We left the day before this picture was taken, but we did have THIS much fun!
There are numerous membership programs for RVers, each with their own perks. Signing up for all of them is budget suicide, but deciding which ones are right for you can save a lot of headaches. To date, we’ve signed up for:
- Good Sam – For discounts at Camping World and campgrounds all over the country.
- AAA – Membership we had long before we hit the road RVing, now at the Plus RV level.
- Good Sam Roadside Assistance – Redundancy with AAA that we value. When we had our breakdown in July 2014, we cashed in on towing through Good Sam and AAA, and would’ve been out potentially thousands of dollars without both memberships.
- Passport America – We tried this for one year and didn’t use it one time. We believe it’s a good program, but not a good fit for our particular travel rhythm.
- Xscapers
Why Join Xscapers?
With the exception of Passport America, a year-long experiment that didn’t carry financial risk ($44/year as of this writing), we’ve kept our RV-related memberships to a bare minimum. Though we constantly hear fabulous things about Escapees, it was one of many programs we passed on because we didn’t see ourselves using the benefits. However, when we heard Escapees launched a new arm called Xscapers, our interest was piqued.
Xscapers is a program designed to serve working-age RVers. We haven’t seen anything like it, especially not with the power and resources of a massive organization like Escapees behind it. Xscapers members get all the benefits offered to regular Escapees members, plus resources centered on the unique needs of working-age RVers. One such benefit is the Job Center, which lists full-time, part-time and contract work.
But there was one thing, and one thing alone, that convinced us to become Xscapers: a convergence at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, where a ton of our RV friends (including online friends we hadn’t met in person yet) would be camping side by side for a week. We couldn’t miss out on the fun, and the only way to camp with the group was to be an Xscapers member!
Our First Xscapers Convergence
We had an amazing time in Albuquerque. We learned a lot from our first week of dry camping and were in awe of the hot air balloons. But mostly we enjoyed time with friends who share our interests and understand what it’s like to be a younger RVer.
Here’s a look at our week together, courtesy of our friend Travis Carr at Xscapers:
We don’t know whether we’ll make it to the next official convergence at Quartzsite in January, but we know our new friendships will last, and that we can look forward to time together in the future.
Checking Out Escapees RV Parks
Escapees has eight campgrounds called Rainbow Parks. They cater to members through special discounts, but are open to all. We’ve heard great things about them and hope to stay at the New Mexico park in January 2016. For our trip planning purposes, I created a map board on Pinterest that shows the park locations.
I’ve been considering creating a new board (or incorporating into this one) for the 11 SKP Co-op campgrounds. Please leave a comment if that would be useful for you!
-B
