do include electricity in the daily or weekly rate for short stays.
We do pay additional for in-between treks. This is in the budget. I'm not sure what the actual daily amounts will be in 2021. I budget $40 a night. Some campgrounds have been less, and some more. As KOA members we get a discount and a few free nights each year. As Good Sams members we also get discounts.
CCP Covid Experience
We began doing this "long-term base" approach in 2014. It was really nice to be in a full-service resort when the CCP Covid occurred in 2020. We were prepared and we could stay for as long as we liked. The summer site in Michigan experienced issues with their demagogue of a Governor "Whitmer" or "Witless" as I prefer. In campgrounds in which everyone lives in a completely self-contained rig I considered Gov. Witless' onerous rules to have been completely and utterly stupid. The campground owner petitioned and was finally "granted" the ability to open. Oh, and it was reported that Gov. Whitmer did send her husband to get the boat at the "closed" Marina. Closed to the rest of us, that is!
We normally head to the North in April or May. But in 2020 we simply stayed at the annual site for another month or so. We didn't have to travel until the CCP Pandemic had begun to wane. The issues were primarily confusion with a myriad of rules in states and the "fear factor" of other travelers. Some campgrounds delayed opening until June 2020. We simply stayed put, took more bicycle rides, hikes in the nearby National Park and so on.
We missed the museums and live entertainment opportunies.
We have internet wherever we go so we were in great shape. We're both good cooks and bakers so we did a lot more of that, and restricted our restaurant visits to a few which had stable customers and staff. In other words we took the approach that:"the higher the number of transients, the greater the covid risk".
We both did a lot more writing. G got her book published and I doubled my "creative writing" work which is related to finance. So, we had a lot to do. What's that old expression? "When life gives you lemons make Lemonade".
On the other hand, I reduced my blogging because there simply wasn't anything new going on because of the closure of various venues and our reduced trekking. I don't think it is all that useful to post a sunset photo each day. LOL. I did spend more time at a social media site I administer. This was in part a consequence of Roadtrek's bankruptcy, closure, re-opening and the termination of the Chevy based 170, 190 and 210. We had all been cast adrift. I gathered a lot of PDF files and uploaded them for the group. For a time, Roadtrek's website was down and there was limited support.
Dining and Grocery Expenses - 2019 versus 2020
As would be expected, comparing 2019, a pre-covid "normal" year to the 2020 covid year, our dining out budget was reduced but the grocery bill increased. I've compared 2019 to 2020. Here is the difference in our out-of pocket expenses for those categories:
Total Dining + Grocery (includes some household): 2020 is 0.46% greater than 2019, no real change..
Dining: 2020 is 40% less than 2019.
Groceries: 2020 is 50.30% greater than 2019.
Gasoline Expenses - 2019 versus 2020
The total of all gasoline expenses, comparing 2019 to 2020 was less in 2020 than it was in 2019. This is attributable to the average price of gasoline and fewer miles traveled via RV in 2020,
2020 was 23.4% less than 2019.
Budgeting and Finance Tools
I'm a Quicken Premium user. We use it to track all of our finances and to construct our budgets. I've got data going back to 1994. The Quicken data was the source for the Dining, Groceries and Gasoline expenditures for 2019 and 2020, above.
I suppose I could expand the budgeting into a long post.
Original material http://roadtrek210.blogspot.com/
