Slaton Park Campground

We're on our way through this part of Texas to get back to New Mexico, but we needed to make a stop by Lubbock so we could go shopping at Costco. We thought that this park had hook-ups, but we were wrong. :(

1) There are power poles here, and they look to be in fine shape, but they have a padlock on them. Turns out, the city didn't want to compete with local business, and since there are two RV parks in town, they felt like providing power would pull the business away from those places. So this is straight boondocking – no power access at all.

2) There is a bathroom in the park, but I wouldn't use it if someone were holding a gun to my head. The doors are missing on the stalls; the toilets are backed up; there's no toilet paper; there's used toilet paper and pads (and probably used drug needles) all over the floor. We like to use the toilets in an area if we can, rather than using our own (to keep from filling up our tanks) but in this case, we're sticking to our own bathroom, thankyouverymuch. This is the only part of the park that's nasty; there isn't trash and junk everywhere, just in these bathrooms...? I'm not sure what's up with that.

3) There are trash cans and dumpsters EVERYWHERE, so if you have a bag of trash to throw away, you're definitely in luck.

4) There is a water spigot close to the Veteran's Memorial Park / behind the park office building; the guy who maintains this park (Clif – more on him in a minute) said you can fill up your water tank there if you'd like. He does attach a hose to the spigot to water the veteran's park, so if that hose is connected, simply disconnect that hose, fill your tank, and RECONNECT THE HOSE. Don't make him regret his generosity. There's a big cement pad right next to the spigot.

5) There is no official stay limit here, although Clif said that if someone were to stay "a real long time," he'd have to do something about it. He suggested a three-day stay limit but if you want to stay longer for some reason, just give him a call (see numbers at bottom of review). UPDATE: We ran into Clif the next day after writing this review, and he said that he looked up the official regulations, and it is a 72-hour stay limit. However, I think that if you need more time, he'd be happy to give it to you.

6) There is a GRAY WATER DUMP STATION ONLY by the Veteran's Memorial Park / bathrooms – it's just a white cap in the ground without any signage, but Clif said that you're free to dump gray water there if you'd like. See pics.

7) There is a swimming pool next door (the RV spots are right next to the swimming pool and tennis courts) but it needs major repairs and Clif's best guess was that after the 2019 summer season, Slaton wouldn't have a swimming pool any longer. That is, of course, just a guess at this point (in October of 2018). It's closed for the season now and no one has drained it, so it just looks skuzzy and nasty. :-/

8) The RV spots are super level and super easy to pull into – wide, with lots of room to maneuver.

9) There are no official hours in terms of running your generator; there is a noise ordinance that you can't be loud after 10 pm, but Clif says that if your generator isn't loud, he doesn't care when or how long it's running (but if he gets complaints, then he'll have to come on over and investigate).

10) This is a huge city park with lots of playground equipment, a baseball field, tennis courts, basketball court, etc, so if you have kids, they'll have a blast running and playing here.

11) It's only about 20 minutes away from Lubbock, which is a larger Texas town with lots of shopping (Target, Costco, a mall, an iMax theater – anything you could want, you'll find it there). This is the closest FREE parking spot to Lubbock that we could find, so if you're needing to go there for supplies, this is a great place to stay.

12) The internet here is superb. Full bars on AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. If you need access to the internet to do your work, this is the place for you!

13) Just as an FYI, this is actually a county park, but the city manages the swimming pool and the RV section, which makes it a little complicated when it comes to who is in charge of what. Just so you know in case you run into an issue with something – no one else knows what's going on either. :-p

14) While here, you should absolutely check out the local bakery. If you continue down Garza Street past the park, there's a large and very adorable town square just a few blocks down. There's a quilting shop, some museums, and the yummiest bakery you've ever stepped foot inside of in your life. I think I gained 10 pounds just walking in the doors! They've been open and operating since 1923, so they definitely know what they're doing, and their prices are very reasonable. There's even a bakery museum inside, so plan on spending some time in there browsing around.

15) The city park is fairly close to the railroad tracks so you'll hear a lot of clanking and grinding as trains get connected and unconnected. They don't stop just because nighttime hits, so if you're a light sleeper, this is going to be a tough spot to stay. The park is also fairly close to a police station or fire station (we're not sure which) so we hear sirens fairly regularly. It isn't anything outrageous – just city noises – but I thought I'd warn you.

