Our original plan for visiting New Orleans, Louisiana, was to stay at one of the state parks on the northern side of Lake Ponchartrain, Fountainebleau State Park in Mandeville. We called the park for availability, and much to our disappointment, they were booked up for the weekend. After calling and researching online, we discovered that all the state parks within a decent driving distance (defined as an hour and a half or less) of New Orleans were all booked, except for Bayou Segnette and Grand Isle. These are both on the south side of New Orleans, and Richard and I agreed neither of us wanted to take the coach through the New Orleans metropolitan area. We much prefer to avoid driving in large cities, or even driving too close to large cities, if possible.
So we started searching out private parks in the area, and found many of them to be either inconveniently located (for us) or out of our price range. Interestingly, and for those more adventurous about driving their RV in city traffic, we even found, on recommendation from our friends on iRV2, a park located nearly in the French Quarter itself. Finally we found a park just over the border in Picayune, Mississippi, called Sun Roamers RV Resort.
After a couple of turns down the drive, the park opens up.Like many private parks, Sun Roamers is primarily a seasonal destination, with many sites filled with stationary park models or RVs. The presence of seasonals don’t bother us, although if we are planning on a long stay somewhere, we generally prefer for the seasonal sites around us to be well taken care of, as in the case of Sun Roamers. Sun Roamers does have a fairly good selection of sites designated for their traveling visitors, however if you are a big rig (40 feet or larger) you may find some of the spaces pretty tight.
The sites in the front area are reserved for short-term stay visitors, while there is another section for longer stay visitors. Three of the short-term sites have full concrete pads (always a plus in my book). The park is surrounded by tall pines which act as a visual reminder that you’re in the Pine Belt, as they call it.
There is a distributed wi-fi system at the park, which provides a fairly good signal throughout, although like most systems it gets very slow around the later afternoon and evening as everyone gets home and logs on. Laundry and shower facilities, as well as an Olympic-sized pool (not heated), a clubhouse, a small non-denominational chapel and a pond round out the amenities. We managed to get a weak satellite signal on 110, but not 119. 129 (if we had the capabilities to use it) was also clear from our site at the front of the park.
One of the office cats sunning on the front porch at Sun Roamers.After Katrina, the park underwent some renovation. The office looks new, and the staff were welcoming and helpful, with popcorn and coffee for visitors. They offer daily trash pick up, which is fabulous, but although they advertise as being a green park, they did not have recycling facilities. I have to say that I am very disappointed by the general lack of recycling at most parks, even state parks, but I suppose that’s a complaint for another time.
A crook-necked crane in the water.I got my first picture of a crook-neck crane here, and the office is home to three or four cats who were friendly. I do enjoy stealing some cat time when I can. 🙂
Yesterday we checked into Paul B. Johnson State Park. I think this one is going to go in our personal favorites list. It has everything we want in a campground to stay at for a couple of days. We think it’s going to be a great place to weather over the next few days.
If we’re only going to spend one night somewhere and get back on the road, we’ll stay pretty much anywhere as long as it’s close to the interstate (and at the moment, we also like to stay someplace with electric for the night). Paul B. Johnson is not close to the interstate, so it doesn’t fit with our over night criteria.
The view from my window at Paul B. Johnson State Park. The view from my window at Paul B. Johnson State Park.[/caption]But for places we’re going to stay a few days and nights, we want something more than an electric hook-up and nearness to the interstate. Paul B. Johnson has all the criteria we look for (pretty much in order of priority):
Full hook-ups.
So, yeah, we can get by without full hook-ups; our work camping job in the summer doesn’t have full hook-ups. We have a huge blue boy that we use to dump when we’re at Big Rock Campground for the summer. We wanted a break from that routine, so we decided on full hook-up places for the winter season (and stuck our blue boy in storage). And, oh, my, goodness, is it great to have full hook-ups again! Shower as long as we want, whenever we want; don’t have to be careful while doing the dishes, etc.
Cement/concrete pads.
Richard and I do a pretty good job at leveling the coach on any terrain, but it is very, very nice to be able to level quickly and easily when you get in after a long drive. And then not to have to level once more after it rains and the jacks sink or shift is also a plus. More like a plus-plus.
Spacious sites.
Although we are social creatures, we also value privacy. We’ve stayed in places where you wake up to the sound of your neighbor brushing his teeth, and that’s okay. There’s many reasons why we’ll compromise on this point. Sometimes the budget can only take places where we’re packed in. Sometimes that kind of park is the only one close enough to where we want to be. But if we have our druthers, we would rather not be kept awake by the neighbor’s business. And we’d very much prefer for the neighbor’s not to be disturbed by our everyday noises as well.
