Mount Pleasant/Charleston KOA

We made it!!!

We made the drive from VA to SC to visit Charleston, SC and meet my nephew for his first birthday!
We picked to stay at the Mt. Pleasant KOA since it was close to the things we wanted to do and had a few more accommodations that we didn't think the original place we looked at had (we visited the location since it was close to my sister's house and found it had everything we wanted), so that just means we'll have to check it out next time.

I'll give a full review of the KOA after the week is over, but so far wow! The staff is fantastic, and the the site is huge!

We did have a causality already. We setup the food tent last night and it was up as you can see in the picture above. We went to the birthday party for my nephew and when we got back to the site, it wasn't up any more. :-(

The stay was great. The staff is fantastic. The cost is more expensive than some other sites, but the location of the site is fantastic. There is a Wal-mart and strip mall that is within walking/riding distance. You can get to downtown Charleston within 25-30 min. We will check out the Oak Plantation Campground on the next visit just because it is closer to my family, but I would highly recommend the Mt. Pleasant KOA.

Virginia Samboree!

We went to our First Samboree!

2013 Virginia Samboree @ Bethpage Camp-Resort!

Well I said I would right the review and have kept for getting to do it.
Since we are Good Sam Club members (we don't belong to any of the local chapters), we had a friend of ours ask if we wanted to go to the Virginia Samboree with them. So we booked the trip and went to learn what it was all about.

Virginia Good Sam Samboree

The folks from the VA Good Sam Club are a lot of fun. We meet lots of new folks and had lots of neat things to do. We did get told we were a bit young to be Good Sam Club members a few too many times (I'm 39, my wife is 36 and my son is 13). The crowd seemed to be a bit older and a lot of full timers. We loved it, there is something to be said about hanging out with folks that remember what common sense and common courtesy are all about. We absolutely loved it.

While it rained just about the whole weekend, they had a bunch of tents to cover up most of the activities and I wore my "First Timer" ribbon with pride. We didn't do as much stuff as we'd like to have, but I think it was because we were first timers and didn't quite know what was going on. I did get to breakfast twice to meet some folks and get a bagel and Tang (I don't do coffee). We also participated in the "flea market". We setup a impromptu Book Signing for my Wife's new book, and we actually sold quite a few, and had commitments to buy ebooks too.

We played some SAMGO (Bingo) and we had a new bone made for our hanging sign buy Ron from Ron's Custom Signs. He's a great guy, and his family travels with him to these events to make signs for about 16 hours a day for the weekend.

Over all, if you have never gone to a Good Sam Samboree, I would highly recommend it.

Bethpage Camp-Resort

 

What can I say about the Bethpage Camp-Resort...... hmmmmm..... Well, Let's start with the good.

Good

• The sites are huge! I mean it. Unless you are there for a holiday weekend where they double up the sites (or so I'm told) you get basically enough space for two 35-38 foot campers nose to tail, and more than likely side by side for your site. They are grass (except for the  Supersites), but they are pretty level and taken care of.
• The swim park looks awesome. We didn't get in because all it did was rain Friday and Saturday. They also have a swimming lake with a big bounce raft in the center it look like a lot of fun.
• The camp store is well stocked, the event halls are all well taken care of, and the bath houses were clean and stocked.
• They rent golf carts (more about this later) and bicycles. There is a mini golf and Ice Cream store just down the road on the property, and they offer "Rivah Cruises".
• Once you are on-site the staff is friendly and accommodating for the most part.

Bad

• We had some issues trying to get things set for my wife. We meet the folks from Bethpage @ the Richmond, VA RV show in February. They told us some things that apparently didn't get translated to the folks back at the park. We had some major issues getting a golf cart reserved for my wife (she has stage 4 OA in both knees). We were told that because she is disabled that they could reserve one (as opposed to the "first come, first serve policy"). We fought with them over the phone, email and faxes for about 6 weeks before the trip to get it taken care of. but in the end, it was resolved.
• Selective enforcement of campground rules. It seems that everywhere I go that folks feel that the rules don't apply to them. I have real issues with that. I will admit that I do speed, and on one then more occasion have done something against the rules, but I try very hard to make sure that I follow the rules as best I can. There were a lot of folks that didn't seem to give a crap, and this wasn't even on a holiday weekend. 
• Site selection. Because of the above, I would highly suggest that you avoid getting a site at either end of any of the streets. I didn't get much sleep Saturday night because of all the folks running their golf carts up and down the road with the radios going. The rules said quite hours were between 11PM and 8AM and no golf carts where to be run during that time. If I had to walk the two blocks, in the rain at 1AM to use the bath house, everyone should have too, period, end of story.

