roadtripper5291431

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.

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.

We just purchased our dream Class A from a private owner in Cocoa, Florida. We needed a park close by while we settled in and this was the closest one. We needed a refreshing oasis after a very rough two weeks as we went through the purchase process and settled an insurance claim as our Ford F-150 was rear-ended and a total economic loss.
This is a Passport America park and this is their "quiet" season. The park mainly had regular residents and lots of open sites. They are spacious.
Arrival: This is a sweet little family owned park and the service was warm, welcoming and much needed! This was our favorite part. It was our maiden voyage and they helped us back in and learned much from the owner!
Amentities: Full hook up, flat sites, but on dirt/grass with a concrete pad for picnic table; laundromat, and more. But we only used the laundromat, which had plenty of washers and dryers.
Tip for improvement: They dryers are in need of replacement as several were out of order and one tenant tipped me off to the "hottest" ones (there were only 2). The washers are $1.50 and dryers $.75. The room was spacious, lots of reading materials and baskets for your clothes.
Positives: Very convenient location, easy to get in and out, and lots of shopping nearby.
Negatives: As with any park right off I-95, you will hear the highway noise. We were so tired and ran our air conditioners, so it didn't bother us.
We hope to stay again one day!

Date of stay: May 13-20, 2016.

All of our interactions with the staff were very good, from making our reservations and our arrival. It was well marked where to pull up to while you checked in. The only issue is if it is really busy, it could get to be a bit problematic. There were just two of us, but the people who pulled in behind us didn't understand we were going to unhook our car as we had a back in site. They pulled a bit close to us!

We liked this location because it was centrally located to the places we wanted to see and it was an easy in and out, in a car or a motorhome.
Our only incident was that there was a thunderstorm and apparently it tripped our 50 amp meter. We were gone from Friday until Monday morning. We did let our neighbors, who were work campers (and let the office know) we would be gone those few days. We were upset upon our return to see the items in the freezer were melted! We didn't have much in the fridge, thankfully. I guess how would they know they should have checked our meter? Lesson learned and hopefully if it happens again, they will check the meters of anyone who planned to be gone a few day!

We had a GREAT welcome and reception by the hotel receptionist. However, we were concerned whether we could "squeeze" between the dumpster and fence. It was no problem, just still suffering from newbie jitters.
We had very little problem finding it as we had the correct info in our GPS, used Google Earth to see it more clearly but it was still a bit confusing. They said their big sign had recently blown down in severe storms, so that should be rectified when they put it back up.
This is a clever use of land - this was probably a parking lot to a hotel, gas station and mini-mart. All these businesses are generationally owned by a family. You have basic RV Camping with full hook ups, bathhouse and you can use the swimming pool. There was strong free wifi and no problem using our Direct TV Satellite. The sites were mostly flat. We did love the fact that the Hotel Office is also the camping Office. It is manned 24/7. We did call late the night we made the reservations since it was just after the 4th of July weekend. We thought it might be hard to reserve a site. It wasn't!
We came to the area to hike, visit Corbin and see the Cumberland Falls as well as visit an RV Salvage yard. Everything was within a 25 minute drive, with Corbin being the farthest. It turned out the RV Salvage yard does have a place to park your RV for a night or two. They don't advertise that fact. Otherwise, we may have stayed closer to Corbin. But none the less, we did enjoy the time in this location. And we wonder if owning something like this might be in our future! So clever to have RV parking by a hotel to share resources, like the Wifi, swimming pool and front checkin desk!
No negatives to report. We just slept and ate in our RV here. We were gone all day every day! The only reason only 4 stars is because of the price. A bit steep for such a basic campground. Maybe if we swam, we'd feel it was more worth it.

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!

We devoted nearly one blog post on the drive to this State Park and Campground. We were nervous it would be a terrible experience, but it turned out to be one of our favorite state parks! Our arrival onto the actual campground was a bit shaky as there was no one around, initially. We found our site and were about to pull onto it when not only the camp hosts pulled up in their golf cart, but so did the lawn maintenance man, who asked if he could mow it first! Now that was a reception. We ended up really enjoying the camp hosts and know they made our stay enjoyable. The only thing that could have made it better would be sign on the office door that they will return at XX time. It was a small campground and if one made a reservation, you'd know your site #, which we did.
This was an absolutely beautiful and VERY well-maintained State Park. Granted, it is small, so that may help. We just loved EVERYTHING! We do like to hike, and while the hiking was not challenging, we found great paths on hollowed grounds. I read reviews others wrote about the "hiking" and one has to be adventuresome to find a more challenging area than what is the most well known.
No negatives! Just loved everything. We wrote three blog posts, attached.

