Dang RV

With the Memorial Day holiday fast approaching, it was time to make plans and reservations. Every full-timer dreads the holidays when finding a discount at a campground is impossible unless you stay somewhere for a month. Forget using Coast to Coast, Passport America, etc. The Good Sam and Escapees discounts will usually still work and if you get reservations way in advance, there are always state parks, regional parks, and Corps of Engineers campgrounds.

My cousin and I had been trying to get together for a trip all year. She came up with the bright idea to meet up near Washington, DC to camp and spend the holiday in Washington at the museums and Arlington Cemetery. Now personally that seemed a bit crazy with the obvious traffic and crowds that would be there but after thinking about it, it also seemed rather perfect and certainly smacked of adventure. To keep the cost down and get around my work schedule, I went in early.

To get to Washington DC from Pigeon Forge, I had to stay overnight in Blacksburg, VA at New River Junction Campground. Now there’s a campground I would NOT recommend even to a gopher. While it sits on the banks of a lovely river, provides tubing and canoeing, and is a Passport America park, they have no bathroom facilities at all, are surrounded on 3 sides very closely by quite active train tracks, and the person who checked me in gave me a major load of attitude. He questioned why I would come a little out of my way to stay there for one night and flat out called me lazy for not picking up a phone and calling ahead for a reservation. Since when do campgrounds, hotels, motels, etc. absolutely have to have a reservation?! Isn’t the point to be there for weary travelers as well as those who actually know they need to stay there? And with the campground nearly empty what the heck was the big deal? I hadn’t called because I was not sure how far I was going to drive that day and since it was still out of season, the risk of him being full was minimal not to mention there were other campgrounds down the road if needed. How far out of my way I go is also none of his business. I don’t know what business that guy thinks he is in but it certainly isn’t hospitality. I will NEVER EVER go there again.

I left early the next day headed to Wilderness RV Park in Spotsylvania, VA where I have stayed previously as a C2C member. A couple of very cheap nights there would help the budget. Along the way a trailer tire blew out. A very nice trucker pointed it out and pulled over with me for a few minutes to make sure I could handle it. I called the Good Sam Emergency Service and waited for them in my trailer. It was nice to be able to “use the facilities”, make a sandwich, and grab a cold drink while waiting. The service man came and quickly changed the tire at no cost to me. Within an hour I was back on the road and refreshed.

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On up the 59 through Alabama lies the next destination, Pigeon Forge, TN. One thing I can tell you, I have not been on such a lousy main road since I was on the I90 through Minnesota. Ick! It shook my nerves and rattled my soul. I couldn’t wait to get to the I75. It was a long hard drive. I should have calculated the time better and broken it up into 2 parts. The closure of I40 through Knoxville TN didn’t help any. We stopped at the rest area/welcome center just across the border for food, restroom visit, and quick snooze. The dang cat was pushing for a stop as much as I was.

Finding the Eagle’s Nest Campground on Wears Valley Rd. sure wasn’t hard. Lots of campgrounds along it. This one is Passport America with no restrictions, good level well-defined sites, great free wifi, and free cable TV. The laundry room is a bit expensive at $1.75 per wash load and taking out the trash requires a car but the rest is good and it has a trolley stop right out front. Definitely a good place to stay again.

Oh my God! I have stumbled into another Myrtle Beach with bunches of dinner shows to decide between, wonderful restaurants, a gazillion fun tourist traps, Dollywood, Smoky Mountains National Park, fascinating stores, and on and on. Oh my God! Way too many decisions to make while I’m here. I will definitely have to come back when I have more time.

I had planned to hit Dollywood first thing on my day off but of course they had to be closed that day. Switch to plan B. I took a drive through the town to get acquainted, located the trolley station at Patriot Park since I will likely go to Dollywood by trolley, then got sucked in by Lid’l Dollys gigantic quilt and little girl’s dress store. I had to get beautiful and ridiculously frilly southern belle dresses for my granddaughters, a quilt for the daughter-in-law,  and my youngest son will be glad to know I now have another blanket/quilt on board for the times he joins me for some fun.

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The idea of camping in a theme park attracted me to Childersburg, AL and Desoto Caverns not to mention it is very close to Talladega International Speedway. I’m not a huge racing fan but do appreciate the sport. I purposely came right after a big race. I’m not inclined to pay $70 to sit in the hot sun all day watching cars go round and round but I did want to see what the track is like up close and the International Motor Sports Museum.

The RV park at Desoto Caverns is right up against the theme park. They had assigned me a spot against the fence of one of the attractions but I quickly told them that would not do as I need to sleep during the day which would be impossible with all the noise of the kids. I had already driven through the park and knew where the open spaces were. Luckily, one farthest away and in a location with access to the southern sky for my satellite dish was available. It was level, angled, and easy to slip into by myself. They do have some nice pull thrus as well. They provide full utilities and most spots are level. Being Passport America, the price was right. I enjoyed staying there and the location is excellent.

The theme park was interesting though expensive for what it is. During the week many schools go there. Weekends is for families. It is fun watching the people mice running through the maze from the tower. Walking the wall, the maze, water balloon battle, archery, and the ship to ship nerf ball cannons were popular. The cave crawl looked interesting though I would not want to be trapped in the box with others as some did. My favorite was racing potties and bathtubs. I kid you not. They have motorized battery driven toilets and bathtubs with a whole lot of pep to race around a track.

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Off to check out the Gulf of Mexico near Gulfport and Pass-Christian, Mississippi which are popular snowbird destinations. I went to 5 Star Resort in Pass-Christian, a C2C-RPI park. Don’t let the name fool you. It is an average park in a great location. The Gulf and white sand beaches are minutes away. Stennis Space Center, boat tours, casinos, Jefferson Davis’s last home, a national seashore, Lake Ponchetrain in Louisianna, New Orleans, etc. are close by.

