Gallatin Dockery Park

Dockery Park holds the distinction as our family’s very first night turning our SUV into an RV and camping in it.

We didn’t realize at the time how rare it was for a free campsite to offer free water and electricity. The water was turned off for winter when we stayed there, but the free electricity saved us.

The park has what they call a Livestock Barn that is really just a large metal roof with a dirt drive lane down the middle and livestock pens on the sides. It was drizzling and getting cold when we drove into the campground at around eleven o’clock at night. It occurred to me that our Tahoe might barely fit under the roof of the livestock barn, even with a cargo box and two giant duffles on top, so we pulled under the barn roof and parked next to a concrete pad that was perfect for unloading and organizing our stuff.

Being first timers, we weren’t nearly as organized as we should have been. Just for sleeping overnight, we needed a few items from the cargo box, some things from each of the giant duffles, and we had things all over the Tahoe that would have to go elsewhere to make room for us to set up our sleeping arrangements the way we had planned. It was merciful to have that shelter from the rain to get organized.

The next day, we had a good time in the park. In daylight, it looked very charming, up on a hill, and you could see most of the town from that vantage point. There was a bench swing hanging from a tree next to our campsite, overlooking a nice little pond with a gazebo on its banks. Our little boy and puppy had a great time running up and down the gazebo’s stairs and treating it as their clubhouse. There was plenty of space for the puppy to run and play. There was a playground with good play equipment for our little boy.

Some locals came to use the park, but they were friendly and didn’t bother us at all.

We accidentally drained our Tahoe’s battery overnight and then intentionally drained our jump starter/battery pack with our electric blankets. When we figured out our predicament, we found that the free electrical outlet at the campsite we chose was designed for RVs, which have a completely different plug than regular household electrical outlets. Thankfully, there was a working outlet inside the livestock barn. We plugged in the battery pack and played for another hour. That was all it took to charge the battery pack enough for it to jump start the Tahoe, and we were on our way. That little bit of electricity we used saved us from a AAA service call.

To hear more about our family’s adventures out on the road, please see our blog at
https://illtaketheroadbuddy.tumblr.com/post/168772836415/the-first-time-we-turned-our-suv-into-an-rv