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RV for a Reason:
Are you weary of rootless, routeless RV trips that may or may not turn out to be worth the time and expense? Here are ways to scratch your travel itch by stitching them together under one theme.
Breathe new purpose and passion to your RV travels. Mesh them with your hobbies, causes, studies, volunteerism, family, friends. Best, of all, you have your own bed and breakfast with you no matter where you end up.
With a little digging and persistent Googling you can come up with itineraries that make lasting memories.
Would one of these RV-friendly travel themes work for you now or perhaps even the life on your RV?
BLAZE A TRAIL. Start by Googling the word Trail and then get specific. The country is laced with self-guided wine trails, quilt trails, rails-to-trails, historic trails, hiking trails. Take as long as you like to follow Route 66 or the Oregon Trail. The Great River Road Trail follows the mighty Mississippi River from headwaters to the Gulf. If you’re an East Coast snowbird, take the slow lane and follow U.S. 1 from Maine to Key West, with bonus points for detouring to even slower coastal roads on barrier islands.
Often such routes are put together temporarily by tourism promoters during, say, wildflower season, fall color season or apple harvest time. Watch for new trails that pop up.
BECOME A CITIZEN SCIENTIST. All over the world, volunteer groups are doing beach clean-ups, wildlife counts and state or national park projects such as clearing a trail, creating a trail or removing intrusive plants. Some such projects are one time; others are ad hoc, seasonal or annual. Do a search for, say, Bird Count + State name or Beach Clean Up + name of waterway.
CIVIL WAR travel is immensely popular with history buffs in general and in specific areas from military history to genealogy. It can take years just to visit every battle site, many of them with yearly re-eneactments.
GENEALOGY. Visit cemeteries. Seek out distant relatives to exchange information and old photographs. Attend or organize family reunions. (Many RV resorts are ideal places for such get-togethers.) Revive your interest in your ancestral culture by visiting Greek or Gaelic festivals, tribal pow-wows, church camps, anniversaries, revivals.
Collect gravestone rubbings. Write a book. Contribute to family history on Ancestry.com.
MUSIC tourism is ideal for RV travelers because so many music festivals are in campgrounds, in state parks that have campgrounds or in large outdoor spaces where RV parking is allowed overnight during the festival. From jazz and bluegrass to gospel and EDM, there are festivals to keep you traveling all year.
SET A RECORD. You may not make the Guinness Book of Records, but do you want to set a goal of riding all of the country’s fastest or highest or oldest roller coasters? Fishing the longest fishing piers? Daring highest water slides? You might decide simply to visit every state and province in North America or focus on the 100 best botanical gardens or nautical museum or aquariums or every national park.
SPORTS MANIA Travel to games, competitions, NASCAR races. Come to Florida or Arizona for baseball spring training. Visit every sports hall of fame from bowling to and swimming to the iconic baseball museum in Cooperstown.
Do you have a travel theme that fits perfectly with RV life? I’d love to hear about it.
CAMPGROUNDS; GOOD NEWS/ BAD NEWS
This is recent news from our local sources. It may be premature or incomplete and does not imply endorsement of any campground. It's presented only to give you a heads-up about what just happened, could happen or is about to happen.
Listings are by state or province.
New PARK OPENINGS, UPGRADES
After several delays, reservations are within reach for the new Roundabout Oxford RV & Water Resort in Oxford, Mississippi. The 84-acre resort plans a grand opening on April 24 with 150 RV hookup sites, several swimming pools, water slides, a lazy river and a fitness center. The opening date is also the date of the Double Decker Arts Festival in the city. Go to (www.) roundaboutoxford.com, (662) 371-0496
Long-delayed upgrades to the county park in campground at Lake Cachuma Recreational Area in California will be completed by Memorial Day and will include a hefty upgrade to rates. The $14 million project brings full hookups to the park as well as improved facilities from landscaping to showers and rest rooms. Campsites will be fewer but larger. Wi-Fi will be added. Expect to pay $85 to $95 nightly. Call the park office at (805) 568-2460 for latest updates.
Officially open on April 1, the Haven Hills Campground & Resort, Aledo, Illinois is located on the former Hawthorne Ridge Golf Course. (www.) HavenHillsCampground.com/
The Lone Star State has a new destination north of Houston with the Lagoon Ranch Luxury RV and Cabin Resort, Onalaska, Texas. Camp on the shores of Lake Livingston in a resort with 240 full hookup RV sites, an open air dance floor, swimming pool with swim-up bar, fire pits, on-site dining, hot tub, splash pad, dog park, spacious RV sites and gazebos. (936) 209-2495.
A new campground designed for ATV riders is scheduled to open this fall. The Pyrite Campground across from the Lake Vermilion-Soudan Underground Mine State Park, Minnesota is a new, 400-acre ATV-friendly campground . It has 24 oversize pull-thru sites, showers and an ATV wash station. We couldn't find a phone for the campground yet. Stay tuned or call the state park.
NEW OWNERS OR MANAGEMENT
Despite objections from locals, new owners at Harmels on The Taylor in Almont, Colorado have received approval for the addition of 35 RV sites, more cabins and upgraded restrooms and laundry. Objections may still be made, so get current updates to the plans at (800) 235-3402.
Now to the KOA family and offering all the famous KOA Holiday camping comforts, are the Tellico Plains/Cherokee National Forest KOA Holiday, Tellico Plains, Tennessee, (423) 253-2447, and the Decatur/Wheeler Lake KOA Holiday, Hillsboro, Alabama, (256) 280-4390.
EVENTS
This year’s Bluegrass Festival at Tico Time River Resort just outside Durango, Colorado will be held May 14-16. Jam with other musicians, attend daily yoga sessions, swim or kayak in the Animas Rier, camp, dance, hike, shop the general store and eat at food trucks or in the café. RV Sites have full hookups. (Www.) TicoTimeResort.com/
May 2-3 is Wildflower Weekend atop Lookout Mountain. The gala begins on Friday night with a social. Guest speakers will be on hand for a weekend of learning, seeing, smelling, hiking with expert guides, and observing the state’s burst of spring wildflowers. at DeSoto State Park Fort Payne, Alabama.
Pre-registration is not required, but do check ahead for reservations and a schedule of events for this busy weekend. Campground (256) 845-5075
At Raystown Lake, Pennsylvania, campgrounds to close until further notice are Seven Points, Susquehannock, and Nancy’s Boat-to-Shore. Also closed is Tompkins Campground on Tioga-Hammond and Cowanesque Lakes.
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