Hit the Road Jack - Tips To Secure An RV

June is the month of the ‘great outdoors’ -- the biggest month of the year for campsites at the National Park Service. 56 million Americans plan to take a trip in an RV this summer, versus 25 million in prior years. It is more important than ever to have a plan, a backup plan, and loads of resources at your fingertips in order to hit the road with a driveable or a towable recreation vehicle. Fortunately, there are apps for that.

For many, a park visit begins at home with a trip to NPS.gov. The new NPS App helps you navigate more than 400 national parks with interactive maps, tours, accessibility information, and more. You’ll need to make a reservation in advance this year, but as many of us know, that can be easier said than done. Keep your options open and use some niche websites to help you track down what is available. HipCamp.com and HarvestHosts.com, for example, offer some unique RV, camping, cabin and ‘glamping’ solutions that you may not have previously considered. In addition, the US Department of Interior recommends these great alternatives to its most popular NPS park sites.

Be prepared to travel off the beaten path, too. You may need to visit the lesser-known state parks, or even staycation-type sites, that are in your own neck of the woods.

“What we discovered in our ‘around the bend state park’ is that others had been keeping it on their wish list and had traveled hundreds, and even thousands, of miles to see it,” says Tony Barthel, a blogger at GirlCamper.com. “The state park itself really isn’t the point, (rather finding a place) with plenty of hiking, bicycling, kayaking and other forms of outdoor recreation.”

If you have your hat in the ring for a new RV this year, be flexible with what you want, versus what you can get. With RVs selling at a fast clip (576,000 new RVs are expected to sell by the end of the year), new ones are harder than ever to secure. You may have to drive farther out to get your new rig, and/or consider a different category of vehicle (see our “RV Owner Profiles” article). Also consider renting or sharing an RV, towable or fifth wheel for a one-off trip while the weather is still nice in most areas. Outdoorsy, RVshare, and CruiseAmerica are great resources for a quick trip for would-be owners. Bonus: Outd/’orsy can deliver the RV right to your campsite.

Don’t let the spike in popularity and low inventory ­deter you from getting your next RV. It is a question of keeping an open mind, expecting the unexpected, and using resources to hunt down a good deal. If you are able to make an offer on a used RV this summer using customer-to-customer apps like Nextdoor.com and Offerup.com, be sure to do your research to verify the purchase price, like consulting seedealercost.com for the original invoice MSRP.

Happy Trails, see you on the road.