A male pied Muscovy duck. There is a flock of them that lives here, and about four that that have made the New Campground is their home.
A natural setting.
Part of why we chose this lifestyle was to be surrounded by nature and beauty. We like being near natural features, or historical attractions. I know Richard especially likes being near lakes, not just for the joy of waking up everyday to see the light flashing on the water, but for fishing too (an activity we enjoy together). I love being close to trails I can hike, and beautiful scenery I can appreciate while walking Chloe. I also enjoy being in a natural setting where I can observe local wildlife, birds in particular. Am I a full on birder? Not yet….
Low(er) cost.
This is most definitely a relative term. We understand sometimes you’ve just gotta pay more, but we generally like to pay less than $30 a night.
Paul B. Johnson State Park has all these things. It’s a large campground, but it’s been split up into areas that make you feel like you’re in a smaller place. Lots of sites have full view of Geiger Lake. There are some that are right on the water, but these are smaller sites that we couldn’t fit into with the 40’ Scepter.
The spillway you have to cross on the way to the campground area. The spillway you have to cross on the way to the campground area.[/caption]One drawback to Paul B. Johnson is the incredibly long drive in over narrow, old roads. The park was constructed after Geiger Lake was built by German POWs housed at nearby Camp Shelby. I’m pretty sure that the spillway you’ll drive over to access the campground dates to that period, or perhaps a little later. Going over that spillway in a 32,800 lbs vehicle is an experience to be sure. So if you stay here, and I highly recommend it, you’ll want to count on extra time exiting and entering the campground in your planning. It takes between 20 and 30 minutes depending on how much oncoming traffic you encounter, and how fast you want to drive the old, narrow, winding roads.
If you’re going to be camping, you don’t need to pay the entrance fee. Also, the campground office takes credit cards. 🙂 If you’re going to be camping, you don’t need to pay the entrance fee. Also, the campground office takes credit cards. :)[/caption]At $21 a night with tax, this place is a steal. I’d expect to pay $30 or more a night for all the features of this park. I’m pretty sure it fills up during high season, since it is such a gem. Given the native dogwoods I’ve seen around, the place is probably even more spectacular in the spring. We may just have to find out on our way back to Illinois next spring.
Addendum: 11/18. Although we intended to stay through Thursday the 19th for some reason we only registered through today, the 18th. It’s raining right now, so we really didn’t want to go up to the campground office. I called up there, and spoke to a very nice attendant who renewed me over the phone. She told me I could come up there and get the vehicle passes when (if) it stops raining.
I also spoke to her about when the park sees it’s most campers. During the winter, she said they have “winterbirds” who stay the entire season. During the summer, June and July are their most busy months, with the campground being near to almost full during these months.
Our original plans for November 14th and 15thth, however, Richard and I decided we wanted to give ourselves a break and stay two days at our next stop in Meridian, MS at Benchmark Coach and RV Park. We were also hoping to be able to get the Bears game (unfortunately this was a no) and the NASCAR race (yay!).
The office at Benchmark Coach and RV Park. I always like to show pictures of the offices at parks we go to, because I don’t know how many times we’ve driven into a park and asked, “Where’s the office?”Benchmark does not fit all our usual criteria for a more than stop-over place. The sites are extremely close together, and there isn’t any views. It does fit our idea of a good stop-over, one night kind of place perfectly. They honor plenty of discount programs including Passport America, Good Sam, and FMCA, although you should know that they only honor Passport America’s discount for one night.
The sites, while somewhat tight, are all paved and level. The campground consists primarily of pull-thrus, which is very convenient for one night. Most of the folks were only staying one night, so we were able to watch a rotating cast of coaches throughout the two nights we stayed. One thing I really appreciated is that although it is very close to I-59/I-20, it is surrounded on both sides by woods to block the interstate noise. There does some to be some kind of heavy industry nearby, though, so I’d expect some noise pollution during weekdays.
The laundry room at Benchmark Coach and RV Park. Accessed with a keypad, it is in the same building with the showers.The park is well kept and has several amenities: laundry room, showers, propane fill, and a small dog park. It’s a family run place, and everyone was very nice and friendly. On the weekends, the office is only open from 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm. However, they’re happy to let you know which site to go to if you call them if you arrive outside of these hours. This did produce a line at the office when we went to register, but I didn’t think that was a problem since Richard and I were happy to chat with our fellow RVers while we waited.
