We stayed at Indiana Dunes State Park in Chesterton, Indiana. (Campground Reviews listing.)

We stayed in the ironically-named “electric campground”… ironic since there was no electricity for most of our stay.

Dates:

• Check in: 2025-07-26
• Check out: 2025-07-29
• 3 nights
• We were going to stay about a week, but cut it short to try to get our slide repaired at HWH

Weather:

• Partly sunny, some rain
• High temps 80-88°F, lows 74-76°F
• Little wind, gusts to 18 MPH, sheltered by trees

Noise:

• No road noise
• Distant train horn noise
• A bunch of neighbor noise (kids)

Site:

• #97, back-in, asphalt and concrete
• Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
• Somewhat level site; a little high in front and passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
• Asphalt driveway with concrete pad, about 55 feet long by 12 feet wide
• 50 feet to neighbors on both sides
• Grass and trees between sites
• Picnic table
• Fire pit
• Tall trees
• Clean site
• Elevation 610 feet, front facing north

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, conveniently located
• Though no power for much of our stay due to a 21-hour power cut in the area
• No water or sewer connection
• Potable water taps around the campsite (including one opposite us, though unthreaded, so would have been a hassle to fill our tank)
• Dump station by campground exit

Internet (in usage priority order):

• Starlink: 170-310 Mbps down, 10-19 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
• RoamLink: 18 Mbps down, 0.5-1.5 Mbps up, 155 ms ping (the RoamLink service picks the best network, so I’m not sure which one it used, other than not AT&T)
• AT&T: negligible service
• Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Lovely campground close to Indiana Dunes NP

This is a nice campground convenient to visiting Indiana Dunes National Park. The loop we were in had 50A electric, but no other utilities, which was fine for a short stay. Unfortunately, a power outage in the area forced us to run our generator for part of our stay. The dump station was inconveniently located for a large RV, so we didn’t wind up using it. The potable water faucets throughout the campground were unthreaded, which meant they couldn’t be used to top off our tank, either. We camped at Indiana Dunes State Park in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

Other sites:

Not a bad campground; the power cut wasn’t their fault.

We stayed at Olive Branch Campground in Oregonia, Ohio. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Just a one night stop on the way to NIRVC.

Dates:

• Check in: 2025-07-19
• Check out: 2025-07-20
• 1 night

Weather:

• Rainy
• High temp 86°F, low 71°F
• Some wind, gusts to 23 MPH, but sheltered by trees

Noise:

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

Site:

• #124, pull-through, gravel
• The office told us the site was 55 feet and we’d need to unhook our toad, so we did, but we really didn’t need to do so; annoying
• Somewhat level site; high on driver side; used air leveling, since only one night
• Gravel driveway about 70 feet long by 15 feet wide
• 20 feet to neighbors on both sides
• Picnic table
• Fire pit
• Tall trees
• Somewhat clean site
• Elevation 970 feet, front facing NE

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, fairly conveniently located
• 80 PSI water, conveniently located
• Didn’t hook up the sewer until departure, but it was a little inconvenient.

Internet (in usage priority order):

• RoamLink: 45 Mbps down, 10 Mbps up, 90-135 ms ping (the RoamLink service picks the best network, so I’m not sure which one it used, other than not AT&T)
• AT&T: 125 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 85 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
• Starlink: not used
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• Pool

Our review on Campground Reviews:

A bit expensive, but convenient

We needed a one-night stay on short notice, and this campground worked. It was a fairly basic site for $100. If we were staying longer and making use of the amenities, it would feel more worth it. Slightly annoying that the camp hosts told us we’d need to unhook our tow vehicle because it wouldn’t fit in the site, which was wrong–there was plenty of space to remain hooked up, and we would not have been in the road on either side. Site was mostly level and the utilities all worked well. We camped at Olive Branch Campground in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

Other sites:

Just a one night stop, so no real opinion on whether or not we’d stay here again; probably so, though we’d ignore the office saying their site wasn’t long enough to remain toaded if we did.

We stayed at Mountain Top Campground in Tarentum, Pennsylvania. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A campground on a mountain top… it’s right in the name. A downside of being on a mountaintop (or what passes for mountains on the east coast) is a narrow windy road to get to it. And the sites with the best view are crowded together.

