Montana Owners Club - Keystone Montana 5th Wheel Forum - View Single Post

simonsrf · 09-03-2007, 10:33 AM

Rondo,

First, you need to determine how and where you are going to be traveling. Everyone has a different lifestyle when it comes to living in their box-on-wheels. Everyone’s experiences will NOT necessarily fit your needs. By looking at different examples, you should be able to modify your purchase of campground affiliations to fit your geographic location.

We have not once used our Passport America card, but then we haven’t been in a situation where we needed it either. PA by all accounts is a wonderful affiliate if they fit your travel needs. The same can be said for KOA and Good Sam, but make sure you stay on top of the subscriptions for email and junk mail…they’ll get ya.

We joined a private club called Sunrise Resorts; we paid $3800 for a lifetime membership. The way we figured it, if we paid $38 for 100 nights…we paid for the lifetime membership…There are many many private clubs..so google for more information of clubs that cater your location.

I won’t bore you with too many details, but this has worked very well for us as fulltimers. We can stay at a Sunrise Resort for 14 days, then we have to be out of the system for 7 days, or we can pay for the 7 days which costs $129 for the week. So, we can theoretically stay 14 days plus the out week and then 14 more days for $129 (5 weeks)….pretty good deal! We also pay a $1 a day charge. We have only paid the $129 once, just didn’t want to move.

Our package when purchasing the Sunrise Resorts included affiliations to other clubs: RPI, AOR, ROD, Coast-to-Coast and Colorado River Adventures. Each of these cost us $8 per day. We also have to pay the annual dues. We kept RPI, and it cost us ~$70 for the year. In 11 months of Fulltiming, we’ve only used RPI twice, but we will keep it in the quiver for future possibilities.

We just purchased escapees, and have not used it yet, so I can’t tell you anything about it, but from the people touting its rewards, I am putting some money there too.

Our Sunrise Resorts package works well for us because geographically we are in the Northwest and most of the Sunrise Resorts are in the Northwest or in Arizona. Make sure you check out where your affiliate has resorts!

We like the campground affiliations because we can be real flexible with our schedules, and when we get the chance, we can dry camp!

Like said earlier, with a computer, you can find out just about any information on any restrictions…not sure how anyone can get by as a fulltimer without a computer, but then, everyone on this forum has one!

Lastly, when you decide on which campground affiliate you want to belong to, take a look at eBay, sometimes there are some good deals there, and can be purchased for less, but most will charge you a big fee for the transfer to your name.

Good luck, this is hard to figure out which is best for you without some experience; I hope I haven’t confused you to much.

09-03-2007, 10:33 AM	#12
simonsrf Montana Master Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Pagosa Springs Posts: 3,711 M.O.C. #3120	Rondo, First, you need to determine how and where you are going to be traveling. Everyone has a different lifestyle when it comes to living in their box-on-wheels. Everyone’s experiences will NOT necessarily fit your needs. By looking at different examples, you should be able to modify your purchase of campground affiliations to fit your geographic location. We have not once used our Passport America card, but then we haven’t been in a situation where we needed it either. PA by all accounts is a wonderful affiliate if they fit your travel needs. The same can be said for KOA and Good Sam, but make sure you stay on top of the subscriptions for email and junk mail…they’ll get ya. We joined a private club called Sunrise Resorts; we paid $3800 for a lifetime membership. The way we figured it, if we paid $38 for 100 nights…we paid for the lifetime membership…There are many many private clubs..so google for more information of clubs that cater your location. I won’t bore you with too many details, but this has worked very well for us as fulltimers. We can stay at a Sunrise Resort for 14 days, then we have to be out of the system for 7 days, or we can pay for the 7 days which costs $129 for the week. So, we can theoretically stay 14 days plus the out week and then 14 more days for $129 (5 weeks)….pretty good deal! We also pay a $1 a day charge. We have only paid the $129 once, just didn’t want to move. Our package when purchasing the Sunrise Resorts included affiliations to other clubs: RPI, AOR, ROD, Coast-to-Coast and Colorado River Adventures. Each of these cost us $8 per day. We also have to pay the annual dues. We kept RPI, and it cost us ~$70 for the year. In 11 months of Fulltiming, we’ve only used RPI twice, but we will keep it in the quiver for future possibilities. We just purchased escapees, and have not used it yet, so I can’t tell you anything about it, but from the people touting its rewards, I am putting some money there too. Our Sunrise Resorts package works well for us because geographically we are in the Northwest and most of the Sunrise Resorts are in the Northwest or in Arizona. Make sure you check out where your affiliate has resorts! We like the campground affiliations because we can be real flexible with our schedules, and when we get the chance, we can dry camp! Like said earlier, with a computer, you can find out just about any information on any restrictions…not sure how anyone can get by as a fulltimer without a computer, but then, everyone on this forum has one! Lastly, when you decide on which campground affiliate you want to belong to, take a look at eBay, sometimes there are some good deals there, and can be purchased for less, but most will charge you a big fee for the transfer to your name. Good luck, this is hard to figure out which is best for you without some experience; I hope I haven’t confused you to much.