Lake Somerset Campground - Westover, Maryland ( October 2019)

We felt as if we were entering a time warp when we pulled Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer, into this campground. It was like being transported back in time about 50 years.

There were lawn knick-knacks and doo-dads everywhere. A few of these were pirates, pirate ships, a wooden Indian and covered wagons around the lake. The campground also had a miniature golf course and a huge playground. Similar to everything else in this campground, the playground looked like it was from the 1950s.

Entering this campground

The pirate on-duty

Ship wreck

You cannot walk around this campground without thinking someone found an amusement park garage sale and bought the place out. 

Check-in didn’t go smoothly. I was told the price was $15 more than the figure I was given when I made reservations. Come to find out, the unexpected $15 was the deposit on a gate pass. Since we were not planning on unhitching, we didn’t need a gate key and saved the $15 fee. 

Speaking of the check-in process, all the campground wanted was the fee. We were not asked our vehicle’s license tag numbers, given a campground map, no list of rules and no lecture about what happens to troublemakers. We were verbally given a site number and told we couldn’t miss it. He was correct because we found it.

Suzy on a walk near Rosie's site

An online description of this park said that it had 100 seasonal sites and 30 sites for pass-thru campers. The seasonal area of the campground was packed. For some reason this campground had a bumper crop of old, dilapidated trailers. There were only two nightly campers in the park while we were there. 

Halloween must be a big deal in this campground. A surprising number of sites were decorated with ghosts and goblins. 

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• Our site was a pull-thru 
• Our site was paved with dirt and we needed to use our leveling tools to correct a side-to-side lean
• Our site was lined by rows of mature trees on both sides, which required us to be very careful upon exiting
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service
• Our site had a water connection 
• Our site had a sewer connection 
• There was a dump station in the campground 
• The restroom and showers near our site were dated but clean 
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, FOX and PBS using Rosie’s antenna. We also saw digital channels Bounce, Court, Grit, Ion and ME-TV
• AT&T placed two bars of 4G service for voice and data over our site 
• The campground did not provide WiFi service 

Photo op?

Suzy is in the slammer

The horse and wagon next to the lake

The wooden Indian

RVcation RV Park - Selma, North Carolina (October 2019)

It is easy to get confused when trying to find this park. The exit ramp from the Interstate was abnormally long and the service road to the campground paralleled that exit. Between the exit ramp and the service road was the entrance ramp to the Interstate. The close proximity of these three roads made it easy to make a wrong turn that would have sent you miles down the Interstate. 

Thankfully, the GPS made sure we turned on the right road. I couldn’t help but think of the pastor of our church who once said, “Wrong roads don’t lead to right places.”

This campground was along a small lake. The neighboring property appeared to be the regional administrative offices for a major church. The denomination appeared to be diligent about maintaining not only their property but the lake that was shared with the campground.

The lake

It appeared to me that being next to the Interstate was good for business. Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer, had plenty of company in the front section of the campground as it was almost full of “passing thru” campers.

Rosie in the campground

The rest of the campground was filled with seasonal renters. Unlike many campgrounds with an abundance of shabby seasonal units, these appeared to be maintained.

I expected to hear the busy Interstate traffic noise and the sounds from the nearby train tracks, Neither turned out to be a problem.

Most private campgrounds have rules and we understand why. This park had lots and lots and lots of rules. For some reason, the person working the check-in area felt it was important to read and underline pertinent parts of their rules to us.

The rule he was most passionate about was the 8 mph speed limit. We had to sign a "document" acknowledging the 8 mph limit and attesting that we would tell everyone in our group about the speed limit. Suzy, our Yorkie dog, didn't appear to be impressed when we told her about the speed limit.

