Points West Army Resort (U.S. Military FamCamp) - Appling, Georgia (October 2023)

We camped in a Tennessee State Park last year during Halloween and were surprised to find out that children trick-or-treating was a big deal there. We ended up going on an emergency run to the store to get Halloween candy after our camping neighbors warned us about that park's Halloween tradition. It was fun and made us think about being ready for little ghosts and goblins, or little Barbies and Darth Vaders this year, when camping in Rosie, our Airstream trailer, during Halloween. 

Not wanting to be surprised by any Halloween traditions in Points West Army Resort FamCamp, we called ahead and asked if trick or treating was popular there. After a pause, the office person said she wasn’t aware of any trick-or-treating in the campground. We discovered she was correct. I’ll say more about this in a few moments. 

Entrance to Points West Army FamCamp

This was the third time we camped in this campground. During our first two visits, this was known as one of Fort Gordon's FamCamps. That changed during this visit. We were told while checking in that going to Fort Gordon later that week was a bad idea. That was because Fort Gordon's name was about to be officially changed to Fort Eisenhower.  We were warned that the base would be full of people there for the name change. That wasn’t a problem because the base was 35 minutes away. That was too far for a run to the Commissary. In fact, we had never made it to “Fort What’s-Its-Name” yet during any of our previous visits to this campground. 

The "office" where you need to check-in

We noticed a change that wasn’t related to the Fort’s new name. This campground was always full during our previous visits. Not so this time. Our camping loop was maybe half full over the weekend. There were only five campers in our loop during the week. There were only three trailers there Halloween night, not counting the two camp host sites, and I’m not sure the hosts spent Halloween night there. It was obvious that Points West doesn’t have a Halloween tradition and I was glad we didn’t bring a big bag of candy with us. 

Rosie in our Points West campsite

Why was the campground relatively empty? Maybe the lake had something to do with it. It turns out that the Army Corps of Engineers releases water from the dams near the campground every fall. This is because of the rains that normally occur during the fall. Unfortunately, the rains didn’t happen this year leaving the lakes significantly lower than normal. The level was low enough that it was difficult to launch boats or to stand along the shore and fish. Besides, it was sad to see the lake levels so low. 

What the campground had during our visit was weddings. There was a wedding in the campground's Conference Center on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We thought there was another wedding in a pavilion near our camping loop. I guess Halloween is a great time to get hitched. 

The Confidence Course

We had an idea about how to make weddings more entertaining at this park. They could place the bride and minister at the end of the confidence course. Three want-to-be grooms would run the course and the first one to reach the bride gets to marry her. Well, maybe that wasn’t a great idea and it may be too similar to some reality show currently on the air. 

The main thing we enjoyed in this campground was riding out bikes. There are no bike paths, so we ended up on the roads. That wasn't  a problem because the roads were not busy and most people driving on military property tended to observe speed limits and were careful. The roads were hilly and our Apple Watches recognized that we were strenuously exercising while riding our bikes there. 

We brought our kayak paddles and life vests thinking that we could rent some type of watercraft there. The low lake level and the cold temperatures discouraged us from doing so. 

We were amazed at the number of deer seen while riding our bikes in this park. We also saw deer while walking our dog in our camping loop during the evenings. 

There were dozens of deer in this campground

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There were multiple loops in the campground
• Our site was a back in
• Our site did not have shade
• Our site was paved with grass and gravel. We needed to use leveling tools to correct a side-to-side lean in Rosie
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service. Our power went out for a few minutes twice while camping in this park
• Our site had a water connection
• Our site had a sewer connection 
• There were trash cans at every site in this campground 
• There was a bathhouse in each loop of this campground. The bathhouse in our loop was not cleaned during our 10 day stay
• The park provided WiFi service at the office and convention center 
• AT&T provided two bars of 5G voice and data service over our campsite 
• We were able to watch only ABC using Rosie’s TV antenna. Digital channel seen was ME-TV
• There were restaurants and shopping about 12 miles from the campground 
• This was a pet friendly park 

A pavilion that we enjoyed riding our bikes to while in this park

Taking a break

On another five mile bike ride

Rosie at night

Visiting the nearby dam

Maybe accepting a ride at the Laurel and Hardy Museum wasn't a great idea

Gulf State Park - Gulf Shores, Alabama (September 2023)

We waited until checkout time before we left our wonderful site in a military FamCamp and headed west for our next Rosie adventure. (Rosie is the name of our Airstream trailer.) Gulf State Park was less than an hour away, so we didn’t have to rush to get there. 

