Red Bay Acres RV Resort

We stayed at Red Bay Acres RV Resort in Red Bay, Alabama. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice full-hookup RV park in the hometown of Tiffin Motorhomes. Our second stay here.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-03-24
Check out: 2024-03-31
7 nights

Weather:

Partly cloudy, some rain
High temps ranging between 63-72°F, lows around 38-52°F
One very windy day, gusts to 54 MPH, otherwise negligible

Noise:

No road noise
No train noise
Hourly clock tower noise
A little neighbor and tech services noise

Site:

#24, back in, concrete
Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
Somewhat level; used air and hydraulic leveling at different times
Concrete driveway about 60 feet long by about 12 feet wide
Grass between sites wedge-shaped, from about 20 to 25 feet wide (their smallest “premium” site)
Picnic table on 12 by 12 feet concrete patio; fire pit
Clean site

Utilities:

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

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 50 Mbps down, 45 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
AT&T: 130 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
Verizon: 28 Mbps down, 8 Mbps up, 28 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage pickup from site
Package delivery to site
Onsite restaurant
Pond
Hometown of Tiffin; local RV repairs

Our review on Campground Reviews (from our previous visit):

Nice place to return to after service

This is the place to stay when in Red Bay for service. It is a beautifully maintained park, with all the sites facing the fishing pond. All the other parks in town were basic gravel lots. The one drawback is having to back in to the site when coming back from service each day, but that’s not a big deal. The concrete pad was nicely level and all the utilities were good. It’s also nice to have the Yacht Club on-site for a bite to eat at the end of the day. If you’re looking to get service done on-site, make sure to check the list of approved vendors. We camped at Red Bay Acres RV Resort in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: Lost Pines Coffee had decent coffee and baked goods for a midday pick-me-up. The Natchez Trace Parkway is fairly close and a very nice scenic drive.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site this time; again one of the larger corner sites, though this was only barely larger:

Our site

I used my ladder to check on a leak behind our shower (a loose connection, easily fixed):

Our site

Stuff from basement bays piled up, while doing wet bay enhancements:

Our site

Clearing land behind the park was a little noisy:

Clearing land behind the park

Other sites:

Other sites

Central pond:

Central pond

We visited the onsite Red Bay Yacht Club several times (you know, land yachts):

Red Bay Yacht Club

Pond view from inside:

Pond view from inside

We ate some dinners there, including pizza and loaded fries:

Pizza and loaded fries

Desserts:

Dessert

Chicken wings and sandwich, while playing Phase 10:

Chicken wings and sandwich

Another night, tacos and more Phase 10:

Tacos

Games:

Games

Dog park:

Dog park

We wandered across the road to the Happy Hollow Outdoors store:

Happy Hollow Outdoors store

Happy Hollow Outdoors

Travel from Pine Mountain, Georgia to Red Bay, Alabama

We drove our coach 279 miles, about five hours of driving, from Pine Mountain, Georgia to Red Bay, Alabama.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading northwest:

Route map

An interactive map:

Leaving the campground:

Leaving campground

A very narrow road in the campground:

Very narrow road in campground

Roadworks:

Roadworks

Historic LaGrange:

Historic LaGrange

LaGrange park:

LaGrange park

LaGrange College:

LaGrange College

We drove over an object on the road (couldn’t avoid it), and saw in the rear-view camera that it was dragging from the rear of the coach:

Item dragging from rear of coach

So we stopped at the next opportunity, and I went out to investigate; it turned out to be a bag like for a folding chair, hooked on to the rock guard; I quickly removed it:

Bag stuck on rock guard

I-20 West:

I-20 West

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Then we parked for lunch:

Parked for lunch

Popeyes for lunch:

Popeyes for lunch

I-20 West

I-22 West:

I-22 West

Fun with zoom:

Fun with zoom

Bathroom break (in our coach, of course) at a truck stop:

Bathroom break at truck stop

Paladin mid-yawn:

Paladin mid-yawn

Welcome to Mississippi:

Welcome to Mississippi

MS-76:

MS-76

Highway:

Highway

Welcome to Sweet Home Alabama:

Welcome to Sweet Home Alabama

Arriving at Red Bay Acres:

Red Bay Acres

Our site:

Our site

F.D. Roosevelt State Park

We stayed at F.D. Roosevelt State Park in Pine Mountain, Georgia. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Another nice state park, though a little tight for a big rig.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-03-17
Check out: 2024-03-24
7 nights

Weather:

Partly cloudy; a couple days with some rain
High temps ranging between 59-70°F, lows around 30-50°F
Some wind, gusts to 29 MPH

Noise:

