We stayed at Tickfaw State Park in Springfield, Louisiana. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice state park, at least until our site flooded; we moved to a different site for the last night.

Dates:

• Check in: 2024-12-08
• Check out: 2024-12-13
• 5 nights

Weather:

• Rainy at first then sunny
• High temps 56-74°F, lows 35-64°F
• A little wind, gusts to 26 MPH, but sheltered by trees

Noise:

• No road noise
• No train horn noise
• Little neighbor noise

First Site:

• #27, back-in, asphalt
• Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
• Mostly level site; high on passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
• Asphalt driveway about 65 feet long by 10 feet wide
• No neighbors on either side (over 100 feet through trees)
• Lots of tall trees between sites
• Scraping branches
• Picnic table on 24 by 10 feet wooden deck
• Charcoal grill and fire pit
• Lantern hook
• Mostly clean site
• Elevation zero feet, front facing South

Second Site:

• #6, back-in, asphalt
• Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
• Level site; used air leveling, since only one night
• Asphalt driveway about 70 feet long by 10 feet wide
• 75 feet to neighbor on driver side
• 120 feet to neighbor on passenger side
• Some tall trees, but only grass between sites
• Picnic table on small concrete pad
• Charcoal grill and fire pit
• Lantern hook
• Clean site
• Elevation 10 feet, front facing SSW

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, conveniently located behind site
• 42 PSI water, fairly conveniently located behind site
• Loose sewer connection, very conveniently located (less than 1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• Verizon: 3-5 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up, 25-45 ms ping
• T-Mobile: 5 Mbps down, 14 Mbps up, 24 ms ping, unreliable
• AT&T: 2-9 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 85-1300 ms ping
• Starlink: not used
• Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• Boardwalks

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Surrounded by the bayou, sometimes in it

This is a beautiful state park amidst the bayou, but it became a problem because it had rained heavily before we got there, and the river started to rise. We woke up one morning to see that our deck area was surrounded by water and our power pedestal was partially submerged. A very nice ranger came by, ensured we were okay, and offered to help us disconnect the power when we were supposed to depart the following day. However, the water continued to rise throughout the day, and we weren’t comfortable with how high it was getting, so we opted to move to a dryer site for one night. Two other helpful staff put on their waders and disconnected us so we could move. While the rising water was problematic, and the access road is a bit narrow, we would happily stay here again. We camped at Tickfaw State Park in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our first site was delightfully private, surrounded by trees:

Utilities:

Deck, in the rain… hey, what’s a little rain when staying in a bayou?

Oh, that’s what… we woke up to a flooded site on our last full day:

We kept an eye on it, but the water level kept rising, submerging the power cord from our Watchdog… not great, Bob:

So we made the call to ask to be moved to another site for our last night.

Our second site was more open, not quite as nice, but also not underwater, so that’s a plus:

Other sites:

If we stay here again, this might be a slightly better site, #29:

Glamping tent:

Cabins:

Group camp, cabin style:

Another group camp, tent style (used by scouts):

Dump station:

We were very glad we made the call to change sites; our first site was completely submerged the following day, on the day we departed:

Yowza!

Despite the flooding, we’d be happy to stay here again. If we do, our first site (#27) would still be a reasonable choice (if no recent or expected rain!), though site #29 might be an even better site.

We stayed at Voyager RV Resort & Hotel in Tucson, Arizona. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A huge RV resort, mostly park models (small manufactured homes), with a section for transient RVs. A 55+ age-restricted park; our first, now that I’m 55. And as an Encore park, it’s free with our Thousand Trails membership.