We have a running joke about Gulf State Park's campground. It seems that every time we have reservations there, the rate increases between making our reservations, paying our deposit and arriving at the park. As we expected, we were informed that we owed more than the figure quoted on our reservations while checking in. This may be unique to Gulf State Park because I cannot think of another campground that regularly changes its rates between making reservations and check-in. 

Sign at the Gulf State Park

On the way to the campground

With more than 500 campsites in this park, we have never had trouble getting reservations until now. The reservation system claimed that the campground was full and we got one of the few remaining spots. We were confused by the vacant spots until the weekend, when the park really was full. 

Why is this Alabama State Park usually full? It has beach access along Alabama's Gulf Coast, full hook-up connections and more than 25 miles of bike trails through the bayous. We never go to the park's swimming pools or the tennis courts because we enjoy trails and the beach, but these are popular and well used by other campers in this park.

The beach at Gulf State Park

We were amazed at how quickly electric bicycles became the predominant vehicle used for recreation in this park. Sure, there were some e-bikes around the last time we were there, but it seemed as if everyone had them this time. We found ourselves having to avoid e-bikes while walking or on our pedal-powered bikes. 

One of our campsite neighbors told us that “Lefty” had three babies and was visible in the mornings. If you have camped in this park before, you probably know that "Lefty" is an alligator and tends to hang out in a specific location along one of the trails in Gulf State Park. We found Lefty and two of her babies the next morning. Our campsite neighbors said they saw all three of Lefty's babies later that day.

The famous park alligator, Lefty

Two of Lefty's three babies

I could not help but think about when we camped in Gulf State Park ten years earlier. It was very hot then and our first Rosie's single air conditioner could not keep the trailer cool. We made multiple visits to a store to buy window reflectors in an attempt to cool Rosie down.

Rosie in our campsite at sunset

Another photo of Rosie at sunset

It was hot a day or two on this trip, but our current Rosie has two AC units. Sure, we have reflective shields for all of the windows, but we didn't need them. We simply switched on both AC units and Rosie was quickly comfortable. 

We were able to make two side trips while camped at Gulf State Park. Our son and his family was about an hour away. We spent a weekend morning with them.

Our grandson practicing for his big game

We also went to the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo. This is a small zoo, but the animals were out and we enjoyed our visit there.

The lions were enjoying the day at the zoo

The sloths are always interesting and entertaining

During past visits to this park, we would see maybe one or two Airstream trailers in the campground. There had to be a dozen or more Airstream trailers in the park this time. These ranged from 50 year-old vintage Airstreams to brand new ones. We always enjoy talking with other Airstreamers, sharing tips with them and learning from their experiences.

One Airstream couple caught our attention. They stored their trailer in a commercial storage facility. We do too. They said about a year ago, a gang of thieves crashed through the gate at their storage facility and stole every RV parked there but their's. Why? Their trailer had a very strong and difficult hitch lock on it plus it had a wheel boot. The storage facility's video surveillance captured the thefts in progress. The thieves were able to quickly hook up the RVs and drive off until they came across the Airstream trailer with the hitch lock and wheel boot. They could see via the surveillance video that the thieves tugged on both devices then quickly moved on to the next trailer.

We were using the same hitch lock on Rosie, but we didn't have a wheel boot. I asked our neighbors if they researched what boot to buy or did they simply select one off the shelf. As you would expect, they researched both the hitch lock and the wheel boot. Needless to say, we immediately ordered a wheel boot for Rosie. 

A couple of days before heading home, we called the property manager of where we store Rosie. He told us that the renovations to the property were on-going and that the electricity was still off to the property except for the office area. When asked about the power-driven gate and the security cameras, he said that the gate will not lock again until all renovations are complete and the power was turned back on. We could simply open the gate by hand. 

When asked about the security cameras, he said that some security cameras were operating. My interpretation was that the cameras attached to the office worked while the others around that compound were dark. 

