A Shitty Night Thanks to Thousand Trails

While in the Portland area this summer we’re staying at the only Thousand Trails RV Park in the area. It’s a bit far east for our liking, but it’s our best bet since it’s in our membership. We stayed here four nights before returning to Lebanon for a few days. Then we were coming back for a weekend July 16 before leaving for the coast.

Five years in Detroit, and the traffic has been such a dream compared to Portland. Somehow we found ourselves, TWO FRIDAYS IN A ROW, driving back up to Portland from Lebanon after 2pm. WHAT WERE WE THINKING?!

Anyway, on the second Friday in a row that we’re returning to Portland, we thought we’d be to the RV Park by late afternoon. But we arrived at 5:09 PM instead (yes, I looked at the clock and the time stuck with me). Well, the office closed at 5.

No big deal, it was closed the last time we arrived too, and we knew there was an after hours checkin box (as usual) where we could find our paperwork with the site number.

SIDE NOTE: The Thousand Trails we’ve stayed at so far send a checkin email about a week before you arrive. Once you fill it out, they either:

1. send you a site number and when you get there you already know where to go.
2. send you a confirmation without a site number. When you arrive you pick up a form, then find any open site you want, fill the form out with the site you chose, and put it into a dropbox at the nearest bathroom.

We learned the first time we were here, that, although they had gone the route of sending us a site number, they do not use the preassigned site numbers. They assign you something completely different and write it on the map/paperwork they leave you. So, we had a confirmation with a site number on it in our email for this weekend, but knew that was not actually where we would end up staying.

Okay, back to our shitty night… We open the box, go through the stack, and our name is nowhere to be found. So, we have no idea which site is ours. We check the site we had been emailed was ours, but of course there is someone camped in it already (we figured since we know those sites mean nothing to them… because apparently they like to make life harder, not easier).

Still no need to panic, there is an after hours number posted on the box. We’ll just call that and get it all sorted.

No answer. Voicemail picks up, so of course I’ll leave a message and hope for a quick call back… but the voicemail box is full. There’s no way to leave a message.

Okay, now the annoyance is starting to set in. I called that number over and over again, probably about ten times right in this moment, but about fifty by the end of the night (no, really).

We sit down and talk about our options. There’s a yellow box on the side of the building that says “emergency,” and mike wants to push the button… but I’m afraid it’s for real emergencies and got to 911. So we don’t press it.

I call Thousand Trails’ main number. They’re closed. I call the Thousand Trails number for non-members (their parks can be reserved by non-members also, through a separate part of the company). This person is nice, and wants to help, but cannot do anything for me except recommend calling the after hours number. Cool.

We debate taking an empty spot and just telling them in the morning. But then worry about it being someone else’s spot and causing the same issue for someone else later on, and we don’t like to be jerks.

At this point we’re MAD. Finally, I tell Mike to hit the emergency button and see what happens. Well, it’s just a phone line to some after hours call center for Thousand Trails. And all they do is take your info, say they’re passing it along. I tried every which way to get them to tell me when we can expect a call back, who they’re “passing it along” to, what exactly the point of this was… and… nothing. Their job is clearly to not answer any questions directly, and to hope we feel better leaving the message. I love people trained to talk in circles. It’s the best. (I wasn’t rude, don’t worry. I was not happy either, but I know it’s not this person’s fault).

We called the posted after hours number a whole bunch more times, from both phones, Mike tried texting the after hours number as well, and we hit the emergency button one more time to give it another try. And then finally decided we had to go find somewhere else to stay. By now it’s a little past 6. We’re still pulled up in the check in lane in the middle of the entrance.

And we are PISSED.

Mike tries a couple area RV Parks which are full or closed. So, we end up deciding we will just stay at the Walmart down the road. But first, we need dinner and beer at a nearby brewery to help us feel better. It definitely helped bring down the level of anger. We had a plan and full bellies.

You may already have heard that many Walmarts allow people traveling in RVs and semis to stay the night in their lots. When we were here the first time a week ago, we had noticed a lot of semis and a few RVs in the lot, so we figured this was one that allowed it.

We came to terms with it. Things could be way worse, we’re still lucky. We have a comfortable, dry, and safe place to sleep, we have food to eat; WE ARE FINE. So what if we have to sleep in a parking lot one night? We were planning on doing this once in a while as we travel anyway… just not when we have confirmed reservations at RV Parks we are members at. Oh well.

After dinner, we arrive at Walmart and pick a spot among the semis and RVs. We go in and do a little shopping, feeling like we should spend a little money at the store since we are using them for their lot. Next, we stop by the customer service desk to ask permission to stay and to “check-in” like I’ve read we’re supposed to do.

The woman working there says, “I can’t tell you that you can stay the night and can’t tell you that you can’t stay the night.” She’s giving the look and tone which says to read between the lines. So, we figure it must be a don’t ask, don’t tell situation. If the answer was “no” surely she’d just say no… right? I guess we were wrong.

We get settled and are sitting up in the cabin chairs on our phones decompressing for a bit when a security vehicle drives by our open window around 10:30 and tells us that overnight camping isn’t allowed and the lot closes at 11 when the store closes. We’re so confused. There are a LOT of people clearly camping overnight. We weren’t really left a chance to inquire further, they drove off.

Ugh. Great.

We decide to stay and see what happens at 11. It’s already late and we don’t want to drive around anymore unless we have to. We think with the vague answer from the customer service lady, and the security person saying this, and the MANY trucks and RVs there, maybe they just say this, but don’t actually enforce it.

At 11:00 we’re met with the security person back laying on their horn over and over. Then a bang on our door. Why are we the focus??? Mike goes out and talks to them, and we are told we need to leave. Mike asks about all the other people clearly camping and they say that they are being asked to leave too, unless they are a Walmart semi (there are a couple). Sure enough, a few minutes later, we hear semis starting up and taking off. Mike had asked the person if they had a suggestion about where to go, and they mentioned the Winco a few miles away that’s open 24 hours.

So, off we go. The only place we have in mind is a rest area about 30 miles away, but decide to cruise by Winco first to see if it’s an option. NOPE, just one RV there. Not positive it was camping. And no spots long enough for us with our 45 feet of combined motorhome and tow car anyway. Oh well.

We’re not happy, but resigned to a shitty, sleepless night. On our way to the rest stop, we see a “view point” off the highway with people parked at it. We exit and cross over, and decide to join them there. There are several cars, a few semis, and 3-4 RVs.

So, there we stayed, basically on the side of the highway… and by now it’s 1:00 AM and we’re tired and cranky and ready for bed.

Once able to fall asleep, we slept well, thankfully. And the silver lining is that we woke up to a pretty view we had never stopped to see, even though we’ve surely driven by here hundreds of times over the years.

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The office at the RV Park that left us stranded opened at 9 AM and we drove up at 8:55. The woman in there was very apologetic, blamed her manager for the emergency line being ignored, and refunded us for the weekend (we have to pay $20 a night at this park even though it’s part of the membership… there are a handful of Thousand Trails parks that do this, and it’s still the better deal for us). She got us into a spot right away and promised a call from her manager who would be in soon.

I’m still waiting for the call… HA! I really wanted to talk to her, but she knows what she’s doing… avoid the folks while they’re still fired up and maybe you’ll get let off the hook. I still want to talk to her before we leave town since we’re staying at this park a lot, but who knows if I’ll even waste the energy and time in the end.

BUT, we will not arrive at this park after the office is closed again. That is for sure.