roadtripper8083503

A storm was coming in when we arrived, so it was extremely windy, like 50-60mph gusts all night long. The storm cleared out and the next morning, it was still so windy that the sand in the air was reducing visibility. It was very unpleasant and I thought we were going to have to leave early. Then, it just stopped and was calm the rest of our stay. So, we got to enjoy the beach and beautiful views. They did charge us for our Jeep, which I asked for clarification because the website says that in that particular campground, only excess of 5 vehicles will be charged extra, but they still charged me extra for the 1.

Basic campground with full hook-ups, but nothing else. The fairgrounds are large, but we didn't see a playground or anything for kids other than the fields to run around and play ball in. At dusk, the lightning bugs were stunning, thousands of them all over the fields twinkling like stars. The biggest negative is the train noise. It's so close that you can feel it rumbling the RV. It blows it's horn several times. There's a train every 5-10 minutes around the clock. In 5 years fulltime RVing, we've never seen such busy train traffic. Granted, we chose the only end spot available and it was the site closest to the train tracks, but I don't normally complain about train or traffic noise; however, I feel it has to be mentioned because the other reviews seem to downplay it and it is MAJOR noise. For that reason, we would only camp here again if we were in a pinch (as we were this time due to 4th of July weekend).

Site & Location: The roads in are fine for big rigs, no problems. Enter through the second gate (It looks like the RV park is at Gate 1, but enter at Gate 2 to check-in first). Check-in is in the big brick 4-H building. Sites are small and close. Thank God there was hardly anyone here and they let us pick our site, so we could space out a bit. We had a picnic table. All sites are back in with water located at the back of the site, so take a long hose. Sewer is also located towards the back and may require an extension hose. We had a 50 amp electric, water, and sewer site for $33 a night plus tax, which in my opinion, is way too much for these sites. Antenna TV picked up all network channels plus some.

Service: Both Verizon and AT&T work here, but Verizon works much better. As a fulltime family, we work and school on-the-road, as I know many do, so here are the cell service speed tests I did: AT&T - 8.65 (download), 0.24 (upload); Verizon - 10.9 (download), 5.21 (upload). We could stream/game on both (barely on AT&T); however, I teach online with VIPKID and only Verizon was strong enough for that. Hope that helps.

The roads to and inside the park were easily navigable with our 40’ 5th wheel. There is a new online reservation system in the works that will allow you to reserve specific sites, but at this time, it’s still about a year out. So, you don’t know which site you will be in until check-in. Honestly, I didn’t like this idea, but it turned out to work best that way. We were assigned site #181 and they told us that if it didn’t work, to pick any site just to call them before setting up to ensure they hadn’t assigned it to someone else in the meantime. We tried backing into site #181 but, due to the hill at the front of the site, our 40’ 5th wheel bottomed out. Deciding not to damage our RV, we drove around the loop and were easily able to back into site #166. It was a bit shorter, but we backed up until the wheels reached the concrete partition and had enough room to park our truck sideways at the front of the site. The site was almost completely level already and is much more private and wooded. We called the office and they confirmed it had not been assigned to anyone else and switched us to that site. We just had to run back up to the office to get a new vehicle pass.

In addition to the campsite fee ($30 per night), they charge a $7 per adult over 12 years old per day. It may be beneficial to buy a Texas State Park Pass. Internet connection with Verizon was great, streaming quality. We also picked up over 70 antenna channels. Each site has a firepit, but the office doesn’t sell firewood. We found enough dead wood laying around our site to have two nice fires and a neighbor gifted us a bag of firewood that provided two more fires, before we realized that collecting firewood is prohibited. I can understand not chopping down trees, but burning dead wood already laying around helps keep the sites clean and prevents invasive infestation from outside sources. Most state and national parks encourage this, and we noticed that rangers are leaving wood from flood damage cleanup in the vacant sites. The road noise was much louder than I expected for a state park. The highway just outside the park provides a shortcut between Hwy 67 and I-20, so it was very busy during the day but quieted down at night. Shopping and restaurants are only minutes away.

This campground is a sewer away from being perfect. We've been fulltime RVing for 5 years and there are only a handful of places that have it all. This is one of them. The only thing missing is sewer. We had 50amp electric, water, a beautiful spacious site, antenna TV that worked well, and excellent cell service. That, to us, is dang near perfect.

Site & Location: It's a wooded campground with spacious, well-manicured grassy sites. The roads in are big, so no problem for big rigs. Dump station and garbage are at the entrance/exit. Sites are gravel back-in, may be a little tricky if it's a weekend and the place is packed, but not impossible. Water is located at the back of sites in order to split and service multiple sites, we needed our 100' hose. Each loop has a nice wooden playground for kids and a clean bathhouse with 2 large walk-in showers and toilets for each gender. No laundry facilities. There are train tracks just outside the park, but we never heard a train. That's also where the cell towers are, both Verizon and AT&T, but Verizon worked much better than AT&T (we have both). It feels like you're out in nature, away from it all, yet it's less than 1/2 hour from Milwaukee and 1.5 hours from Chicago.

Service: As a fulltime family, we work and school on-the-road, as I know many do, so here are the cell service speed tests I did: AT&T - 31.0 (download), 0.03 (upload); Verizon - 75.4 (download), 9.43 (upload). We could stream/game on both; however, I teach online with VIPKID and only Verizon was strong enough for that. Hope that helps.

KOA Resort, continuously wins awards as one of the best in the country. We've been here several times throughout the years and always enjoy our stay. Two heated pools, two big laundry rooms, fitness center, showers, clubhouse, putt putt golf, rental carts, turtle pond, horseshoes, pickle ball, scheduled events for all. Very active daily schedules for all ages, such as yoga, ice cream socials, pancake breakfasts, tie-dye t-shirts, especially during the busy season (Fall to Spring). On-site BBQ restaurant is very good and will deliver to site, but it has gotten very expensive (over $100 to feed our family of 5). This KOA is constantly improving. I saw a panning for gems area I had not seen before. Last time we were here, they were ripping up an entire section to convert every site to the more expensive firepit patio sites. This time, they were doing the same to a different area, which meant power outages every day for us as well as a water outage. Many types of sites to choose from that vary greatly in price - basic has just a concrete slab with metal table and chairs, upgrade from there to firepit patios, two-story patios, fenced in pet yards, grassy sites, or sites under the solar panels. Has gotten very expensive over the years. We used to stay for a month for under $900. I think it's almost double that now. The extensive gift shop is beautiful but expensive. I made the mistake of buying a tire chalk for $40 there that I later found at Walmart for $25. Good in a pinch, though. Lazydays and Camping World are very close by. Everything else is a drive because this area of town is really bad. The RV Park is fenced with a security gate, but you'll hear sirens every night and have helicopters flying low overhead. We don't mind the aircraft noise from the nearby airport or Air Force Base. Just be warned in case these noises may bother you. All said, we love this park and it is our go-to park when in Tucson.