We stayed at Sesquicentennial State Park in Columbia, South Carolina. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice state park in the capital city of South Carolina.

Dates:

• Check in: 2024-04-28
• Check out: 2024-05-05
• 7 nights

Weather:

• Partly cloudy
• High temps 78-89°F, lows 56-67°F
• Negligible wind, gusts to 18 MPH

Noise:

• No road noise
• Distant train horn noise
• Some neighbor noise, especially around weekends

Site:

• #6, pull-through, gravel
• Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
• Mostly level; used hydraulic leveling
• Gravel driveway about 130 feet long
• No neighbor on passenger side; trees
• Road on driver side; about 15 feet wide
• Picnic table on gravel area
• Fire pit
• Mostly clean site

Utilities:

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

Internet (in usage priority order):

• T-Mobile: 30-60 Mbps down, 2-5 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
• AT&T: 400-450 Mbps down, 6 Mbps up, 40-80 ms ping
• Verizon: 10 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
• Starlink: not used
• Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpster by entrance
• Dump station
• Walking paths
• Lake

Our review on Campground Reviews:

An oasis in the heart of Columbia

This park is smack dab in the middle of Columbia, but you’d never know that while you’re there since it’s so peaceful, with a nice lake and walking paths. A lot of the sites are unlevel without full hookups, but we had site 6 which was good in both regards. It was plenty long enough for our 40′ motorhome and tow vehicle, with a spacious living area next to the woods. The road leading into the campground has some large concrete bollards surrounding a narrow curving choke point, which made it a little interesting getting in and out. The roads are single-lane and one-way, with the dump station at that choke point, which meant a slight wait to get out when everyone else was also leaving and needed to dump their tanks. But that’s a minor thing to deal with when the rest of the stay was very pleasant. We camped at Sesquicentennial State Park in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

Adding the South Carolina sticker:

We also added the Congaree National Park sticker, after visiting that:

Park entrance:

Campground entrance:

Campground sign:

Fire pit, little library, pay phone:

Campground host:

Truck towing a fiver towing a trailer with a golf cart:

Other sites:

Dump station:

Splash pad, popular with kids during the day:

Playground:

A nice lake:

Cascades:

Nice picnic shelter:

Ranger station and gift store:

Gift store:

Some park-branded jams; we got Two Notch Traffic Jam (the park is off the busy Two Notch Road) and Sunday Picnic Sweet Tea Jelly (Jenn’s been enjoying Southern sweet tea):

(Though I had to go back a different day, as we went there on a walk without our wallets, and they don’t take ApplePay.)

Eastern box turtle:

Stuffed birds:

We stayed at Hard Labor Creek State Park in Rutledge, Georgia. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice quiet state park, but very unlevel sites, and no cell service.

Dates:

• Check in: 2024-04-21
• Check out: 2024-04-28
• 7 nights

Weather:

• Partly cloudy
• High temps 65-79°F, lows 42-61°F
• Negligible wind, gusts to 15 MPH

Noise:

• No road noise
• Distant occasional train noise
• Some neighbor noise

Site:

• #3, pull-through, gravel
• Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind and in front of coach
• Extremely unlevel, high on passenger side and front; couldn’t use hydraulic leveling, had to use air leveling
• Gravel driveway about 230 feet long, though none of it flat
• No neighbor on passenger side, trees and grass about 270 feet to next driveway
• Trees and slope to driver-side neighbor about 35 feet wide
• Picnic table on gravel area about 35 feet wide by 10 feet deep
• Fire pit
• Lantern hook
• Clean site

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, conveniently located
• 30 PSI water, conveniently located
• Loose sewer connection, conveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• Starlink: 20-55 Mbps down, 7 Mbps up, 25 ms ping (obstructed, with frequent outages)
• Verizon: 7 Mbps down, 0.2 Mbps up, 140 ms ping (fairly unusable)
• AT&T: 0.3 Mbps down, 0.01 Mbps up, 80-150 ms ping (unusable)
• T-Mobile: no service
• Campground Wi-Fi: none (other than at trading post)

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpster by entrance
• Dump station
• Mini golf
• Walking paths
• Trading post

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Nice place to unplug

This was a nice, quiet state park amid hills and trees about an hour from Atlanta. There are many recreational activities in the park, and it would be a great place to get away from it all. However, if you’re working full-time from the road, you will have difficulties getting a signal. We have access to all three major carriers and Starlink. Cell service was negligible, and the heavy tree cover made Starlink very unreliable. The sites are nice and large but may be very unlevel. We had site 3, which was 230 feet long (not exaggerating), but none of it was flat. We tried multiple locations and angles but couldn’t make it work with the hydraulic leveling and eventually resorted to using air leveling, which isn’t ideal (it’s like living in a bouncy castle or being at sea). If you have a smaller camper and don’t have to work, this park would be perfect, but for us, it was kind of a mixed bag. We camped at Hard Labor Creek State Park in a Motorhome.

Tip for other campers: Madison is a cute little town about 20 minutes away. Definitely recommend “The Sinclair” for good coffee, croissants, and speedy WiFi….

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site was a very long pull-through, but extremely unlevel:

We put out our griddle, tables, and chairs, and enjoyed sitting outside on several days:

Utilities:

We were far to the left to try to find some level ground, unsuccessfully:

Entrance to the site:

When we tried to use our hydraulic jacks, one of the back tires was off the ground; not great, since they are the brakes on the coach:

So we ended up using air leveling instead of hydraulic, which isn’t as preferred as it is more wobbly, but at least we had that option (most motorhome and fiver RVs only have hydraulic jacks).

