roadtripper467949

The cell service is definitely affected by the number of users. There just isn't enough bandwidth out here for lots of people streaming their shows. Weekends are terrible. The WiFi is hit or miss. You need a good booster antenna on your laptop and hunt around for the one node putting out good bandwidth that day. Again, it's probably a function of how many people are using each node, but the park has not been more than half full. If it weren't for the fact that my antenna let's me see most of the nodes in the park, I probably would have hated the WiFi service.

Now, the campground is nicely laid out, while there appear to be several sites with electrical issues, they are clearly marked and as of the end of December, there are a lot of choices. During the busy season I can see how some people would bet upset with the number of converted tent sites. I expect that TT has this place on it's list and will get to it as soon as prudent.

The dog park is in good shape. The spa closed for maintenance. The roads are a bit rough but they have people out filling holes so I can't complain but so much about that. The staff appear friendly and knowledgeable.

Running my Roku through my unlimited data Verizon hotspot is marginal for streaming at times, but the Roku works just fine using my iPad Pro as a hotspot. I guess I need to save up for a new hotspot router (it heats up and has other issues). Funny thing is that he hotspot seems to work pretty good for work and I can route my AT&T iPhone through the hotspot and have no problems with making or receiving calls. There are a few drop outs and bandwidth issues when I try to make a conference call while doing other data intensive tasks, but it's good enough for 90% of my work needs. Weekends are terrible, and on a few weekdays I hit some rough patches.

The CG WiFi is pretty good if you have patience and a good external antenna. I find that I have to watch the speed so that when it drops off, I then switch to a different AP. I have a signal boosting WiFi antenna so I can reach out and touch most of the nodes in the campground. This is not the first time I've seen this problem with campground WiFi. Unfortunately, while I can see a few nodes on the Roku, connecting to the CG WiFi is laborious so I'm forced to eat up my iPad's quota when the hotspot is acting up.

The dog park is not big, but it's well maintained and doesn't seem to have any problems. The laundry facilities are decent and at $1.50 for washing and $1 for drying, helps the park's rating. The roads have lots of potholes and standing water, but I've seen much worse and there isn't very much mud.

We're here during the winter holiday season and it really isn't that crowded. There are at least two open spots between a lot of the campers so it's really quiet and pleasant. The power is solid and LP here is under $3.50 so it's not bad considering it's CA.

The store was closed during the holiday season for renovations, but it's open now and looks nice and well stocked (for a CG store). They have several of the RV and camping basics, more canned goods than usual, plenty of ice cream, and enough of the basic sodas and snacks to make people happy. Overall, if it weren't for the one thing (explained below), I would definitely consider this a place worthy of returning, time and time again.

Once you head back for Hollister, AT&T and other services pick up with very strong signals. The airport dog park in Hollister is being rebuilt, so it looks like we'll need to go back to Morgan Hill on the weekends. Wong's has decent Chinese food and the Safeway and Nob Hill grocers are well stocked. Fuel is a bit pricier here than in the Morgan Hill area. The main roads are pretty decent and the area is quite nice looking.

Pictures do not do justice to anyplace we've been, so far, so I'll just say that everyone should spend a season traveling the Pacific coast. It's an education on so many different levels and well worth the time.

The wildlife is thick here. Lots of deer, bunnies, birds, quail, squirrels, wild pigs, and other smaller four-legged creatures. We also saw a huge fox and regularly hear the nightly coyote serenade in the distance. Also a few feral cats.

A Note on My Rating System
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Regarding the stars I assign, my definition of access is how hard is it to get to it and how are the roads? 5 means it's probably just off of a 4 lane highway with smooth roads, 4 means it's a country road or a bit of a hike, while 3 and lower indicates some level of kidney damage or potential for driving into a ditch.

Location tends to mean "does it feel like it's away from the city but still have a Starbucks nearby?" 1 star is subtracted if you need to travel more than 30 minutes for a decent cup of coffee and fill your tank. If I give it less than 4, read my review. A really good gas station with decent coffee and some groceries will tend to buoy the rating if everything else is rather distant. Especially if I'm in the mood to get away from everything. One big exception is someplace like Williamsburg, Tampa, or Orlando where there are attractions that we want to be near, and I'll usually mention that in the review.

Cleanliness is simply the state of the facilities and "guy clean" earns you 5 stars... so there's that to consider.

