Cheap RV Travel Tips {Good Things To Know}
Post Last Modified – March 20, 2023 ¦ gr8traveltips.com
Cheap RV Travel Tips – Making RV Travel Affordable
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We love to travel in our 🚌 Recreational Vehicle as much as we possibly can. Even though traveling by RV is a great way to save money especially with a family, the expenses can however, add up very quickly. Below, I’ve listed a few {Cheap RV Travel Tips}, that we’ve picked up along the way over the years, to pass on to you.
A few things that might help make your travels just a little less expensive.
If you’re like us and living on a tight budget, there are ways to help reduce the cost of travel, particularly when traveling in your 🚌 Recreational Vehicle.
Here are few cheap RV travel tips and suggestions to help reduce some of those travel costs, the next time you set out on your journey.
I’ve put together an example 📝 itinerary of ours we took a few seasons ago, for you to check out. It’s what we did on one of our trips down south a few years ago, heading into the United States from our home on the west coast of 🍁 Canada.
Just a look at how we traveled on route, to help save money.
Cheap RV Travel Tips & Tricks
The two major costs associated with RV travel are of course – ⛽ Fuel and 🏕 Campground stays. Let’s have a look at fuel costs first, and what we discovered is the best way to help you save money on the road.
On this journey we traveled in our 25 ft. Class C Motor home and when fully loaded, I am lucky to average 14 miles per gallon. For those of you with larger and much heavier rigs, your miles per gallon and cost of fuel can be significantly higher.
This especially so, if you’re running a gas engine and not diesel.
The best way to save 💵 money is to make sure your unit is {serviced prior to departure}, and your tires are properly inflated.
Under inflated tires can reduce your miles per gallon rating and can cause more serious problems such as; blow outs on the road.
Cheap RV Travel Tips – GasBuddy App
If you’re not already using the website GasBuddy, then you should right away!
This is an excellent travel website and app, where you can check the latest {real time prices of gasoline} at stations all throughout North America.
Just by checking daily gas prices here, we saved at least 10 cents per gallon on average during our trip. One thing we notice in the United States when traveling, is just how widely gas prices vary from station to station, compared to Canada. 💵
Be sure to check out my post below for more detailed information on this excellent money saving platform. They also have an App you can conveniently download on to your 📱 cellphone.
⛽ Finding The Best Gas Prices In America – GasBuddy
The site updates constantly, with viewers submitting the price at the pump in their area. Detailed information and maps will direct you to the station, that’s offering the lowest prices at that time.
What’s great about this, is that it’s absolutely – Free!
I would say this is the best of my Cheap RV Travel Tips, to help save you money!
Free & Low Cost Overnight RV Camping
Within the last few years, we have really enjoyed staying at select 🎰 Casino Resort Hotels, that offer complimentary overnight RV Parking.
On a few occasions, we’ve also enjoyed quick overnight stays at friendly and secure shopping centers, with 👮 24 hour security on site.
We very rarely will stay overnight at Wal-Mart shopping centers, unless it is absolutely necessary. There are many Camping World Centers that will allow you to park overnight in their lots.
We have stayed on a couple of occasions at the 🚌 Tacoma Camping World Store.
These spots are a great way to save money while on the road, which definitely helps offset the cost of travel on the way to your intended – final destination.
There are also many wonderful 🏨 Major Casino Resorts, that also have onsite RV Parks attached to them. Many of these parks offer excellent overnight rates for their full hook-up sites.
A little added incentive to entice travelers to perhaps enjoy a little gambling, as well as food and drink in their resort.
Works for me!
We now have our favorites on the road and always look forward to their superb {Vegas style buffet specials}, when stopping over for the night.
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On one of our last trips home from the 🌵 NASCAR Races at Phoenix International Raceway , we decided to head home by way of the – California and Oregon Coast.
We wanted to avoid the heavy non-stop 🚛 Interstate Highway traffic.
Were we shocked to find out the cost for a stay in California’s State Parks! 💰 $35usd funds for a {dry campsite} and that was back in 2015!