Be aware that it says on the website that sites start at $25.00 a night. Only the five or six back-in sites are this price, and these do not have 50 amp service. With the discounts we applied (Passport America and FMCA) we were able to average $26.00, but if you do not have a discount, you will pay more. All in all, it’s a great stop-over on your way further south.
Today we traveled from the FMCA Campground in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Levi Jackson Wilderness Road State Park in London, Kentucky. We are travelling here instead of going directly south in order to visit the Visone RV Boneyard. This trip to the boneyard is both in the nature of a pilgrimage and a necessity.
The day after the slide broke, Murphy and his Law decided it was a good day to come to town. I opened the right hand door of our Norcold French-door style refrigerator and the entire door fell of the hinge, dropping everything I stored in the door on the tile. Luckily, nothing broke (most especially my bare toes), except the door. Turns out (though some of you may already be aware of this) the Norcolds have a bit of a design flaw in the bottom hinge, allowing the plastic to break and the door to fall off the top hinge.
So we needed a new door. Richard temporarily fixed the problem with duct tape so I could access the things I had stored in the fridge behind that door. We took everything out of the door to keep the load light. But this was a temporary fix to be sure, so we would be looking for a new door at Visone.
Levi Jackson Wilderness Road State Park is a beautiful park in the foothills of the mountains of south-central Kentucky. It’s named for one of the first pioneers of the area, and contains historical sites such as the McHague Mill, the Wilderness Road, and Boone’s Trace (named for Daniel Boone), the two primary routes for pioneers settling in the area.
The drive in recommended by the park is over several small, narrow roads, including one ascent around a right hand curve. There are two routes in, and I would recommend taking the route directed by Google using KY-229.
A pull-thru site next to us at Levi Jackson Wilderness Road State Park. The pads are all concrete and level (at least the pull-thru sites are).Our site is a pull-thru, though from egress angle, it will be difficult to actually pull out of this site, so we are thinking we might have to back out. This park is open year round and still had the water on this time of year, though do to construction further inside the park, they advised us it may be turned off from time to time.
It’s a lovely park, with lots of space and things to do (mini-golf anyone?). Although we are surrounded by trees, there is enough of a clearing around us to be able to get a satellite signal. I wish we were going to spend more time here, as there is much to explore, and good hiking opportunities. Alas, we’re planning on going to Visone tomorrow, then moving on the following day.
Road Data for November 11th
Traveled 172 miles in 3.8 hours from Cincinnati, OH to London, KY
Okay, so, everybody likes free stuff. I think I can say that with some degree of certainty. But Richard and I love free stuff. Any day we can get something on sale or deep, deep discount, or best of all, free, is a pretty darn good day.
Which is why we just absolutely had to stop at the FMCA campground in Cincinnati for our two nights per month free. We joined FMCA when we first started RVing, for some of the other membership perks: roadside assistance, discount at campgrounds, medical emergency travel and assistance program, etc. But getting $40 a month in free camping was certainly an awesome perk: even if you only do it once a year, it pays for the membership. And $20 a night beyond the two free is a great price for full hook-ups with cement pads.
All in all, in was a great place to spend a couple of days while we played more with the slide. You may already be familiar with the battle with the slide (if not, start the story by clicking here. Well, the day we left Bowling Green the slide struck back (I was afraid it was going to freeze us in carbonite after this) and got some of our freelance projects done. When you work on the road, sometimes you just have to stop for more than a day to get stuff done.
Actually, the side’s not that big of a deal. Richard thinks the spring probably needs some more tension on it. Right now it doesn’t have enough tensionto hold the aluminum cap up and roll under it. So Richard has to hold the cap up with our all-purpose pole (handy for many things, this originally was bought to wash the coach) while I bring the slide in. Compared to having the slide not work at all, this is nothing, folks.
Anyway, back to FMCA. Couple words of caution. The first is that getting to FMCA is no walk in the park. You’ll want to take I-275 E around Cincinnati, then you have a choice. You can either take several sharp rights to get to Round Bottom road from exit 59 onto OH-315. Or you can take exit 63A and take OH-32 down to a right onto Round Bottom Rd, with the campground only about a quarter mile on the right. We chose the second route and encountered a nasty surprise on OH-32: a steep downgrade combined with a sharp right. Not fun in either the coach or the car with the speed limit being 55 mph and locals screaming past. So choose carefully which of the two evils you’d like to take on: steep hill with curve, or multiple sharp right turns and a longer drive on Round Bottom Rd.
