West Ossipee, NH

 

 

 

Up in what might be described geographically, as east central New Hampshire, right near the eastern base of Mt Whittier and situated on the Bearcamp River is Whit’s End Campground. It’s owned and operated by a nice young couple. Jan - half of the owner/management team - is my first cousin on my mothers side. The other half of this team is Dan. This sole-mate team are the heart throb of this campground and will bend over backwards to make your stay with them as enjoyable as possible.

Right after we started full time RVing, our first venture up into Yankee land included a month long stop at Whit’s End Campground. At that time Dan & Jan did not have a couple of sites large enough for our two 38 footers - our long time friends and traveling companions were traveling with us - so, they built us a couple of sites at the end of a dirt road just across the street from the CG office. They ran in some 50 amp electrical power, fresh water connections and put down some gravel to level out the lower site and provided us with a large blue covered barrel for trash. We could dump our gray water into the vacant land behind us. When needed, Dan would come around with his “honey bucket” truck and collect our black water.

We both had Verizon wireless phones with internet access and there was a good signal there. However, TV reception was not so easy. We have always had Dish TV and our friends had Direct TV. Both of us had multi receiver connections and both had two receivers. It turned out to be very good to have both because we never could find a signal for the Dish. Because of the angle of the satellite connections we were able to find a signal for the Direct TV system. We had to get a couple hundred extra feet of cable to reach the location of the antenna from our trailers. Each of us used a single receiver and our “bat” antennas for local TV.

I think the sites we stayed in have since been made into seasonal sites. The last time we were there we stayed down near the river.

While there we purchased a portable screen room for eating outside and put it up between the trailers. Worked real well keeping the insects at bay.

From there we were heading on up into Canada. Unfortunately we had a family emergency and had to go back south. Our friends stayed on and went on with their trip. We connected up again later in the year in IL.

Here is the web page for Whit’s End CG, the train ride in Conway and the LL Bean outlet store. It’s beautiful country up there and we have been back since these pictures were taken.

http://www.whitsendcampground.com/
http://www.conwayscenic.com/
http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/1000001725

The links are active and clicking on any of the pictures will enlarge them.

The FastEagles
  Cal & Linda

Brownstown, IL

This is another in our once-in-a-lifetime camping adventures as it’s the only time we've traveled up these highways.

On this trip we were on our way to Peoria, IL to hook-up with our friends. Once there we planned our trip west, then south for the winter.

We were coming from FL and had been using mostly interstate highways. When we got to I-64 we decided to go over and use US-51. We took it all the way to I-74. Great country traveling topped off with some nice weather.

Not many RV parks/CGs up that way but we did find the Okaw Valley Kampground near Brownstown, IL. It was a weekday and a little out of season so there weren’t many campers there. We took a FHU site which was nice and level and very easy to get into. Because we seldom go more than 250 miles a day there was plenty of daytime left for fishing in their well stocked pond/lake.

Lots of people would not take a 50 amp FHU site for overnight parking. We spoiled ourselves right away and always took them. We almost always wash and dry one load every day. We can do it on 30 amps but have to be careful what else we turn on. With the 50 amps it’s not a problem at all. Nice level sites allow us to stay connected to the trailer making for easy departures. Sometimes I’ll put down the rear stabilizers if we’re a little off balance. I’ve even put down both when traveling with our friends and we are hosting the card/domino games.
 
http://www.okawvalley.com/about.html

Here are some pictures I took of the CG. Nice clean place with a well stocked store and a nice book swapping area. We learned early on that books are too heavy to carry in large quantities so we carry 8 or 10 each and swap them out whenever a CG has a swapping area.

As always the pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them and the CG link is active.

The FastEagles
   Cal & Linda

Ganado, TX

After spending a few weeks at the campground on the Naval Air Station at Corpus Christi, TX we made our departure on a Saturday morning. Our plan was to travel a couple hundred miles and spend the night short of Huston. We were traveling on US-59 when we found The Shady Oaks RV Resort in Ganado, TX.

http://www.shadyoaksrv.com/

They do, in fact, have nice large oak trees with long level FHU pull-thru sites and CATV. Just what we were looking for. From there we planned on transiting Houston before noon on Sunday morning. We would make another stop east of Houston before getting to our next scheduled stop at the Naval Construction Base RV Park at Gulfport, MS.

Here are a few pictures taken at Shady Oaks and out transit thru Huston on US-59. We followed it to I-10 east. As you can see by the amount of traffic on the highways our plan on going thru Houston before noon on a Sunday was a good decision. Click on the pictures to enlarge them. The RV Park link is active.

The FastEagles
  Cal & Linda

Bozrah, CT

 

 

We have been visiting and using the Odetha Campground Resort since we started full time traveling back in 2003.

Whenever we head north up through CT we always stop in Bozrah for a week. I can’t remember just how many times we have stayed at the CG. I went back and looked at our pictures but the answer wasn’t there.

Now, this Resort setting is expensive and depending on the time of year, reservations will be required. We found that out on our very first visit there. We ended up in a treed section atop a hill with 30 amps, water and gray water dumping connections. It was our very first experience with gray water connections so we had to purchase the fitting from the CG store.

There are ample black water dumping areas available when leaving the CG.

Sometimes bus loads of tent campers will show-up and the entertainment areas will get lively. Most sections will allow a camper and tent on the same site.

