roadtripper5291431

This is a Passport America and Escapees Park under new owners. They have lots of future plans. Right now, I would describe this as a "wild camping" experience, but with full hook ups for only $15/night! There is so much potential here, very friendly and enthusiastic new owners who want to make this the perfect spot for RVers. The main activity is fishing, but we managed to get in a two mile serene walk. This is on a main road from the north to the beaches. It should be filling up. Sadly, our GPS wouldn't accept the address, but it is on google maps. Check out their website ( http://www.walnutcreekrvpark.com/find-us.html) directions and look for signs.
Arrival was welcoming. We had trouble finding it. The owner answered the phone and directed us right there. Lots are grass and are flat.
This sweet park has great potential and is under going some improvements. Right now, the only tip is to treat the soil to terminate the red ants.
Our favorite thing was the serenity! Very quiet and gorgeous lake!

Have you ever had a love at first site experience in a campground? We had ours here. We generally don't make reservations until we're headed there. So from the first conversation, we liked this place! Not everyone is super receptive when you say you will be there in less than an hour (go figure). What was so special was that they said they had a prime spot for us on the lake! Upon arrival, they confirmed we had a really great site. We've always wanted to back up to a lake, so this was our first time...and last until we return!
What we loved: The staff was the best ever. Very positive and helpful. The campground is just beautiful. It's small and it really didn't look like any place was bad. Very well designed. Quiet and serene. The laundry room was convenient and adequate. WIFI at our site. There was a nice fenced in Bark Park that had a happy dog prancing in it. The drive there was just so beautiful, but there are two ways to get there. GPS did fine. We love to hike so there was fabulous hiking not too far away. We also attend church on Sundays, so we were happy there was a warm welcoming one not too far away.
Nothing they could do to make it better or negative, except being a KOA, the price is always a bit higher than other resorts. We had KOA points so it wasn't too much for us. But whatever the price, we loved it and look forward to returning.

Again, we felt we paid a bit too much for this campsite but it at least has a lot of amenities. We did use the laundry mat. The pool looked inviting. We did enjoy walking around the campground, but we picked it for the easy location in and out on our journey. This campground had a lot of trees and we tried to get one where our satellite would work, but it was still too treed. They don't offer any discounts....but location location location.

Our arrival was very easy, easy drive in and to our site. We had a pleasant greeting and she worked with us to get the best possible site.

Our only tip is when the laundry mat is to open at 7:30 am, please have it opened. I wasted nearly 15 minutes waiting for someone to open it.

We had our pic of so many things to do and see....

Negatives to report is that they don't offer any discounts!

This really isn't what we would consider a 4 star, but there were so many positives, we don't want to give it a 3 star! We stayed here to be near our daughter and her family. We visit at least four times a year for a month each time. The KOA Fredericksburg is only 10 minutes from her house, but the price was just way too high. So we had a 30 minute drive one way everyday. But it was a very pleasant, relaxing and scenic route, we ended up enjoying it and saved lots of $$!

The arrival was very positive. I love it when the owners are so hands on. So there was instant rapport and although rather small, he escorted us to our site and made sure we could get set up OK. Price includes water, sewer, Direct TV (we had a receiver), limited wifi. Electricity is extra. For one night, it's $3.00. For 30 days, we paid $75 deposit and used a meter.

The only tip to make it better is to have the county truck empty the dumpster after 8:00 am!

So here are all the positives: The staff is always available, they are constantly sprucing up the grounds, it is a quiet location for the most part (there are some logging trucks that seem to be noisy and zoom by), it is very serene, spacious campsites. The most important feature I look for, especially when we stay anywhere for more than 3 days is to be able to walk at least two miles around the campground, unless we are in the mountains or at the beach where we can get in lots more miles. It took some creativity but I managed to get in two miles hikes here in a very serene setting. A really nice feature was when it was cold and I used the restroom, it was heated!

The negatives: It is an old campground, I think about 50 - 60 years. BUT they do constantly update the grounds for a fresh clean look. The bathroom is clean but in order to shower, in the ladies room anyway, you have to hold a string to keep the water running. If you like retro, that's a good thing. Our unit has a bathroom, so we don't use it, but when I'm out walking, I have used the facility. There are some hunting dog homes around so every once in a while, you hear them barking. While walking, I did set off about 15 of them...I changed my route after that. The road noise isn't too bad, but the speed limit is 55 so you do hear a vehicle occasionally zooming by. The dumpster is emptied on Saturday mornings around 7:30 - 8:00 am. This campground has mainly "settlers" but for the most part, they are quiet and keep to themselves. We've only seen about 5 others like "us" but they've not stayed as long. They do sell firewood here, $3.99 and we've seen a few people with campfires going. They do have a volleyball net up, horseshoes and a swimming pool. The pool is above the ground and was just opened up. We didn't test the water.