Second word of caution is that there are not that many sites at the FMCA campground (15 in all), so make sure to call a day or so ahead to find out if they have room for you. They don’t take reservations, so if it sounds like they might be busy, have a back-up plan for the night. FMCA makes this somewhat easier, since they have a parking area with lots of electric only hook-ups just in case. But if they’ve got a rally there, or are using the park for employee visits, they may not even have that over-flow area available.
And of course, it goes without saying (but I’m saying it anyway) you can’t stay at the FMCA campground unless you’re an FMCA member. Also, your goose eggs (the black, oblong thingies with your FMCA member number on it) need to be in full display. And (bonus!) you can tour the FMCA Headquarters building on Clough Pike by calling and scheduling a tour in advance.
We left Indianapolis today after meeting with the gentleman from iRV2 who gave us the new Omega arms to fix our slide. We’re still living with a living room slide that doesn’t open, but hopefully we’ll fix it with a little help from our friend.
When we were looking at coaches over two years ago, we’d looked at our first Holiday Rambler, a 1999 Vacationer without slides. Without having looked at one with slides, we tried to tell ourselves that we could live without them. The price certainly was right. But then we saw some coaches with slides and we decided there was no way we could live without one (even though I still think every slide you add to a coach is another thing to go wrong).
Our site at the Wood County FairgroundsThis experience of living without a slide has certainly proven that, though it may be fine for some, it’s no way for us to live! We can’t pass each other without someone getting squished. Poor Chloe is constantly underfoot. And we can’t eat at the kitchen table and both of us see the TV at the same time. Tough times, eh?
We left at a 11 AM, and got into Bowling Green, Ohio with plenty of daylight to set up and relax. We’re staying at the Wood County Fairgrounds for the next couple of days.
When we decided back in August to visit our good friend in Bowling Green, we wanted to stay at our favorite campground there, Fire Lake Camper Park. Although this park is mainly a seasonal place, they do have three pull-thru spots along their rectangular lake, and we’ve always been there in either autumn or spring. We’ve found it relaxing, and the views of the sunset over the lake are lovely.
This time, however, Fire Lake was already closed for the season when we’d get to BG. So, the only choices for camping in BG are Mary Jane Thurston State Park which is kind of far from Bowling Green, and the Wood County Fairgrounds. We’d never stayed at a fairground before, and I was not sure what to expect.
The Jr. Beef Barn next store to our site.Long story short, we love it. Even though the grounds are shuttered up and kind of lonesome, it is still neat to be able to walk the grounds without a huge crowd of people. There is only one 50 AMP hookup: right between the Fine Art Barn and the Jr Beef Barn, right down the street from Gate C. The site is very large and although not quite level and grassy, we still managed to find a spot that, with the jacks, left us level enough.
Although shuttered-up, the grounds are far from empty. Workers are doing maintenance that they couldn’t do during high season, and people are dropping off boats, trailers, and RVs for winter storage.
There’s a guy training his horses for cart-racing in the track right across from our site this morning. First he runs the horse around the track to practice their trotting. He has this contraption on the back of a pick-up truck, and he hooks two horses at a time up to it. He drives around at trotting speed and the horses practice keeping their pace steady. Then he goes round the track with each of the horses several times, riding behind them in the cart. I liked watching him and imaging the chariot riders of ancient times, racing around a similar track to cheering, wild fans.
The fairgrounds manager is very friendly and made us feel welcome. He answered all our questions about the grounds and the Wood County Fair, which has been held in Wood County for the last 143 years. Last year they saw attendance grow to 103,000. For camping at the fair there are 600 campsites. They usually fill about 550 of them (!) and it costs $150 for the 8 days of the fair.
What I think is most exciting about the Wood County Fair, and what may bring us back to BG next August to attend, is the very unusual Combine Demolition Derby. When he told me about this, my jaw just hit the floor. I’ve only ever seen regular Demos on TV. I could only imagine how exciting it would be with COMBINES (*grunting sounds* More power!).
If you’ve been to a Combine Derby, please, let me know what it’s like in the comments.
Road Data for November 2nd, 2015
Traveled 213 miles in 4.5 hours from Mooresville, IN to Bowling Green, OH
Used 24.2 gallons of diesel and averaged 8.7 MPG
Cost of one night at Wood County Fairground is $20
A travel blog of our adventures across the country.
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