We stayed at Traverse City KOA Holiday in Buckley, Michigan. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A fairly standard KOA, undergoing a major expansion.

Dates:

• Check in: 2025-05-18
• Check out: 2025-05-26
• 8 nights

Weather:

• Cloudy with a little rain
• High temps 47-62°F, lows 38-46°F
• Some wind, gusts to 26 MPH

Noise:

• Some road noise
• No train horn noise
• Little neighbor noise
• For part of the week, noise from earthworks on new campsites
• Plus compost smells from the topsoil when the wind came from that direction

Site:

• #140, pull-through, gravel
• Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
• Mostly level site; a little high on driver side and front; used hydraulic leveling
• Gravel driveway about 100 feet long by 10 feet wide
• 25 feet to neighbor on passenger side
• No neighbor on driver side; about 15 feed to road
• Just grass between sites
• Patio table and chairs on concrete patio
• Fire pit
• Young trees
• Clean site
• Elevation 1030 feet, front facing NW

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, somewhat conveniently located
• 55 PSI water, somewhat conveniently located
• Good sewer connection, very conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• Starlink: 218-260 Mbps down, 15-20 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
• T-Mobile: 500-560 Mbps down, 13-16 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
• Campground Wi-Fi: 30 Mbps down, 3-6 Mbps up, 10 ms ping
• AT&T: 33-77 Mbps down, 0.5-1.5 Mbps up, 65 ms ping
• Verizon: 25 Mbps down, 25 Mbps up, 35 ms ping

Amenities:

• Garbage pickup from site
• Pool
• Pizza, firewood, ice delivery to site
• Package delivery to office

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Decent KOA undergoing expansion

While we were in the park, they were in the process of doing earthmoving and site preparation for an additional 60 or so 50A full-hookup sites, some of which will be seasonal. As a result, we had to deal with construction noise and smell for a few days, which detracted from the experience. But the campground is nice, with some extra amenities and touches that made it stand out a bit from a typical KOA (pizza, wood, and ice delivery to your site, for instance). We had a deluxe patio site, which was about 100 feet long, so plenty long enough for our motorhome and tow vehicle (with room for another if we’d needed it). The patio had a table and chairs, as well as another seating area, even though it was too cold and rainy during our stay to want to sit outside much. We camped at Traverse City KOA Holiday in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: Venture into Traverse City: Rare Bird Brewery offers excellent food and beverages (the Schmackintosh cider is a favorite). The Omelette Shoppe offered delicious breakfast and brunch options.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

A nice patio, that we didn’t use as the temperature was unseasonably cold during our stay:

Earthworks for new sites in front of our site:

Other sites:

Cabins:

Playground:

Jump pads:

Dog park:

Shade garden (which I added as a PokéStop for you Pokémon Go players out there!):

The construction noise and smells were a little annoying, but other than those, this was a nice enough campground; we’d be happy to stay here again in the future.

We stayed at Thousand Trails St Clair in St Clair, Michigan. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice Thousand Trails campground.

Dates:

• Check in: 2025-05-11
• Check out: 2025-05-18
• 7 nights

Weather:

• Mix of sunny and rainy
• High temps 67-81°F, lows 44-61°F
• Some wind, gusts to 27 MPH

Noise:

• Some freeway noise
• No train horn noise
• A bunch of neighbor noise (kids)

Site:

• #C21, pull-through, gravel
• Buddy site, with neighbor passenger side facing us on both sides (ugh)
• Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
• Fairly level site; high on passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
• Gravel driveway about 70 feet long by 8 feet wide
• 35 feet to neighbors on both sides
• Just grass between sites
• Picnic table
• Fire pit
• Some tall trees
• Somewhat clean site
• Elevation 620 feet, front facing due west

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, conveniently located
• 50 PSI very hard water, conveniently located
• Unthreaded sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• Starlink: 130-300 Mbps down, 7-30 Mbps up, 30-40 ms ping
• T-Mobile: 380-430 Mbps down, 7 Mbps up, 75-210 ms ping, unreliable
• AT&T: 128-142 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 65 ms ping
• Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 0.5-7 Mbps up, 60 ms ping (our SIM has 5 Mbps max)
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• Pool
• Package delivery to office, at no charge (uncommon for Thousand Trails nowadays)

Our review on Campground Reviews:

