Love's RV stops?
Laughing Gas
Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 764
Likes: 194
From: Elephant Butte NM
Wow!!! I need to visit the forums more often. LOL Great topic. Not a 5er but a Bumper pull.
Slept at a truck stop once which was a Love's in Virginia on the way home from Florida about 8 years ago now. We were behind on the drive. I wanted to get to a point in which were going to be 6 hours the following day home. Well I fell short with traffic. We pulled over for the night at around 10 PM. Everything was good until I found out my (previous) trailer's battery was shot due to lack of charging. The 12 volt converter failed. No lights. No heat. Next I had a problem with door not locking for whatever reason. I performed a "fix" while my wife and daughter headed inside to use the bathroom. I was able to lock the door. I grabbed a tire iron just in case. Around 2 AM a hot shot rolled in and parked next to me. He wound up idling all night long. We woke up around 7AM and started out from there. We went in used the bathroom. Got a few drinks and a box of donuts. Headed home.
Back in 21, we had a trip to Maine. My wife made a reservation for a KOA on the way up in NH since it was several hours before our one stop in Maine. This was several weeks before we left. It was going to be 80 a night since it was "in season" I was like what ever. It's a campground. Anyway we are heading up there. We got there around 8-830 after the drive Pull in. Choas everywhere. Navigate though the tine roads of this campground to our site. It is suppose to be a big site and easy back in. Well that was a lie. Our neighbors who were very drunk did move some of thier vehicles out of the way so I had some more space. Turns out the site had a utility pole in the way in front of the truck on the other side. Unless I was a 5er I was not getting in there with my bumper pull. So we headed to the office. I wife explained there was no way we could get in. The office insisted we could get in. My wife said my husband is very experienced. If he said no, he really means it. They dragged us back to the site. The nieghbors are more hammered. I tried 2 times with "thier guidance" . The guy well I don't think you are getting in. He said we get a ton of new campers all the time so we didn't know. Then back to the office by 915 for a refund in which they made a stink about "since we were checked in" My wife said whatever. She wanted to get me on the road so I could find another place. I looked up a local Cabela's. Wound up boondocking at the one off 95 in southern Maine. It took about another an hour for us to get there.So now it is around 10 30 where I was hoping to have a couple of beers and a campfire at that point. However, it turned out to be a better camp experience stopping at the Cabela's. In the morning there were probably another 10 campers there. Everyone was pretty friendly. I wound up walking to a local place to get some breakfast for the family. My daughter got a bike ride in while we chilled out. It worked out good since I wanted to pick up something at the store anyway. My wife said in the future we will look for Bass Pro Shops or Cabela's as boondock sites. I know some of them will have a dump station and or water.
KoAs are now a "last resort" option. Pretty pricey now. The last one we stayed at the electric at the pole wasn't working. They just gave us an extension cord to plug in to the next site that was working instead of making us move. We had hit or miss with thier campgrounds. For our NY trip in 2020, we stayed at 2. Both were pretty good. One was recommended. Then we went to one NH it was lackluster. The one in VA same thing. The only cheap one was in GA at the FLa Ga line and it was 30 bucks for the night. It was perfect for the need.
So to me, I have had the tale of two experiences in boondocking and KOAs in general.
Slept at a truck stop once which was a Love's in Virginia on the way home from Florida about 8 years ago now. We were behind on the drive. I wanted to get to a point in which were going to be 6 hours the following day home. Well I fell short with traffic. We pulled over for the night at around 10 PM. Everything was good until I found out my (previous) trailer's battery was shot due to lack of charging. The 12 volt converter failed. No lights. No heat. Next I had a problem with door not locking for whatever reason. I performed a "fix" while my wife and daughter headed inside to use the bathroom. I was able to lock the door. I grabbed a tire iron just in case. Around 2 AM a hot shot rolled in and parked next to me. He wound up idling all night long. We woke up around 7AM and started out from there. We went in used the bathroom. Got a few drinks and a box of donuts. Headed home.
Back in 21, we had a trip to Maine. My wife made a reservation for a KOA on the way up in NH since it was several hours before our one stop in Maine. This was several weeks before we left. It was going to be 80 a night since it was "in season" I was like what ever. It's a campground. Anyway we are heading up there. We got there around 8-830 after the drive Pull in. Choas everywhere. Navigate though the tine roads of this campground to our site. It is suppose to be a big site and easy back in. Well that was a lie. Our neighbors who were very drunk did move some of thier vehicles out of the way so I had some more space. Turns out the site had a utility pole in the way in front of the truck on the other side. Unless I was a 5er I was not getting in there with my bumper pull. So we headed to the office. I wife explained there was no way we could get in. The office insisted we could get in. My wife said my husband is very experienced. If he said no, he really means it. They dragged us back to the site. The nieghbors are more hammered. I tried 2 times with "thier guidance" . The guy well I don't think you are getting in. He said we get a ton of new campers all the time so we didn't know. Then back to the office by 915 for a refund in which they made a stink about "since we were checked in" My wife said whatever. She wanted to get me on the road so I could find another place. I looked up a local Cabela's. Wound up boondocking at the one off 95 in southern Maine. It took about another an hour for us to get there.So now it is around 10 30 where I was hoping to have a couple of beers and a campfire at that point. However, it turned out to be a better camp experience stopping at the Cabela's. In the morning there were probably another 10 campers there. Everyone was pretty friendly. I wound up walking to a local place to get some breakfast for the family. My daughter got a bike ride in while we chilled out. It worked out good since I wanted to pick up something at the store anyway. My wife said in the future we will look for Bass Pro Shops or Cabela's as boondock sites. I know some of them will have a dump station and or water.
KoAs are now a "last resort" option. Pretty pricey now. The last one we stayed at the electric at the pole wasn't working. They just gave us an extension cord to plug in to the next site that was working instead of making us move. We had hit or miss with thier campgrounds. For our NY trip in 2020, we stayed at 2. Both were pretty good. One was recommended. Then we went to one NH it was lackluster. The one in VA same thing. The only cheap one was in GA at the FLa Ga line and it was 30 bucks for the night. It was perfect for the need.
So to me, I have had the tale of two experiences in boondocking and KOAs in general.
Moderator
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 6,517
Likes: 917
From: Home Base Nebraska
For the last 25 years or so we called them Keep On Adding 
because of all the extra charges after you arrive. Ever noticed all the past KOA ( you can tell by the building) that are now operated by Independents.
Denny
because of all the extra charges after you arrive. Ever noticed all the past KOA ( you can tell by the building) that are now operated by Independents.Denny
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FTE Leadership Emeritus
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 27,351
Likes: 5,945
From: Lake Hartwell, GA
Oh man... That was funny... It provided a genuine Laugh Out Loud which I believe the kids call LOL...
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rvjoe
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Jun 10, 2018 10:27 AM