Dates:

• Check in: 2025-07-13
• Check out: 2025-07-19
• 6 nights

Weather:

• Thunderstorms, rain, mostly cloudy
• High temps 81-87°F, lows 68-72°F
• Little wind, gusts to 17 MPH

Noise:

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

Site:

• #41, back-in, gravel
• Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
• Unlevel site; high on passenger side and back; used hydraulic leveling with extra blocks in front
• Gravel driveway about 75 feet long by 12 feet wide
• 0-18 feet (wedge-shaped) to neighbors on both sides
• Just grass between sites
• Picnic table
• Fire pit
• Tall trees behind site
• Mostly clean site
• Mountain top view behind site
• Low tree branches behind site prevented going back further
• Elevation 1,150 feet, front facing NE

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, inconveniently located behind site; needed to use a provided Hughes Autoformer voltage booster instead of my Watchdog due to low voltage (but still cut out a few times, not great for our electrical systems); also had 1.5 hour area power cut due to thunderstorms
• 50 PSI water, inconveniently located behind site
• Good sewer connection, inconveniently located (3 10-foot pipes needed); campground has rules about avoiding heavy water use like flushing tanks

Internet (in usage priority order):

• Starlink: 84-93 Mbps down, 26 Mbps up, 32 ms ping
• RoamLink: 105 Mbps down, 45-56 Mbps up, 150 ms ping (the RoamLink service picks the best network, so I’m not sure which one it used)
• AT&T: 120 Mbps down, 45 Mbps up, 102 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters by entrance

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Convenient to Pittsburgh

The access roads into the park are twisty and narrow, making for some tense driving in a big rig. The dirt road into the campground itself was so dusty when we arrived that it set off a malfunction indicator light in our diesel pusher (the alert cleared after we left and drove on the freeway for a while, so it was definitely a combination of the hill and dust).

When hooking up to the power, there was a voltage booster attached to the pedestal, which we weren’t sure about, but one of the camp hosts (owners?) came by and explained that the power is a bit weak in the corner, so we could use that if there were issues. There were, and we did, but even with the booster, we were getting fluctuations.

In retrospect, we would have asked to be moved to a different site, as the weather was not conducive to taking in the view anyway. Also, the corner sites with the best views are very narrow, while the sites on the straight side are more spacious. During our stay, there were massive thunderstorms in the vicinity, which knocked out the power to the campground, and we got several text messages with the ETA of power restoration, which was very appreciated. We camped at Mountain Top Campground in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: Take in a game at PNC Park, one of the prettiest MLB parks! Also, near enough to check out the historic/iconic Fallingwater house by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site; would have been much better as a front-in site:

View behind our site:

Autoformer electrical voltage booster:

Voltage error before I switched to the provided voltage booster:

ECM SPN 3058 FMI 18 error code when arriving, due to a steep climb up a very dusty road:

Other sites:

Given the narrow dusty roadway, tight sites, flaky power, and excessive rules, we would not stay here again.

We stayed at New York City North / Newburgh KOA Holiday in Plattekill, New York. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A state-park-like KOA with nicely private sites.

Dates:

• Check in: 2025-07-06
• Check out: 2025-07-12
• 6 nights

Weather:

• Partly sunny, some rain
• High temps 76-88°F, lows 65-71°F
• Little wind, gusts to 11 MPH

Noise:

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

Site:

• #117, pull-through, gravel
• Needed to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
• A little unlevel site; high on driver side and front; used hydraulic leveling
• Gravel driveway about 55 feet long by 20 feet wide
• About 20 feet to neighbors on both sides
• Trees between sites
• Picnic table
• Fire pit
• Tall trees
• Clean site
• Elevation 540 feet, front facing SW

Utilities:

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

Internet (in usage priority order):

• RoamLink: 16 Mbps down, 0.2 Mbps up, 1,000 ms ping (the RoamLink service picks the best network, so I’m not sure which one it used, other than not AT&T)
• Campground Wi-Fi: 2 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
• AT&T: 7-10 Mbps down, 0.2 Mbps up, 120-870 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
• Starlink: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage pickup from site
• Pool
• Package delivery to office

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Nice place to get away

We had a nice site tucked under the trees, which has pros and cons. On the plus side, it was shady and felt private. On the negative side, the trees made Starlink impossible to use, and our cell coverage wasn’t great. If you have to work or remain connected like we do, this is a problem, but luckily I didn’t have any critical meetings, so it worked out okay. There are a lot of amenities for families and kids, so I can see this would be a destination for folks who want to get away from the city. We used it as a jumping-off point to go into the city, as there aren’t a lot of options closer to the city for a large motorhome, and it was easy enough to drive to Yankee Stadium (about an hour and a half away). I would have loved to stay longer and explore more in the immediate area, however. Next time! We camped at New York City North / Newburgh KOA Holiday in a Motorhome. 