Site quality is all about standing water (or potential), having room to set up my pop-up, depth of mud, and if anything stinks. I usually don't worry about how hard it is to maneuver through a campground unless it's just plain bad. Lots of people think Williamsburg is impossible and I wonder what they talk about as I can swing my 43' 5th wheel through without issue; so I leave it alone unless there are corners that require backing up a couple of times to make the turn or more than one loop forbidding big rigs.

Noise is very subjective and you should mostly ignore my take as I lived within a literal stones throw from the I-95 / I-64 interchange in Richmond VA and had no problems sleeping at night. If I give it a 3, you should consider wearing hearing protection. A rating of 2 means you'll probably be bleeding from various orifices before the end of the week. A 1 means there was a non-stop screaming kid next door or some loud-mouthed jerk (but I'll mention that).

Now for the reason I won't come back. Color me picky.
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The BURRS! I thought people were kidding. OMG! My crocks pick them up like magnets and scatter them all over the floor of the rig. On the first night it looked like I was doing the dance of the sugar plum fairy or something, because I was hopping around half the night when I would encounter another burr. I need to get booties for the dogs, ASAP, and then start wearing something like steel plated shoes. This is my only malfunction with the park and the only reason I would not consider coming back. I'm sure some will think that's silly, but I've never seen burrs to this extent. The grounds are well mowed, so I can only imagine the burrs spring up very quickly and are very low to the ground. Sticking to the gravel areas does nothing as the burrs seem to be evenly distributed throughout.

Give me vampire mosquitoes and clouds of kamikaze horseflies before you send me back here. I can wear repellent and put up bug zappers, but how do you protect from burrs? IMHO, the only thing worse would be to realize there were things outside waiting to eat me.

Since I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority on the burr thing, I'm docking only one star and will simply vote with my feet. For those who don't mind or have some secret weapon, you'll find this to be a lovely, out of the way, place.

The new dog park was a treat and they've done a bit of work around the park. We always like coming here because it's quiet and out of the way.

PC via the Verizon hot spot is about 2.5mb down and a bit over 1mb up. My iPad says Verizon is 5mb down and about 1mb up.

My A&T iPhone claims 10mb down and under 1mb. These tests were done on a Friday afternoon, so your mileage may vary. I suspect closer to the road may be better for reception and I'm currently down in a bit of a bowl.

The laundry room has no working washers and rumor has it that they may be looking to bring in new equipment.

For those who have never been here, if you end up parking in the non-sewer low lying area between the hill and the river sites (like the A30/40 area on Alligator or P30/40/50 on parkway), keep your RV as close to the road as possible. The big muddy ruts in the grass will give you a few clues on how the soft ground may be.

This Encore park is part of the Thousand Trails system and free to members. Located in Eustis, FL north of Orlando, it's up to an hour from the attractions.

The area itself has a more small-town/suburban feel and the sidewalk system makes it incredibly easy to get from point A to B on bike when there isn't a bike lane available.

The park has a pool, spa, shuffleboard, and other amenities along with a very large laundry that takes coins, cards, or the CSC app. The roads are paved and in decent repair. Sites range from tight fits to spacious and if you come outside of the January - March time frame, you'll probably really enjoy yourself. In that time frame and you might be squeezed into one of the narrower sites, so if that bothers you, be warned. Personally, we've been in a few of the narrow sites with our 42' fifth wheel and enjoyed ourselves immensely.

There's a couple of really nice dog parks within easy driving distance and one of the better pizza places we've found outside of NY City, called Double Take Pizza. The Crazy Gator is decent and there are several coffee spots in the area.

We used to live right next to the I-95/I-64 exchange, so when I say noise is not a problem, take that into consideration.

There is various WiFi offerings (CampLink and XFinity) which I've had some success using when the area was populated with thousands of streamers hogging the bandwidth, but this year it's not that bad. I suspect a lot of people have moved to 5G and that means 4G users now have better bandwidth. My expensive multi-antenna 4G router/hotspot died last summer and I replaced it with a $40 Orbic the size of a pack of cards and still get reasonably fast bandwidth on most days. Color me amazed.

5G is 4 bars, 4G is 3-4 bars.

All sites are full hookup and most are 30/50amp. While a lot of sites are grass covered, I've never seen or heard of anyone getting stuck (or even seen big muddy ruts) after a storm. Water pressure is more than acceptable and in some parts of the park you better have a pressure regulator.

