After 7 months of stationary full-time RVing, we were finally ready to actually hit the road. To start our adventures, we headed down to southern Illinois to see total eclipse and explore the Shawnee National Forest. From our home base, this is about a 6 hour drive even without towing a camper. We also travel with our animals, so knew we had to split the drive up. Early in our research into full-time RV life we looked at Harvest Hosts, and now seemed the perfect time to try it out. We did a one night stay on a farm in Atlanta, IL and it was a great first experience! We were anxious going into the experience, not really knowing what to expect, but now that we have our first night under our belt we’re excited to use our membership more.
What is Harvest Hosts?
Harvest Hosts is a membership program that lets you camp for free at host locations across the US. Once you pay your annual membership fee, you have access to camping at tons of unique places like museums, wineries, farms, and more. They also have an add-on memberships that give you access to golf courses. Another add-on option is Boondockers Welcome, which used to be its own website but is now part of Harvest Hosts. Boondockers Welcome is for private properties that allow people to camp, typically for 1-4 nights. In the future, we’re interested in adding this on to our membership so we can stay for longer periods of time.
How Does Harvest Hosts Work?
Once you sign up for Harvest Hosts, you’ll be able to see their map of host locations. There are thousands of locations to choose from. We’re really excited to start using it more in the future, not just for free camping on drive days, but for the unique experiences some of them offer. A lot of the hosts allow you to request a booking right on the website, but some still require you to call to book. You’re only allowed to stay one night, unless the host offers to let you stay longer. Harvest Hosts is limited to people with self-contained RVs- very rarely do sites have any kind of hookups or bathrooms available.
How Much Does Harvest Hosts Cost?
Right now the base plan is $99/year, but there is pretty much always a discount code or two floating around- so you shouldn’t have to pay full price. Adding on Boondockers Welcome brings you up to $169/year, and the full-access membership with Harvest Hosts, Boondockers Welcome, & golf course access is $179/year. Once you pay your membership fee, there is no camping fee. However, you are strongly encouraged to spend at least $30 at the host’s business. That $30 might cover a brewery tour, museum admission, or specialty shop purchase- so for us we’ll consider part of our entertainment budget instead of camping budget.
All About Our First Harvest Hosts Experience
Our Pre-Camping Experience
We knew the route we wanted to drive down to southern Illinois and our approximate halfway point, we searched on the map by location. The hard part of planning was that we were driving down on Easter Sunday, which was not the ideal time and did limit our options. We found two options in Atlanta, Illinois that were perfect location-wise. Then we debated back and forth for a while on which one to choose. Our two options were a family farm with on-site farm store & chocolate shop, and a parking spot by a Route 66 billboard. The farm with store (and especially the chocolate shop!) sounded more fun, but we felt bad about disturbing people on Easter. After going back and forth more, looking at photos and Google Maps street view, we ended up choosing the farm, Wertheims Gardens. We requested the stay through the online system and very quickly heard back from the host that it was approved- including a note not to worry about it being Easter since people come and go from the farm all the time.
Our Harvest Hosts Camping Experience
Our host Amy told us to call her from the exit ramp getting into Atlanta so she could meet us at the road to give directions on where to park. Rain was in the forecast, so she had us park on the gravel drive in front of her house. She told us later that she’s had multiple guests at a time and when there’s no rain she parks people all over the farm. Once we parked, we both got out for her to give us a rundown of the farm. You could tell she’s an experienced host since she had the spiel down pat. Her family was over for Easter dinner and would soon be doing an egg hunt right near where we were parked, so we unhitched and headed into town to get out of the way since we felt bad. We did some sightseeing around town and got gas, and then headed back to the farm.
After we saw the family cars gone, we walked over to the candy shop to find Amy. We ended up talking for quite a while, hearing her stories about the farm and her barbecue competition days. Her son is the 8th generation on the farm and they do all kinds of different projects like growing herbs, hops, and more. The family candy shop has been in business since 1948 and makes hand dipped chocolates. Amy is also starting her 4th year as a Harvest Host site. In the first year they had 157 rigs stay with them and last year over 300! After a good long chat, we picked out some chocolates to purchase and headed back to the RV. It wasn’t the best night’s sleep, since there was a lot of wind and basically no wind break- but it was quiet and peaceful. In the morning there was no checkout, so we just hitched up and rolled out.
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