Post by quark on Aug 3, 2013 11:23:51 GMT -5
My wife and I are currently motoring around the Northwest in our 35' Fifth. During our planning we ran across the Thousand Trails(TT) organization, and we bought the Northwest Zone. The sales rep tried to convince us to buy the complete U.S. package, and I must admit, it seemed like a good deal. But we decided to "try before we buy". And, boy, are we glad we bought just one zone!
The TT campgrounds in Oregon and Washington are generally run down. We could see how they were probably wonderful places in the early years. Most of them were carved out of the beautiful forests of the region. But that resulted in narrow, dusty, steep, pot-holed roads that ran around the park. There were very few big-rig sites, or larger sites that had full hookup. And those larger sites were almost ALWAYS full.
At one of the campgrounds, we picked a site, unhooked our 5th Wheel, and prepared to set up for a stay. I was a little more than frustrated when I plugged into the receptacle and there was no power. I determined that the problem was the breaker. After consulting with the park staff, they said the maintenance guy was "in town" and would not be out for several hours. We were stuck. Even if we wanted to pick up and move, there were very few options for other sites. This wasn't just an isolated example. I tested other receptacles and found no power. (Now I know why I have seen veteran campers test the power before they set the RV.)
Another problem was staying connected with the "outside" world while in Thousand Trails campgrounds. TT seems to think that campers actually want to escape from the busy outside world and leave technology behind. That's not reality, and TT needs to join the 21st century. These TT campgrounds all have WiFi, but it is confined to (if it works at all) a small area around some central activity center or campground office. We would join others huddled around the WiFi area trying to pick up our emails on woefully inadequate bandwidth. It was "misery loves company" in action.
I have some technical skills, and at one of the TT campgrounds, I was able to determine that the router was an old, back-level router that probably was contributing to the slow speeds. The fact that I was able to extract that kind of unsecured information is a comment on how little attention is given to it. And for $100, they could easily replace the router with the latest technology.
In our travels, we have learned that RV campground are falsely claiming they have functioning WiFi. (Now we ask about the effectiveness of WiFi before we make reservations.) So we have a Verizon Jetpack router with us on the road just in case. But alas, it doesn't work in most Northwest TT campgrounds, because they are in areas that are not well served by all wireless carriers.
If you made it through my entire tantrum to this point, I have a couple of questions. Is it just me? Has anybody else had similar experiences with Thousand Trails?
Roger
The TT campgrounds in Oregon and Washington are generally run down. We could see how they were probably wonderful places in the early years. Most of them were carved out of the beautiful forests of the region. But that resulted in narrow, dusty, steep, pot-holed roads that ran around the park. There were very few big-rig sites, or larger sites that had full hookup. And those larger sites were almost ALWAYS full.
At one of the campgrounds, we picked a site, unhooked our 5th Wheel, and prepared to set up for a stay. I was a little more than frustrated when I plugged into the receptacle and there was no power. I determined that the problem was the breaker. After consulting with the park staff, they said the maintenance guy was "in town" and would not be out for several hours. We were stuck. Even if we wanted to pick up and move, there were very few options for other sites. This wasn't just an isolated example. I tested other receptacles and found no power. (Now I know why I have seen veteran campers test the power before they set the RV.)
Another problem was staying connected with the "outside" world while in Thousand Trails campgrounds. TT seems to think that campers actually want to escape from the busy outside world and leave technology behind. That's not reality, and TT needs to join the 21st century. These TT campgrounds all have WiFi, but it is confined to (if it works at all) a small area around some central activity center or campground office. We would join others huddled around the WiFi area trying to pick up our emails on woefully inadequate bandwidth. It was "misery loves company" in action.
I have some technical skills, and at one of the TT campgrounds, I was able to determine that the router was an old, back-level router that probably was contributing to the slow speeds. The fact that I was able to extract that kind of unsecured information is a comment on how little attention is given to it. And for $100, they could easily replace the router with the latest technology.
In our travels, we have learned that RV campground are falsely claiming they have functioning WiFi. (Now we ask about the effectiveness of WiFi before we make reservations.) So we have a Verizon Jetpack router with us on the road just in case. But alas, it doesn't work in most Northwest TT campgrounds, because they are in areas that are not well served by all wireless carriers.
If you made it through my entire tantrum to this point, I have a couple of questions. Is it just me? Has anybody else had similar experiences with Thousand Trails?
Roger