Hellooo California, it’s no wonder people are looking for alternative camping when traveling, such as; Walmart lots, shopping centers, rest stops and such!
Oregon State Parks are by far superior, to most found anywhere in the United States.
Their Parks are absolutely beautiful, well maintained and very affordable for family camping. As well, most of their parks include; water and electricity at all sites and are open year round!
Way to go Oregon! 🙂
There are many camping resource sites to choose from on the internet. I always visit a few camping forums online, to gather some helpful tips and suggestions. From where to stay, what to see and the best way to travel to a specific destination.
These sites can be very helpful, particularly when traveling to new and unfamiliar destinations!
As a {Good Sam Club} member, they have an excellent forum to ask questions to other members on pretty much about anything to do with RVing and Camping.
A great resource for all campers!
There’s a fast growing excellent resource website available for campers and with over 340,000 members and climbing. This site is RVillage and is growing in leaps and bounds!
You can participate in select groups of interest and so much more. I’ve included the link below to their official website for your convenience to check out.
I’ve recently signed up and it looks great! 👍
It’s absolutely free and they also have an {App} as well to download onto your 📱 phone.
🚌 RVillage
Here’s an example of one of our trips leaving from 🍁 British Columbia – Canada, making our way south at a leisurely pace.
Our final destination – 🏁 Phoenix International Raceway in Goodyear, Arizona.
Day 1 – British Columbia To Tulalip Washington
We started on our way in the late evening as usual, to avoid lineups at the 🛂 Canada/USA Border. Our first stop is the Tulalip Resort Casino Hotel located in Tulalip, Washington just a 2 hour drive south of the border.
A beautiful resort offering free overnight parking for self-contained recreational vehicles, in a designated area behind the hotel. Here you can enjoy all the amenities the Casino Resort has to offer, should you choose to do so.
Note:
You must pre-register at the customer service desk located inside the casino resort’s front entrance.
We love their Dinner Buffet! 🙂
Camping Fee Day 1 – Free
Day 2 – Tulalip Washington To Eugene Oregon
As a result of suggestions received on the forums as mentioned above, we decided to make our way to the 🏬 Valley River Center Mall in Eugene, Oregon. This is a relatively easy, but extremely busy and noisy drive down the 🛣 Interstate 5 Highway, for about 325 miles for the day.
There were two reasons for choosing this destination. First, the shopping center offered free overnight camping in a designated area, complete with 👮 24 hour security patrols on site.
The second reason is that we wanted to do some 🛍 shopping the next morning. The State of Oregon has – no sales tax!
A perfect overnight stay and with a lovely walkway along the river directly behind our RV. Security staff were very friendly and checked you in upon arrival.
Camping Fee Day 2 – Free
Update 2021
From reading the latest forum updates, it appears that they no longer allow overnight RV parking at the Mall. Be sure to check with Mall Security before arriving to confirm this.
You don’t want to be awakened overnight asking you to vacate.
Day 3 – Eugene Oregon To Klamath Falls
Our chosen destination for the next leg of the trip was the 🎱 Kla-Mo-Ya Casino, located approximately 22 miles north of Klamath Falls, Oregon. This is a small Casino and made for a pleasant overnight stop, and located directly off the highway.
This was a relatively small casino compared to all the others, with a service station and store on location. It has a huge parking lot for overnight parking for your 🚌 self-contained unit.
During our stay, the Casino restaurant offered a 97 cent breakfast special for the month of October.
Can’t beat that! 🙂
Camping Fee Day 3 – Free
Day 4 – Klamath Falls To Reno Nevada
Moving right along the next morning, we were headed for Nevada’s Biggest Little City … Reno!
This was another easy drive of about 254 miles, or about 5 hours to get there. After searching the internet, we discovered the 🏨 Grand Sierra Resort Casino Hotel.
This resort offers a very affordable full hook-up RV park located right on site. To make things even better, the campground was offering a wonderful discount at the time of our stay!