Speed limit signs were everywhere

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• Our site was a pull-thru 
• Our site was paved with dirt and some gravel
• Our site was level
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service
• Our site had a water connection 
• Our site had a sewer connection 
• There was a dump station in the campground 
• The restroom and showers had about as much privacy as the ones I had during basic training in the Army. Individual stalls had "saloon" type doors without locks. People had to open them to see if the stall was occupied. I think the campground should do much better than the Army 
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS and PBS using Rosie’s antenna. We also saw digital channels Court, Grit and LAFF
• AT&T placed three bars of 4G service for voice and data over our site 
• The campground provided good WiFi service 

Petersburg COE Campground - Clarks Hill, Georgia (October 2019)

Google Maps lied! We were passing through the south side of Atlanta and it said it would only add 90 minutes to our trip to visit one of our favorite stores north of town. We were silly enough to believe it.

It actually took four hours to crisscross Atlanta. To make things interesting, Google Maps squeezed us and Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer, through some very narrow residential streets. 

That was a nerve-wracking and exhausting side trip. 

Our four hour detour meant we would arrive at Petersburg COE Campground after dark so we called the park and the camp host gave us directions and helpful hints on finding our site. He also said that the front gate would be  locked at 10 pm and we would have to make other arrangements if it appeared we wouldn’t make that deadline. 

Thankfully, we made it through Atlanta’s horrible traffic and the rest of the trip was smooth sailing.

This campground is approximately 17 miles off the Interstate Highway. We had to be very careful navigating the backroads of Georgia in the dark because we saw deer grazing along the side of the road. 

Watching campers setup in the dark has been entertaining to us in the past. It wasn’t as amusing this time as we tried to set up in the dark. To add to our woes, the batteries in two flashlights decided that was a perfect time to quit working. Our third flashlight didn’t let us down. 

Things looked better the next morning.  Rosie was parked next to a lake. Sunrise over the water was beautiful.

Our site 

Our site was huge. We didn’t see our neighbors on either side of us. There was space for Rosie, our truck and it appeared there was another parking space for a boat. It seemed that most other campers in this park brought their boats and were enjoying the lake as we packed up to leave.

Sunrise

We stayed an hour or two longer than normal that morning just to see and enjoy the campground. Most Corps of Engineer campgrounds are nice and this was no exception. It was a great find. 

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• Our site was a pull-thru and that was helpful since we arrived after dark
• Our site was paved with dirt and was level
• 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 was a dump station in the campground 
• The restroom and showers near our site were functional and clean
• We were able to watch ABC, FOX and PBS using Rosie’s antenna. We also saw digital channels Bounce, Court, Grit, Ion and ME-TV
• AT&T service drifted in and out while we were in this campground. At best, we had only one bar of unreliable 4G service for voice and data
• The campground did not provide WiFi service 

Reflection of the sunrise

Our site was on the lake

Grayton Beach State Park - Santa Rosa Beach, Florida (September 2019)

A funny thing happened while on our way to camp for a week at Topsail Preserve State Park near Destin, Florida. We started talking about how we enjoyed Grayton Beach State Park more than Topsail.

This isn’t to say that Topsail isn’t a great park. We simply enjoy Grayton more. If that is so, you may be wondering why we reserved space in Topsail. 

It seems to us that Hurricane Michael changed the game when it comes to getting reservations in Florida State Parks. It was always difficult, but not impossible, to get reservations at a park along Florida’s Gulf coast. Hurricane Michael destroyed both camping loops in Port St Joe’s state park. That took 130 prime campsites out of circulation and increased the pressure on the remaining state parks. The result was that it is just about impossible to book a site in one of Florida’s Gulf Coast campgrounds. You find yourself reserving a site in a campground that isn’t on your “A-List” because it is available. 

One thing led to another as we talked about campgrounds and we decided to call Grayton to see if a last minute site had opened up. It had and we immediately reserved it.

Rosie at Grayton Beach State Park

We both grew up in Florida and know better than to make a beach trip in early September. It is normally too hot and too humid that time of the year and this one was no exception. 

