Is a Harvest Hosts Membership a Good Idea for RVers?

At the time we purchased our Harvest Hosts membership, we didn’t exactly know how often we would use the benefits.

At that point, I knew it was a pretty cool idea. It fascinated me to think about staying in so many different places as we traveled in our RV across the United States and Canada.

Throughout the year after we purchased our membership, we had only visited three different locations. We spent a total of only four nights at Harvest Hosts locations.

This is much less than I wish I could say we had used it because each and every stay has been completely remarkable and enjoyable.

When we started out on this grand RVing adventure, I was focused heavily on options that would allow us to cut costs and live cheaply on the road.

And when I saw that I could couple that focus with the ability to experience “off the beaten path” wineries, farms, and cideries across the continent, it was a complete no-brainer.

Our First Harvest Host Experience

Our first Harvest Hosts experience proved to be a completely unexpected and fantastic international experience. And it wasn’t even a vineyard, actually.

We soaked in the sights and sounds in that striking landscape for about a week. But the time came to start making our way to the southwest toward our next destination in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Most RV parks that I had been able to track down between Banff and Vancouver were either well out of the way or pretty dang expensive.

Neither of those appealed to me very much, especially with the additional expenses we incurred during our Banff excursions. I wanted to pinch some pennies!

SCENIC ROAD CIDER

Enter Scenic Road Cider Co. in Kelowna, BC. Located in a picturesque setting just 15 minutes outside of downtown Kelowna, we pulled up without much of a clue of what to expect.

We knew that we would not have water or electricity during our one-night stay. We also believed the adventure was worth the unknowns and any inconveniences.

A LITTLE HISTORY ABOUT THIS FAMILY-OWNED CIDERY

We were not wrong. It was MORE than worth it.

One of the owners, Marina, walked down the road to greet us. She showed us to our parking spot for the night. And she offered to give us a tour and a tasting even though their cider mill was closed that day.

After getting everything situated for our stay, we walked up the hill where we met Marina’s husband, Harv. They gave us a full tour and told us the story of their cidery operation. It was fascinating.

We learned how their family had accidentally stumbled into the cider business after buying the plot of land, which had a mature apple orchard.

GREAT HOSTS, GREAT LOCATION, GREAT BEVERAGES

As entrepreneurs ourselves, we were completely engrossed in their story. We love hearing the backstory of accidental entrepreneurs!

And Harv and Marina were very gracious hosts. They offered us samples of all the different tasty varieties of cider. There were so many tasty options, it was tough to decide which ones to buy. So, naturally we purchased a few different varieties.

This is a great way to support your host and get some incredible goodies for yourself. Win-win!

We enjoyed a peaceful stay right on the edge of their family orchard. Then early the next morning, we started our journey to Vancouver.

A few months later, we took advantage of an opportunity to stay at a couple of other places. One was in northern Oregon and the other in the southern part of the state.

Plum Hill Vineyards in Gaston, just a bit southwest of Portland welcomed us to their winery. They also provided us with a water connection and a 15-Amp electric connection. Yes, we were quite comfortable.

Our two-night stay proved to be equally enjoyable with a full wine tasting. We purchased a couple bottles to take back to the RV and enjoy later.

The second stop, Devitt Winery & Vineyards, is located about 30 minutes southwest of Medford, Oregon. It was the perfect stopping point for us as we made our way from Florence on the Oregon coast to central Oregon. We were headed to Umpqua National Forest and Crater Lake, which was the experience of a lifetime.

The crew at Devitt showed us great hospitality. Once again we enjoyed the benefits of being a Harvest Host guest. We toured their vineyard, tasted lovely wine, and bought a few souvenir bottles to enjoy later. Incidentally, they also offered us water and a 15-Amp electrical connection. That was a wonderful added bonus.

Fast forward many months later and we’re still using and loving our Harvest Host membership! But now it’s just the two of us in our campervan.

Todd wrote a post for the Harvest Host blog about our recent stay at an alpaca farm in Aubrey, Texas. This is definitely in our top 5 favorite places we’ve stayed.

The alpacas were amazing and so were the owners.

If my RV, 26-foot travel trailer, was better equipped for boondocking, we would have used Harvest Hosts far more often. The majority of the host locations are not equipped to offer water or electric hookups for your RV. This makes it more challenging for us.

But, if you are set up for going off-grid with your RV, you will have many more opportunities to enjoy your stays with Harvest Hosts. If your rig has larger holding tanks and solar or generator power, you will be all set.

I can almost guarantee that you will get the chance to use a Harvest Hosts membership much more often than we do.

Even though we only spent four nights at remarkable locations over the course of about a year, the membership still paid for itself.

Let me explain. We paid an average of about $35 per night for an RV site over the past year. That excludes our stays at Thousand Trails campgrounds.

We paid $49 for our membership. With the Harvest Hosts membership, our overnight stays are free. Since we did not incur RV Park fees during those four nights we stayed at a Harvest Host location, we saved $91. $35 x 4 nights = $140 less $49 annual fee = $91!

So even with minimal use, the membership can save you money.

Note that the annual fee has increased over time. It now costs $99. At certain times of the year, you may be able to snag a discount. If you’re interested, be sure to occasionally check their site for promotions. Oftentimes during the holidays, they may offer a substantial discount.

But more importantly, it has broadened our family’s horizons and allowed us to meet some beautiful people in gorgeous settings. (The wine and cider purchased during our stays was also a wonderful little perk, just FYI.)

We have zero regrets about our Harvest Hosts membership purchase and feel that our lives have been enriched by the opportunities that the membership has offered us.

You can bet that I will be renewing our membership for another year (or longer) when the time comes this summer.

We crave more experiences like these that Harvest Hosts has opened us up to.

As I prepare my RV for more boondocking, you can also bet that I will enjoy more experiences and outdoor adventures at Harvest Hosts locations across the country.

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