There was also no usable cell service, and Starlink was too obstructed for continuous streaming, so Jenn went to a coffee shop appropriately named “The Sinclair” to have a video chat meeting:

Trading post at the entrance of the campground:

Mini golf:

Playground:

Nature trail:

Picnic shelter:

Dump station:

Camper bathrooms:

Other sites:

A glimpse of a lake from the end of one of the camping loops:

The road by our site:

A nice campground, but I don’t think we’ll return, as lack of internet connectivity is a fatal problem for us, since we need it to do our work. If we did return, we’d pick a different site; the long pull-through was nice, but one of the back-ins might be more flat (though if you look at the pictures above, most seemed to have a slope).

We stayed at Willow Beach Campground in Scott, Arkansas. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A pleasant campground next to the Arkansas River. Our second of two stays here, on the way to and from the total solar eclipse celebration in Paris, Texas.

Dates:

• Check in: 2024-04-14
• Check out: 2024-04-15
• 1 night

Weather:

• Partly cloudy
• High temp 81°F, low 61°F
• Little wind, gusts to 17 MPH

Noise:

• No road noise
• Distant train noise
• Distant plane noise

Site:

• #F21, back in, concrete
• Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
• Fairly level, a little high on the driver side; used hydraulic leveling
• Asphalt driveway about 38 feet long, plus concrete pad about 40 feet long by about 10 feet wide
• No neighbor on driver side, grass about 50 feet wide to bathroom parking area
• Grass and trees to passenger side neighbor about 160 feet wide
• Picnic table on concrete patio under shelter
• Fire pit, charcoal grill, small standing table
• Mostly clean site (some cigarette butts and bottle cap-sized trash)

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, conveniently located
• 35 PSI water, somewhat inconveniently located
• No sewer connection

Internet (in usage priority order):

• T-Mobile: 38 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
• AT&T: 9 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 64-128 ms ping
• Verizon: 24 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
• Starlink: not used
• Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• Dump station
• River

Our review on Campground Reviews (from our first stay):

A pleasant campground next to the Arkansas River

COE campgrounds are usually very picturesque and well-spaced. This one is no exception. Nestled between the river and a lake, there is a nice view either way. There’s lots of space between sites, although each site is not guaranteed to be very long or flat. Our site was just long enough for our 40′ motorhome, but our tow vehicle had to park diagonally to fit in front. The [first] site was very sloped front to back and required multiple pads on the front jacks to get it level. Water & electric only, so plan ahead if staying for a while and need to dump your tanks. The dump station was conveniently located on the way to the exit. We camped at Willow Beach in a Motorhome.

Campground map (from last time; since we’ve been here before, they didn’t give us a map this time; we were in site F21 this time):

Interactive map:

Our site:

A nice view out our side window:

See the previous stay for pictures of other campsites and more.

We stayed at Willow Beach Campground in Scott, Arkansas. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A pleasant campground next to the Arkansas River. Our first of two stays here, on the way to and from the total solar eclipse celebration in Paris, Texas.

Dates:

• Check in: 2024-03-31
• Check out: 2024-04-04
• 4 nights

Weather:

• Partly cloudy, some rain
• High temps ranging between 65-80°F, lows around 44-66°F
• Moderate wind, gusts to 28 MPH

Noise:

• No road noise
• Distant train noise
• Distant plane noise

Site:

• #F15, back in, asphalt
• Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
• Unlevel back-to-front; needed to use blocks under front jacks; used hydraulic leveling
• Asphalt driveway about 65 feet long by about 10 feet wide
• Grass between sites about 50 feet wide on drive side, 80 feet on passenger side
• Picnic table on concrete patio under shelter
• Fire pit and charcoal grill
• Mostly clean site (some cigarette butts and bottle cap-sized trash)

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, conveniently located
• 40 PSI water, inconveniently located
• No sewer connection

Internet (in usage priority order):

• T-Mobile: 20-35 Mbps down, 2-10 Mbps up, 100 ms ping
• AT&T: 35-200 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 100 ms ping
• Verizon: 15 Mbps down, 10 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
• Starlink: not used
• Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• Dump station
• River

Our review on Campground Reviews:

A pleasant campground next to the Arkansas River

COE campgrounds are usually very picturesque and well-spaced. This one is no exception. Nestled between the river and a lake, there is a nice view either way. There’s lots of space between sites, although each site is not guaranteed to be very long or flat. Our site was just long enough for our 40′ motorhome, but our tow vehicle had to park diagonally to fit in front. The site was very sloped front to back and required multiple pads on the front jacks to get it level. Water & electric only, so plan ahead if staying for a while and need to dump your tanks. The dump station was conveniently located on the way to the exit. We camped at Willow Beach in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Interactive map:

Our site:

Arkansas River:

Utilities; power and water, but no sewer:

Other sites:

Playground and birds:

Info signs:

Boat ramp:

Snake on the road:

Sunset:

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:

An interactive map:

Our site:

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

We used our 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:

Park info sign:

Visitor center:

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

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

Another Tiffin Allegro Bus:

Other sites:

Playground:

Tent sites:

Bathrooms:

Shelter:

Little free library:

Goose:

Lake:

Trading Post:

The nearby Liberty Bell Pool:

A narrow exit road: