Off Season RVing is Cheaper

Memorial Day, Forth of July, Labor Day, sure you can go RVing to your favorite resort for the big holidays. Just remember, you may need to make your reservation a year in advance, and you will likely be committed to stay all three days of the holiday. Most likely the rates took a healthy jump for the occasion as well.

Don't forget the crowds. During holidays you can expect to fight hoards of people, all looking to relax and get away from it all, as if that's going to happen.

Personally I have a real problem with crowds. My idea of a relaxing weekend doesn't include other peoples dogs barking continually, and over zealous partying running late into the night.

This weekend was the maiden voyage for our second hand motorhome. We wanted to go far enough to give the mechanics of the rig a good test, but not so far that if we had problems they couldn't easily be addressed.

We settled on the RV Resort at the Grand Casino Hinckley MN. The beginning of April is long before the normal busy season of Memorial Day through Labor Day, so we didn't expect much in the way of crowds.

Being the "Off Season" much of the resort was closed down. They do keep a portion of the sites open year around using heat tapes to keep water lines from freezing.

For the most part amenities were the same as during the busy season. Shuttle buses roamed the streets taking people to and from the casino. Wireless internet service and cable TV were still supplied at each site. Cable channels were reduced to basic local fare, but still provided sufficient choices.

Now here's the kicker. Normal rates last summer with an AARP discount was about $21 a night. For our stay this time we were only charged $14 a night with our discount.

Not only did we have the luxury of peace and quiet, we saved money to boot. This isn't all that surprising, businesses often lower their rates just to keep the cash flow coming when times are slow. Come equipped to handle that surprise late season snow fall, don't laugh it does happen. Once while camping in the solitude of an abandoned Corp. of Engineer campground over Easter weekend we arose to find that 6" of fresh snow had fallen quietly during the night. At least we weren't bothered by mosquitoes on that trip.

Sure we enjoy outings during the holidays too. I'm not one to make reservations months in advance so during those times we plan outing that will let us make use of Free Camping. Over night stops in truck stops or Walmarts work just fine. Then we do our sight seeing during the days.

There's no reason to spend a fortune every time you want to take your RV out for a weekend. No matter what time of year it is, you can always find a bargain some where.