Observations and random ramblings about our wanderings

RV Parks vs. Campgrounds

If you want level sites with full hook ups and more amenities such as on site laundry, pool, exercise facilities, firewood, etc. then RV parks are the way to go. They typically can accommodate longer rigs, pull through access, and 20/30/50 amp hookups. Depending on where and how big the park is, some have organized activities, shuttles, and tours. The downside? Most we encountered didn't have a lot of shade, were close to main highways so you had road noise, and a couple had sites that were very close together. At one point we were sandwiched between two humongous rigs with dueling radio stations going full blast. Glad we were leaving the next day!

Campgrounds are more scenic, sites are spread apart, campers have a variety of tents, trailers and RV's (although some put the RVs in an area to themselves), and you usually have peace and quiet. The sites are usually gravel and may require more leveling, not all have 50 amp connections, many have water and electric but no sewer connection. The older campgrounds don't accommodate the large RVs of today so even if they say 30', get the google street view because some have really tight corners you couldn't negotiate.

So, we did a bit of both. Overall we preferred the campgrounds and fewer amenities, but it really depends on what you are doing, what is available in the area, and your own personal style of travel. If your rig is longer than 30' you won't have as many choices. We were on the top end of what typical campgrounds can accommodate.

Trash on the Highways

Missouri was pretty clean but the Kentucky highways and interstates were trashy. They need an aggressive "Adopt a Highway" program to get that trash cleaned up. It was really sad to stop at a really pretty place that was filled with trash. Some of the trash was along the highways where the big mowers kicked it up when they mowed; clearly that is trash people throw out of the cars as they go by. People, stop it!

Golf Carts are the new thing for RV'ers

Many campers now tow a trailer with golf cart behind their RV or trailer. It is a big thing, and people ride around the parks in their golf carts. Especially the teenagers seem to have adopted this as their piece of camping life.

Lights, flags and assorted decorations

Lots of lights at the campsites, some Edison lights outlining the awnings and boundaries of the campsites, but also twinkling Christmas-style lights, lights like the American flag, neon chasing lights and rope lights -- every variety of light you can imagine! Because we are nearing Halloween, there were lots of Fall and Halloween decorations at the campgrounds and at individual campsites. I never decorated my campsite before, but that is apparently a new thing. 

We do like the different flags people post at their campsites. We had a couple from prior trips but found some good study poles at the Taylorsville Hardware and ended up buying three to replace our old ones.

No Recycling!

A very sad thing for me is the lack of recycling anywhere in the campgrounds whether private, State or Federal. Only a couple places did we even see recycling collection bins. I am so used to recycling and we have more recycling each week than we have trash. So it pained me greatly to have to throw away all those perfectly good glass, aluminum and steel cans.

Lots of Baptists

I never knew there were so many varieties of Baptists! Kentucky has Baptist churches on every corner, it seems and they are of a variety of traditions, some I never heard of before! I always thought of Kentucky being a haven for Methodism, but if that is so, it didn't survive and flourish like the Baptist tradition.

Pacing our Trip

Many people travel and don't mind staying over night one night on the road, and moving on. Others like to put in 8 - 10 hrs. a day or more. If you have a tight schedule with limited time, and you have a specific destination in mind, then that can work for you. There are fortunately lots of nice rest areas where you can pull in your RV and vehicle, stop and stretch, use the restroom, and make lunch. Depending on what kind of RV you have, pulling into a space overnight may not require much time to set up/tear down.

Ours is a 5th wheel. We can setup/tear down in about 30 minutes. But still, we don't really want to do "one night stands" if we can help it. It is tiring. We have slept with it hitched but that is not ideal because the front end is up so you feel a bit like you are sliding downhill. So for us, we found three nights was a good length of stay. It allows us two full days of sightseeing wherever we are with a day in-between for travel and setup or tear down.

We also didn't travel more than 6 hrs. any day because we don't have to!

Sightsee as you go, or Sightsee from a base?

We tried both approaches since some of the things we wanted to see were pretty far from where we planned to park next. It worked out but we had some stressful moments wondering if we would have enough room to park or turn around with the 5th wheel attached. The GPS led us on some very small winding roads that had no shoulders and were barely wide enough for two cars to pass, and with the truck and 5th wheel, we were extremely nervous. 

We prefer to Hub & Spoke even if we are traveling within a 100 miles radius. That is still less than a two hour drive to sightsee, and it keeps down the stress level in unfamiliar areas. Still there are probably some instances where we may stop along the way, but I will research more in advance, and if in doubt call ahead and talk to the venue to make sure we are ok with parking/turning, and make sure we are taking the best road.

We abandoned the GPS for country driving half way through the trip and went back to using good old fashioned maps. Keep in mind we were deliberately avoiding interstates and opting for more scenic routes. The GPS's (one on the truck and one on my phone) frequently disagreed on the route, didn't note low bridges or construction or detours. Often it took us the fastest or shortest route but not the friendliest route for a 5th wheel! To use maps though, I really needed good detailed county maps as well as the state highway maps since the country areas didn't have "blow ups" like they do for the cities.

Many lessons learned for us on this trip!