We tend to reserve our beach trips in March and October, but those times were not options this year because we booked WBCCI (Wally Byam Caravan Club International, the Airstream owners association) caravans during those times. We were in North Carolina during the Spring and will be in Delaware during our favorite Fall beach camping time. That put us at the beach in early September, a time we know we shouldn’t be there.

Sunset at Grayton Beach State Park

While suffering through one of Grayton‘s hotter days, we started talking about our childhood homes in central Florida. How did our parents survive in houses without air conditioners? I remember my mother occasionally said we were going shopping in downtown Tampa because the big department stores had air conditioning. 

I also remembered the first house we moved to that had air conditioning. There was a window unit in the living room and another in my parent’s bedroom. I quickly learned how to position doors in that house so that a whiff of cool air would trickle down to my room. 

Somehow we lost that ability to cope with the heat and humidity without air conditioning and Rosie’s AC unit was up to the task. (Rosie is our 25 foot Airstream trailer.) Rosie was cozy even during the hottest days.

The beach

The downside of the heat was that we didn’t want to venture outside Rosie and spent too much time inside or, taking a page from my mother’s playbook, we went shopping during the hottest part of the day. 

We last camped in Grayton two year ago. They were closing the older loop back then to add 50 amp power and sewage connections there. Our fear was that they would remove too many trees from that loop. We were relieved to see the trees were still there. 

The campsites were renumbered since our last visit. We found that our favorite site numbers are now associated with not-as-nice sites. 

We were able to ride our bicycles by getting up early and going out before breakfast. Temperatures were too high for enjoyable rides by 8:30 a.m. We also tried to get out about a half hour before sunset, if the temperatures dropped enough.

Early morning bike rides

Stopping to take a photo

Grayton is a park you want to bring your bikes to. There are some great trails in Watercolor and Seaside. 

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• Our site was a back-in
• Our site was dirt and gravel 
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection 
• Our site had a sewer connection. All sites in this campground now have sewer connections 
• The campground has restrooms and showers in each camping loop. They were clean and well maintained 
• The campground doesn’t provide a WiFi signal
• AT&T placed four bars of  4G service for voice and data 
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and PBS stations using Rosie’s TV antenna. We also saw digital channels CW, Grit, Laff, ME-TV and THiS. After spending a small fortune to fix Rosie’s TV antenna, I’m not sure we accomplished anything as signals drifted in and out. It is hard to tell because we have always had trouble picking up TV stations while camping at Grayton 
• We quickly learned that biting black flies own the park in September. We never saw these pests when camping there during late fall and early spring 

While walking Suzy, our Yorkie dog, around our loop one afternoon, a fellow camper asked me where the dumpster was. I told her and we chatted for a few moments about camping. This was her family’s maiden trip in their new camper. They were heading from central Florida to Yellowstone, a huge undertaking especially since they had no reservations for the entire trip. 

That sounded familiar to me. My father bought a 16 foot camper when I was probably 10 years-old and took the family to Yellowstone on our inaugural trip.  My parents had to quickly learn the ropes of traveling with a RV. That trip was also one of my best childhood memories. 

I hope that family has a great trip. They are heading there much later in the year than my family did years ago and will encounter snow and freezing temperatures along the way. If they make it, the weather will become part of that family’s fokelore in years to come. 

The dunes

Still looking for the alligator!

A kayaker in the early morning

The famous Grayton Beach trees

A selfie in Watercolor

Seen during our morning bike ride in Watercolor

The Airstream food trailers in Watercolor

The sun reflecting off some trees on a hiking path

Close to sunset time

Atlanta-Marietta RV Resort - Marietta, Georgia (August 2019)

Whoever added the word “resort” to the Atlanta-Marietta RV Resort name had a sense of humor. You know the moment you arrive that this campground is a million miles from any reasonable definition of a resort.

The sign at the "resort"

A more accurate description is a campground with 16 potential nightly sites squeezed in around 40+ long term rentals. 

It was easy to visually separate the nightly people from the folks who lived in the park. We simply looked for the road-worthy rigs. When you found one, you located someone who was probably passing through for the night. 

