Snowbird questions

[GMA385]

For all you snowbirds, when do you leave? How long do you stay? Do you stay at one spot or several? How far in advance do you make your reservations? We are not yet snowbirds but next year at this time we will be! Just starting to make our plans, so I'm sure there will be plenty more questions for you experienced snowbirds. Thanks in advance for all the info and advice.

[PlayersZ28]

We leave Ontario between Xmas & NYrs, destination US SW. We stay about 4 months. About 2/3 boondocking and 1/3 campground. No reservations.

[JohnWedell]

We leave for Dade City, Florida on December 1. We lease a site for the whole year (which is what it would cost for 3 months elsewhere). We have an arrangement where DW will fly home when she has had enough of Florida and I will drive the rig back when I have had enough (usually about 4 months). Over the years it has worked great for us. Most people I’ve talked to make the reservations for next year before they leave, assuming they would like to come back to the same campground. If you want to leave next year I would suggest you start looking around now and make reservations the early part of next year because the nice campgrounds fill up fast. The first year we went down without reservations we had a very hard time finding a decent campground with sites available and wound up staying at a subpar place. This forum is a great place for information and tips on which campgrounds to stay at, it’s a wealth of information. Good luck with your search, I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

[DonaandDon]

As a full timer we leave the north in October. Most parks north close by 1NOV. Zig zagging down to the Rio Grand valley TX. Our NP is more of a 'glamper" (tankless water heater) so we rest for 4mo there. Harlingen/Brownsville has a ton of RV campgrounds in this area.

[namusmc65]

[QUOTE=JohnWedell;703041]We leave for Dade City, Florida on December 1. We lease a site for the whole year (which is what it would cost for 3 months elsewhere).

Just our of curiousity, what park do you stay in at Dade City???

[norty1]

When you leave home depends on where you are. You don’t want to be forced to wait out a melt and your rig may have to be winterized until you get somewhere that’s is temperate.
Just to many variables for a hard date.

[PlayersZ28]

Originally Posted by norty1

When you leave home depends on where you are. You don’t want to be forced to wait out a melt and your rig may have to be winterized until you get somewhere that’s is temperate.
Just to many variables for a hard date.

We leave as soon as Dec 27 as long as there's not a blizzard. We always have snow on the roads when we leave home for AZ/CA area. The route depends on winter storms, either I40 or I10. I winterize in the fall and dewinterize when we get to the area which usually takes 3 days.

[JohnWedell]

[QUOTE=namusmc65;703062]

Originally Posted by JohnWedell

We leave for Dade City, Florida on December 1. We lease a site for the whole year (which is what it would cost for 3 months elsewhere).

Just our of curiousity, what park do you stay in at Dade City???

Travelers Rest

[Chet & Marie]

Originally Posted by GMA385

For all you snowbirds, when do you leave? How long do you stay? Do you stay at one spot or several? How far in advance do you make your reservations? We are not yet snowbirds but next year at this time we will be! Just starting to make our plans, so I'm sure there will be plenty more questions for you experienced snowbirds. Thanks in advance for all the info and advice.

We leave NE WI December 6 and go to Port Aransas TX on the Gulf Coast. We return around March 25 or so depending on weather. We camp for 1-3 week trips around Midwest or Dakota's. Plan to keep our house. This has worked well for us over the last 5 years. Hope to continue this pattern into our early 80's if health permits. Life is great!

[EPH 461]

Originally Posted by GMA385

For all you snowbirds, when do you leave? How long do you stay? Do you stay at one spot or several? How far in advance do you make your reservations? We are not yet snowbirds but next year at this time we will be! Just starting to make our plans, so I'm sure there will be plenty more questions for you experienced snowbirds. Thanks in advance for all the info and advice.

We are heading to Florida in January for our 6th winter trip. We started out staying for 10 days - this year we're staying 2 months. We've been staying at the same place on the Gulf Coast every year. The first 3 years it was hit or miss as far as having a site secured - we were on a waiting list and usually didn't know if we had a site until September or October. The last two years we've been able to make our reservations before we leave to head back home. Start looking now for next year - good luck!