Wrap-up

Overall, we had a great time. We got to go camping @ a new site. We got to meet some neat new people and hang with some great friends. We got to sell some of Baine Kelly's books and get here some more exposure. I'm not sure that I would pay the regular cost for a site here (In Season - $75 RV Site/$85 Super site| Off Season - $45 RV Site/$55 Super site), but I might just to check out the rest of the amenities that we missed due to the weather. Plus it is in a nice area of the Virginia Northern Neck that I wouldn't mind exploring a bit more.

Camper Horror!!! and next trip planning

The camper didn't like the storms we had recently.
We have about $8500 worth of damage. It is crazy what it cost to replace a roof.

The roof took a hit (about the size of a quarter) and the side took one as well (about a 3 inch gash).

But We are still going Camping. The repairs will have to wait until after the trip!


Second Trip this year is to South Carolina to see my new nephew! (The first trip was to BethPage Camp-Resort for the Virginia Samboree) I'll have to blog about that later.

We will be staying at the Mount Pleasant/Charleston KOA

We were supposed to be traveling to Kentucky, but that trip got superseded by my nephew's first birthday (and the fact that I haven't meet him or seen my baby sister since her wedding).

First 2013 Trip Planned...

I sure hope this isn't the first trip of the year next year, but it is the first one that we have started the planning.

We are working on setting up a large multifamily trip for July of 2013. It sounds like it will be pretty cool. We are planning a week long trip going to go visit Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. We are talking about staying at the KOA in Horse Cave, KY. Right now there are 4 families planning on going. There are two families in campers and two in cabins.  The campground map looks interesting.

It will be the longest trip (travel distance wise) we have ever been on. It is estimated at approximately 600 miles each way.

We are currently planning on leaving out one morning and stopping along the way in the Bristol/Kingsport area and finishing the trip the next day.

Along with visiting Mammoth Cave we will also be checking out Kentucky Action Park and Jessie James Riding Stables, The National Corvette Museum and maybe Kentucky Down Under.

Still trying to get the sites reserved, but we are well on the way.

Two weeks until the Halloween Trip

We are getting excited. We've got the Halloween trip planned for the weekend of my birthday and we are starting to get the camper ready and we are packing the spooky Halloween stuff as well.

I do have to take care of a few things before we head out.

My slideout broke on the last trip as we were bringing it in (sheered a bolt off the slide motor) so I have to get up under there and see if we can get the bolt replaced correctly. I also need to get the 30# propane tanks filled, it promises to be a bit cold in the mountains in late October so I'll need heat as well as the fuel for cooking. And we need to take a look at the bearings, I haven't done anything with them and we've owned it two years now so I want to make sure we are safe climbing the mountains.

Pictures and reviews will be posted shortly after trip (hopefully).

Halloween Camping!

We are all booked for our stay @ Walnut Hills Campground AKA Staunton/Walnut Hills KOA in Staunton, VA. They are having their annual Halloween weekend the weekend before Halloween this year. And since Tee loves Halloween and Friday is my birthday, that the heck! We will be joining two other families there and we are very excited.


Unfortunately, we will be missing the Labor Day camping trip this year, but we hope to get this one and one more (possibly Thanksgiving) in before we winterize the camper for the season.

Camp Site @ Pocahontas State Park

We setup @ Pocahontas on Thursday and we had a great weekend. Even the bit of rain we got Saturday was actually very welcome as it cooled the temps down a bit.

I recommend Pocahontas, it is a wonderful park, and if you stay here, I suggest that  check out the site 66 - 80 (I think it's 80). While they aren't perfectly level, they give a lot of space and are all pull through.

We stayed on Site 70, just close enough to the bath house and playground to get to, but far enough away to avoid all the commotion.