That made our decision easy as to where we would store Rosie before our next adventure. We took Rosie to the RV Storage lot on the military base near our home and parked her there. When we pulled up to the gate and the armed and professional Military Police officer checked our IDs before allowing us to pass, we knew that Rosie would be safe there. 

We plan to go back to what we call Fort Rosie after the renovations are completed because there are advantages to storing Rosie inside a warehouse. But for now, the added security of storing Rosie on a military base overrides other options.

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There were multiple loops in the campground
• Our site was a back in
• Our site did not have shade
• Most sites had some space on both sides
• Our site was paved with asphalt and was level
• Our site had 20, 30 and 50 amp electrical service 
• Our site had a water connection
• Our site had a sewer connection. We needed 30 feet of sewer hose to reach the connection 
• There was a dump station in this park
• The one and only trash dumpster for all 500 campsites in this park was near the front of the campground. Granted, it was a "super-duper" dumpster with a trash-masher to make more room in it. Still, it filled up fast and we ended up having to drive to it every day
• No, really! There was only one trash dumpster in this campground and people camped in one of the park's 500+ sites have to take their trash to it. Yes, we frequently saw lines of trucks waiting to approach the dumpster
• There were multiple bathhouses in the campground 
• The park provided amazing WiFi service. We measured our WiFi download speed at 46 Mbps
• AT&T provided 3 bars of 5G voice and data service over our campsite 
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS using Rosie’s TV antenna. Digital channels seen were Antenna-TV, Circle, Comet, Court-TV, ION, LAFF, ME-TV, Retro and Stadium
• There were restaurants and shopping nearby
• This was a pet friendly park 

The famous water tower 

A somewhat unique sign near our campsite

Selfie at the Butterfly house

They must be expecting some very large visitors at this campground

Evidence that they have ice cream in Gulf Shores, Alabama

Blue Angel Naval Recreation Area Campground (U.S. Military FamCamp) - Battleship Row, Pensacola, Florida (September 2023)

Before discussing our adventures in this campground, we need to talk about an event that happened since our last trip in Rosie, our Airstream trailer. 

We store Rosie inside a warehouse we call “Fort Rosie.” Of course, the owner of that facility has another name for it. We occasionally drop by to see Rosie while parked in storage. These visits are more for our peace of mind.

On one of our visits to Fort Rosie, we noticed that the new property owner had a crew painting the warehouse buildings. It is always good to see the owner working to improve the facility. 

We had to go back to Fort Rosie the next day and saw the crew pressure washing the metal roofs over the warehouse buildings. The property manager said they were getting ready to paint the roofs. 

I woke up early the next morning. I had an uneasy feeling about Rosie. All I could think about was how often rain dripped through the several small holes in the roof over Rosie and how likely it was that paint from the roof would land on our Airstream. 

We discussed our options over breakfast and decided it would best to move Rosie away from the warehouse during these renovations and we knew that Rosie needed to move that morning.

We had an option because we made arrangements to park Rosie at a nearby military base when we first learned that Fort Rosie was being sold. This was to be a fallback in case the new owner had different plans for that property than RV storage. We were glad we had that option.

 

Rosie in the warehouse

We loaded our hitching gear in our truck and headed to Fort Rosie. We were  not prepared for what we saw when we opened the warehouse door. No, they hadn't started painting yet and Rosie wasn't covered with drops of paint. But, Rosie was covered with dirt and rust residue from the roof pressure washing. We quickly hitched up and pulled Rosie out of the warehouse so we could see her in the sunlight. It was a sickening sight!

Hooked up and ready to exit the storage warehouse

Since we were planning to go on a camping trip in a few weeks, we brought some cleaning supplies with us that morning. We quickly connected a hose and started rinsing Rosie. We were glad to see the debris on Rosie rinsing away. 

I found the property manager and was able to borrow a ladder to help rinse off Rosie's roof. He agreed that removing Rosie from the warehouse during the painting process was a good idea. 

It took three or four long rinses to remove the dirt and rust residue from Rosie then we went ahead and washed her. It was great to see a clean Rosie that shined in the sunlight. That was confirmed at the military base's gate, where we were stopped by a military police officer for the normal ID check. After verifying our IDs the MP added, "Your Airstream looks great!" We knew if we had left Rosie in the warehouse, she would have been covered with paint blotches and rust debris from the roof. 

