Have you ever thought about a place you wanted to visit and decided that it was just to much work to plan? I always wanted to visit Yellowstone National Park but never wanted to go through the pain of planning the trip. It was a long way from Southern California: how was I going to have enough vacation time to get there, see all the wonderful things Yellowstone has to offer, and still get back before I'd used up my vacation days?
I had bought my first RV seven years prior and had taken many trips--all within a day's drive from Southern California. I had never ventured any farther than this. I was now on my fourth RV, a 35' toy hauler that we used often. I decided it was time to venture farther and see more of what our wonderful country had to offer.
I decided to start planning that trip to Yellowstone at last. I wanted to make sure our family took the trip before any of my six kids were too old to want to go with their parents! First, I made sure that my RV was up to snuff with all the paraphernalia that would make such a long trip comfortable for myself and seven other family members. After buying an electric tongue jack for the trailer (didn't want to crank that tongue 100 times by hand), putting air bags on the tow vehicle, and purchasing way more items than anyone could possibly need on one trip, I began my research and planning.
Where to stay? How far to drive in one day? What to see when we get to each place? How long to stay in each location? Where to start? Where to end? How to research each destination? The questions were endless! I didn't have any friends who had been to Yellowstone in an RV--or had been at all. I didn't know where to find information I could trust.
In the end, I used the Internet for most of the research. I spent almost a month clambering around the Net and finally came up with an itinerary that our family was happy with. My prayer now as that all the information was accurate: after all, the reviews in the campground rating books had to be true, right?--right!
Well, the trip started out pretty good. Our first stop was a place we had stayed before so it was bound to be what we expected. I had not been there in many years but knew it was first come first serve. We figured if we got there in the middle of the week we would have no problem -- False. We did get a site but had no hookups so we had to dry camp for two nights. I got tired of telling my kids to turn off every light in the trailer. Oh, and no campfires this week due to fires in the area. We had to roast marshmallows on the gas grill - YUK . And that was just the first two days of a long trip!
Well, to make a long story short we did have some good campsites. Overall, the trip was very enjoyable--but it could have been much better. Here are some of the highlights:
While getting closer to Yellowstone we noticed there were some low lying clouds. Then we realized--wait!--those weren't clouds. It was smoke! Well, it couldn't be where we were staying. Wait, it was right were we were staying! Upon checking in we asked about the fire, and were told "we are watching it, just be ready to evacuate." Luckily, the wind was in our favor and the fire turned. Despite the shaky start, we did have a great time in Yellowstone--after we figured out what to do and where to go. I wish we figured that out before hand.
Next stop, Grand Tetons. I sure wish we had printed all those driving directions! Got lost but finally made it to the campsite late. We setup and went right to bed for a big day in the beautiful mountains. Surprise, we were awakened by the roar of ATVs. I wish someone had told us this was the campground where the ATV trailheads began!
Decided to go past Salt Lake City and stay at a state run campground right on Lake Utah. The pictures looked really nice and, besides, who wouldn't want to stay on a lake? We got there just before sunset. We met our campground host--he was all of 18, full of tattoos and had been there for a few years. Mmm, we thought, lets just find a spot at the other end down by the lake. Big mistake! I think there was a mosquito convention in town that weekend. There must have been 1,000,000 of those pesky critters. Even if we opened the door for a second we spent the next 10 minutes killing the intruders. I said to my wife, "Lets just go out to dinner and get out of here!" Went out to dinner and then made a mad dash back to the RV, trying to avoid dive-bombing mosquitos!
One of final stops was the beautiful town of St. George--just a one nighter to get back home. Who would of thunk it would be 115 degrees and the spot they gave us would be over on the gravel? We were tired from driving, so we decided to stay. We paid for the spots, walked out the door into the heat, looked at each other and said "What are we thinking?" We went back in, asked for our money back, got in the RV and hoped for the best in Las Vegas.
Eventually we made it home. Even though the trip had its problems it was still all worth it. The chance to give our kids the experience was priceless. Just wished it could be a lot easier.
Months later, while sitting around the campfire on a local outing, my friend John and I were discussing where to go on our next big trip. John told me he'd been thinking that there had to be a better way to plan these trips. With all the technology out there he was surprised that nobody has thought of a better way. John, a computer science grad, was sure we could develop something better. We both agreed. The idea blossomed into a partnership. Our main goal was t0 develop a state-of-the-art trip planner that would make planning a trip easier.
We started on the design of the trip planner. We quickly realized that the trip planner would be ever better with feedback from the people who visit all the wonderful campgrounds and points of interest around the country. We decided to partner the trip planner with a social networking site were the community can post true and accurate reviews of the places they'd visited, share their experiences online, join interest groups and develop lasting friendships with other campers.
