Cozy Rosie: White Oak Creek COE Campground - Eufaula, Alabama (October 2020)

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

White Oak Creek COE Campground - Eufaula, Alabama (October 2020)

Our first camping trip during the COVID-19 pandemic camping was a success and lit the fire for more adventures in Rosie, our Airstream trailer. Once home, we started talking about going out camping again.

The parameters for another trip were similar to our previous outing. We wanted to stay in a park close to home and we wanted a campground with large sites. We were able to get reservations at the White Oak Creek Army Corps of Engineers Campground.

Sign at White Oak Creek COE Campground

This is a campground located south of Eufaula, Alabama, along the shore of Lake George. It is also a campground we stayed in twice before.

There are four camping loops in this park and I imagine all are full during the summer. We were there during the late Fall and only three loops were open. It seemed camping during the pandemic was a popular idea as there were only a few unoccupied sites in the entire park.

Rosie in White Oak Creek COE Campground

It appeared to us that fishing was very popular among the campers there during the week. The park's complexion seemed to change over the weekend as the jet skiing and water skiing crowd arrived. That crowd pulled out on Sunday afternoon leaving the campground to the quiet fishing boats.

Suzy looking at the lake

We took our inflatable tandem kayak and enjoyed our excursions around the lake. On one of our trips, Becky did a FaceTime video session with our three year-old grandson. He was excited about going on a kayak trip with his grandparents and enjoyed the adventure as we paddled under the bridge at one end of the park.

Kayak ready for the lake

Enjoying the lake

Heading towards Rosie

On one of our kayak trips on the lake, we started noticing dozens and dozens of what appeared to be empty one liter soda bottles wrapped in orange foam bobbing on the water. As we paddled over toward one of these things to investigate, a fishing boat beelined toward us at high speed. The man on the boat started yelling at us about his catfish noodles. Well, that solved the mystery as to what those things were on the water. From that time on, we were carefully watched by the fisherman.

Catfish Noodles on the lake

Selfie on the lake

We also enjoyed riding our bicycles around this park. Once again, Becky took our grandson on a FaceTime bike ride around the park. Needless to say, he was excited to join his grandparents as he shared in a Rosie adventure using digital technology.

Riding bikes at White Oak COE Campground

As silly as it sounds, we noticed a familiar Airstream in the campground. Did you think all Airstream trailers looked alike? Maybe, but we recognized the Wally Byam Airstream Club Big Red Numbers on the trailer. We were on the WBAC Springtime in Kentucky several years ago with those friends and were schedule to be with them on the Gone to Texas this year. Of course, COVID cancelled all WBAC caravans.

Our friends in White Oak Campground

Here are some specifics about this campground:

There were four loops in the campground. Most of the sites in this campground we’re on the water.
Our site was paved with concrete and was level. It appeared to us that the sites in the other loops were also paved with concrete
Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service
Our site had a water connection
Our site did not have a sewer connection
There were two dump stations in this park. Both were a distance from the camp sites and you ended up having to drive there to dump your sewage tote
The trash dumpsters were at the dump stations. That meant it was too far to walk there with your trash
There were multiple bathhouses in the campground. The volunteer at the gate suggested we use the bathroom in our trailer since the number of COVID-19 cases in Alabama were increasing during that time span
The park did not provide WiFi service
AT&T provided decent 4G voice and data service over our campsite
We were able to watch only PBS using Rosie’s TV antenna. We were glad we brought our DVR with episodes of TV shows and movies we wanted to watch
The campground was near Eufaula, Alabama. That meant there were restaurants and shopping nearby
This was a pet friendly park

We discovered a little too late that it was ant season at the campground. We immediately went into "full ant mode" by making sure our power and water lines didn't touch the ground and spraying ant pesticide around every point of Rosie touching the ground. We also had to spray Rosie's outer skin where we found ant trails. It had been years since we were camping in a location with ant problems and we ended up having to fight the critters both inside and outside our trailer.

As we were using the dump station before leaving the park, someone pulled a sewage tote up to the dump station next to the one we were using. We asked if he noticed the ant problem at his motorhome. He quickly snapped back that they had not seen any ants at their site. Becky and I chuckled as he left the dump station that he may not have seen any yet, but time will tell. It is almost too late once you start seeing them.

The ants are just a part of the camping experience and you have to be diligent in trying to keep them out. They did not lower our opinion of this great campground.