Dates:

• Check in: 2024-11-03
• Check out: 2024-11-10
• 7 nights

Weather:

• Sunny; rainy on arrival
• High temps 62-70°F, lows 35-46°F
• Some wind, gusts to 21 MPH

Noise:

• Distant road noise
• Some distant train horn noise
• Negligible neighbor noise

Site:

• #07-176, pull-through, asphalt
• Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
• Somewhat level site; high on passenger side and front; used hydraulic leveling
• Asphalt driveway about 100 feet long by 10 feet wide
• 13 feet to neighbors on both sides
• Picnic table on 20 feet long by 4 feet wide concrete patio
• Charcoal grill
• Loose gravel elsewhere in the site
• No trees
• Clean site

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, very conveniently located
• 48 PSI water, conveniently located (towards the end of the stay, disconnected due to near-freezing temperatures)
• Good sewer connection, very conveniently located (2 2-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• T-Mobile: 165 Mbps down, 14 Mbps up, 20 ms ping
• AT&T: 85-133 Mbps down, 8 Mbps up, 50-75 ms ping
• Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 2-4 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
• Starlink: not used
• Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

• Residential-style rolling garbage and recycling bins on each site, with pickup on Tuesdays
• Pools
• Restaurant (which we didn’t try)
• Lots of other stuff

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Snowbirding in suburbia

This is a vast 55+ resort with all the amenities you would expect. Most of the sites are full-time residents in park models, with relatively few RV sites. The biggest SNAFU was when we arrived, the gate guard told us to pull up into the waiting area, and someone would bring out our paperwork and escort us to our site. Not so. After we sat there for about 10 minutes, someone came by in a golf cart and told us that the “ladies are waiting for you inside”. So, ignore anything the guy at the gate says and go inside the hotel lobby to check in. After that, we were escorted to our site. We had a decently long pull-through site with decent hookups and a fine stay. We’re not really into the RV resort community vibe, but we’d happily stay here again as it was convenient for anything we’d want to do in Tucson. We camped at Voyager RV Resort & Hotel in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

Very convenient utilities:

Residential-style trash pickup:

Propane delivery:

RV check-in area:

Registration:

Hotel:

Outdoor area:

Mailboxes for residents:

There’s even an onsite library:

And hairdresser:

Fat Willy’s Bar & Grill / Market, which we didn’t try, as we went out pretty much every evening; we were going to try it the first night, but it was raining, so we didn’t want to bother. Maybe next time:

One of the pools:

Lots of pickleball courts:

Shuffleboard:

Hundreds of park models (small manufactured homes):

Other RV sites:

A nice RV park, that really lives up to the resort label, not that we took advantage of any of it, as usual. But we’d be happy to stay here again.

We stayed at Encore Pilot Knob RV Resort in Winterhaven, California. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Across the road from the Center of the World, but kinda in the middle of nowhere. Except lots of freeway and train noise.

This is probably a popular place for snowbirds (people who travel south for the winter) in December and January, but was mostly empty while we were here at the end of October and into the start of November.

Dates:

• Check in: 2024-10-27
• Check out: 2024-11-03
• 7 nights

Weather:

• Mostly sunny
• High temps 72-94°F, lows 49-61°F
• One day of high wind, gusts to 46 MPH

Noise:

• Loud freeway noise
• Train horn noise
• Military helicopters flying over daily
• Negligible neighbor noise

Site:

• #13, back-in, gravel
• Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
• Mostly level site; a little high on passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
• Gravel driveway about 50 feet long by 28 feet wide
• Concrete patio about 20 feet long by 6 feet wide (plus bonus pavers on this site)
• No picnic table (which is fine, we never use it anyway)
• Some trees and shrubs
• Somewhat clean site
• Non-invasive ants

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, conveniently located
• 50 PSI water, a little inconveniently located behind site
• Loose sewer connection, inconveniently located under coach (1.5 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• T-Mobile: 65-85 Mbps down, 16-60 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
• AT&T: 77 Mbps down, 35 Mbps up, 32-100 ms ping
• Verizon: 4 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 38 ms ping
• Starlink: not used
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters by entrance
• Pool

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Decent desert destination

If you want to be close to Yuma but with a bit more rustic vibe, this might be someplace you’d enjoy. The noise from I-8 and the freight trains is unavoidable, but for the most part, this was a good place to stop. Our back-in FHU site was spacious and had a nice little patio area with a palo verde tree and bougainvillea shrubbery. It was pretty empty when we were there, as it was a bit early for the snowbirds, and we enjoyed the laid-back atmosphere. We camped at Encore Pilot Knob RV Resort in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

The sewer connection was under our coach (which also limited how far back we could go), and power and water behind the site. Which is fine for us, but might be inconvenient for some:

Extra big paved area and some nice flowering shrubs on this site; it was probably occupied by a long-term resident many years ago:

The entrance, with the I-8 freeway in front:

Pool and clubhouse area:

Other sites, mostly empty:

Military helicopters went over pretty much daily:

Garden area in the center of the campground:

BLM land with boondockers surrounds the campground:

Not a bad campground; we wouldn’t mind staying here again, though probably not for more than a few days; too noisy.