That is how Campster http://campster.com/Publish/index.php?lang= came to be. We launched the social network site in July of 2008 and will add the trip planning module in April of 2009. CAMPSTER was founded with one guiding vision: to provide outdoor enthusiasts and RV devotees with the tools to create the best camping experience possible through social networking and technology. CAMPSTER’s free, online forum provides members with unfettered access to authentic reviews of campsites, points-of-interest and equipment, and gives them the opportunity to share
Steve
Well, to make a long story short we did have some good campsites. Overall, the trip was very enjoyable--but it could have been much better. Here are some of the highlights:
While getting closer to Yellowstone we noticed there were some low lying clouds. Then we realized--wait!--those weren't clouds. It was smoke! Well, it couldn't be where we were staying. Wait, it was right were we were staying! Upon checking in we asked about the fire, and were told "we are watching it, just be ready to evacuate." Luckily, the wind was in our favor and the fire turned. Despite the shaky start, we did have a great time in Yellowstone--after we figured out what to do and where to go. I wish we figured that out before hand.
Next stop, Grand Tetons. I sure wish we had printed all those driving directions! Got lost but finally made it to the campsite late. We setup and went right to bed for a big day in the beautiful mountains. Surprise, we were awakened by the roar of ATVs. I wish someone had told us this was the campground where the ATV trailheads began!
Decided to go past Salt Lake City and stay at a state run campground right on Lake Utah. The pictures looked really nice and, besides, who wouldn't want to stay on a lake? We got there just before sunset. We met our campground host--he was all of 18, full of tattoos and had been there for a few years. Mmm, we thought, lets just find a spot at the other end down by the lake. Big mistake! I think there was a mosquito convention in town that weekend. There must have been 1,000,000 of those pesky critters. Even if we opened the door for a second we spent the next 10 minutes killing the intruders. I said to my wife, "Lets just go out to dinner and get out of here!" Went out to dinner and then made a mad dash back to the RV, trying to avoid dive-bombing mosquitos!
One of final stops was the beautiful town of St. George--just a one nighter to get back home. Who would of thunk it would be 115 degrees and the spot they gave us would be over on the gravel? We were tired from driving, so we decided to stay. We paid for the spots, walked out the door into the heat, looked at each other and said "What are we thinking?" We went back in, asked for our money back, got in the RV and hoped for the best in Las Vegas.
Eventually we made it home. Even though the trip had its problems it was still all worth it. The chance to give our kids the experience was priceless. Just wished it could be a lot easier.
Months later, while sitting around the campfire on a local outing, my friend John and I were discussing where to go on our next big trip. John told me he'd been thinking that there had to be a better way to plan these trips. With all the technology out there he was surprised that nobody has thought of a better way. John, a computer science grad, was sure we could develop something better. We both agreed. The idea blossomed into a partnership. Our main goal was t0 develop a state-of-the-art trip planner that would make planning a trip easier.
We started on the design of the trip planner. We quickly realized that the trip planner would be ever better with feedback from the people who visit all the wonderful campgrounds and points of interest around the country. We decided to partner the trip planner with a social networking site were the community can post true and accurate reviews of the places they'd visited, share their experiences online, join interest groups and develop lasting friendships with other campers.
That is how Campster http://campster.com/Publish/index.php?lang= came to be. We launched the social network site in July of 2008 and will add the trip planning module in April of 2009. CAMPSTER was founded with one guiding vision: to provide outdoor enthusiasts and RV devotees with the tools to create the best camping experience possible through social networking and technology. CAMPSTER’s free, online forum provides members with unfettered access to authentic reviews of campsites, points-of-interest and equipment, and gives them the opportunity to share
Steve
Campster is awesome. I love that you can get real reviews from real people. They'll tell you things you'd never find in a Woodall's directory. This is the future of trip planning and it's about time.
ReplyDeleteJust want to say very nice blog. Thanks for finding me, if you get a chance please check my blog out www.papapelto.com
ReplyDeleteThanks for the follow on Twitter Steve, much appreciated please join my Australian fishing community http://www.luredtofishingcommunity.com.
ReplyDeletePM me a location of a banner you would like to put on my site (bottom main page)and the URL you would like to link it to.
Feel free to use the Blog section, articles, classifieds or Forum to promote your site.
It's not a huge site yet but I'm hoping to change that.
I know Oz is a long way from the USA but some of us do fly on those big birds in the sky and would be interested in reading your stories
Barry Elliott
Swampy52 on Twitter
P.S the first 500 members will be upgraded to Gold membership as a thankyou for being founding members.
I`m from Croatia, & its hard to say, that il get the chance to see what You see... But its always nice to read about such a lucky guy who did it... :)
ReplyDeleteGood luck! & feel the nature! :0)