WHAT CONSTITUTES A "GOOD" RV PARK?
Renting a spot in an RV park is always a crap shoot. Sometimes the ground is level, the space between rigs is ample, the utilities are in good working order, there are no barking dogs close by, the WiFi is astoundingly good, you have a nice grill in your camp on which to do your steaks, and the price, once you present your KOA or Good Sam discount card, is in the $25.00 range. Other times, none of these things might turn out to be true.
On the subject of level ground, we’ve found that some camp operators take this very seriously and some do not. Some keep the spaces graded , leveled, and graveled, and some defer the maintenance so long that it begins to look like they don’t care. I like it when they gravel the site so you don’t track mud into your RV. Asphalt is okay, but not my favorite since it’s always hot, harsh, and unfriendly looking. Dirt is the worst, but can be okay if it’s hard-packed or grassy and not soft or muddy.
On the subject of electrical power, the widest possible range of quality can be encountered. Last night, the electrical panel where I needed to plug in our 30 amp service cord was so loosey goosey that the head of the cord actually fell out of the panel when I wasn’t looking. When I went to pull something out of the fridge, I noticed that the temperature didn’t seem quite right. Dashing back to the panel, I discovered the head of the cord on the ground. I’m not sure whether I might have bumped the cord, but even so it should not have just fallen out. Point of fact, I very seldom see electric utilities that are in good shape. I’ve never had to actually move to a different spot for a better connection, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that happens someday.
Water connections are almost humorous in their variety. Some parks give you two faucets, though most give you one. Some parks wrap so much “insulation” around their plumbing that you can hardly find the faucet head, while others use the nicer freeze proof models. I like the freeze proof since they’re almost always taller. The dinky short faucets always seem to be dripping, creating a damp or muddy spot around the base. That’s a perfect description of our faucet last night.
And then there’s the sewer connection. Most park owners who know what they’re doing give you a very sturdy pipe with a “flip-top” lid that won’t get lost. But what you see most times is a white plastic pipe that stubs out somewhere close to your rig with an easily-lost, separate cap. Once again, if the park owner knows what they’re doing, the pipe stubs out more or less flush with the ground, or just an inch or two above ground. The less accomplished park owners will cap the pipe off six or more inches above the ground, which makes it very difficult to suspend your sewer pipe in mid-air somehow so the pipe runs downhill from your rig’s sewer outlet. In anticipation of this problem, I carry a couple of lengths of standard white plastic rain gutter material which I can use to hold the hose when the hose has to be too far above the ground for my accordion device to be useful. I just support the gutter pieces with whatever large objects I can lay hands on. Usually the galvanized tub and bucket that I carry does the job.
On the subject of people’s pets, I don’t have much to complain about other than we don’t like unnecessary barking. We’ve only encountered that situation once, I think in Colorado, where there were so many dogs in the park that I thought we had accidently wandered into the film set for animal planet or something. Dogs barked at people, at each other, and at nothing at all as far as I could see. Dogs especially barked at all the folks passing by in their evening stroll around the park. And, of course, when one dog barked, they all barked. I truly thought that we were going to have to move to a different park that night. Still, most times people are pretty good about keeping their pets in check. Usually our only recurrent complaint is that people put their clothes covered in dog or cat hair into the Park washing machines and then don’t bother to clean the machines when they’re done and before the next user arrives. That’s just rude, but it’s all too common I’m afraid.
I’ve already complained enough about the quality of Park WiFi so I won’t belabor the point. At best, WiFi is barely acceptable. At worst, it’s a nightmare. When we tried to attach to the RV Park network two nights ago we simply got a message that said the DNS was unreachable. If you read the blog two nights ago you know that I ended up trouble shooting my private uplink device in order to get on line. I suppose for our next trip I’m going to have to buy a mobile hot spot so Concetta can attach with her IPad as well. Nuf said on that subject.
Barbecue grills can often be a topic of conversation. We've seen awesome ones, and we've seen terrible ones. Sometimes park owners will drop an old steel truck wheel in each camp and call it good. Others will put a grill on a stand like the one here at the KOA in San Antonio. Most times, however, you get a pretty beat up steel box with heavy duty steel rods across the top that haven't been cleaned or even wire brushed since the Israelites were still in Egypt. For that reason we carry a couple of medium-duty grill tops in case they might prove useful, as well as a couple of sturdy wire brushes. You have to watch what passes for a barbecue wire brush these days. One I bought at home depot lasted through just one grill cleaning at the Valley of Fire state park.
On the subject of price, there are things you can do as I’ve said. You can get a KOA discount card, a Good Sam Club discount card, and, I’ve heard, that if you get something called a “Passport America” card you can get half off at many RV parks. I’m going to check into that when we get back. Two nights ago, the RV park where we stayed in Fort Stockton, Texas, charged me about $42.00 and had non-existent internet. Though the park was otherwise acceptable, those folks are going to be the subject of an email to the Good Sam folks one of these nights when I’m feeling ornery.
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