We stayed at Thousand Trails Palm Springs in Palm Desert, California. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Our third stay here. It can be tricky to get positioned, with lots of palm trees and other obstacles, but it was a little easier this time, as it was much less busy; lots of vacant sites to choose from (first come first served). Though the first site we tried the power didn’t work, an issue that affects many of the sites.

Dates:

• Check in: 2024-10-13
• Check out: 2024-10-27
• 14 nights

Weather:

• Sunny
• High temps 81-97°F, lows 58-67°F (it was a high of 109°F the week before!)
• Little wind, gusts to 16 MPH

Noise:

• Some freeway road noise
• Some train noise, but no horns most of the time
• Negligible neighbor noise

Site:

• #242, back-in, sand
• Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
• Somewhat level site; a little high on driver front side; used hydraulic leveling
• Sand site about 45 feet long by 25 feet wide, including patio
• Zero feet to neighbors on both sides (neighbors patio was under our driver-side slide-out, fortunately the site was empty)
• Picnic table on 12×6 concrete patio
• Tall palm trees
• Mostly clean site
• Some noninvasive ants

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, a little inconveniently located behind site
• 60 PSI water, inconveniently located behind site
• Loose sewer connection, very conveniently located (less than 1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• T-Mobile: 150-250 Mbps down, 40 Mbps up, 30-50 ms ping, unreliable
• AT&T: 350-450 Mbps down, 35 Mbps up, 55 ms ping
• Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
• Starlink: not used
• Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• Pool
• They no longer allow package delivery to site, boo

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Gone downhill, but still decent

This was our third time and the earliest in the season we’ve stayed here. It was interesting (and a nice change) to have so many empty sites to choose from, but the fact that half the pedestals seem to be out of service isn’t great. The power was out at the first site we tried and most of the row opposite us were also out of order. On the plus side, it meant we didn’t have any immediate neighbors during our two-week stay. The other change for the worse is that they no longer accept mail and package deliveries. You used to be able to get Amazon/UPS/FedEx directly to your site, but couriers are no longer allowed in the park, so you have to get General Delivery at the Thousand Palms post office or use Amazon lockers, which isn’t as convenient. If you’re into social things, they have a lot of activities and events. We tend to avoid such things like the plague, but to each their own. It’s still a good option if you want to stay in the Palm Springs area with a Thousand Trails membership. I would choose other options if I were a retail customer. We camped at Thousand Trails Palm Springs in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

It’s always a challenge getting positioned here, fitting around the palm trees:

The sewer is very conveniently located, but the water and power are behind the site (which is fine for us):

We got out the griddle, and had several griddled dinners:

Sand gets everywhere in the desert, including in the wheels:

Industrious ants excavating a nest (fortunately they kept to themselves, rather than invading our coach):

We used to be able to get packages delivered to our site in this campground, but they don’t allow that anymore, unfortunately. So we used a nearby Amazon locker and General Delivery to a post office:

We originally pulled into this site, #240:

But when I tried to hook up the power, I couldn’t turn it on; the electrical box was busted (and very sketchy-looking):

So we moved a couple of sites over, after checking its power; site #242 has a newer pedestal. This issue affected a lot of the sites here; many are blocked off or marked as only having 30 amp power, despite having 50 amp plugs.

The site next to us had such a sign, plus a rope blocking it, probably being a seasonal site; it was nice not having anyone next to us on both sides:

A windy sunset:

And day:

Our row was mostly empty most of the time:

Other sites:

Despite the challenges of the palm trees and other obstacles, and the dodgy power, this is still one of our favorite Thousand Trails parks, if only for its proximity to Joshua Tree National Park (though still over an hour away), and us just liking the Palm Springs area. No doubt we’ll be back again (planning to come again next year).