A Nice Thousand Trails Campground

This place was typical of an older Thousand Trails campground, but the communal areas looked new and well-maintained. Like all other TT properties, they have switched to assigned sites, which I prefer. A word of warning, however, because the map they have online when you click the link in your confirmation email is highly outdated. Our original assignment was B2, which, on the old map, was a 15A site, which would not suffice, and we had some angst about what we’d do if that were the case. Thankfully, the map on the website itself was an updated version and showed it as a 50A & water site. When we checked in, however, the lovely lady at the front desk informed us that we would be in C-18, which was a full-hookup site. I wasn’t too happy about it since all the pull-throughs are buddy sites (I’d rather not have a sewer connection than have a buddy site). However, she very sweetly moved us to C-21, which was still a buddy site but had larger grassy areas between the sites, so we weren’t cheek-by-jowl with our neighbors, so it all worked out.

One of the best things about this campground is that it is one of the few Thousand Trails campgrounds that 1) still accepts packages for guests, and 2) doesn’t charge for them. It’s also one of the rare TT campgrounds that provides the actual gate code in the pre-arrival email. This is because you need to let yourself in when you arrive and then check in at the welcome center. I’ve been conditioned by past experiences at TT campgrounds to be skeptical of those emails, so it came as a surprise when I needed the gate code upon arrival. We camped at Thousand Trails St Clair in a Motorhome.

Campground map; it says C18, but the check-in person told us C21 was better:

An interactive map:

Our site:

It was a buddy site, which we normally hate, but this wasn’t too bad, since there was a fair bit of space between the sites. Plus it was too cold to want to sit outside, so didn’t bother us too much:

Utilities:

Dusty truck (we did take it through a car wash after this, though it was dirty again a few days later from rain):

We added the Michigan sticker to states map, filling a hole:

Just the little NE states left:

Our original site assignment was here, next to that annual site; it would have been fine, but no sewer:

Other sites:

Office:

Playground:

Community campfire:

Little library and game:

Mini golf:

We’d be happy to stay here again.

We stayed at Thousand Trails Lake & Shore in Ocean View, New Jersey. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A fairly typical Thousand Trails campground, mostly full of park models and annual sites, with a small section for transients.

Dates:

• Check in: 2025-04-13
• Check out: 2025-04-20
• 7 nights

Weather:

• Partly sunny
• High temps 53-71°F, lows 40-56°F
• Some wind, gusts to 28 MPH

Noise:

• No road noise
• No train horn noise
• Some neighbor noise
• Industrial noise from a mine next to the campground during working hours (and sometimes overnight)

Site:

• #E16, back-in, sand
• Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
• Unlevel site; high on rear and passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
• Sand site about 50 feet long by 45 feet wide
• Picnic table
• Fire pit
• Tall trees
• Somewhat clean site
• Elevation 20 feet, front facing NW

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, somewhat conveniently located at back of site
• 60 PSI water, somewhat conveniently located at back of site
• Good sewer connection, very conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• T-Mobile: 430-630 Mbps down, 45 Mbps up, 19 ms ping
• AT&T: 220-280 Mbps down, 17 Mbps up, 58 ms ping
• Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 25 ms ping (our SIM has 5 Mbps max)
• Starlink: not used
• Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters near entrance
• Pool
• Beach
• Water park

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Nice park close to Jersey Shore activities

Most of this park is occupied by annual sites/park models, with a small area for “transient” visitors like us. We arrived not long after they’d opened for the season, and there was a bit of a hassle as they adjusted to the new way of assigning sites. The gate that’s supposed to be used by RVs checking in was out of commission, so we had to go through the car gate, which doesn’t have a keypad high enough to reach from the RV. The girl at the front desk said she’d keep an eye out and let us in, but she’d obviously forgotten or gone somewhere else in the 5 minutes it took us to unhook the tow vehicle, so we were stuck. I saw at least one other camper have the same problem a couple of days later, as well.

Once we got to our site, it was long enough for our motorhome and wide enough to park beside it. The site was a little unlevel, but better than some others. Nice little lake and beach on the property, and during the hot months, I imagine the pool and splash pad areas are super busy. Trash disposal is very far from the camping area, so slightly inconvenient if you don’t have a golf cart or take it in your car when you go out. There was also some low hum of nearby industrial noise, but it wasn’t too loud inside the RV. We camped at Thousand Trails Lake & Shore in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our first new state of the year, we were able to add the New Jersey sticker to our map:

Lake and sunset:

Seasonally closed water park:

Other sites:

Nothing too exciting about it, but we wouldn’t mind staying here again.

