Branson Ridge RV Resort, Branson MO June 2017

                   Branson Ridge RV Resort (formerly Campton Ridge) Branson MO June 2017
We were here with our Coast to Coast membership. Cost $10. a night. A lot of amenities. The top part of the park has paved roads and sites. We waned to be away from the crowd.  We like the open feel and because of Hannah. We didn't want her barking and disturbing others  She is just getting use to rving. The road was paved and the sites gravel/grass/small rock. Our site was a pull thru, but steep in the front. We backed out. A fifth wheel got hung up on a site up from use trying to get in, at night. It wasn't fun for them. Also the sites down here are 30 amp full hookups. Great cable TV with probably 60 channels, Very dark at night. A lot of trees for welcome shade in the heat. Did I mention the heat is following us. Its been in the 90's. Lots of room to walk a dog. They do have a fenced of leash area in the top of the park.We were on the outskirts of Branson.


The entrance

 Don't be fooled by the nice openness of the sites, if they were all full it would be close together. But we did have a nice big area one side of us. There were 3 cabins in front of our rig.

Toad Suck COE Campground, June 2017, Arkansas

                                            Toad Suck COE Campground, Arkansas

      WOW drove 350 miles today. We usually only drive around 200-250 a day. And the worst thing about it was much of it was in rain, and sometimes in very heavy downpours. When it started to rain hard  were in an area we didn't want to stop. We just wanted to get passed the Little Rock area on Sunday with a lot less traffic. Just passed Little Rock the rain stopped. So it was find a place. What luck, we saw a sign for a Corp Of Engineer park. Got out our Corp directory and called to see if they had any spots available. YES come on in. The name of the park is Toad Suck.

 

Didn't get a picture of the sign for RV Park, but that's right "Toad Suck".

 

 

 

      By the time we checked in it started to rain. Not just a rain, did you ever hear that saying " it's raining cats and dogs", well this was more like cow's and horses. We just unhooked the car and backed in. When the rain let up a bit we hooked up the electric and water. But what a great site. Looking out our front window was the Arkansas River. We were a little concerned  about the height of the water. So I asked the workers at the entrance booth about the water levels.  He said he had been there since 2015 and never had to evacuate. But they had two warnings that they might have too. Well do we sleep with our clothes on? Not to worry there is high ground not far away. I slept very well, and the rain stopped. We did stay another day as rain was forecast all the next day for the area we were heading. I didn't want to drive in rain all day again when there is no rush to get someplace. It just drizzled a few times. Date of stay June 2017

 

Our site, a little wet, was 50 amp electric with water. We didn't need to dump because were we were on was a full hook up site and I'll dump when we get hook up. The roads and site were paved with a nice gravel area aside of the pad with a covered table. Our site was level side to side but ran downhill back to front. A lot of area to walk a dog. Nice clean bath house and showers. Nice spacing between sites. Cost with our America the Beautiful pass was $9. a night.

 

 

There are sites behind us, but there were empty.  

Hard to see, but all the gates holding the water back to create a lake above the dam are open

A tug pushing barges locking thru, just across the rive from our site

It look like a total of nine barges

 

A tug following

The two tugs

From the bridge above looking down at the entrance to the park

 

The other side of the park looking down from the bridge

The lock from the bridge

 

Look how much I have grown.

 

 

A neat mural, Linda is a mural junkie, she has pictures of 100's of murals from aroud the country

 

 

Dwyane Hayes COE Campground, plus

                                                          Dwayne Hayes COE Campground,

            We drove 268  miles to this park in Columbus MS. We call to see if they had any openings. The very nice person that answered said come on in. They had many openings. We did get a site backed up to the water.

Don't forget I'm here

      The river in this area was narrow. This is part of the Tennessee Tombigbee waterway. The tugboats and barges were very close. It was neat and enjoyable.

      The site and roads are paved. We had 50 amp electric and water in a very long back in site. We also had a  large area with pea gravel, with a picnic table, grille, firering and small table for your own grille. There were 3 bathhouses each with 2 w/d's very clean. All this for  $11.00 a night with our America The Great pass. Less then 10 miles from Columbus MS, which has a lot shopping and restaurants. This is the nicest COE park we ever stayed at. Much area to walk a dog. Good lightning at night. Most sites are very long large.I shouldn't tell you all or the next time I want to go there there may not be any sites. This was May 2017
     There is a lock and dam for this part of the waterway called Stennis Lock and Dam

Going into the lock

The water is rising

And out, many feet higher. We  left here and stopped at Wal-Mart for a few things an as we pulled into our site the tug that locked thru was going by our site.

     We went to visit the Waverley Estate in the area, unfortunately it was closed.

There were many large mushrooms, that's my foot for sizing.

Wilderrness RV Park Robertsdale AL May 2017

                                                       Wilderness RV Park, Robertsdale AL, May 2017

     We needed a place for over the Memorial Day weekend. So we found two Coast To Coast   parks  in Robertsdale AL in the direction we were headed. It was only about a mile off the interstate. We belonged to Coast TO Coast for about ten years and find them very useful for our needs. The usual cost is only $10. a night, of course there is yearly dues. There were actually two parks at the same exit in Robertsdale. The first one was having some special events and we couldn’t get a reservation  because they do not let C-T-C members in for holiday weekends. . The next one was Wilderness RV Park and we could get in over Memorial weekend. So we booked it for six days a little longer than we wanted to stay but thought we better take it due to the holiday. We did travel along I 10 to get there. It was a trip of only 60 miles. This is the second leg of the trip to this RV Park. We did check out the other C-T-C park at this same exit and it is a little better looking than this one, we would rather have stayed there. Either one is a ok.   We use C-T-C  and usually find them to be quite good.   The problem here was the un-kept long term sites.  there are few, if they cleaned them up the long term sites could be a nice park worthy of a higher rating. We spoke to another couple about two sites from us that were also C-T-C members, and they had the same option. We did check RV Park Reviews and they gave it a 6.   We won’t stay in a park with anything lower them a 5 or6 rating .We only use RV Park Reviews as a guide. So we knew it was marginalWe will never stay here again, I doubt it, or only in a pinch for a night. We did have a short pull thru, big enough for our rig. But we couldn’t pull thru because of a tree. We had to back out, then hook up the car. We had a full hook up site w/30 amp electric. There were some 50 amp sites. Lots and lots of room to walk a dog. There was an ok laundry w/2 washers and dryers. There are two ponds. There is a nice swimming pool.  Each utility post had a light on them. The road gravel,  could use some work. Our parking area was mostly dirt, with grass on the side.  Date of stay  May 2017