Questions about Memberships

As we are coming closer to being full-timers, I am starting to look into several things more seriously. One is memberships. We joined Passport America last fall and have used their discount program several times with good results. The discounts have more than paid for the cost of membership and we will continue it. 

We joined FMCA two years ago because we wanted to go to their rally and take the seminars. We also got it for a couple of other discounts, including a discount on the driving class we took. Since I didn't think we wanted to go to any more of their rallies I was going to let it lapse, but then we discovered a nice discount on a tire purchase. We will need to buy more tires sometime in the future, so I will keep up the FMCA membership.

I'm wondering which others we should join. We are most interested in finding decent parks with reasonable costs or discounts. 

I've looked at the Escapees website.

Are any of you members? $60 per year is only $5 per month, it seems reasonable enough. We plan on getting our mail in South Dakota, so the Escapees mail forwarding service is not a draw.   

We don't want to register the Alfa in Texas because we don't want to have to go to Texas for inspections once a year. (We may go to Texas, but we don't want to have to go to Texas.) 

So we would be looking at the Escapees for their parks discounts and any other benefits we don't yet know we need. If you are a SKP, which benefits do you use?

We sat thru one sales pitch for a membership program when we were in Las Vegas. We did it so we could get a few nights at the resort for free, and will do so again if we have the opportunity. But we are not ready to jump into a contract for owning a site. Besides I have heard that if you want to buy into such a thing you can get them cheaper as a resale. Much like time shares.


Are there any programs that we should be wary of?  Any rip offs?