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

Other sites:

Cabins:

Bathrooms being renovated:

Playground:

Pool:

Pond:

Office:

We’d be happy to stay here again.

We stayed at Normandy Farms Family Camping Resort in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Established way back in 1759 as a farm, and made into a campground in the late 1960’s, this campground has been around a while, and has the amenities to show for it, if you’re into such things. Very popular with weekenders. Though we did visit on the Fourth of July weekend, so it might have been more busy than normal.

Dates:

• Check in: 2025-06-29
• Check out: 2025-07-06
• 7 nights

Weather:

• Partly cloudy, a little rain
• High temps 76-87°F, lows 61-68°F
• Some wind, gusts to 24 MPH, but sheltered by trees

Noise:

• No road noise
• No train horn noise
• A lot of neighbor noise (dogs, kids, partiers)

Site:

• #819, pull-through, gravel
• Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
• Somewhat level site; high on passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
• Gravel driveway about 70 feet long by 20 feet wide
• 12 feet to neighbor on passenger side
• 0-35 feet to road on driver side
• Just grass between sites
• Picnic table
• Fire pit
• Tall trees
• Clean site
• Elevation 220 feet, front facing NW

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, somewhat conveniently located towards rear of site
• 80 PSI water, somewhat conveniently located towards rear of site
• Unthreaded sewer connection, two ports, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• Starlink: 176-224 Mbps down, 13-30 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
• RoamLink: 7-9 Mbps down, 0.1-2 Mbps up, 160-190 ms ping (the RoamLink service picks the best network, so I’m not sure which one it used, other than not AT&T)
• AT&T: 28-216 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 50-120 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• Pool
• Restaurant on site (didn’t try)
• Package delivery to office

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Great base for New England exploration

We’re not really “campground activities” kind of people, but if you are, this is the place to go and do that. For us, it was a great home base for exploring Boston, Cape Cod, and a daytrip into CT and RI, so we didn’t spend a lot of time at the campground itself. I really enjoyed having a massage therapist on site, however. What an awesome perk that I wish more campgrounds had. While the amenities offered definitely live up to the “resort” name, the sites themselves were a bit on the basic side, with gravel roads, pads that weren’t entirely level, and no garbage pickup. The utilities all worked well, however, and they do accept packages. We’d be happy to stay here again when we’re in the area. We camped at Normandy Farms Family Camping Resort in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

Utilities:

Other sites:

Cabins:

Activity center:

Playground:

Court:

Field:

Horses:

We’d be happy to stay here again.

We stayed at Narrows Too Camping Resort in Trenton, Maine. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A Thousand Trails campground in the northeastern corner of the US, convenient to Arcadia National Park.

Dates:

• Check in: 2025-06-22
• Check out: 2025-06-29
• 7 nights

Weather:

• Partly sunny
• High temps 64-87°F, lows 56-64°F
• Little wind, gusts to 17 MPH

Noise:

• Some road noise
• No train horn noise
• Little neighbor noise
• Frequent airplane noise from nearby regional airport

Site:

• #848, front-in, gravel
• Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
• Fairly level site; a little high in the back; used hydraulic leveling
• Gravel driveway about 70 feet long by 20 feet wide
• 30 feet to neighbors on both sides
• Just grass between sites
• Picnic table
• Fire pit
• Tall shrubs behind site
• Clean site
• Elevation 30 feet, front facing SW

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):

• Starlink: 90-190 Mbps down, 10-30 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
• RoamLink: 3 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 170-210 ms ping (the RoamLink service picks the best network, so I’m not sure which one it used, other than not AT&T)
• AT&T: 5-15 Mbps down, 0.03-0.15 Mbps up, 100-490 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• Pool
• Waterfront
• Package delivery to building near office; no charge

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Good base for Acadia NP

We were initially assigned a short, very narrow site crammed in between two trailers, even though the park was mostly empty. We went to the office and asked if we could move to another site that would be a better fit (and not wedged between other campers), and the very friendly and helpful young lady was able to move us across the road into one of the front-in sites, which was much nicer and even gave us a peek of the water from our windows. The site was level and plenty long for our 40′ motorhome and tow vehicle. The utilities all worked well. They also accept mail/packages with no charge. We camped at Narrows Too Camping Resort in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: Walk across the street to Gateway Lunts Lobster Pound for excellent lobster rolls and fish. Sugar Bakery is also good, but they are only open early in the day and only accept cash.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

A glimpse of water from our site:

Adding the Arcadia National Park sticker to our slide from the inside, since this slide was broken:

There’s a local airport near the campground, so occasionally have planes flying over:

Activity center:

Other sites:

Cabins:

Area used by nesting bald eagles:

Waterfront:

We’d be happy to stay here again, though are unlikely to go to that area of the country again.