No road noise
No train noise
Negligible neighbor noise

Site:

#104, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
Fairly level, a little high on the driver side; used hydraulic leveling
Gravel driveway about 75 feet long by about 15 feet wide
Slope to driver-side site 20 feet wide
Grass and trees on passenger side about 75 feet wide
Picnic table and fire pit on 20×10 feet gravel patio
Clean site

Utilities:

50 amp power, somewhat conveniently located
40 PSI water, somewhat conveniently located
Good sewer connection, somewhat inconveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 6-9 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
T-Mobile: 10 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, 50-120 ms ping
Verizon: 15-25 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
AT&T: 30 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Trading post
Lake
Park

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Nice park, a little tight for big rigs

Very few sites here are FHU, but they all have lovely views of the lake in one form or another. The roads into and around the campground are a bit narrow and windy to drive a big rig around comfortably, but if you take your time and pay attention it’s manageable. Lots of nice trails around the park for hiking and boat rentals are available at the lake. Nice camp store at the main building where you check in and a convenient trading post in the campground itself, where you can get snacks, bait, firewood, etc. In the spring, the pollen is positively ridiculous, turning every internal and external surface bright yellow. If you’re sensitive to such things, bring your meds. We camped at F. D. Roosevelt State Park in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

There was tree pollen everywhere; here’s some on our truck:

Pollen on truck

We used our griddle:

Griddle

The visitor center; we went straight to our site, then drove our truck back to check in, since their parking lot is too small for our coach and toad:

Visitor center

Park info sign:

Park info sign

Visitor center:

Visitor center

This site, #113, would probably be my preference if we were to stay here again:

Other sites

It has a nice private patio overlooking the lake, down a couple of steps:

Other sites

Another Tiffin Allegro Bus:

Another Tiffin Allegro Bus

Other sites:

Other sites

Playground:

Playground

Tent sites:

Tent sites

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

Shelter:

Shelter

Little free library:

Little free library

Goose:

Goose

Lake:

Lake

Trading Post:

Trading Post

The nearby Liberty Bell Pool:

Liberty Bell Pool

A narrow exit road:

Narrow exit road

Travel from Adel to Pine Mountain, Georgia

We drove our coach 191 miles, about four hours of driving, from Adel, Georgia to Pine Mountain, Georgia.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading northwest:

Route map

An interactive map, with potential stops marked:

Departing the state park:

Departing

A stop to take out some garbage:

Garbage stop

Bye lake:

Lake

Joining I-75 north:

I-75 north

A cute small fiver:

Cute small fiver

“Georgia for Peanuts”:

Georgia for Peanuts

Separate minimum speed signs really confused our Mobile Eye warning device:

Minimum speed sign

A large rest area:

Large rest area

Paladin sat on the dash during the rest stop, and stayed there until we got back on the freeway, then jumped down:

Paladin on the dash

“Cotton” water tower:

Cotton water tower

A stop opportunity that we didn’t use, but would have worked for us; a business parking lot:

Stop opportunity

Waiting for a train:

Waiting for a train

An interesting building in Reynolds, Georgia:

Interesting building in Reynolds, Georgia

Fun with zoom:

Fun with zoom

Entering FD Roosevelt State Park:

FD Roosevelt State Park

Uphill in the park:

Uphill in the park

The visitor center:

Visitor center

Road to the campground:

Road to campground

Lake:

Lake

Our site:

Our site

Reed Bingham State Park

We stayed at Reed Bingham State Park in Adel, Georgia. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice state park with a lake and dam.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-03-10
Check out: 2024-03-17
7 nights

Weather:

Mostly cloudy; one day with rain
High temps ranging between 62-81°F, lows around 41-61°F
Negligible wind, gusts to 19 MPH

Noise:

No road noise
No train noise
A little neighbor noise (kids)

Site:

#33, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
Mostly level; used hydraulic leveling
Gravel driveway about 150 feet long by about 15 feet wide
Leaf-covered ground between sites about 50 feet (front and back; nothing on side)
Driver side to road about 25 feet
Picnic table
Fire pit
Lantern hook
Mostly clean site

Utilities:

50 amp power, somewhat inconveniently located
50 PSI water, somewhat inconveniently located
Good sewer connection, somewhat conveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 20 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
Verizon: 25 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
AT&T: 30-80 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, 50-90 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters only in a central location
Mini golf

Our review on Campground Reviews:

A nice state park with a lake and dam

Nice large sites, not all 50A or FHU, so plan accordingly. We were in site 33 in loop 2, which was a large pull-through site under the trees. A pleasant walk down to the lake and dam and several easy, short hikes in the park. We would definitely stay here again. We camped at Reed Bingham State Park in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Nice side view from our coach:

Nice side view from our coach

Utilities:

Utilities

Our first visit to Georgia, so time to add its sticker to our coach (the older ones are so faded!):

Georgia sticker

Other sites:

Other sites

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

Little lending library:

Little lending library

Mini golf:

Mini golf

Playground:

Playground

Nature path:

Nature path

Bat box?

