masman
Ohio
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Joined: 05/07/2007
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Hi,,
We faced exactly the same problem last year. We made reservations for 2 months at Sun Life in Mesa, AZ since we already knew someone there. We actually almost did not go as we were not sure that wintering with "old folks" (like us) was what we wanted to do...especially in one spot. We have always been independent travelers whether in our MH to Alaska and other places or in Africa or in Europe. We have never been on a cruise or tour. We decided before we left that if we were unhappy after a couple of weeks, we would simply pull up stakes and leave treating the fees paid as a sunk cost and a learning cost.
We wound up having a great time (staying an extra month). We did look at a great number of parks in and around Mesa, both ownership parks and non-ownership parks. We seriously considering buying a lot in an ownership park, but in the end, we decided we really did not want to own a lot in an ownership park and liked where we were at and so we are planning on returning this winter to enjoy our new park model. We kept the MH and are still active MHs during the non-winter part of the year and plan on staying that way.
By making our reservation early (it was in August of last year) we were able to get a spot that was open in the middle of the park surrounded by a few other MHs and a lot of park models. All of our neighbors were folks who spent from 2 - 5 months in the park. Many other MH's were parked around the perimeter of the park where a lot more turnover exists and I think they have a harder time really getting to know folks and getting into all of the available activities since the turnover around them tends to be higher. As a consequence, some folks come to believe that "park model folks" are not that friendly to "MH folks." We did not find this to be the case at all.
In the end, we believe we made a good decision to reserve early and get into the middle of the "park model folks." In fact, if you think you would like Sun Life (it is one of the Cal-Am parks...google Cal Am), I would recommend site N-6 if it is available. That is the one we used last year...or any available site on either N street or M street that is available. These are short streets and you will meet a lot of nice folks quickly.
The one thing I did not know prior to getting into Mesa is that city ordinances prohibit the filling of propane tanks in the parks in that city. Other cities in the area do not have this prohibition. Had I known that I would have gone in with full propane. As it was I had to pull out once to refill which was not that big a deal...just could have been avoided. If you have a 5th wheel or TT, you will not have a problem since your tanks are removable. You can have a 90 lb tank put on site if you are a MH for about $90 but we did not do this. An electric heater worked fine for us.
If you want a park with more MHs, take a look at Canyon Vistas (another Cal-Am park) in Gold Canyon. It is very nice. It is more out in the desert and some folks really like that. We decided that we really liked being in Mesa and closer to Phoenix but these are personnal choices. We visited Canyon Vistas 3-4 times and really thought about its spectacular views before we put our park model in Sun Life. Both Sun Life and Canyon Vistas are among the smaller parks with around 750 spots. Many parks have over 2,000 spots in the Mesa area. We think you get to know more folks in the smaller parks/ We looked at some even smaller parks but then the facilities and activities were more limited. In fact, Canyon Vistas was more limited in activities and facilities simply because it had fewer park model folks and the more transient population does not provide as much opportunity for folks to start clubs, interest groups, etc. But, again some folks do not want as much in the way of organized activities and interest groups and simply like to sit and enjoy the weather and spectacular scenery.
Good luck and if you decide on Sun Life, look us up next January in spot C-60.
Mark
33 Itasca - The Den of Antiquity
CRV Toad
First RV Trip 1966 - Slide on camper on 3/4 pickup
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bjbear
Cold Lake, AB, Can
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Joined: 02/14/2004
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I was going to reply in more detail but "masman" said most of it already. It was our first year last year and we selected Canyon Visa after doing a lot of research on the web and this website. We really enjoyed it and ended up buying a park model as well. We liked the park because it is smaller, has great views, has lots of very friendly and helpfull people, has good staff and was a good location. Close to the city, but far enough out so that it is not too busy traffic wise. Very close to a good grocery store, some good restaurants and other services. We have a site right on the desert which we liked, but the interior ones are very nice too, especially along the green belt. Sites are very spacious compared to many.
Forget Bell Express-vu, it just does not work. Some friends were using it, but they had to use a large dish (30"??) and I don't think they got all the channels. We ended up using Mediacom cable for the five months we were there which worked OK.
Internet wireless is sporadic and the management told us last year that they did not intend to upgrade it. It is only offered as a courtesy. We found it managable for what we wanted it for, but if you are a heavy user, you would probably want to use Medacom as well for that.
I-15 south is OK in November and March. You can definitely get snowstorms and some icy roads but it only lasts for a day or so. Just be prepared to wait it out if necessary. If you hold off travelling until the weathe forecast shows 3 or 4 good days, that works.
We did look at Yuma and actually went down there for a week, but although a nice place, we liked Canyon Vista much better.
Hope you find a good place that suits you. Personally, I would recommend making a reservation. I know people come down and find spots, but the problem is, that those sites might not be the best ones and that can color your impression of the area. We did the research, picked a park that suited us and then had a good look around at other parks and areas. Worked for us.
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boatescape
Albany, OR
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Joined: 01/08/2006
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masman & bjbear - Great, informative posts!
We live in Oregon and are in the same situation as flteng. What we wanted to do on our first trip south was stay at a few different places for 3 weeks to a month ending up in Peoria for Mariners spring training in March. Possibly looking at Yuma in Jan, Tuscan in Feb. Now I am wondering if we need to make more long term reservations, if we are not too late.
Bob & Sharon
Albany, OR
2003 Itasca Suncruiser
2002 Honda CRV
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UsNtheBus
Calgary, Canada
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Joined: 12/17/2006
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flteng & boatescape... We did our first ever snowbird trip last winter from Calgary to Mexico. The general plan was to stay in several different places (Vegas, Phoenix, Casa Grande, Puerto Penasco, Yuma, San Diego, Palm Springs), with a view to finding a place to stay for a longer time in future years.
We kept a fairly detailed website with pictures and videos that may provide some insight. See signature below for link to the website. We too suffered from information overload before leaving, after viewing too many websites and getting (sometimes) conflicting opinions.
Comments after our first trip:- had a great time
- did not stay long enough in any one spot; we really need a week or two to get the feel of a place
- Mexico was great
- driving I-15 was much easier than anticipated, even though the weather was less than ideal (see early pictures)
- California is nice, but expensive
- we will plan on a longer trip next time
Can't comment on satellite other than to say that we just signed up with Star Choice for home as well as travelling...they were very helpful in making sure the RV was able to receive programming properly wherever we happened to be.
Finally, we did not reserve more than 2 weeks ahead and only were turned down by one campground in Yuma. However, we were only reserving for 5-6 day stays. We did have reservations in Mexico and in Las Vegas which was our first low latitude stop. We wanted to ensure we had a spot to rest after the long drive down.
Have a great snowbird experience!!
If you have further questions, please feel free to PM.
Graham & Elaine 
"If you think you're old or you think you're young, you're right."
Currently: at home
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