We stopped here once before for an overnight stop, but no sites left. We weren't very impressed, but the location was ideal, close to I-95. But the owner was very nice and tried to accommodate us. The price is right as a Passport America, $17.50. This time we called ahead and got the last site!
What we liked: full-hook up, isolated but Walmart wasn't too far, quiet and the surprise was a nice little nature trail-always a bonus for us, and very friendly owner.
What could be improved: sites are small and dirt/grass. The ground was a little muddy in spots. I didn't hear the traffic off I-95 until I woke up. The "Forest" provides some sound barrier.
There is wifi if you're close to the office. We saw one person using the swimming pool. It looked nice. There are a number of long term residents and they are friendly.
We didn't use any other amenities so can't comment on them.
We camped here in our 5th wheel and we will stay again as a stop over.

This is a deluxe campground in a state park. Deluxe in that it has full hook-ups, concrete pads, wifi hotspot, laundry mat, camp store, fabulous nature hikes and the jewel is the beach! We don't eat out much so we can't comment about restaurants, but it looks like there are enough around and reasonable shopping areas. While the campground is "full" there are sites that are empty for a day or two so it never seems really crowded. It is easy to drive or walk around - you never feel like you are going to get hit like we have in other private RV Resorts here in Florida during peak season. But there is one road in our "loop" that is needs a face lift and a few sites where the concrete pad has been broken into multiple pieces. Sadly, ours is one of the worst.
We didn't see them, but there are cabins and tent sites.
What we liked the most: location location location! Easy to get to and virtually on the beach, although it is a good walk to it. Multiple nature walking trails. They offer a free tram ride hourly to and from it to a parking lot. It is wooded so that gives some privacy. And of course, all the above amenities.
What needs improvement: Just a few concrete pads need replaced and the one road needs resurfacing.
There really is nothing we don't like and we can't wait to return!

This is our 6th Florida State Park in the Panhandle the past three weeks. So we can compare this experience to the other state parks. What we love about nature and this life style is hiking. So this park ranks among the others as having the best hiking of all! And that is because it reminds us of the Appalachian Trail in Virginia, or the Boone Trail in North Carolina. Details about the hiking are in our blog added in here.

Additional best features of the park:
-Although only one of each, there is an outdoor laundry room with commercial grade machines and worked very well. Only $1.00 for each, washer goes about 30 min and the dryer about 45.
-Restroom are clean. Water pressure was good and plenty hot water.
-All sites are level, have a fire ring, clothes line, electric. The water spigot is placed between campsites so the even numbered ones have it on the same side as electric. Our neighbor didn't have enough hose, so he filled up his tank in his Motor Home.
-Church on Sunday! Sorry we won't be here to enjoy it! When we return, we will take this into consideration.
-Plenty of firewood for a meager suggested donation of $5.00. It's a bit green but if you bring your own hatchet and split it, it will burn with plenty of starter wood.
-Two Ranger offices with some supplies such as toilet paper and mosquito spray. One is in the center of the campground and the other at the Historic Gregory House.The Rangers are readily available. We didn't interact with the camp host, who is behind the scenes apparently. The one additional staff person was very friendly and helpful.
-We love historical tours of any kind, so the tour of the Historical Gregory House was a must! But during the week, only one tour time a day, at 10:00 am for an hour. Use your manual watch the day you want to take the tour! See below....

The not so good features:
-While the sites are very level, they are very narrow and are dirt. In fact, it is a dirt road to the campground, so when we were here, we got dusted good whenever we walked the 1/4 mile to the dumpster. The dirt roads were bumpy so not sure what it would be like to come when its very wet.
-The mosquitos came out the day we arrived (note arrived mid-March). And they are big and swarm you...so need good spray to keep them off.
-Upon checking in, the ranger nearly scared us to death about the copperhead snake. Now, we did need the warning but we came to hike and we have hiked all over the Appalachian and Great Smoky Mountains without any incidents. He said they do have 3 or 4 bites a year and while normally not fatal (unless you are allergic to the venom) it is painful and you will end up in the hospital. He said wear boots and long pants. They use camouflage for protection so are hard to see. They know where to strike if you step on one, thus boots and long pants will help. We ended up hiking a lot and never saw one, but our first hike was done with great trepidation.
-This campground is right at the Central Time Zone/Eastern Time Zone tower so my iPhone kept telling me we were back in Central Time...but this campground and the TOUR are run on Eastern time! So it was just a little annoying at first as I kept thinking we had more "time" than we actually did!

GOOD or BAD, your choice!
This park is very isolated, so come well-stocked and with your tank full or nearly full! It's about a 30 minute drive to civilization. It is convenient to I-10 however. So east or west and you will find supplies/gas. We came prepared and we loved the sounds of nature only!