Meadow Event Park - Doswell, Virginia (July 2019)

We finally arrived with Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer, at the staging area for the WBCCI (Wally Byam Caravan Club International, the Airstream Owner’s Association) International Rally in Doswell, Virginia. We arrived a few minutes before 9 a.m. so that we could enter the park as prearranged with our group.

The question was where was the group?  The staging area was empty because the volunteers were parking Airstreams as fast as they arrived. We told the parkers that we wanted to be parked with the unit we planned to arrive with and they said they would take us to that area. 

Waiting in the Staging Area before being parked

That was a good thing because our unit friends somehow were parked in a premium location. We were farther away from the meeting areas than at past International Rallies, but we had great utilities.

Rosie parked in Doswell

We couldn’t have been set up more than 10 minutes before we started seeing people we knew from our previous caravans. One of the things we love about WBCCI caravans is how we make friends with others sharing that journey. 

It is always amazing to see a sea of 700 Airstream trailers in one campground. I imagine that local people driving by the park couldn’t help but notice all of the shiny aluminum Airstreams in the park. 

Some of the Airstream trailers in Doswell

The Doswell International Rally was different than the ones we attended in the past in that most of the excursions this time included a two hour bus ride to get there. That didn’t tempt us to sign up for any tours. 

Another anomaly with Doswell as an International Rally was that it only had a couple of restaurants and the arrival of hundreds and hundreds of Airstream trailers completely overwhelmed them. We did find a nice restaurant about 15 minutes down the Interstate and enjoyed our multiple visits there. 

You always learn useful information at International. The programs we attended were helpful to us. 

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• Our site was grass and that was much better than parking in the heat on asphalt 
• Our site could be best described as a back-in. It is hard to tell when you are being parked in a field 
• Our site had both 30 and 50 amp electrical service. Most sites at this campground had a “shared” 50 amp service. That meant most campers could only depend on 25 amp power
• Our site had a dedicated water feed. Most sites at this campground had shared water connections
• Our site had a sewer connection. Most sites did not have sewer connections
• The restrooms and showers were few and far between. The temperatures inside them easily exceeded 100 degrees and they were not stocked nor maintained. 
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, FOX, PBS and NBC using Rosie’s TV antenna. We were also able to see digital channels Antenna, Bounce, CHARGE, COMET, Escape, Grit, ION, LAFF, ME-TV, and MY-TV
• AT&T placed 3bars of 4G service over our site
• The campground had very overwhelmed WiFi service available in select buildings 
• There were many roads in the park that were bicycle friendly 

The heat was a big issue while in Doswell. Temperatures exceeded 100 for nearly a week. We were relieved that Rosie’s air conditioner preformed well during the heat wave. 

The temperatures returned to normal the second week and it was great to see people riding their bikes and out walking during the day. We have noticed that everyone is friendly to each other at the WBCCI International Rallies. 

The claim to fame at Doswell’s Meadow Event Park was that Triple Crown winner race horse Secretariat was born there. Multiple reminders were around the park of its past significance in breeding race horses.

I'm sure they won't mind if we take the horse out for a spin around the park! (OK, it’s a horse mural!)

Catching the shuttle to move around in the park

They say that Virginia is for lovers . . . 

Lilly pads

Rosie's flags in the breeze

Suzy about to enjoy the show

Becky's original watercolor painting entered in the art show

This was labeled as the world's second largest horseshoe

Richmond North / Kings Dominion KOA - Doswell, Virginia (July 2019)

To paraphrase fictional character Forest Gump, KOA is like a box of chocolates. You never know what your are going to get. Some KOA campgrounds are great while others have room for significant improvements.

Our experience at this campground may have been unique. Others in the campground probably had a great camping experience in this park. 

Our problems started when we arrived at our site for the night and found another camper there. The person in our site said that his tow vehicle broke down and he notified the office that he couldn’t leave. Somehow the office didn’t make note of this.

The entrance to Richmond North / Kings Dominion KOA

OK, things happen while on the road. We understand that and we hope the family who had to make emergency repairs on their tow vehicle were able to salvage their vacation. Still, we couldn’t help but notice that the site we reserved weeks earlier was one of the park’s better ones and it was in the shade. With temperatures soaring around 100, shade was important. 

The alternative available sites were in the sun and came with problems. For example one of the suggested alternative sites had a strong left-to-right lean. The leveling app on my iPhone said the right side of Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer, needed to be lifted more than five inches to level it. We’ve had less leveling problems camping in the mountains. How could an asphalt site lean that much?

We finally ended up in a sunny site that only required two inches of leveling tools. Well, it was only for one hot night.

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• Our site was a pull-thru and paved with asphalt 
• Our site was very unlevel, something we didn’t expect from an asphalt site
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection 
• Our site had a sewer connection 
• The brochure we were given at the park said we had cable TV. We didn’t and none of our neighbors had cable TV hookups either 
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, FOX, PBS and NBC using Rosie’s TV antenna. We were also able to see digital channels Antenna, Bounce, CHARGE, COMET, Escape, Grit, Ion, LAFF, ME-TV, and MY-TV
• The campground brochure said it had WiFi. We wondered where the WiFi was?
• AT&T placed two bars of 4G service over our site for voice and data
• The campground had a nice swimming pool 
• The campground had a good playground area for children 
• There was only a small restroom and one shower near the swimming pool. According to the campground brochure, a larger restroom with more showers were located somewhere else in the campground 

By the way, the campground had a bumper crop of mosquitoes. Somehow, that wasn’t in the campground brochure.