We stayed at Cherry Hill Park in College Park, Maryland. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Our second stay here. We had originally planned to stay longer, but changed our plans to save money by staying for free at Thousand Trails parks instead. But we ended up here for one night anyway, to break up an otherwise too long travel day.

This is a very nice resort, convenient to the DC area, though this time was just a convenient stop on our journey north.

Dates:

• Check in: 2025-04-12
• Check out: 2025-04-13
• 1 night

Weather:

• Cloudy
• High temp 51°F, low 53°F
• Little wind, gusts to 22 MPH

Noise:

• Some freeway noise
• No train horn noise
• Negligible neighbor noise

Site:

• #616, pull-through, gravel
• Didn’t need to disconnect toad, and didn’t, since only one night
• Mostly level site; used air leveling, since only one night
• Gravel driveway about 70 feet long by 12 feet wide
• About 14 feet to neighbor on driver side (which was empty)
• About 40 feet to a road on passenger side
• Picnic table and patio table & chairs on a brick patio
• Fire pit
• Charcoal grill
• A small tree
• Clean site

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, fairly conveniently located
• Didn’t use the water or sewer, since only one night

Internet (in usage priority order):

• AT&T: 765 Mbps down, 36-50 Mbps up, 19-35 ms ping
• Campground Wi-Fi: didn’t use, but last time was 20 Mpbs down, 20 Mbps up, 8 ms ping
• Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 38 ms ping
• T-Mobile: negligible service
• Starlink: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage bins
• Pools
• Onsite cafe and food delivery to site
• Package delivery to office
• Bus to DC mall
• Tour buses

Part of our review on Campground Reviews from our previous stay (omitting comments about the specific site):

Location, location, location!

If you want to visit the DC area with your motorhome, trailer, fifth-wheel, tent, or what-have-you, this is THE place to do it. It’s convenient to the Beltway and close to a Metro stop for all your sightseeing needs. They also offer tours from the campground, which is just the cherry on top. The campground is top-notch and well-kept, with all the amenities you could want (including food delivery right to your site), which is a plus on a travel day. […] We camped at Cherry Hill Park – Washington, D.C. In a Motorhome.

A handy campground map for getting to our site (though this was the wrong one for our specific site):

And on the other site, a map of campground features:

An interactive map:

Our site:

See our previous stay for more photos.

We’d be happy to stay here again. 

We stayed at Emporia / I-95 KOA in Emporia, Virginia. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A convenient stop on the way north. This is described as a KOA Holiday, but is more of a Journey. This is a reasonable place to stop (if you don’t mind the train horns at all hours), but I wouldn’t call it a holiday destination.

Dates:

• Check in: 2025-03-30
• Check out: 2025-04-01
• 2 nights

Weather:

• Partly cloudy, some rain
• High temp 79°F, lows 49-64°F
• Some wind, gusts to 25 MPH

Noise:

• Little road noise
• Nearby train horn noise, about every half hour, day and night
• Some neighbor noise

Site:

• #126, pull-through, gravel
• Didn’t need to disconnect toad, and didn’t since only two nights
• Somewhat level site; high on passenger side and front; used hydraulic leveling
• Gravel driveway about 80 feet long by 13 feet wide
• 11 feet to neighbor on passenger side
• 22 feet to neighbor on driver side
• Just grass between sites
• Picnic table
• Fire pit
• No trees
• Somewhat clean site
• Elevation 120 feet, front facing NE

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, conveniently located
• 50 PSI water, conveniently located
• Unthreaded sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• T-Mobile: 226-244 Mbps down, 6 Mbps up, 14-21 ms ping
• AT&T: 90-146 Mbps down, 11 Mbps up, 62 ms ping
• Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 85 ms ping (our SIM has 5 Mbps max)
• Starlink: not used
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters and bins
• Closed seasonal pool

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Good for a quick stop

It’s my understanding that a KOA Holiday is supposed to be the destination and reason for going there. Why this is listed as a Holiday is beyond me. It was perfectly fine for a short stay, but the train noise all day and night would preclude me from wanting to stay any longer than necessary. Our nightly rate was because I used $50 in KOA reward points for a two-night stay. Otherwise, this would have been far too expensive for what it was. We camped at Emporia / I-95 KOA in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

Utilities; rather high sewer, with no thread, so I used the water bag weight:

Other sites:

Seasonally closed pool:

Not too bad a stop for a day or two, other than the train horn noise; if we come this way again, we might look for another option.