NOT ALL CAMPGROUNDS ARE CREATED EQUAL

My years of travel I have seen all forms of campgrounds, RV Resorts, Casino, Cracker Barrel or WallMart parking lots, and trailer parks.

Without a doubt National Parks, state and local campgrounds are the very best.  Limited to 14 day stays, public campgrounds are for real camping with picnic tables and fire pits.  Although “Glamping” is now included for those not wishing to sleep on the ground in a tent. But Glamping is not cheap.  Many state parks offer cabins with beds and kitchens, etc.  Yurts are cabin like structures but no plumbing.  Bring your port-a-pottie.

Then there are the private parks, or RV Resorts.  I fondly refer to these as “parking lots with swimming pools”.  Unfortunately, these “resorts” (and I use the word loosely) allow long-term stays and even permanent residences.  The environment in RV Resorts is more like a 65 and older community, it’s not camping.

Since the pandemic RV and camping sales have skyrocketed, and trying to find a nice place to vacation has become difficult.

The other day I called to book a spot for next winter in Florida.  Over a year away and there was no room at any resort.  Apparently, several “resorts” in the area are kicking out the RVers in favor or park model homes, aka single wide manufactured houses.  Also, the remaining parks have doubled or tripled the rates.  The parks I called are getting over $2,000 a month!  

All campground fees are also going north.  A camp site for a trailer or RV with full hook-ups (water, electric and sewer) can run anywhere from $40 to over $100 per night.  Camping isn’t inexpensive anymore.

I stayed at the nicest KOA in Petaluma, CA.  KOAs are concessions owned locally and there doesn’t seem to be any quality control for getting the KOA moniker.  A few years back I stayed at a KOA in Port Saint Lucie, FL that was an unpaved dusty parking lot.  There were two single toilet and shower rooms, and no other amenities, no pool.   That place this year because of the explosion in RVing, is also getting over $100 per night.  For WHAT?

The KOA in Petaluma was on the best end of the scale.  Beautifully landscaped, huge (unheated) pool, lots of kid activities.  KOA are for families.  This KOA had a petting farm with chickens, goats, donkeys and was surrounded by cow pastures.  They sent occupants text messages about activities.  I was there for Easter weekend, and they had a someone in a bunny rabbit costume and an egg hunt.  Also, they showed movies outdoors on a big screen.    Marlene and her husband own the place and do an amazing job.  They employ over 50 people including grounds keepers, which really shows in the landscaping.

I drove from Petaluma to Westport, north of Fort Bragg, CA.  Strangely Fort Bragg is named after a confederate general the same Bragg the military base in North Carolina is name after.  NC is changing the fort’s name.  Strangely the nice woman at the visitors’ center said there was no real effort to change the town’s name.  Was California a state during the civil war? Why would they name a Pacific coastal town and seaside community after a confederate general?  I am going to do a little more research on that.

I was surprised when I called to make my reservation at Westport RV Park, they had lots of available places.  It is late April so certainly the camping season hasn’t begun, but I really learned the reason when I drove from Leggit to Westport.  YIKES!

The road wound through the Coastal Range and at many places narrowed to a single lane.  I won’t be going back that way.  I really should do more research on roads before I venture forth.  Relying on my GPS can be a hazard.  During my first year on the road, I was traveling west from Palm Springs to San Clemente, CA.  I was talking to Mom and suddenly, the road began to climb.  I hung up on Mom and found myself driving over the Ortega Pass.  It was a beautiful sunny day and there were lots of folks out for a Sunday drive, especially motorcycle riders in packs.  They did not appreciate getting stuck behind a travel trailer on a single lane highway with switchbacks and hairpin turns. Whenever there was a wide shoulder, I would pull over and let what seemed like hundreds of cars and motorcycles pass me.  I don’t think they were waving hello.

The road to Westport was a nerve racking terror, hairpin turns and narrowing to a single lane.  Fortunately, it was a Wednesday and every few cars were on this road.  No one behind me and only three or four cars came at me.  I now know why.

Westport RV Park is really a gem.  On a private beach you can hear the crashing waves from every campsite.  The bathrooms are very nice and appear to have been recently renovated.   Maggie loves to run wild, and while dogs are supposed to be on leash, there is hardly anyone there and the few people who were also let their dogs have some fun. There was no cell service or wifi, so two two nights was just right. 

I am at Harris Beach State Park at Brookings, OR for the month of May, and I believe I may have died and gone to campground heaven. I am hosting at Harris Beach and my duties are selling firewood and cleaning yurts on Wednesday and Thursday the yurt hosts days off. Piece of cake.

I had forgotten how beautiful Northern California and Oregon coast are. Breathtaking!

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