We stayed at Thousand Trails Moody Beach in Wells, Maine. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A short stay at a Thousand Trails park.

Dates:

• Check in: 2025-06-18
• Check out: 2025-06-22
• 4 nights

Weather:

• Mostly cloudy, some drizzle
• High temps 74-80°F, lows 61-65°F
• Some wind, gusts to 24 MPH

Noise:

• Some road noise
• No train horn noise
• Some neighbor noise

Site:

• #314, back-in, gravel
• Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
• Unlevel site; high on passenger side and rear; used hydraulic leveling with blocks on front
• Gravel driveway about 64 feet long by 10 feet wide
• 22 feet to neighbors on both sides
• Just grass between sites
• Picnic table
• Fire pit
• No trees
• Clean site
• Elevation 50 feet, front facing SE

Utilities:

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

Internet (in usage priority order):

• Starlink: 200-330 Mbps down, 22-38 Mbps up, 28-35 ms ping
• RoamLink: 3-9 Mbps down, 9-15 Mbps up, 130 ms ping (the RoamLink service picks the best network, so I’m not sure which one it used, other than not AT&T)
• AT&T: 4-11 Mbps down, 0 Mbps up, 80-1000 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used (paid)

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• Pool

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Good basecamp

This was a fine place for a short stay, and it was convenient to things in southern Maine. We even took a daytrip down to Salem. We had a back-in site at the front of the park, and it was fine–a little awkward when leaving because the sites are angled in such a way that you have to cut across the neighbor’s site a bit to get out. Utilities all worked well and the site was mostly level. We camped at Thousand Trails Moody Beach in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

Other sites:

Tiny homes:

A nice Thousand Trails park. We’d be happy to stay here again.

We stayed at Quechee Pine Valley Campground in White River Junction, Vermont. (Campground Reviews listing.)

They were called Quechee / Pine Valley KOA Holiday when we booked (fairly recently), but we got a first clue that they were moving away from being a KOA when they didn’t give us the KOA VIP member discount. They were changing the various signage away from KOA during our stay. They have a blog post about their transition back to a private campground.

Dates:

• Check in: 2025-06-15
• Check out: 2025-06-18
• 3 nights

Weather:

• Partly sunny, some rain
• High temps 72-75°F, lows 55-62°F
• Negligible wind, gusts to 17 MPH

Noise:

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

Site:

• #53, pull-in (unusual!), gravel
• Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
• Unlevel site; high on driver side; used hydraulic leveling
• Gravel driveway about 50 feet long by 20 feet wide
• 20 feet to neighbors on both sides
• Trees and slope between sites
• Picnic table
• Fire pit
• Tall trees
• Clean site
• Elevation 760 feet, front facing SW

Utilities:

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

Internet (in usage priority order):

• Starlink: 30-44 Mbps down, 16 Mbps up, 31 ms ping, significantly obstructed (lots of trees)
• Campground Wi-Fi: used by Jenn, but not measured; seemed plenty fast
• RoamLink: 20 Mbps down, 0.1 Mbps up, 150 ms ping (the RoamLink service picks the best network, so I’m not sure which one it used, other than not AT&T)
• AT&T: no service

Amenities:

• Garbage pickup from site
• Pool
• Package delivery (didn’t use, but asked)

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Hilly convenient location

When we made our reservation, this was a KOA, but upon arrival, they were in the process of removing all traces of KOA signage. It’s a nice campground, but with some very twisty, hilly internal roads and lots of trees. We had a front-in site at the top of the hill with a narrow road, which wasn’t a comfortable drive in a 40′ motorhome, but they escorted us to our site and made sure there wasn’t any oncoming traffic. Getting out was a little hairy as we had to back out and avoid the trees and the neighbors parked into the street. The site was a little unlevel, with no sky available for Starlink. The campground’s Wi-Fi was decent, and the location was good for exploring Vermont and New Hampshire. We camped at Quechee Pine Valley Campground in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site; unusually, a front-in site (for motorhomes only):

Trees in front of our coach:

Other sites:

Pool area (still with some KOA signage here, but since changed):

Pond by the entrance:

New entrance sign; clearly a KOA Holiday sign has been removed and replaced with a temporary banner:

Seems like a nice enough campground, though a little hilly. We’d probably stay here again.