We’ve been overflowed

The rule at the FamCamp is that if the campground is full and people are waiting to get in, campers have to move into what they call “overflow” after 21 days 

Yesterday was our Day 21.  Since this is a popular place, we are spending tonight in overflow, which means our camp site has no electric, water or sewer hooks ups.  That’s not a big deal for us, as our rig has solar, a generator, water tanks, etc. Plus, it looks like we’ll only be in overflow one night.  In the recent past, hurricanes and the oil spill were sending people to Tucson who normally would go to the Gulf, and people were in overflow as many as six days.     

The system that moves you in and out of overflow was a little confusing to us at first.  But if you want to stay at the FamCamp longer than 21 days, this is how it works: 

On Day 21 you go to the FamCamp office in the afternoon. If the camp is not full and no one is in overflow, you can sign up for another 21 days.  If people are waiting to get in, the staff lets you know that you’ll need to move into the overflow area the next morning.

On Day 22, you are to be at the FamCamp office by 8 a.m. to get a first come/first served number. That number determines where you are on the overflow list and you move into overflow.  At the end of the day, the staff posts a list of all the camp sites expected to be available the next day, plus the names of everyone (listed in order of the number you got earlier in the day) on the overflow list.

The next day, you are to be in the office at 9 a.m. The staff calls people up to the front desk by their number, you get to pick an available camp sites and move to your new home. If you aren’t there when your number is called, you go to the end of the list. This is the military, after all. And we will definitely be at the office before 9 a.m.

Our overflow camping spot -- a campsite without electric, water, and sewer hook ups -- is actually bigger than the campsite we had with full hook ups.  But full hook ups make life cushy, so we'll move into a spot with hook ups in the morning.