Cottonwood, AZ

Friday we arrived at the Verde Valley campground in Cottonwood, AZ. We’ll be spending 9 nights here. Verde Valley is our first of many Thousand Trails (TT) campgrounds. We’ve been spending more than we should on campgrounds so far (between $500 and $800 per month), so we took steps to reduce this cost. We purchased a platinum membership in TT, which is a membership campground. This means we can spend up to 21 consecutive days at each of the 80 campgrounds in the country. I heard that platinum plans cost around $13,000, but you can buy them used if you shop. I purchased a plan from a private seller for $1,500, plus a one-time $750 transfer fee paid to TT, plus annual dues of around $550. The way I figure, I can pay for this initial outlay of money in about 6 months use of TT campgrounds. After that, my only cost is the dues of $550 per year. For an additional $100 annually I can purchase a membership in RPI that allows me to stay in hundreds of additional campgrounds for only $10 per night. There are some down sides to the TT parks. Most sites provide only 30 amp electrical service rather than the 50 amp that we are setup for. This means (for example) if we have the fireplace and dryer on, and we turn on the microwave, the circuit breaker will probably pop. If we need the air conditioner on, we will probably have to turn off almost everything else while it’s running. Because we follow the weather, we’ve only used the AC a couple times so far. The other thing about TT, up to now we’ve told campgrounds that we are a big rig, so we reserve a long site. With TT we make a reservation for a site, but the actual sites are first come, first served. So we could get there and not find a site long enough for us to fit. This may be an issue, but I think the worst that would happen is that we spend the night in their parking lot or overflow area, and then wait for someone to leave the next morning from a site that is long enough for us - or we go to another campground. The next TT campground is in Vegas. It’s 6 miles from the strip, and we will be spending 21 fun filled days there (from 4/7 to 4/28).

They were giving health screenings here at the park, so I was waiting in line behind an older couple. The doctor said - Morty, I need a urine, stool, and semen sample. Morty said - What’s that Doc? The doctor repeated his request. Morty said - I can’t hear you Doc. The wife shouted - Morty, the Doc says he needs your pants.