2018 – Page 3 – Keep Up With The Joneses

Escapees Rainbow’s End

November 7, 2018 Jerry Comments 2 comments

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Location: Livingston, Texas
Site Quality: Asphalt roads with gravel pads. There are both pull thru and back in spots. More than half are 50A with the remaining being 30A. Each site has a picnic table.
Type: Commercial
Access:  From Livingston go South on 146 about 8 miles to the park. The turn on to 146 is a bit tight.
Staff:  All staff we met was friendly and will go out of their way to help.
Amenities: Full hookups, swimming pool, laundry (2), bath house and restrooms (2). There is also a dump station and dog park on site.
Cellular/WiFi:  AT&T and Verizon 4 bars even without amplification. We got about 6 Mbps on AT&T and Verizon although I was getting 21 Mbps on my cell phone. The data from the Mobley and MiFi was a bit intermittent even when connecting directly to them.
What we liked: This is where our mail service is located so getting mail was convenient. Lots of daily activities including movies. Pull thru sites were long and roomy. Lots of full timers here – some with really nice trucks!
What we didn’t like: Not the prettiest of settings although there are a lot of trees around the edges. For a weekly rate with 50A and a premium site the price was only about $27 per day so that made up for it.

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Cedar Breaks COE

October 30, 2018 Jerry Comments 2 comments

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Location: Georgetown, Texas
Site Quality: Asphalt roads and pads. Each site has a covered picnic table, grill and fire ring.
Type: COE
Access:  From Interstate 35 in Georgetown take either Highway 29 or Williams Dr. West to DB Woods Rd. Go South from Williams Dr. or North from Highway 29 to Cedar Breaks Rd. then go West into the park.
Staff:  We had good experience with the park attendants which was a relief since there was an encounter with a park attendant that went viral on Youtube just after we booked the reservation. The person involved is no longer associated with the park.
Amenities: Water and Electric only, bath house and restrooms.
Cellular/WiFi:  AT&T and Verizon 4 bars even without amplification. We got about 8 Mbps on AT&T and 8.5 Mbps Mbps on Verizon.
What we liked: Pretty, well kept park surrounded by lots of cedar trees, with lots of space between most sites which helped with privacy.
What we didn’t like: No sewer hookups. Cedar trees drop sap in the spring but unlike pine sap cedar sap can be washed off.
Nearby Parks: Jim Hogg COE – A nice alternative to Cedar Breaks if not just a bit farther to Round Rock where our doctors and friends are. Might be a good choice for the April/May visit as we could probably get a site that isn’t below cedar trees that drop sap. Good sites for us: Lower loop (50A sites) – 2, 4, 6, 12, 17, 22, 26, 28, 30, 34, 36, 40, 42, 44, 47; also sites 66 and 76 might be ok. Upper loop (30A sites) – 88, 89, 94, 97, 106, 116, 118, 126, and 142. Sites 105, 127 and 129 also might be ok. The top loop sites should only be selected as a last resort.

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Palestine RV Park

October 18, 2018 Jerry Comments 0 Comment

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Location: Palestine, Texas
Site Quality: Asphalt roads through the park with gravel pads. Each site has a picnic table.
Type: Commercial
Access:  Take loop 256 to the South of Palestine then take Crockett Rd. (Hwy 287) South to County Road 147 then go East to the entrance to the park. CO147 is small with some low hanging trees but they were above our rig. Within the park the road was narrow but fine for our 41′ rig with caution.
Staff:  Angela is both the owner and park attendant. She was very helpful and friendly offering to even help us set up. She has put things around the park to make it homey.
Amenities: Full hookups, bath house, laundry and restrooms.
Cellular/WiFi:  AT&T and Verizon 4 bars even without amplification. We got about 7 Mbps on AT&T and 21 Mbps on Verizon. My phone had lower data rates at about 6 Mbps. The park appeared to have WiFi but it was not advertised and it did not appear to be operational.
What we liked: Surrounded by lots of trees, very nice area. Good opportunities for walking on the nearby country roads.
What we didn’t like: We did hear train whistles from a track about a mile away but it wasn’t too bad. After that one time we never heard one again. There had been a lot of rain and the sites had a lot of sand that was easily tracked into the rig.

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Shreveport / Bossier City KOA

October 16, 2018 Jerry Comments 0 Comment

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Location: Shreveport, Louisiana
Site Quality: Asphalt roads throughout the park. Depending on the type of site reserved pads are either gravel or concrete. If it is going to rain, the premium sites with concrete pads would definitely be preferable here as many of the other sites were muddy. Each site has a table and chairs.
Type: Commercial
Access:  Easy access from Interstate Highway 20 on the East side of Shreveport.
Staff:  The park attendant who checked us in was very helpful and friendly.
Amenities: Full hookups. Bath house at the main office. 24 hour laundromat at the park office. Small store and available propane on site. Two dog park areas, pool, playground and a pond.
Cellular/WiFi:  AT&T and Verizon 4-5 bars even without amplification. We got just under 9Mbps both AT&T and Verizon. My phone had much higher data rates. The park had WiFi but we did not use it.
What we liked: Surrounded by lots of trees so it felt like you were not in town.
What we didn’t like: Getting out of our site was a bit tight. The park is fairly close to IH20 so there was some road noise particularly outside. While inside it was not a problem.

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Rocky Point Park

October 14, 2018 Jerry Comments 1 comment

Rating: ⭐⭐
Location: Texarkana, Texas
Site Quality: Asphalt roads and pads throughout the park.
Each site has a picnic table, grill, utility table and fire ring.
Type: Corps of Engineers
Access:  Easy access from highway 59 going south from Texarkana. The roads into the park should be thoroughly researched prior to arrival as it can be a bit difficult to go into the right one. Our navigation system showed roads that were not actually there.
Staff:  The park attendant who checked us in was very helpful and friendly. Beyond that we saw very little of the staff unlike recent parks we have stayed at where they were constantly busy.
Amenities: Water and electric only in our site (C10). Three bath houses within the camping area. Two of them were older and in need of some maintenance but the third was better. Dump station (2), Fishing pier, boat ramp and boat dock, playground, swim beach.
Cellular/WiFi:  AT&T and Verizon 2 bars without amplification. With amplification it was 5 bars and we got 12.6 Mb on AT&T and 7 Mb on Verizon.
What we liked: Large sites many with lake views. Nice lake and sunset views from our site. Satellite worked on site C10 but likely most other sites would not get reception due to trees.
What we didn’t like: No sewer hookup at site C10. Full sun in the late afternoon was very hot. Lots of bugs – particularly love bugs, mosquitos and gnats. A bit pricey for not having full hookups ($26 per night). Our fire pit was left full of trash from a prior camper including beer cans, plastic oil containers, etc. The staff here didn’t seem to do any cleaning after each campsite was vacated – this seems to be something we consistently notice at the COE parks we have visited. Grass around the site needed to be mowed.