On the Move

Here we are 5 months into being full time and starting to be on the move after spending the winter in Florida. Let’s just say this has not been without issues. We have not yet found the secret to finding the right fit campgrounds. When I do find the secret I will sure to share it!  

When looking for a campground we look for price and the ease of getting in and out. We started with a site at an Escapees campground, which fits the bill but very basic. The second, Oak Springs RV Resort was an ok campground was pretty tight getting around and a lot of messy trees!  We has to clean the leaves off the camper constantly! 

Our third campground we booked in December as we wanted to spend the week before Daytona Bike week in Daytona we thought met the bill. Generally I ask the same questions, we would like full hookup pull thru and long enough for our 40’  Toy-hauler. Back in is doable if there is enough room to actually back it in without the potential of damage. This campground was Sunshine Holiday Daytona an Encore Park.  Their site states they may change your site but only to a like site. We arrive at 2pm check in time, the office closes at noon and there is no one in the campground to talk to to help out. We get out site drive to it and our first words are “you’ve got to be kidding me”. The site was very narrow with a cement patio and a tree right in the middle of the back of the site, this a back in site also!  We get out to inspect further, if we could get our trailer in we wouldn’t be able to open the slides or the back to get the bike out. 

We drove back out front to figure out what to do. After trying to reach someone from the campground we walked the campground looking at other sites. We looked at sites that were empty and that we could easily get in and out of, we matched those to ones not on the board of people coming in that night.  We picked a site and set up, we didn’t take the bikes out because we weren’t sure where we would move to after the office opened at 8 am.  

Come 8 am we go to the office, talk to the woman working who stated the people for that site were supposed to be there on Saturday and they haven’t heard from them. She said stay there till we call you. This is all well and good but we still can’t take the bike out until we know we have a site. We decide to go check out some other options just in case. We found that the race track has a campground with water and electric and they had openings for less money. We call the campground back but still no definitive answer. We go back to the campground to ask for our money back, they said they still had no answer from the other people so they gave us that site. Even though we lost two days with the bike the office people made this work for us otherwise I would not have nice things to say about this campground.  Good thing is we now have another option for next year! 

The saga continues…now a week later and we are heading to a campground that I paid for (mistake) several months ago. I am reading the pamphlet again for Ocean Lakes Family Campground and see they don’t allow motorcycle to drive through their campground….WTF. I call they say yup we can trailer it or push it, ok yeah we are going to push a Goldwing.  They say they have a parking lot we can leave it in…we will see what they looks like. 

It is now a few days later and here is what happened. We arrive and yes they do not allow motorcycles in their campground, they do however have a lot to put them in. The lot is at the beginning of the campground and our site is on the ocean side 1/2 to 1 mile away. We use our motorcycle a lot do get groceries, we would not be able to do that at all unless we walk back get the truck or wagon to get the groceries….What a waist.  To make matters worse you can’t even unload the bike and ride it to the lot even once to get it there we would have had to unload right in the middle of the entrance road.  With all the stuff that has to come out first, no this ain’t happening. I do not recommend Ocean Lakes Family Campground at all if you have a motorcycle. We ask the person waiting on us for a manager, it is the weekend so they are not there, so next we ask for a refund except the first night as we will stay the night and find another campground. He does this no problem, I am guessing they get this a lot.

We get to our site which is supposed to be big rig friendly it was barely long enough to fit the fifth wheel, so much for even using our deck. Other than that and the barking dogs the site was nice. We unhook, mainly because we had to and started our search for another campground.  Bill call a campground he found, it happens to be right next door.  They also are not super motorcycle friendly but at least have a section for campers with motorcycles as well as a gated area for people with bikes not camping in the designated area.  We rode over and checked out a few sites, there was really only one we could fit in. We couldn’t book it that night because they wouldn’t be able to guarantee that site she said come back at 8am and you can book that site.  Not ideal but it will work as long as no one come in the rest of the day and takes that site. The following morning we get up head over book our site at go back to our site, take a walk on the beach and pack backup. 

Lakewood Camping Resort is nice, the motorcycle area is actually more like a campground, there are some trees and no cement.  The campground is doing a lot of upgrades to sites which is nice on one end but the fact that our site as well as the others around us were a mess. We unhooked and before I put the rug down I was in search of a rake.  One of the grounds people came and raked the area for my rug but left the rest…I will find a rake later to finish the site.

Myrtle Beach is beautiful the people are nice but the fact they are so against motorcycle is annoying. 

For now here is the list of questions I will ask when booking future sites; We need a site for 40′ ToyHauler Fifth Wheel, 14′ high so no low over hanging limbs, Pull Through preferred, full hook up, and oh do you allow motorcycles!!!! I am sure this like will change and be added too!!!