We discovered this campground using Passport America ($16/night for 2 nights and $32 for Good Sam the next night). It seems to now be in our regular routes as we try to explore the southeast. We stayed twice in 2014 and then tried to get back in 2015. Finally, we made it back and had hoped to stay a week. But we had to meet up with friends down the road, so back to just three nights. We loved going downtown where they have modeled much of it after the Andy Griffith Show's Mayberry....but of course, Andy Griffith modeled Mayberry after his home town, Mt. Airy!
ARRIVAL: This was why we come back. The checkin is so wonderful, met with cheery smiles and they will do all they can to help you pick the best sit.
TIPS TO MAKE IT BETTER: They had new WIFI, but we couldn't get it to work in our camper. They could suggest dog owners to please keep them quiet! They are so kind and accommodating (and have a dog themselves, who never barks BTW), they don't have the rules and regs like many campgrounds about not letting them bark. We actually changed sites because we parked next to one who loved to let us know he was in charge of his camper!
FAVORITE THING: For us, we love to hike and we love history. We thoroughly enjoyed the Andy Griffith Museum which includes other famous and infamous residents! We also enjoyed just walking around the town and the visitor's center. It is all "small town" Americana! The bakery is lethal...wow, just too tasty to resist! You do have to drive 15-25 miles for great hiking but it was all worth it for us.
NEGATIVES: You do have to drive a bit to get the best hiking, but everything else made up for it.

How exciting to stay in a brand new RV park, designed by Rvers! They know and understand the needs of camping in an RV, so the park was just great. Because it is so new, the office hours are of an evening. We made our reservation on the phone and they let us know our site number. We parked and got set up. I went to the store once I saw the "open" sign to get the wifi code and info for local hikes. The new camp store had basic things one might need and we were given info about hiking as well as where to sight see.
We dealt mainly via the phone and email. The receipt didn't have their phone number or address, so when we were trying to actually find them, I had misplaced the info but pulled up the email. I did tell them about it, so hopefully the receipts they email will have this info. Finding them was just a bit tricky, but once I found the phone number (off their website), they guided us in without a problem. I did also recommend they join Passport America to get the word out!
We loved the location and the ease at the drive in and parking. It was close to Natural Bridge, the main park we wanted to see, as well as to Staunton to grocery shop. The Red River Gorge was so amazing!
No negatives to report.

Since it's right off I-95, you get the road noise if you're in row 500. We stayed here once before and didn't remember the noise, but we were over at least 3 rows.
What's good: great staff and friendly welcome; full hook ups; laundry room; large enough lots and fairly level; wifi in laundry room/office area; clean; designated dog walk; while lots dirt/grass, road is lightly gravel and few holes.
Can't do anything about: highway noise even with our heating/AC unit on; plain jane park.
We paid Passport America price.
We camped in our 5th wheel.

This is a very basic campground that provides full hook up, to include 50 amp. It is safe and secure, more or less. It's safe because there are always other Tiffin owners there and the owners check it daily. It's in a safe area and the Tiffin Service Center employees can easily come talk to the owners and you can have "contractors" provide services there. There are no restrooms or laundry. But there are plenty services at the Tiffin Service Center. It is an easy walk if you like to walk, less than an mile. They also give a discount for either weekly or monthly rates.
This is self service, so no one to greet you, except other Tiffin Owners. You pull in and go to the "office" and fill out a sheet with your name, contact info, and the site you select. So look for a site before you go in, where there is no "Reserved" sign if the site is empty. We wrote a check and put it in the envelope as well as called the telephone listed as we needed to leave ours there for two weeks, unattended. We hoped for a bit of a discount since we only used electricity. We got a weekly "deal" of $100 per week for 3 weeks.
Our favorite thing was the location. Just a few blocks from the Tiffin Service Center. And the other Tiffin owners and the contractors who came by. Everyone was so friendly.
No negatives to report except the one neighbor has 5 small barking dogs that seemed to greet everyone when they took their trash to the receptacles. They made us give it a 3 for the noise, but they were the only noise!
We wrote a series of blogs concerning our time in Red Bay, Alabama, with the first one about this campground and with pictures of it.

For the price we paid, we felt we were overcharged. Very basic campground but the location was great. While we say we will stay again, we will try to find a cheaper campground as we want to return to this area. There may have been amenities but we didn't stay long enough to find them.

Our motorhome took up the entire site, but since we were on an end, we had plenty room. We were allowed to park our car in the next site. If it was full, we would have been cramped! But the site was flat. However, utilities are on one side so we had to run our hose under our rig.

The staff and reception was excellent. We called several times and they always answered and wanted to help in anyway possible. However, since we were still very new at driving our new 40' motorhome, the entrance way had a sharp turn in and down a bit of a hill. We have been asking about the entrance but were assured no problem. Well, not if you are used to driving your rig...but we did it OK. The only tip to make it better was to be prepared for the sharp turn once you enter the campground.

The location was just so convenient, easy drive to and from the interstate. It is near the Bristol Speedway so there is that noise. Since the weather wasn't so great, they had stopped the races.

We stayed here for free for 2 nights as our first trip in our new 5th Wheel in September 2013. We practically had the place to ourselves! The staff and ground crew were amazing and helped made our maiden voyage exceptional. We didn't know what we were doing! We loved the location, down the road from Camping World (where we bought our RV) so we went back for more supplies, but we found a great park to spend the day in nature, Lettuce Lake Park.
We returned in January 2015 so we could attend the Florida RV Super Show. It was 8 miles away. Now we got to see how the park is in peak season and we were less than impressed.
What we liked: There was free wifi; the laundry room we were near was spacious and enough washers and dryers with a full campground; lots of great walking areas; we made new friends!
What we didn't like: There are three "villages" so to speak. No one guided us to this "off site" and it was confusing trying to find our site. Once we found it, we couldn't get into it. All the neighbors came out and tried to help, but none of them spoke English. We thought we were in the Village of Quebec! We had to call and ask for another site. They asked if someone was there helping us from the campground. NO! It's never fun to start off this way.
As it turned out, this was a better place to park. Where we were before, near the main entrance, it is very MUDDY! So use caution with you site.