Kids fishing ponds:

Kids fishing ponds

No swimming, alligators present:

No swimming, alligators present

Stage:

Stage

Pond:

Pond

Boat ramp:

Boat ramp

Lake:

Lake

Ducks:

Ducks

Dam from bridge:

Dam from bridge

Flooded:

Flooded

A GIF of the dam:

Dam

The water level after the dam was very high due to rain:

Dam

Later in the week, a lower level:

Dam

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

Travel from Clermont, Florida to Adel, Georgia

We drove our coach 235 miles, about four hours of driving, from Clermont, Florida to Adel, Georgia.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading northwest:

Route map

An interactive map, with potential stops marked:

Rain coming off the slide topper:

Rain coming off slide topper

A line to leave TTO:

Line to leave TTO

Citrus Tower:

Citrus Tower

Heading north on Florida’s Turnpike:

Heading north on Florida's Turnpike

Rest stop:

Rest stop

A busy foodcourt:

Busy foodcourt

The Villages golf cart bridge:

The Villages golf cart bridge

I-75:

I-75

A nice colored Prevost bus:

Prevost bus

Motorcycles and wildflowers:

Motorcycles and wildflowers

This car was going very slowly, with a flat tire. Just pull over!

Car with a flat tire

Our coach in traffic cams:

Our coach in traffic cam

Paladin at a rest stop:

Paladin at rest stop

“Thank you for visiting Florida”:

Thank you for visiting Florida

“Welcome to Georgia”:

Welcome to Georgia

Reed Bingham State Park:

Reed Bingham State Park

Dam:

Dam

Arriving at our site:

Our site

Thousand Trails Orlando RV Resort

We stayed at Thousand Trails Orlando RV Resort in Clermont, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A second visit to TTO, the flagship Thousand Trails park.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-03-05
Check out: 2024-03-10
5 nights

Weather:

Mostly cloudy, some rain
High temps ranging between 78-85°F, lows around 59-66°F
Negligible wind, gusts to 21 MPH

Noise:

No road noise
No train noise
Some neighbor noise, dogs
Distant fireworks from Disney some evenings

Site:

Mako 11, back in, asphalt
Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
A little unlevel, high on right; used hydraulic leveling
Asphalt driveway about 45 feet long (plus about 30 feet of gravel behind that) by about 17 feet wide
Weedy grass between sites about 12 feet
Picnic table
No fire pit
A bunch of trash on site

Utilities:

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

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 55 Mbps down, 5-7 Mbps up, 36 ms ping
Verizon: 18-25 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
AT&T: 0.1 Mbps down, 0.01 Mbps up, 500 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters only in a central location
Package delivery to office, for $5 per package (we got a local mailbox)

We’ve done a review on Campground Reviews for TTO before, so didn’t bother doing it again.

Campground map; our site this time was in the narrow strip on the left side, above the X-ed out section:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site; a quiet area of the park, one that would be a good choice for a longer stay:

Our site

Swamp near our site:

Swamp near our site

Cabin near our site:

Cabin near our site

Other sites:

Other sites

We enjoyed some Chinese food from the local takeout restaurant:

Chinese food

Sunset:

Sunset

Travel from Disney World to Clermont, Florida

We drove our coach just 52 miles, about an hour of driving, from Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground in Disney World, Florida to Clermont, Florida.

It would actually take less than half an hour to go from Disney World to TTO (our destination), but check out time from Fort Wilderness was 11:00, and check in at TTO is very strictly not before noon, so we drove a longer route, with a fuel stop, to kill some time.

We’re planning to do this again next year, so next time we might instead wait in the Fort Wilderness overflow parking area, and go direct.