Rosie parked in RV Storage on a military base

We learned something about Rosie's solar panels while she was stored at the military base. One of the features at Fort Rosie is that we have an electrical plug we can use to keep Rosie's batteries charged. Of course, electricity wasn't an option at Rosie's temporary home on the military base and I was worried about keeping her batteries ready for our next trip.

A quick search of Airstream's online help pages relieved our minds. Airstream trailers are wired so that the solar system bypasses the "store" switch, which normally disconnects everything electrical when parked at a storage facility. That allows the batteries to be charged from the solar panels while in storage. That made sense.

We were thankful we had a back-up plan for storing Rosie and were able to get Rosie ready for our next adventure while parked on that military base. 

We quickly fell into the camping groove once we had Rosie on the road. We were glad to be out camping again. 

The check-in hut at Pensacola Naval Air Station's Blue Angel FamCamp

Finding a site at Blue Angel Naval Recreation FamCamp can be described as a scavenger hunt. The hosts gave us a site tag when we checked in and told us to find the best site without a tag on it. Then there was a mad dash for the waterfront sites. 

As luck would have it, we struck out and settled for a decent site deep inside the park instead of along the water. 

First site in Battleship Row

We saw some unexpected visitors our first night. Two deer were running through the campground between campers after sunset. We would see the deer several times during the evening in this campground. 

Battleship Row

Then a really unexpected thing happened. We were walking our dog the second morning in the park when we saw a camper packing up and leaving from one of the prime waterfront sites. We talked about moving Rosie, but decided it was too much work and the site would be quickly snapped up. 

We went on a bike ride an hour later and were surprised to see that site was still open. We decided to quickly put our site nametag there to claim that site. We called the office and cleared the move with them. 

Unhitching Rosie in our new waterfront site

We were able to pack up and move in less than an hour. That meant we would enjoy the waterfront site for five more days. 

The waterfront site gave us front row seats to watch all new trailers arriving and those departing. It also gave us great views of the sunsets. The sunsets were amazing. We made the right decision to move sites.

Watching the sunset from Rosie's site

Rosie's site in Battleship Row

We were able to visit with our grandson twice while in this park. We drove about 40 miles to watch his first “Coach-pitch” baseball game. For the second visit, he and his father, our son, came to visit us in this campground. It was fun to tour the Naval Aviation Museum and the lighthouse with them. 

Grandson making a great play during his coach-pitch game

A sign of the times was when we pointed out a machine gun on a World War II plane to our first-grader grandson. He immediately said, "I'm telling." I guess that was sadly the result of active shooter drills at his school. I thought back to my elementary school days when we had “duck and cover” drills, which were supposed to protect us from nuclear attacks. 

At the Naval Aviation Museum 

It was amazing how fast a week went by. We enjoyed biking in this campground and going for walks on the beach at Johnson Beach. 

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There were two separate campgrounds in this park. The rustic side is Anchor Cove. It has more shade, water and electric hookups and sites are paved with dirt. The other side is Battleship Row and has full hookups, paved roads and concrete sites. We were in Battleship Row 
• There were multiple loops in both Battleship Row and Anchor Cove 
• Our site was a back in
• Our site had some shade
• Most sites had some space on both sides
• Our site was paved with concrete and 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 Anchor Cove 
• The trash dumpster was in the middle of the campground. It was easy to walk there with your trash
• There were two bathhouses in Battleship Row 
• The park did not provide WiFi service 
• AT&T provided 3 bars of 5G voice and data service over our campsite 
• We were able to watch ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS using Rosie’s TV antenna. Digital channels seen were Antenna-TV, Circle, Comet, Court-TV, Dabl, ION, LAFF, ME-TV, Retro, Stadium and TBD
• There were restaurants and shopping nearby
• This was a pet friendly park 

By the way, the Navy's Blue Angels flight demonstration team practiced over our site one day while camped there.

