Camping Styles
We like to break campers into six categories based on how they like to camp – the Snowbird, RV Parker, Public Parker, Boondocker, Vagabond and Full Timer. There is likely no one who falls completely within one category – someone may be a Public Parker most of the time but stays in an RV park for a few weeks when going home to visit family. Once you’ve figured out where you’d like to go, how you want to camp and have a good understanding of what’s available you can use that knowledge along with your budget to narrow down the possibilities for your purchase. Remember that there’s no right or wrong way to camp, only the way that works for you.
The Snowbird
Snowbirds head south for the winter and north for the summer, spending several months of the year in a warmer climate like Florida or Arizona and the rest of the year an a cooler climate. They usually rent a site by the month or season in an RV park or may even buy a lot in a resort community. Snowbirds usually look for larger fifth-wheels, travel trailers or motorhomes as their home on the road. Features like lithium batteries or solar panels are less of a concern for them since they’re usually connected to the grid.
The RV Parker
Many campers prefer to only stay in developed RV parks where they have access to water, sewer and electric hookups. Some of these parks are resorts with pools, hot tubs, restaurants and other amenities. Some are near national parks and other attractions. While they tend toward the larger units, RV park campers can be of any size. As with the Snowbirds, off-grid capabilities like solar panels and larger battery banks are less important for RV Parkers.
The Public Parker
Our national and state parks and recreation areas offer some of the best camping around. Many of the sites in these campgrounds are on the smaller side and while you can find a few that will hold longer units, quite a few have no or limited sites that can handle a camper that is over 30 feet long. National park campgrounds frequently have no hookups and some do not allow generator use, so solar power and battery capacity become important along with the size of water and waste tanks. We’re Public Parkers most of the time, preferring the larger more private sites that our state park and many national park or national forest campgrounnds offer as well as the easy access to hiking trails, etc.
The Boondocker
Boondockers like to stay farther away from hookups. Sometimes it’s for more solitude, other times it’s to save money. There are lot of inexpensive or free sites in National Forests, Grasslands and other public lands. Boondockers are set up to go without electrical or water/sewer connections, which usually means they rely on larger battery banks and solar power.
The Vagabond
Some people like to move around a lot, making short stays at different locations as they wander around the country. For the vagabond it’s important that whatever they choose to camp in it’s quick and easy to set up and take down.
The Full Timer
Full Timers do just that – they live in their RV full time. Many are retired couples, but with the increased ability to work from home over the past few years more families have hit the road and taken up full time RVing. Full Timers tend toward the larger fifth wheels and class A motorhomes for the most part although there are a growing number of people who like the lifestyle and full time in smaller units like class B camper vans.
