Places We’ve Been – Page 30 – Keep Up With The Joneses

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.

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White Oak Lake State Park

October 3, 2018 Jerry Comments 0 Comment

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Location: Bluff City, Arkansas
Site Quality: Asphalt roads and pads throughout the park. Mostly 30A back in spots but there are 5 pull through sites. Only 3 sites are 50A (A1, B25 and C27).
Type: State Park
Access:  From Interstate 30 go east on either Arkansas 53 or 24 to Arkansas 387. Some smaller roads but pretty easy even for a larger rig.
Staff:  The park attendant who checked us in was very helpful and friendly.
Amenities: Water and electric only. Bath house in the camping area was clean. Dump station, Fishing pier and boat dock. Boat rentals on site including fishing boats, canoes, kayaks and pedal boats. You can also rent fishing gear as well as bicycles. Several hiking and bicycle trails of various lengths.
Cellular/WiFi:  AT&T and Verizon 3 bars but we had data issues using the amplifier and MiFi devices but our phones worked pretty well without amplification.
What we liked: Gorgeous park with lots of trees. Spacious sites. Site B25 had good satellite reception (C27 likely would as well) but many of the other sites likely wouldn’t due to trees. Hiking trails.
What we didn’t like: Only a few 50A sites. Some roads were a bit narrow for our rig but they were manageable. No sewer hookups. Cellular data was inconsistent. Lots of bugs.

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Woolly Hollow State Park

September 27, 2018 Jerry Comments 1 comment

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Location: Greenbrier, Arkansas
Site Quality: Asphalt roads and pads throughout the park. Mostly back in spots but there are 2 pull through sites (1 and 14) although they may be too short for our rig (particularly #1).
Type: State Park
Access: Access is from Highway 65 which is a good road with 2 to 4 lanes from Missouri southbound. The highway goes right through the heart of the Ozarks and is very hilly with many curves in spots. It was not particularly difficult to navigate but going through Harrison the lanes were very narrow. From 65 you go east on Arkansas highway 285 about 6 miles to the park.
Staff:  The park attendant who checked us in was very helpful and friendly.
Amenities: Fishing pier and small store in the park. Bath house in the camping area. Swim beach and snack bar both open during the summer months (up to Labor Day) when it appears the park can get quite busy. Boat rentals on site including fishing boats, canoes, kayaks and pedal boats.
Cellular/WiFi:  AT&T and Verizon 1 bar with marginal data and phone capability even with the booster. Some folks at the park said they had gotten better cell signal in prior trips so it’s possible there was an intermittent issue while we were there.
What we liked: Gorgeous park nestled in hills with lots of trees. 30 AAA sites with 50A full hookups (sites 1-30). 20 of these have tent pads as well as an RV site. Site 8 had good satellite reception but most of the other sites likely wouldn’t due to trees.
What we didn’t like: Our site had a significant slope back to front. Marginal cellular service AT&T and Verizon.