Our Travel so far

[agesilaus]

(LONG POST) Well left Florida early June and went to a very nice and off the radar USFS campground with hookups in far northern FL I'm not going to mention it's name to try to keep it off the Radar.

Next was Eastbank COE, OK but not my preferred COE park. The lake was eutrophic with mats of floating algae on the lake/river. Did visits to a couple FL State parks. Torreya and Three Rivers. Both still recovering from the Hurricane several years ago Three Rivers especially hard hit and I suggest avoiding it for a couple of more years. Florida Caverns is operating normally and the tour was much better thatn I recalled. Recommended. Did not look at cg there.

Next off to Hardridge Creek COE in AL, a very nice standard COE park. In the middle of nowhere tho.

BTW all of these parks have full reviews on Campground Review.

Then an overnight at Peach Queen, also in AL and in the overnight stop if you must only.

Off to Lebanon TN fairgrounds for the Escapade. A great time,  600+ RVs there over 1500 people and a week of activities from morning to night. The fairgrounds does not seem to be in RVTW but was a grass parking lot with w/e only. But finding a place for that many RV's cannot be easy.

Next the Narrows COE, very nice COE park. Would have stayed longer but the 4th weekend loomed ahead.

Off to Wax (strange name no one seems to know where it came from) first site right on the lake, swimming possible but bottom either had lots of slimy rocks. Very hard to walk on. Or really slimy shelf rock, impossible to walk on. But otherwise a good COE camp. Then we had to move for the 4th weekend to a no hookeup site which looked OK. But temps were in the mid 90's, no shade on site and we were roasting. Supposed to stay three days bailed out the second morning.

To Fern Lake CG, private, near Paducah KY. Just a transit stop. Spent two days to get the fourth weekend done. Campground OK for what it is, FHU EZ In Out. Paducah from what we saw (not a lot) was not impressive.

Next Gun Creek COE in Mo. Very narrow pads, barely wider than the RV with a drop off on the door side of 8 inches. Made the last step off the steps almost a foot. Heavy non biting gnat clouds. Electric only. Pad also took 4 plastic blocks to almost get it level side to side and could have used five or six but that was all we had,. Not very level front to back either,

Off to Ray Behrens COE on Mark Twain Lake. Water only again.  Also narrow pads, maybe not quite as narrow but very unlevel front to back. Otherwise nice park. Mark Twain's birthplace SP on the lake. They have his house but I'll leave the surprise for you to find.  He was born in Florida MO a small village still there and still very small. And a trivia question: he refused to live in a house that did not have a cat in front of the fire. Heh.

Seems like all these old COE parks are water only.

Next planned stop: Nauvoo State Park in Nauvoo IL. Place was very old, twisty, narrow, potholed dirt roads and very unlevel pads. Suggest anything other than tents of small RVs avoid. Ended up in Ft Madison IA, right across the river, Rodeo park. Brand new city cg, First Come with FHU. So new we were supposedly the first to use our site. 20$/night highly recommended.

Enjoyed that pageant in Nauvoo and the excellent historic, 1830, village and the play. All free. The tours are great each building has it's own tour guides. Post Office, Printer, Tin Smith, Gunsmith (John Browning!!!) and a number of others.

Next off to a week at Grant River COE on the Mississippi in WI.

You may notice our trend is north. Headed to the north woods, the source of the Mississippi and cooler temps. May a jog over to the upper peninsula. Hope the black flies are done.

 

 

 

Edited July 11, 2022 by agesilaus

[Danfreda1]

Next time you are at mark twain lake stay at Indian point or Indian creek coe. Great park some full hook up spots others water or water ele. It is out of the congestion and close to Florida mo. Actual city is Monroe City. 
Hillman Ferry near Paducah is a great stop. Near Pattis 1840 settlement restaurant. Lot to do near Paducah if you explore. 

[Kirk W]

9 hours ago, agesilaus said:

Off to Lebanon TN fairgrounds for the Escapade. A great time,  600+ RVs there over 1500 people

Glad to hear that you had a good time at Escapade and sorry that we never met. As part of the Security Team (the people who count the RVs each evening) you are a bit high on that one as the total number of RVs was actually 460(varies from night to night), not including the RV show units. The total of attendees was about 1,000 people including vendors, daily walk-in, and everyone. It would seem that the high cost of fuel and the temperatures hurt attendance as the past Escapades have had much higher attendance in both RV numbers and individuals. Start planning now for March 19 - 24, 2023 in Tucson as the last one there had over 900 RVs in attendance!