There are a lot of near-by attractions in the Bozrah area and the two huge casino complexes ( Foxwoods & Mohegan Sun) are within easy commuting distances. Both of those complexes have level parking area sections set aside for dry camping (no tents).

Here are a few pictures taken during our first stop at the CG. It’s a beautiful place with lots of things to do. Just click on the pictures to enlarge them and the link is active. Just click on it.

http://www.odetah.com/Attractions.aspx

The FastEagles
  Cal & Linda

Tucson, AZ

In the years we traveled west for the winter we almost always started back east on I-10. Even when deciding to go up and use I-20 or I-40 we would start out on I-8 or I-10. So we almost always wound-up going through Tucson, AZ.

There is a large military campground on the Davis-Monthan AFB at Tucson but we have never used it. It has a first come first serve policy and we pass through there before most seasonal travelers have left. We always visit the base to play golf and do some shopping at the commissary and military exchange outlets on base. The largest military aircraft graveyard in the country is located there and worth the time for a tour of its facilities.

We always like to spend a week in Tucson. There is so much to do and visit in the area. It just cant be done in a week long stop.

We have found the Prince of Tucson RV Park to be very conveniently located with easy exit and entry to all major highways. The park itself is well established with excellent amenities and nicely paved parking sites for all, with paved personal parking right on your site.

Browse the web site below for details. They have a nice mail service area. When we call ahead to make our reservations we ask that they accept our mail before we get there. It has been very convent.
http://www.princeoftucsonrvpark.com/

Here are some pictures of a typical parking site. I’m also going to add some pictures of places we have visited to color up the posting a bit.

Clicking on any of the pictures will enlarge them and start the slide show. The link to the park is active so just click on it to brows around.

The FastEagles
  Cal & Linda

KOA Fredericksburg, VA

 

 

In this posting we are heading south from our northern adventure in 2010. We had left I-81 in Winchester, VA to transit down to I-95 via US-17. We were heading to Four Oaks, NC to visit with friends before heading home to SC. We had to make one more stop before getting to Four Oaks.

We have stayed at a lot of KOA campgrounds in our travels. When we were full timing, our KOA card was golden (15% discounts). We have seen all kinds of them and had never been treated badly until we got to this one.

http://www.fredericksburgkoa.com/

First mistake was going that far off the major highways for a KOA. It was more than 12 miles into the CG. Once you go that far off your highway you have too much invested in the fuel  to do any serious bartering.

We knew better than to think all KOA’s have nice managers. Because we no longer had a KOA card the manager refused to give us any sort of discount. I reminded them that - at the time - it was KOAs policy to give military discounts.We were promptly told that we could purchase a KOA card. And, that they only gave discounts to active duty military.

After the check-in hassle they parked us as far away from the CG store/office as possible. I requested something closer and was told they liked to keep open spaces for any caravan outfits that might stop by.

Now to be fair I’ve read the reviews for that place and it seems people in family groups and large numbers of RVs traveling together like the place. So I just have to assume they just don’t like single units that just want to spend the night. So they take advantage of the fact that they are so far off the highway and turning around and leaving is an added expense for the traveler.

After checking-in and getting to our site we discover that it’s much like most KOAs out in the country. The interior park roads were paved but had lots of pot holes to avoid. The sites did not have paved patios. The site we were assigned to was large and level but I’ll bet it would be muddy in the rain. Being on the end it was very close to the wilderness of the surrounding woodlands. There was a smallish pond close to our site and it had an active beaver family building their winter home. We had a 50 amp FHU site so we used the evening to wash cloths and cook a nice supper.

Here are some pictures. I didn’t venture far from the trailer taking them. Like all other posts in this blog you can click on any of the pictures to enlarge the view.

The FastEagles
  Cal & Linda

Fort Stockton, TX

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One time in the spring of 2005 after wintering in Yuma, AZ we were going back east for the summer and were traveling alone. Our friends had gone up to central CA to spend some time with a daughter living in Hanford, CA.

We were headed to Jacksonville, FL to visit with family and off load some stuff into our storage facility before heading north for the summer. We were using I-10 all the way. We had a couple of week long stops scheduled along the way. He had just spent a week at the Military CG at El Paso and were just going to overnight it to MS.

We like to use KOA CGs for overnight stopping whenever they are available because they are easy to get in and out of and are often very close to the highways being used.

So we were very happy with KOA Fort Stockton. It was not very expensive, most of the snow birds had left giving us a choice of nice long pull-thru sites to select from. Our normal travel day is 300 miles. So we normally get into our overnight sites early enough to get set-up and have plenty of daylight time to browse around the CG and visit all of the facilities. At the time of our stay most of the infrastructure was in great condition making our overnight stay just that much more enjoyable.

When I went hunting for the KOA Fort Stockton web site I couldn’t find it. It looks like they have sold it and it’s now called the Fort Stockton RV Park. In the web site below you can see that the trees and shrubs have grown considerably since our 2005 visit. I’m sure the sites are the same size and nice and level.

Since that time we have never again used I-10 to cross TX so it was our only contact with that CG.
  
http://www.ftstocktonrvpark.com/

Here is what the CG looked like on our only stop there. Remember to click on the pictures to enlarge them. The reference is active, just click on it.

The FastEagles
   Cal & Linda