Having said that, it doesn’t matter how many imaginary descriptive terms this campground adds to its name. It is practically the only game in town and is normally packed. 

There are only a few campgrounds in the Atlanta area. Maybe when compared to the others, this is a resort.

Rosie in her site

We were in Atlanta to visit the Georgia Aquarium and the American Girl store. I am not sure which of these two Becky was looking forward to more.

Another "successful" trip to the American Girl Store

The Georgia Aquarium

The aquarium

A whale shark

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• Our site was a back-in
• Our site was paved with uneven and cracked asphalt, mud and weeds 
• There was trash around our site and a nearly two foot deep hole just behind Rosie
• Our site had a water connection 
• Our site had a sewer connection 
• Our site had a cable-TV connection 
• The campground had two single stall unisex bathrooms with showers for the entire facility 
• The campground provided a WiFi signal 
• AT&T place four bars of  4G service for voice and data 
• The campground had a nice swimming pool 

Our goal was to exit the campground no later than 6 a.m. to avoid Atlanta’s known morning traffic problems. We exited the campground around 6:10 a.m.

By the way, our strategy worked. We were in steady traffic as we pulled Rosie through Atlanta at 6 a.m., but there were no slowdowns or stops along the Interstate. We noticed on Google Maps that there were multiple traffic jams along our route an hour later.

Becky taking pictures of the penguins

Payne’s Creek COE Campground - Hartwell, Georgia (August 2019)

Before talking about the Paynes Creek COE Campground, I want tell you about our adventures eating lunch on the way to the park. 

We decided that lunch at Cracker Barrel was a great idea. We needed some good ole’ southern vegetables and their sugar cured ham was calling my name. 

We were about to pull into Cracker Barrel’s parking lot when we saw the sign that said no RV parking. No problem because we saw a big parking lot for the local newspaper about a block down the road.  There were about a dozen cars next to the newspaper building, so we elected to park about 400 feet away in an area of the parking lot without traffic. 

The original plan was to park Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer, and walk to Cracker Barrel. It was too hot, too far to walk and we were too hungry to wait so we decided to make sandwiches in Rosie. 

We weren’t inside Rosie three minutes before Becky noticed a car stopped about ten feet from Rosie and the two young guys in that car appeared to be eyeing Rosie and our truck. After a few minutes, the car crept off and parked about 300 feet away from Rosie. It didn’t take long for the car to pass on the other side of Rosie then stop about 100 feet in front of us near the newspaper office. 

We didn’t wait around to see what their next step was. We quickly ran for the truck and got away. There was a rest area about 15 miles down the Interstate. We decided that it would be safer to eat lunch there surrounded by truck drivers who would probably beat the “stuffing” out of anyone attempting to mug someone there. 

Sure, the young men in the car stalking us may have only been interested in looking at an Airstream trailer. Still, lunch tasted better without any unwanted attention. I trusted Becky’s intuition and removed us from what could have been a very bad situation. 

The lesson learned from this experience is clear. RVers know that they have to park away from a building to avoid being blocked in by other cars. We need to start parking closer to the building and in a “busy” area and not be a tempting target in an isolated spot. 

The remainder of our trip to Payne’s Creek Campground was uneventful, if you ignore the anxiety caused by heading to a park with no address and only geographic coordinates. Maybe the GPS knows when a campground doesn’t have a street address and takes you down some small back roads for fun. 

The sign at Paynes Creek Campground

We found the campground, checked in and parked Rosie in our site for the night. We were right on the lake and it was beautiful. Similar to most other COE campgrounds, sites were large and wooded.

Our site in Paynes Creek Campground

We loved being parked along the lake. We sat outside Rosie that evening just watching the water. What a great little campground.