Most sites are open for satellite use, but there are some trees to park under to get out of the hot Florida sunshine.

It has everything a camper needs, nearby. If you don't mind driving 45 - 75 minutes to visit Disney, Universal, the airport, IKEA, Sea World, or just about any other popular shopping/tourist icon, then this is the place for you.

One bonus for delivery is that Amazon/UPS/Fed Ex will drop your package off at your campsite if you add it to the delivery address. Also, being from VA, it's wonderful to be able to get Kroger deliveries.

This nice little campground has really decent cell service for Verizon (AT&T not so much) and better-than-most WiFi. From around 7pm to 8am, I found that the WiFi would easily stream any service. Cell service will also allow streaming at night, but closer to 10pm. During the day, both are pretty good for connecting to work, though the Verizon cell service may get spotty between 10am and 2pm.

We visited several other parts of VT and found the cell service to be next to non-existent, so we were glad we stayed here.

No sewer, but they pump you out on Wednesdays for $10. Like a couple of other campgrounds, they charge you for throwing away your garbage. $1.50 for a 13 gallon bag and $2.50 for a 33 gallon bag. They also have recycling bins.

Located just 4 miles from Brandon, we'd definitely stay here again. They have a fairly new looking pool, but didn't get a chance to try it out.

It's quite quiet at night and the campground doesn't get muddy after a rain.

Ok campground out of the way. Quiet once the locals settle down for the evening. AT&T and Verizon signals lacking. Frequent drop outs. Big rig friendly (barely) as getting to the campground can be a bit harrowing.

If you don't care to be near Orlando, Tampa, or any of the touristy areas, then this might be a spot for you. It's a bit pricey, but it's large, well maintained and the Cell service is phenomenal. Verizon bandwidth is 34/22 and 4 bars. The AT&T bandwidth is about 12/7 with 3 bars. They also have park WiFi, but honestly, with this type of bandwidth and an unlimited hot spot account, I just can't get excited.

There's a beautiful enclosed dog park that's at least a half acre in size and a 9 hole golf course. The restaurant looks nice and has outdoor seating. I'll update the review if we get a chance to try it out.

The pull through sites are really long, though not that wide. If you like large sites with lots of grass, this could disappoint you on that score.

There are so many bad reviews about this place that all I can say is that a lot of people need to go home and sell their rigs. This campground is dated, but they make things work. Our water does not work in this site, but they have us connected to another site and the water pressure is great, so no worries. The community 30 amp box has ratty and should probably be replaced, but it works and my testing equipment say there are no issues.

There are a few narrow sites, so that can be a problem for some, but TT parks typically let you move if your site does not suit you, so I can't see a reason for complaint.

Coming in. The GPS says the entrance is further down the road, but as soon as you get off the highway, start looking for the entrance on the right. Unless the gate is down, just drive past the ranger station and go to the office to register.

The gravel roads are as good as any place else I've been recently and better than some. The staff are very helpful in the face of what I'm told are a lot of rude weekenders, so kudos to them for staying pleasant to new Sunday arrivals. So far I haven't met any rude people, but I'm among a bunch of full-timers here, so perhaps that's why.

Thousand Trails has been upgrading a number of campgrounds on the east coast over the past few years. They do have a new pool here and the buildings are clean and maintained, so when they get the go ahead on site upgrades, this campground will shine once again.

Verizon works well for streaming SD to my Apple TV, T-Mobile seems to pause now and then, but is otherwise fine as I'm not using it for streaming. Ting voice & data works well (using an unlocked AT&T iPhone) also with 2 bars.

I don't mind the highway traffic as I used to live (quite literally) a short stone throw off of I-95, but there is enough to notice now and then.

The location is really decent. It feels like out in the woods, but there's nearly every type of store within a 20 minute drive. The dog park south of St Clair is really nice and there is a new Love's truck stop going in near the exit. Fuel prices are all over the place so use Gas Buddy for the best deals.

I can see how a few sites might be undesirable during wet weather, but I typically don't park on grass with a big rig and can't imagine why anyone else would either. There are plenty of gravel sites and good drainage, so come in around noon for the best selection. The rangers are happy to help you figure out the best site for your rig.

The 3 star ratings is because I think corporate should have put some site upgrade money in the budget when they replaced the pool, otherwise it would be 5 stars.