[GScott]

We live in Montana and head south Oct and meander for 10 days to 2 weeks and end up in AZ. We reserve a spot at Mesa Regal in Mesa for Jan thru March and then wander home usually staying for 2-3 weeks in Southern Utah. This year we will spend Nov in Yuma then Mesa and store the truck/trailer and fly home for Dec. costs about 2,300 for the spring and we make next year’s reservation in Feb.

[wags999]

Living here in Arizona, most sunbirds start returning about mid October and most are here before New Years. Typically stay till about April. We reverse snow bird, have our stick and brick (ok stucco) here in Az and leave about May 1st and return about Oct 1st, and head for cooler weather.

[bighouse1770]

Our home was lost in the CampFire in No. Calif. So we bought a RV that will be our main home until we can decide about rebuilding. We are new to this, we had been thinking about a RV but assumed we would have a home also. Where do people go in the winter? What are the pros/cons? Also why are people talking about winterizing, is this somethoing we need to do? We are completely new to this, just started talking about it a few weeks before this happened so hadn't done as much research as we planned.

[PlayersZ28]

You only need to winterize if the trailer will be sitting in sub zero temps without heat in it.

Where you go in the winter depends on what you want to see & do. From where you are there's southern CA/AZ/NM/TX to choose from. If you want to go further then all the way to FL will work. Just depends on what temps you want, budget and so forth.

[Kim Gass]

Winterizing if you will be in below freezing temperatures for more than a few hours. It seems you can stay low.. I'd be cautious about camping in the Sierras..
So sorry to hear of the loss of your house. I cannot imagine how hard that is for you.
Do you think you might live in your RV while rebuilding? ( if you do).. It sounds like your town does not see below freezing temperatures frequently.

If you head to the low desert you ought to be fine.. just watch the altitude you camp at..

[Kenelz]

There's as many answers to this, as there are snowbirds. I snowbirded for many years, and even then it was a little different each year. I usually left early Oct, and returned in May.

I spent around four years going back and forth between AZ and FL on I-10, deciding if I had a preference to which place to spend the whole winter. They both are great places. I would stay a month in Az, head to FL and do the same, and repeat. Didn't mater if I made 0 miles, or 400 in a day during the commute. I ended up liking Florida, and found parks I would stay put at for the winter.

I bought a house in FL five years ago, and now SUNbird to the my place in Michigan. About the same months, since I'm in Fl longer, I changed my residency.

My preference was to get out before the heating bills skyrocket, and the snow needs shoveling, which is October for N. Mich, but will be different anywhere else.

[Builder Bob]

Congratulations on your future plans. We are full time on and off since 2004. We leave Minnesota in October or whenever the real cold starts moving in. Often the park up north is closing anyway. We head to SW Mississippi for 4-6 months. Sometimes we take short trips out and about along the gulf.
We usually return to Minnesota in April sometime. It’s a great life.

[Chet & Marie]

Originally Posted by Builder Bob

Congratulations on your future plans. We are full time on and off since 2004. We leave Minnesota in October or whenever the real cold starts moving in. Often the park up north is closing anyway. We head to SW Mississippi for 4-6 months. Sometimes we take short trips out and about along the gulf.
We usually return to Minnesota in April sometime. It’s a great life.

If I might ask, where do you go in Mississippi as we would like to check it and Louisina out for a change?

[Chet & Marie]

The problem gets to be so many wonderful places to check out and so little time
My DW and I checked out several places until we found the one we really liked at Port Aransas TX for the last 5 winters. We are getting the bug and may check out Mis. and Louisiana later this winter
Did not care for Gulf Shores or Fla as to congested.

[serfas01]

We live in SW Montana and have been wintering in Yuma, AZ. for 15 years now. We go in late October and come home April 1st. We have gone to the same RV park every year and meet up with all our friends we have met over the years. It's kind of like old home week. We have to reserve in February each year in order to get a place. We tow our 38FLSA down each year and back. Some folks leave theirs in AZ. but the summer heat is quite hard on them. It takes about 3 days travel time each way but we only travel about 7hrs/day. It's really nice to get out of the cold for 5 months. I highly recommend it. Sorry about losing your home in that terrible fire.