The lake

Rosie as seen from the lake

The lake

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• Our site was a back-in and paved with dirt
• Our site was mostly level 
• 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 was a dump station in the campground 
• The campground had several restrooms and showers. None were close to our site
• According to the TV Towers app on our iPhones, we should have been able to watch several TV stations using Rosie’s antenna. We didn’t try to watch any local stations because of our antenna problem 
• AT&T placed three bars of 4G service for voice and data
• The campground does not provide a WiFi service 
• We noticed evidence of “ant powder” around the site we camped in. Maybe previous campers had an ant problem, but we didn’t. 
• Finding the trash dumpster was an adventure. Its location wasn’t on the campground map and our neighbors knew it had been moved but didn’t know where it was now. The new site for the dumpster ended up being a long, long way from our site 

It took nearly 20 minutes to arrive at this campground from the Interstate and all we passed during that time were farms. You need to make sure you are well stocked when camping here. 

The benefit of camping so far from the beaten path is that the campground is very peaceful and relaxing. Sometimes camping out in the woods is just what you need to recover from an upsetting incident. 

A great view from Rosie's site

Dan Nicholas Park Rowan County Campground - Salisbury, North Carolina (August 2019)

Sometimes you are simply lucky when it comes to picking a campground for the night. We figured how far we wanted to travel our first day heading home from the North Carolina Outer Banks, then used the AllStays, RVParky and Campendium apps on our iPhones to find a campground. 

The campground closest to our target destination for the night had horrible reviews on all three apps. It appeared that the campground was nice, but the owners enjoyed abusing their guests. We decided to avoid that one. 

Our next choice was the Dan Nicholas Park. This was a county campground in Rowan County, North Carolina. It was farther than we wanted to travel that day and it was farther from I-85 than we really wanted to go for a simple one-nighter.

A sign at Dan Nicholas Park

Another problem was that we would be staying there on a Friday evening in August and that is prime camping time for families. Still, it was worth giving the park a call to see if they could squeeze us in for the night. 

We were impressed with how friendly and helpful the park’s staff was when we called. The campground had a two night minimum over weekends, but found us a site reserved by another family the following night. That meant we could be scheduled for one night and not their normal two day minimum over weekends. 

The friendliness of the staff carried over when we arrived. The campground staff members made sure we knew of the other amenities the park offered across the lake and where the bike path was to the other side of the park. 

We quickly parked Rosie, our 25 foot Airstream trailer and rode our bikes over the bridge because the “other side” was closing in about an hour.

Rosie in Dan Nicholas Park's campground

The other side included a nice park for families. It included paddle boats on the lake, a carousel, a train, petting zoo, miniature golf, tennis courts, an expanded playground for the children, a water splash area and then a gem mine. It was a surprisingly nice and fun park across the lake.

The bridge to the amusement area of the park

Riding our bikes

Carousel and train rides were a dollar each. We couldn’t resist and bought our tickets. We ended up having a private ride on the carousel. It was great!  We laughed and talked about how we wished our grandchildren could have shared that experience with us.

On the carousel

We avoided the lion

Enjoying our ride on the carousel

There was another family that joined us on the train ride. They selected the area close to the engine and we took the caboose. We enjoyed the train ride through the amusement area of the park.

On the train ride

We decided to sit in the caboose

The animal experience and the gem mine were closed when we reached them so they will have to be on our agenda for another day. 

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• Out site was a back-in
• Our site was paved with packed dirt and we needed to use our leveling tools to correct a side-to-side lean
• Our site had a distant view of the lake through the trees
• 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 was a dump station in the park 
• According to the TVTowers iPhone app, we should have been able to watch about a dozen TV channels. We plan to fix our antenna problem before we head out again 
• AT&T didn’t place a usable signal over our site
• The park provided surprisingly good WiFi service 
• The park had several bathhouses. The one nearest Rosie was clean and well maintained 

It was great to return to the woods in Rosie after spending a week along the Atlantic coast. We loved how the sites in this park were wooded with a nice amount of space between rigs. This park had the feel of campgrounds developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 

What a great find! We really enjoyed our visit to Dan Nicholas Campground. 

Mom and her babies on the lake

On the train ride