The park itself has a clubhouse, pool I never saw used, hot tub, bayou for boating, many permanent residents in a separate section, etc. The staff were nice. Given the choice of a very treed area, partially treed area, or open grass area, I chose one of the easy level pull-thrus in the grassy area to use my satellite dish. My Verizon air card got lots of signal though I still needed to use the external antenna to get any stability. They provided a key to the clubhouse so I had the wifi in the clubhouse as a backup for work.

I hit the beach first thing. Parking was easy with many many turnouts provided to park as well as free parking lots. Beach Blvd./US90 is a wonderful drive. The water is warm and waves very little. You have to walk out a ways to get in deep which was nice. Here and there are piers to fish and places with jet skis anchored in the water ready to rent. I waded way in for a while and flew my kites over the water. An RV couple seemed to be camped out in one parking lot with their motorhome across several spaces door to the sidewalk, awning and chairs out, sipping drinks and watching the sea.

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Sunset King Resort is one of those idyllic lake resorts we all dream of going to with fishing, a wonderful heated swimming pool, a porch with lots of rocking chairs overlooking the lake, cabins for rent, active clubhouse and restaurant, pavilion, miniature golf, it’s own chapel for Sunday church services, crafts for sale, private combo bathroom/shower rooms, cable TV, very good Wifi for a fee, etc. It was quite relaxing and enjoyable. It has earned top honors from campground associations and deserves them.

I was definitely buggered that I couldn’t go in the pool due to an injury. It was perfect. One night I sat on the porch above it rocking while a lot of kids were in it at 8pm. It reminded me of growing up with our own pool in California. We used to go swimming before bed time on hot summer nights. It’s guaranteed to make you sleep sound. I sure wish I could have joined them.

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With a 6 hour or more drive to my next stop, I needed to stay somewhere for one night to break the drive up. 6 hours is just too long when towing a trailer. I was planning on staying way down upon the Suwanee River but checked on it the night before and found both state parks were flooded and closed. After a little scrambling, I found a cheap Passport America park in White Springs, FL just off the I75 and I10 interchange. Lee’s Country Campground is a great place to layover. It’s quiet and peaceful with grassy open pull thru sites, a big screen TV available in the office area 24 hours, decent showers, and rocking chairs to enjoy the evening air. The sites are not level so be prepared for that.

We had a thunder and lightening storm that night with tornado warnings in other nearby counties so I was very glad to be off the road.

The weather, as predicted, got pretty bad on departure day and was even worse where I was heading so I decided to take a week out nearby to go say hey to my friends in Bushnell again and also check out Breezy Oaks which is next door to the Escapees park I usually stay at. I found it odd that it is so popular that it is always full every winter since it is right next to I75 which means lots of noise and there is more to do in the Escapees park. However, the monthly rate and daily Passport America rate do make it much cheaper to stay at. It also has pretty good Verizon aircard signal and wifi is available. The pool is heated, large and very very nice. Every night someone is playing cards in the clubhouse. I hear they have lots going on during the season which seemed to end around April 1st when all the snowbirds started winging their way home again. The great migration back north actually seems to start the last week of March but the biggest group leaves the next week and the parks suddenly become empty.

I stopped in next door at my favorite Escapees park a couple nights. I put most of a puzzle together one night. They invited me over for Easter dinner. I also got an invite from the folks at Breezy Oaks. It’s nice to be wanted.   I was tempted to go for the Breezy Oaks dinner where I knew someone was bringing KFC cole slaw but in the end chose the Escapees at Sumter Oaks and was not disappointed. They had shrimp platter and deviled egg appetizers, ham, chicken, my baked beans, green bean casserole, salads, potatoes, and lots of cheese cake. Woohoo!

I got some great tips from fellow RVers there. One in particular to pass on is http://rvdirections.com which has tons of GPS waypoints and info for RVers that can be loaded into both a Garmin GPS device and computer programs “Streets and Trips” and “Street Atlas”. It is a wonderful source of waypoints for the discount camping club parks like Passport America, Coast to Coast, Good Sam, Escapees, etc. It also has rest areas, dumps, walmarts, super walmarts, etc. The info that comes with each waypoint can be invaluable with prices, descriptions, ratings, etc.

Another good tip if you are in the area is you can fill your propane tank for $15 flat fee at a propane place just up the road from Walmart on the left side. Much cheaper than at the RV parks. They are open M-F.

I thought I would check out Bee’s Resort in Clermont, FL since it seems to be popular. It’s a C2C/RPI park. I found it to be a typical warehouse type park with very close sites packed in. It is out in the country away from shopping but very close to the Florida Turnpike to go to all the Orlando attractions. Despite the drought, their tiny lake was nice to look at with it’s 24 hour fountain and porch swing next to it. Some of the owners have added lights and decorative blinking lighthouses along the edge. The pool is cold but nobody seemed to mind during the hot days.

I got there in time for an all-you-can-eat chicken dinner. Holy cow! They plopped so much delicious different foods on my tray that there was no need for seconds. There was plenty of room and tables for everyone and a screened porch to eat out on as well.

For fun, I drove into Kissimmee. Thank goodness for the Sun Pass on my windshield while driving the turnpike. It really is so much easier than scrambling for change. I went to a huge outdoor store and got lucky. I found the adjustable rack needed to hold my BBQ when sites don’t provide a table and it can double as the trash bag holder I have been needing for my annual document shredding. I also found a tent pole which I plan to use as an antenna extension. I have external antennas for both wifi and my aircard which I plan to clamp to the pole and extend them above the trailer roof for better reception.

Just down the street I found a Disney outlet store where I snagged my Disneyworld Tshirt. They are just too expensive to buy inside Disneyworld and there are lots of these stores near there.