The most prominent RV Clubs and Associations
There are a wide number of RV clubs / camping clubs and associations that are of great benefit to anyone pursuing the RV Boondocking or General RVing lifestyle.
The benefits they provide range from campground discounts(for when you do feel the needto stay in one!), e-mail accounts, and emergency road service, to RV insurance, care centers (for periods of medical recuperation) RV forums and seminars.
Which one is right for you? That is for you to choose. Sort through the RV clubs, both here and what you can easily find on the web. Read their literature, talk to folks on the forums and see what works for them. Get a feel for the membership. I am sure there is an RV club that delivers what you want and what you need.
It's a good feeling to know you have someone to turn to for a little help if you should run into difficulty out there on the open road.
Kind of "a Light on the porch" to guide you on your way.
There are two organizations that are, in my opinion, the leaders of the RVing community.
Heidi and I are members of both and have been served well by them.
The Two Premier RV Clubs
- The Good Sam Club* www.goodsams.net
With greater than a million members, and more than 2000 local chapters the largest of the RV clubs. A searchable list of chapters by state is available on their website. Good Sam Club provides discounts on campgrounds, fuel, and RV products. They offer members-only rates on insurance, an emergency road service program( the best out there in my opinion and the one we use), and a bunch of other benefits.
- Escapees* www.escapees.com
Founded in 1978, escapees is an RV club with a heavy emphasis on the RV "Fulltimer", providing S (Support), K (Knowledge) and P (Parking) for their members. S.K.P.'s...Say it quickly and you have "Escapees". Their list of benefits includes discounts, ongoing Get-Togethers, mail forwarding, voice messaging, email, calling cards, "Escapees Magazine",(the magazine is worth the dues by itself!) member parks, and more. The RV Forum here is superb.You can gain a real "family" feeling in this club. With more than 65,000 members, it doesn't have the muscle of Good Sam, but it's focus on Fulltimers and the "family" atmosphere is a tremendous benefit.
In addition to the Good Sam Club itself, the emergency road service offered through them is the one Heidi and I carry. Have not needed it but once. A rainy nite, cold night, and they got there in less than twenty minutes. Just like they said, no additional charges, no matter what the distance. I'm keeping it!
A short list of a few sites for additional rv clubs, camping clubs and rv forums. No personal experience with these, but they seem to be the most popular among the "other" Rv clubs.
- www.lonersonwheels.com
Is a club focused on supporting single RVers.
- www.rvingwomen.org
Is a club for women who are interested in, or already enjoying, the RV lifestyle.
- www.handicappedtravelclub.com
Was formed in 1973 to encourage RV traveling for people with a wide range of disabilities.
- RV.NET www.rv.net/forum
Another excellent rv forum. I read this one second only to the Escapees forum.
- Presidents club at Camping World www.CampingWorld.com
This membership is similar to Sams club or Costco. The difference being anyone can shop at Camping World without the membership. Membership only gets you discounted prices. Many times the discount on your first purchase pays the cost of the membership. Not a good deal if you buy few RV specific accessories for your RVing. If you are an "accessory addict" or a "gadget-holic" you can save a few bucks! I use it and have been pretty satisfied.
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