Here’s a map showing our route:

Route map

An interactive map:

Leaving the Fort Wilderness campground; we drove separately to a hitch/unhitch area, and toaded up there:

Leaving campground

This is the overflow parking area, which might be a better place to kill half an hour, if there’s available space:

Overflow parking

Passing the Fort Wilderness entrance:

Fort Wilderness

Leaving the Disney World bubble; it’s been nice:

Leaving Disney World

A Mickey-shaped power pole:

Disney-shaped power pole

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Our DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid, an additive to reduce pollutants) tank was about half full, but the DEF nozzle in our fuel lane was out of order, so we bought a Blue DEF box (for the first time):

Blue DEF box

Plane:

Plane

FL-33 highway:

FL-33

Our destination, Thousand Trails Orlando:

Thousand Trails Orlando

TTO gate:

Thousand Trails Orlando

Unlike most Thousand Trails parks, at TTO arrivals go to a central area to await your turn to pick a site from a list of available ones. Since we arrived a bit after noon, there was a line of RVs waiting to get to that area:

Line of RVs

We untoaded there:

Untoaded

Following our coach to a site:

Following coach to site

Our site

Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground

We stayed at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground, within Walt Disney World, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)

So nice to spend over a week inside the Disney bubble. Disney World is huge, covering 25,000 acres (39 sq mi; 101 sq km), including four theme parks, dozens of resorts, golf courses, etc. The Fort Wilderness Campground is 750 acres of tree-covered paved campsites, cabins, and various amenities, with boats and buses to the parks.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-02-25
Check out: 2024-03-05
9 nights
We had originally booked 7 nights, but added a couple more

Weather:

Mostly sunny; a little rain later in the stay
High temps 75-82°F, lows around 47-62°F
Negligible wind

Noise:

No freeway noise
Little road noise (including bus on main road)
No train noise
Some neighbor noise (kids, especially basketball)

Site:

#1334, back in, concrete
Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
Level; used hydraulic leveling
Concrete driveway about 60 feet long by 15 feet wide
Trees between sites about 20 feet wide
Picnic table
No fire pit
Mostly clean site (a little minor trash)

Utilities:

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

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 40-50 Mbps down, 35-45 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
AT&T: 500 Mbps down, 25 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
Verizon: 25 Mbps down, 25 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Pools
Garbage bin near site
Golf cart rental
Boats and buses to Disney World parks

Our review on Campground Reviews:

A state park, but make it Disney!

If you’re an RVer and want to do the Disney Bubble experience, this is the place to be. Direct access to all the parks from the campground (boat to Magic Kingdom, buses to all the others) and a bit of that trademark Disney flare in the campground itself. We stayed a week and have already booked for next year, we enjoyed everything so much. We spent pretty much all day every day at the theme parks, so didn’t use many of the amenities in the campground, but it looked like you could have a blast of a day just hanging out here.

Our site (1334) was plenty big enough for our 40′ motorhome, tow vehicle, and rented golf cart. Renting a golf cart is a must. There are shuttles that run through the campground, but we enjoyed the freedom of getting around on our own timetable. Unfortunately, our site was right next to a playground with a basketball halfcourt that some sociopaths thought would be fun to play on late at night and early in the morning. Not cool.

One other minor niggle was that we decided to extend our stay while we were there. I called the number for reservations and was told that only the front desk could do that. Went to the front desk and was told that they couldn’t do it because we’d booked a package through the Disney Travel Co. So I booked a new reservation online and then went to the front desk to get them to join the two reservations so we didn’t have to check out and check in again. A bit less magical than I expected from Disney customer service, but we got there in the end. We camped at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

We rented a golf cart during our stay, which is highly recommended to get to the boat and bus stops, and other amenities:

Golf cart

(They do have a shuttle bus to take people to various parts of the campground, too, so a cart isn’t critical, but it is more convenient.)

More of our site; we didn’t really use the site, other than to sleep, since we were at the parks during the days:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

One thing we didn’t enjoy was that our site was right next to a playground, with a basketball hoop; kids bouncing basketballs is super annoying for us DINKs:

Playground

The campground offered horse and cart rides:

Horse and cart

A popular thing is to decorate the golf carts, which not only makes them more festive, but also easier to spot in a parking lot (if you look at the earlier pictures, we added a couple of koi wind socks to ours).

Some examples of decorations:

Decorated golf carts

On our first evening we attended the onsite Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue:

Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue

Afterwards, we watched the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the nearby beach:

Fireworks

Welcome to Fort Wilderness:

Welcome to Fort Wilderness

Store:

Store

We took the boat to the Magic Kingdom park on several days:

Boat to Magic Kingdom park

Pioneer Hall has mobile-order or grab-and-go food options:

Crokett's Tavern

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

Other sites, which people often decorate too:

Other sites

There are sections of the campground with cabins, for people without RVs:

Cabins

The Meadow Swimmin’ Pool:

Meadow Swimmin' Pool

An excellent campground. We’ll be happy to stay here again in the future (though would see if we can request a site away from playgrounds etc).

Travel from Fort Lauderdale to Disney World, Florida

We drove our coach 213 miles, about four hours of driving, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground in Disney World, Florida.

Here’s a map showing our route:

Route map