16) There are seven power poles that run along the tennis courts; those are the spots we found first and stayed at ourselves. However, we found an additional four sites that run along the edge of the pool, so there are eleven sites total. The four sites along the pool also have locked power boxes, but on top of that, they also have water spigots in the ground that you can connect to and stay connected to while here, which the sites along the tennis courts do not have. Unfortunately, whoever put these water connections in does not know anything about RVing, lol, because they put them into the ground where you drive over them, instead of off to the side. Not surprisingly, the one set is pretty banged up and only one of the faucets in that set works. I don't know why people install RV stuff who know nothing about RVing. :-p

Okay, so Clif (the current parks manager) is just about the nicest guy you'll ever meet in your life. Honestly. There's a large building here at the city park, and he's there M-F from 9 to noon. He says that he always has a pot of coffee on, and so visitors are welcome to "come on over" and get themselves a cup if they'd like (during his working hours). He also gave me some phone numbers to call if you'd like to ask any questions or have any problems. (See below). Oh, and he's the one who recommended the bakery to go try their cinnamon rolls, so I have him to thank for gaining weight today. :-p

Overall, as long as you come in knowing that this is just a boondocking stay inside of a city, you'll be happy.

Important phone numbers that Clif gave to me to share with y'all:

Slaton Police Dept – 806-828-2020
City of Slaton – 806-828-2000
Park Office – 806-828-5121

We pulled into Slaton well after dark recently and drove around the park a bit to figure out if there was a certain spot we should occupy. Unable to determine the layout, we just stopped, slid out the slide, and hit the hay. We were up before dawn and the first customers at Slaton Bakery, thanks to the thorough review below. Just looking at the selections, they didn't seem special, but oh that dough! There's some magic going on with that 70-year old recipe. I couldn't believe how little they were charging: Buck and a quarter for a bear claw that literally melted in my mouth. See what you can get for 1.25 in the city. The train didn't wake us up.

We rolled in late in the afternoon on a Sunday and parked in one of the grassy "sites" near the ball field. There are no signs indicating that camping is allowed and we could find no one to ask, but the locked electric pedestals (and very detailed review that we found here) were enough to convince us to stay. The park was busy with people when we arrived but quickly quieted down for the evening and night. Be sure to take a walk around downtown Slaton to look at the murals. Oh, and both Verizon & AT&T were blazing fast here!

Older, neglected city park. Middle of winter so not much to look at. Find a spot near the closed pool. Water spigots in the ground and 2 of the RV Power boxes have been unlocked \forced open. So there are lots of dumpsters around, water, power and there is a grey water dump site on the way out. So, great free camp spot in a small town south of Lubbock, TX. Be sure to check out the Slaton Bakery! (Closed Sunday's and Monday's)

We stopped here on our way from NM to sleep for the night and work the next day. Based on other reviews we knew not to expect any bathroom facilities but we are self sustainable so no big deal for us. We arrived at 10pm so it was dark out but after reading other reviews it was easy to find the parking spots. We got one just last the pool to the side of the old tennis courts. The pool had just closed for the evening when we arrived so there were still people there cleaning up but after that it was empty and quiet. No other campers either. The next day we were able to sit and work for a few hours and I was able to get a workout in on the court next to where we parked. Nothing fancy but we’d definitely stay here again. Oh and we tried to stop by the bakery after reading all the good reviews but sadly they were closed on a Tuesday even though the hours on their door showed they should be open. Maybe next time!

We pulled in late and left early. Nice little spot. Thank you, Slates!

Was expecting to stay here without any hookups mostly due to previous reviews. City employees randomly came by and asked if I wanted electric. Yes, please! So they unlocked the electric box for me which gave me much needed relief from the heat. There is a water spigot for filling tanks near the pool as well as free dump station near the triangle section. I specifically asked about grey and black (due to previous review) he said it was both. There are multiple electric boxes next to the old tennis courts but they have padlocks. They said just call city hall and they would be happy to unlock them. I will attach photos so you can see where the water and dump are but just double check when they come to unlock your electric.

This park is operated by the county but the electric service for RVs is managed by the city. You have to call during the week to arrange a city employee to unlock the box. We arrived on Saturday without calling ahead so we boondocked one night. There is lots of grass, picnic tables, etc. But all we needed was a safe place to park overnight and this park provided that. Freight trains pass within hearing, but not a big issue

We camped here in our camper van. We're just passing through and looking for an inexpensive night. These sites in the city park near the tennis court fit the bill. They were free and have electric if you ask someone to unlock it. We are self-contained so just parked for the night. Being in town is convenient if you needed to pick up anything else in the evening. The park seemed a little let go but it was getting to be the winter season.

Thank you to the city of Slaton for this. City employees unlocked the ac box for me and I had 30 amps power in a cold February month. City hall employee she was very nice as well. Even a Police officer came by and spoke with me for a few minutes. Everyone was so kind. Picnic table, large park in front. Minutes to centre city by foot. All the streets were made of bricks in centre city. I extended my stay more than I should have because waiting on a broken down friend while they got repaired. No one said anything.