Like many of the RVing folks we know, we travel lots without reservations. Most of the time it works perfectly. We have a general idea where we’re going, where we’d like to stay and we just head in that direction. If we decide to go another route, that’s no problem either as we just change. That’s normally how it works for us.
Then there are others who make reservations. They not only make reservations for the week or two ahead, they actually have reservations made months ahead of time. If one thing changes
, then everything must change. That would not be possible for us since we change often.

A little record searching
However, traveling in Texas during the month of March has definitely been out of the ordinary for us and we’ve hardly even started this month. There are so many lakes and rivers and things to do in Texas and people want to take advantage of where they live. This next week is spring break time and when that hits LOOK OUT. All the parks fill up and prices go sky high. The towns schedule special events such as rodeos to keep the folks from leaving. So, if you go out of town, the parks are full and if
you stay in town the parks are full. If you didn't have foresight to make reservations for this time, you’re in a pickle. I didn’t have foresight. Needless to say, nothing has worked and I’ve been a very stressful camper.

Wimberley
I suppose we could go from one boondocking location along the main roads to another. The sad
part is we may just have to do that. I have a couple Wal-Marts a few miles apart targeted later this next week … just in case. However, the weather has been crappy and without sunshine those solar panels on the roof aren’t going to give much “juice”. Thank goodness we have a good working generator because we may need it.

Other than spending hours and hours looking for a place to stay this next week, we have done a few others things. We’ve visited Burnet, Marble Falls, Blanco, Austin and even Wimberley.
In Wimberley we met up with friends Tina and Jeff for lunch. They are hanging out in New Braunfels for a month. Wimberley was the perfect meeting place. It’s a cute little town. The Wimberley Café sits right in the middle of town square. It certainly was great seeing them again.

Old 300 BBQ - Best Brisket EVER !
We’ve been trying to hang close to Austin since I’m meeting with cousins on Sunday. We had hoped to move there but have finally accepted the fact, we won’t be. We even got to the point we didn't care what the per night fee was. There’s no place to stay regardless of the price. We’ll just hang out a few more days where we’re at and probably move towards San Antonio later in the week. We do have reservations there. Terry has a doctor’s appointment in Portland shortly so we knew we needed reservations close to an airport for that. I can say all this stress finding a place to stay will most definitely result in changes to our previously thought spring travel.
’Tis life on the road.
It doesn't make a difference what temperature a room is. It's always room temperature.
We feel for you...been there done that and still are sort of having our own travel issues...please be safe and we hope you find someplace to stay until Spring Break is over!
ReplyDeleteThank goodness for Walmart. The nerve of these spring breakers, taking up all the campsites. You'd think in a state the size of Texas, there'd be at least one everywhere you want to go.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you'll come up with a perfect solution, you always pull something great out of that magic hat of yours. :c)
You're sure seeing some wonderful small towns in Texas - but STRESS is NOT supposed to be part of it !!
ReplyDeleteUgh, not having reservations when events are happening in an area can be a real boondoggle. So boondocking when you're in a boondoggle seems to be the appropriate response. We had a similar experience before we started RVing full time. We went to a small town in central Washington state without hotel reservations. When we got to town, there was a statewide Little League championship happening that weekend. Not a motel room could be found. Having worked at AAA making hotel reservations for people, I knew that cancellation policy time was usually 6:00 p.m We went to a Best Western about 5:45 p.m. and put our names on a wait list for a room cancellation. Sure enough, right at 6:00 p.m. someone cancelled their reservation and we got a room.
ReplyDeleteGood luck in your search for good camping sites in Texas this week. Did you try the little private RV park in Wimberley? I think there are two RV parks in Wimberley. It's the one that's NOT near the Blue Hole park.
The brisket sounds awesome, the stress not so much...
ReplyDeleteI think we have March covered at least the next three weeks, then we be heading east on down the road.
Good luck with accomodations
Hope you're able to find a few good RV Parks this month while in Texas. In the meantime, those Brisket dinners sure look good.
ReplyDeleteI've got reservations scheduled all the way thru June when we land in Tacoma. Of course there are some boondocking days in between. Waiting until April to make reservations around Yellowstone.
ReplyDeleteWe love brisket. Our cookers at the Bar-B-Que made an amazing brisket. Their sauce was so good, I could have just drank a glass of it.
ReplyDeleteHow dare all those vacationers mess with a full timer's travels?!!! We ran into that when we tried to travel the Florida panhandle at spring break time so I feel your pain.
ReplyDeleteSorry you are having so much trouble finding a place to stay. That would definitely stress me out. Hopefully next week will be better.
ReplyDeleteWe have spent a lot of time in Texas and like you rarely make advanced reservations. Usually no problem, but I do not think we have been there this time of year. Thanks for the warning:)
ReplyDeleteNo stress. No fuss. Get on the Walmart bus!
ReplyDeleteWow, that's lousy. I don't think we've ever had that hard a time while traveling.
ReplyDeleteYou can also stay at Home Depots and Loews! We have done both. What about a Casino? We are like you, just fly by the seat of our pants. That's the way we like it. I've had enough of reservations / appointments / dates marked on calendars when I left Corporate. Never again, if possible. Except Christmas....and other big holidays.
ReplyDeleteSo, were you still in Austin during South by Southwest? This is a busy busy little city.
ReplyDelete