Starke - Gainesville NE KOA Holiday

I came in late and left early, so I didn't get a good look at the park itself in the dark. But I took a hot shower and the managers were great to deal with for a late arrival.

The park itself is quite nice, though Starke as a town tends to roll up about 10pm like so many of them do. Likewise, Starke P.D. tends to be fairly zealous about their speed enforcement. I haven't driven through town one time and not spotted A) Someone pulled over. or B) An officer lying in wait to pull someone over. I'm taking the speed limit signs VERY seriously here.

The KOA location is convenient enough to both Gainesville and Jacksonville - 30 minutes to an hour to either one, but there is a whole lot of not much right nearby. If you're someone who likes any level of urban, you're going to need to travel a bit to get to it. If you're someone who likes playing "Follow the Brown Sign" to something interesting that not a lot of people get to see (like the nearby Camp Blanding Military Museum), it's a good choice.

The sites are level and mostly gravel packed. The facilities are clean, and the whole camp is quite a nice place to be (though, being not yet 50, I'm a decade and more younger than anyone else I've encountered so far in my stay). The only negative thing I'd have to say is that the WiFi, which has *excellent* coverage - there are 8 APs scattered across 138 sites - all funnels down to a Century Link DSL connection which is 8MB down and only 256k up. In the early evening when people sit down to do some computing or streaming, the network becomes unresponsive. Also, if you're technically inclined, and wanted to, say, upload a video to YouTube...a 10 minute clip of your travels will take over 12 hours to upload.
If you're going to do any significant uploading (for work or for pleasure) grab your laptop and head for the Krystal in town. The dining room is open until 2am, and the upstream connection is much faster.
Alternately, use your Cellular Connection. I was routinely getting 4MB connections up and down on Sprint LTE.

On a NON-technical front - The Town of Starke lies on a CSX railroad main line, and the Starke hasn't negotiated with the railroad regarding "No Horn" crossings near residences.
There are *14* grade-level crossings within earshot of the KOA, and they horns get sounded 5 times for each crossing. It really pays to be a railfan here, especially between 7 and 11 PM, when the bulk of traffic comes through, and there are sometimes trains (and horns) going in both directions simultaneously. Usually, the traffic drops off by midnight, so if you're a night owl willing to stay up for a bit to get to the really quiet part, it's well worth it.

Very nice KOA with fun things to do. Not a lot in town but they have a few grocery stores, Walmart included and a good array of restaurants.

The park itself has nice asphalt sites with cement patios and picnic tables. Our site was able to get satellite reception. Laundry and bath houses clean. There is a bocce ball court, pool, playground, shuffleboard, horse shoes, nice dog park and another really nice dog walk area.

If you are into the new rock painting craze they have a cute rock garden where you can leave a rock.

You can barely hear road noise and yes there are trains nearby but I hardly hear them.

WiFi is adequate but we were here on Easter weekend and place was full. They also have good cable.

We are new RV owners and this was our first trip. The staff, especially Bill were absolutely fantastic. We stayed in 2 sites (#59 regular site and then moved to #73 a premium site) and the staff helped us with each hook up and park, giving us tips along the way. Couldn’t tell you how much fun we had and they really went out of their way to make it great!! Not much to do around Starke but plenty of stores and food nearby.

Older RV park still well-kept. Due to forecast heavy thunderstorms I got a paved site with patio which was narrow but almost level. It did rain hard around 6pm and site did not flood. Nor did gravel sites across the road. Quiet even though just off US 301. Park is well laid out for overnighters: quick check-in even with Covid, led to site, dumpster by the exit on the way out. ATT cell good, park wifi not usable. I would stay here overnight again.

The sites were level, the staff was wonderful. The bathrooms were clean. The activities were wonderful (pancake breakfast and trick or treating). It is more expensive than a state park, but we didn't find it too cost prohibitive. The site we had was a pull-in site, which was great since I'd never done this before. There are trains that go by frequently, even at night. We. heard them outside, but once in our rig we did not. We didn't find the trains bothersome at all. We would most definitely stay out here again.

This was our final stop before hitting our winter destination. The park may be older but it is wonderfully care for with lots of plants and shrubs creating a nice feel.

Sites are well spaced and plenty long. Utilities all worked properly. The staff was absolutely wonderful. There were lots of activities here too despite the lingering Covid issue. Roads were plenty wide to allow easy navigation even with our 43’ fifth wheel.

There was some road noise at our site and a nearby train track was used regularly day and night creating a minor annoyance.

One of the better ones. I stayed in site site 53 which was a level grass pad. Really liked this KOA and would certainly stay again. Clean restrooms and friendly staff. Really quiet considering the park was packed. Plenty of room between the sites. Got 3 bars Verizon and uninstructed view of the southern sky. Good Directv reception.

This is the third time for us here. Very nice pull trough with quality hookups. Very friendly and helpful staff. Very Covid conscious. Cable, but weak WiFi

We were only there one night as it was a stop over for our trip from Florida to Hilton Head Island. The campground seemed nice but sites were a little close but adequate. Our site was a level pull-through which was what we wanted since we didn’t want to disconnect. We did not use any of the facilities or amenities since we were not there long enough. Staff was very nice and friendly. WiFi was almost unusable. As I am still working full time, I would not be able to rely on the WiFi for work. Cell service was good.