Watching someone fish with a net at sunset

Selfie at the beach

The lighthouse at Pensacola Naval Air Station

Selfie at the top of the lighthouse

Taking a display aircraft for a spin at the Naval Aviation Museum

R. Shaefer Heard COE Campground, West Point, Georgia (May 2023)

We knew that our trip home from the Blue Ridge area would be difficult because we had to pull Rosie, our Airstream trailer, through Atlanta and there is no optimum time to to travel Atlanta's roads. Both Google and Apple Maps were optimistic and suggested that traffic flowed without problems through Atlanta. We knew how quickly that could change and become a nightmare forcing us to arrive home too late in the day. We decided we needed to stop for the night after passing through Atlanta and made reservations at R. Shaefer Heard Corps of Engineers (COE) Campground.

We thanked the volunteers for their service as we checked in. Three COE campgrounds were closed for this year because there were too few volunteers to operate them. We were glad that this park was open.

Sign at the entrance to the campground

Rosie's site in the campground

Most campsites in this park were large with generous spaces between campers. That wasn't true for our site. It was in a cul de sac and our neighbors were very close to Rosie, our Airstream trailer's name. We decided that we would stay in an another loop if we return to this campground.

It was ironic that a neighbor told us how much they liked out site and they frequently camped in it. Then they told us about another nearby campground that they loved and suggested we make reservations there next time. We were not sure they were being helpful or attempting to lessen the competition for our site in the future. 

We noticed another problem with our cul de sac while unhitching Rosie from our truck. There was a large patch of Poison Ivy behind our site. We had to be very careful to avoid that area and didn't come down with a Poison Ivy rash.

On the positive side, we had a waterfront site and we quickly summed up that this was a great park for riding our bikes and for using our inflatable kayak. We intended to use our kayak earlier on this trip, but the rain and temperatures kept us from doing so. The weather was perfect here so we excitedly inflated our tandem kayak and enjoyed exploring the lake. We probably spent an hour on the lake and ended up going to the other side of the lake during our first kayak ride.

Ready to put the kayak in the lake

On the lake in our tandem inflatable kayak

When we came ashore, we let out about half of the air in the kayak so that the hot sun would not cause it to expand and create any problems. 

Partly deflated kayak to protect the seams

We decided to go for another kayak trip the next morning. I quickly pumped air into the kayak and we carried it down to the shore. As soon as we got in the kayak, we noticed a problem. We were getting wet and the amount of water inside the kayak was increasing at an alarming rate. We were sinking! 

We quickly returned to shore and found the trouble as soon as we picked up the kayak to remove it from the water. The glued-on seams around the bottom of the kayak had separated meaning the bottom of the kayak was no longer attached to the side walls. The kayak was going on 10 years old and the glue used at the factory finally stopped working. 

The seams split beyond what could be repaired

This wasn't a case of a few gaps in the kayak's seams. The entire bottom of the kayak was unglued and several other seams on the top side of the kayak were also starting to come apart. We knew immediately that our kayak was unsalvageable and we had enjoyed our last ride in it. 

We were glad that if one of our "toys" had to irreparably break at this campground, it was our kayak and not our bikes as we continued to enjoy riding our bikes around this campground. 

Ready to ride our bikes in the campground

We never knew the correct time while camping at this park. Our site was on the Eastern Time side of the lake. The other side was in the Central Time zone. Our iPhones and Apple Watches were constantly confused and kept flipping back-and-forth between the two time zones. It became a running joke because our electronic devices never agreed with each other.

The restrooms were old but well maintained. Not all of the restrooms had shower facilities and some were long walks from campsites. 

We made reservations here to help us decompress after driving through Atlanta and to position ourselves to arrive home after this camping trip to be able to clean up Rosie early in the day. We enjoyed our visit to the park and accomplished our goals while camping there.

Here are some specifics about this campground:

• There were multiple loops in the campground
• Our site was a back in
• Our site had shade
• Most sites had some space on both sides
• Our site was paved with asphalt and we needed to use leveling tools to correct a side-to-side lean in Rosie
• 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 this park
• There were several trash dumpsters located around the campground. It was a long walk to the closest dumpster near our site 
• There were multiple bathhouses in the campground 
• The park did not provide WiFi service 
• AT&T provided 2 bars of 5G voice and data service over our campsite 
• We were able to watch only ABC using Rosie’s TV antenna. Digital channel seen was Retro
• There were restaurants and shopping nearby
• This was a pet friendly park 

Along the lake

Rosie at daybreak

At the "dump" station

Leaving the campground