One more thing. I will only stay again if I don't have to go around or through Detroit. OMFG! The interstate around the city is so bad we slowed down to 50mp and took the center lane lest we damage the rig or our kidneys! And a few of the overpasses caused a pucker because the rig is 13' 4" and we crawled under a 13' 7" and slowed down for a 13' 9".

Update: After staying for 2 weeks, my only real complaint is the amount of iron in the line for A loop, which by the looks is rust or they're pulling water from an iron mine. While the filter takes out any bad tastes or color, there is so much iron in the line that I'm working on my third filter. I'm using the blue ones which attach to the spigot and normally last 3 months. After 5 days the filter is plugged and the water is trickling in my rig, so I need to replace the filter. When I come next time, I'll be carrying a sediment filter. While the water tastes fine, it is VERY hard and I would invest in a water softener system if I decided to stay for the season.

We've been here many times and Twin lakes always ranks in our top 10 list. It's a nice park that's always clean and well maintained. Many of the transient sites are pull through and very few narrow. It's big rig friendly and the staff are always fairly pleasant. The noise levels are typical for a nice campground; occasional train in the distance, crazy boater out on the water somewhere, and the odd Marine fighter jet overhead. Nothing to concern anyone except to most audio-sensitive among us.

Sites are level, and there's a security gate. The roads are good. We've never been here during the summer, so I don't know what it's like then, but the rest of the year is great.

They serve Hershey's Ice Cream at the store, so that's a huge plus in our books, and the typical amenities abound. Fire ring, 50 amps, full hookup, picnic table, pool, game room, and $1 laundry machines. The free WIFI at the clubhouse is good for email and browsing, and the paid WIFI has been very acceptable in previous visits.

Verizon is often only 2 bars on my iPhone or iPad, and bandwidth has always been very acceptable in the past. Voice and data connections are great. However, it's October 2022 and the data bandwidth is crazy good! Up to 90mbps on my iPhone 14! Up to 30mbps on my original iPad Pro, and I'm currently using a cheap little hot-spot and getting almost 10mbps down and over 5mb up. If it were like this everywhere, I wouldn't need StarLink!

New Bern is an easy distance away with the birth place of Pepsi; a drugstore that's fun to visit. In our opinion, Persimmons is one of the nicest waterside restaurants on the East Coast without the hoity-toity attitude. We go there every time we're in the area. Washington has Backwater Jack's Tiki bar and it also serves good food. Both places are dog friendly with good outside seating.

There is a good dog park in Washington and a small but very serviceable dog park in the campground.

Washington is quite close (especially once the bridge is done in the summer of 2023) and Greenville is an easy drive away. Plenty of stores and services in both cities.

For those who bike, it's a fairly good area with trails within easy driving distance. Once the bridge is finished, biking into Washington will be easy. The road from the campground is kind of narrow, but there's not a lot of traffic outside of shift change and we've never had an issue with the drivers.

We plan on selecting a campground as our home base when we retire, and this campground will be on that very short list.

Typical KOA (in my experience) being clean, well maintained, and fairly level. Lots of gravel and good Verizon and AT&T signals. Friendly staff. We're being chased by C19 lock downs so we're not seeing much of the campground or area.

They added 75 new sites, but only 25 are open to transients. The site we're in was showing low power on the 50 amp plug so we had to move to 30 amps. Luckily the weather is in the 70's to low 80's so AC isn't an issue.

The speed here for Verizon is beyond belief. I've got 51mps down and 11mps up using my MOFI device from Amazon. Work, streaming, etc are no problem day or night. The campground is supposed to have good WiFi but who needs it when you've got an unlimited data account?

This is a very popular place so come in around noon if you want the best spot, otherwise you'll be choosing from what's left.

The sites are a not huge, but more than adequate in much of the park. The older section towards the back of the park can be a real challenge for larger rigs.

There are lots of retail and services nearby and the beach is a very short drive away. Noise is not a problem at all, though I do remind everyone that I was quite happy living next to the I-95/I-64 interchange for 15 years. Perhaps I don't notice it when it happens, but I have not heard any loud noises beyond a few kids shrieking with laughter.

For a TT campground, this is definitely way at the higher end of the spectrum. My only complaint is that I think cable is expensive (about $25 per week) for what you get. There aren't a lot of OTA channels, so some may find it reasonable.