Planning an FSU Home Game Weekend from an RV

Home football weekends in Tallahassee are their own season. The town fills up, the roads fill up, and a lot of RVers plan their fall around a handful of Saturdays. If you're one of them, a little planning ahead makes the difference between a relaxed weekend and a scramble. Tallahassee RV Park sits just off I-10 at Exit 209A, only minutes from Florida State University, and it keeps a separate set of rules for game weekends. Here's how to plan around them.

The game weekend rate

The regular daily rate at the park is $77 a night, and that price includes surcharges for park administration and software fees. All rates include applicable state and local taxes, so the number you see is the number you pay. On football weekends the rate is $105 a night, regardless of the nature of the stay. The weekend rate applies to everyone staying those nights, whatever brings you to town. Do the math before you book and decide what the weekend is worth to you.

If you travel with a discount card, ask about it when you call. The park lists discounts for Good Sam, AARP and military guests, active, veteran or retired. Whether one applies to a game weekend is a question for the office, and it's better to ask before you pay than after.

Prepaid, and not refundable

Read this part twice. The park's rules say that FSU home game weekends, and football season monthly stays, are prepaid in full and 100 percent non-refundable. That's different from the regular cancellation policy, where cancelling 48 or more hours before check-in costs a $10 fee and keeps the rest as camp credit. For game weekends there is no such cushion.

So book the weekend when your plans are settled, and think through what happens if the truck needs work, the weather turns or the tickets fall through. Once the money is in, it's in. Nobody likes that rule, and it's still better to know it going in than to find it out on the phone in September.

Give them 72 hours, and more for a big weekend

Online reservation requests need 72 hours of notice. That's three days before you want to arrive, and for a game weekend you'll want to be well ahead of that, because chances are everybody else in an RV has the same Saturday circled. If you're inside 72 hours, call the office at (850) 878-7641 instead of sending a form. Otherwise you can send a request through the park's reservation page, and staff call you back to confirm.

Remember, too, that the park can't promise a specific site. If you need a certain amp service, a pull-through or room for a long rig, say so when you ask. The park has 20, 30 and 50 amp service and long pull-through sites, shaded or open, and the more the office knows about your rig, the better the fit.

Arrive at noon, leave by eleven

Check-in is at noon Eastern time and check-out is at 11 AM Eastern. On a game weekend that's the whole shape of your schedule. Plan your breakfast and your fuel stop on the road and show up around noon rather than at the crack of dawn. On the last morning, be packed and rolling by eleven. A slow Sunday is a fine thing, but it isn't something to count on when the park is full.

Coming from Pensacola on I-10 East, leave at Exit 209A and turn right from the off ramp. Coming from Jacksonville on I-10 West, leave at Exit 209A and turn left. Either way the entrance is less than a mile on the right. Know your route before you roll, and check the official game day information for kickoff times and any road changes near campus rather than guessing.

Tailgate plans that follow the rules

Plenty of RVers like to cook out. The park's rules don't allow wood fires on the ground or in a fire pit, but propane fire pits are allowed. Quiet time runs from 10 pm to 8 am, and the speed limit inside the park is 5 mph, so take the late celebration or the post-game recap inside the rig with the windows shut. Only self-contained RVs are welcome, so no tents. Motorized bikes, scooters and golf carts need a licensed operator who is 16 or older.

• Your confirmation and the park's phone number, (850) 878-7641, saved in your phone and written on paper.
• A propane fire pit if you want an evening fire, since wood fires aren't allowed.
• Your water hose, a pressure regulator and a sewer hose with a good support, so you're hooked up in minutes.
• Enough propane for cooking and for heat if the night turns cool.
• A plan for leaving early on the last morning, ahead of check-out and ahead of traffic.

Use the park while you're here

A game weekend has a lot of waiting around in it, and the park has places to do it. There's a pool, a clubhouse with a full kitchen, horseshoe pits, a dog walk area, laundry open 24 hours and complimentary wifi. A pot of chili in the clubhouse kitchen and a game of horseshoes make a good way to meet the people in the next site over. Book early, read the prepaid rule twice, and the rest is just football.