Because of this amazing deal and the wonderful facilities, we opted for a 2 night stay to enjoy the area and relax. The resort allows registered campers to use their beautiful outdoor pool facilities, as well as their fitness room in the hotel.
Be sure to check out my 🏨 Grand Sierra Resort Hotel Review for more detailed information and pictures of our stay.
Camping Fee Day 4 & 5 – $44
Day 6 Reno Nevada To Las Vegas Nevada
We were on our way to visit family who had flown down, and to attend the {NHRA Drag Races} in Las Vegas!
This year we chose to make our way via Las Vegas, as other family members were enjoying a holiday in the city at the same time.
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As well, we had purchased tickets to attend the races at 🏁 Las Vegas Motor Speedway. 🙂
As in recent years, we always chose Sam’s Town Casino Hotel and RV Park, which is located away from the busy Las Vegas Strip. Also, because of the many conveniences this resort hotel has to offer.
The RV Park was taken over by KOA (Kampgrounds of America) in recent years, so the rates now, are typical of a larger franchise RV Park resort.
This hotel offers a free 🚌 shuttle bus service to the Las Vegas Strip and to Freemont Street. A wonderful addition it offers its guests!
I’ve listed their link below to the new KOA website for Sam’s Town. You can check updated rates, reservations and much more.
Camping Fee Day 6 thru 9 – 4 nights stay $100
Two Free Days In Laughlin Nevada
Laughlin Nevada Skyline
Having lots of time, we decided to make our way to Laughlin, Nevada located just 100 miles to the south of Las Vegas.
Here we enjoyed 2 free nights of Casino Camping at two different resorts located in the area.
The first night was out of town, just to the south at a resort called {The AVI Casino Resort Hotel}. A beautiful property located on the Colorado River, complete with – Movie Theaters and more!
There was an open lot for self-contained RV’s, where we even enjoyed complimentary 📶 wi-fi in our motor home. There is also a nice KOA full facility campground on the property. Their fees for their campground were very reasonable, compared to other parks in the area.
We a nice relaxing 2 night stay! 🙂
The next night we opted to head into town (Laughlin), and enjoyed parking at the 🏨 Riverside Resort Casino Hotel. Here, you can register in the hotel and park your RV in a designated parking lot, complete with a nice river view!
Camping Fee Day 10 & 11 – Free
Phoenix International Raceway
From here, it was on to our final destination in Arizona, the 🏜 Phoenix International Raceway. This is about a 215 mile drive or about 4 hours in length.
Here we enjoyed our annual weekend of 🏁 NASCAR Racing, with a reserved designated camping space right at the track. You are welcome to stay in your site for 7 days total, if one wishes.
Our stay included 5 nights camping at the track.
Leaving the race track after the weekend, we made our way west back to the coast, with overnight stays at a County Park right on the beach, for self-contained units only. These sites are located alongside the road for $28, at the time of our stay.
There is a {California State Park} just down the road, with rates at $35.
Our final night was at a beautiful 🏞 Oregon State Park on the coast for just $24 including; water, power and free shower facilities!
You can make travel in your RV more affordable if you wish, with a little planning before your departure, and with making use of some of my Cheap RV Travel Tips here.
Have a look at this other excellent website that has to do with everything camping. It’s another superb and very reputable website to check out, to help you get started on the road to camping!
🚌 Go RVing
😎 Safe and Healthy Travels!
It has been a few seasons since our last visit, so if you have any updated information to pass on, please do send me an 📧 email {Contact Me} and I will be sure to add it to this post. 🧐
All personal 📸 photographs on this post are the property of gr8traveltips.com and are copyright protected. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. 🚫
✨ Did You Know …
⛺ Listing Favorite Campgrounds In America – Reviews
🚌 RV Safety Driving Tips – Recreational Vehicle
🕵 RV Camping Etiquette Tips – Good To Know
🙂 Don’t Forget It … Be Sure To Pin It! 🙂
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