Cooperstown KOA Journey

We stayed at Cooperstown KOA Journey in Richfield Springs, New York. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A convenient stop when visiting the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Dates:

Check in: 2025-06-10
Check out: 2025-06-15
5 nights
We were going to stay 7 nights, but had a delay when our slide wouldn’t come in at the previous campsite

Weather:

Mix of cloudy and rainy
High temps 63-73°F, lows 51-56°F
A little wind, gusts to 29 MPH

Noise:

No road noise
No train horn noise
Little neighbor noise
Nearby cows gently mooing

Site:

#70, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
Somewhat level site; high on passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
Gravel driveway about 65 feet long by 10 feet wide
16 feet to neighbor on driver side
25 feet to driveway on passenger side
Just grass between sites
Picnic table
Fire pit
No trees on site, but some nearby
Clean site
Elevation 1,520 feet, front facing north

Utilities:

50 amp power, somewhat conveniently located
40 PSI water, somewhat conveniently located (water was off when we arrived, but back on an hour or so later)
Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 80-340 Mbps down, 19-37 Mbps up, 19-70 ms ping
RoamLink: 8-12 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 160 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: 80-84 Mbps down, 3-10 Mbps up, 80-110 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Pool
Package delivery to office

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Convenient to Baseball Hall of Fame

Firstly, the staff here were super helpful and accommodating when we had mechanical issues that meant we had to roll in two days later than planned. I appreciated their flexibility and that they didn’t charge us to change our reservation at the last minute; they also provided excellent customer service. The campground is out in the middle of farmland, and the only noise we had to deal with was the gentle mooing from the cows next door. Our pull-through site had a nice view of rolling fields. The site was a little unlevel, and the neighbor’s fire pit was right next to our vehicle, which was the only drawback. We camped at Cooperstown KOA Journey in a Motorhome.

Campground map (some confusion when we saw the directions to site 10, when we had booked site 70, but all good):

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

A nice view out our windshield; we didn’t bother putting our Magne Shade on, since nobody was in front of us, and there wasn’t sun pouring in that window:

Nice view out windshield

Several packages in my foldable wagon:

Packages in cart

Cows in the field next to the RV park:

Cows in field next to RV park

Cabins:

Cabins

Other sites:

Other sites

Pool:

Pool

Dog park and an amusing sign:

Dog park and amusing sign

Playground:

Playground

Dump station and art:

Dump station and art

An older campground, but totally fine; we’d be happy to stay here again.

Video

Video: Youngstown to Richfield Springs, New York motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 254 miles from Youngstown to Richfield Springs, New York.

Travel from Youngstown to Richfield Springs, New York

We drove our coach 254 miles, about five hours of driving, from Youngstown to Richfield Springs, New York.

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

Map

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Not heading to Canada:

Not heading to Canada

Bridge:

Bridge

Tolls:

Tolls

Bridge:

Bridge

Exit to I-290 East:

Exit

Exit to I-90 East:

Exit to I-90 East

Rest area:

Rest area

BK for lunch:

BK for lunch

Roadworks:

Roadworks

Another rest area:

Rest area

Yet another rest area:

Rest area

Paladin on the dash:

Paladin on the dash

Rainy:

Rainy

Arriving at KOA:

Arriving at KOA

Our site:

Our site

Polishing wheel rims and headlights

The wheel rims on our coach were looking rather untidy, so based on some recommendations on Facebook, I purchased the Purple Metal Polish and Aluminum Deoxidizer:

Purple metal polish

Super easy to apply; just wipe on some deoxidizer, followed by the polish, and wipe off.

Here’s a rear wheel before polishing:

Before

And after:

After

A front wheel before:

Before

And after:

After

I also treated the tires with 303 Protectant for UV protection:

303

The polish worked on the headlights too; before:

Before

And after:

After

Much better!

Four Mile Creek State Park

We stayed at Four Mile Creek State Park in Youngstown, New York. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice lakefront state park.

Dates:

Check in: 2025-06-01
Check out: 2025-06-10
9 nights
We were only supposed to be here 7 nights, but were stuck when we couldn’t get our slides in!

Weather:

Partly sunny, some rain
High temps 55-73°F, lows 47-62°F
Some wind, gusts to 26 MPH

Noise:

No road noise
No train horn noise
Some neighbor noise (kids and dogs)

Site:

#47, back-in, grass with embedded gravel
Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
Somewhat level site; high in front; used hydraulic leveling
Grass site about 90 feet long by 50 feet wide
No neighbor on driver side
Just grass between sites
Picnic table
Fire pit
Tall trees on driver side
Clean site
Elevation 270 feet, front facing SE

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
No water or sewer
Water available a few sites down; dump station by entrance

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 105-242 Mbps down, 20-30 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
RoamLink: 6-9 Mbps down, 3 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: 6-14 Mbps down, 0.1 Mbps up, 70 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Gorgeous lakefront campground with stellar staff

All the sites are grassy back-ins. About half the park has no hookups, half has 30A, and one row has 50A. We managed to secure a 50A site with a view of Lake Ontario from our windows, which was a nice perk. The location is ideal for accessing Niagara Falls and Old Fort Niagara. It’s also convenient if you want to take a daytrip up to Toronto, with multiple border crossings to choose from.

The staff here were the best, however. Not only were they invaluable in pointing out things to do in the area, but we had a mechanical failure on the day of our departure, and it took a couple of days to get up and running again. The office staff were great to work with and very understanding of our situation. At one point, we needed some “muscle,” so several park employees and one or two locals joined in to help us out, and it helped restore some of my faith in humanity.

The only downside of this campground was the lack of full hookups. Due to our unexpectedly longer stay, we did use the bathroom blocks for once, and the showers were hit and miss (one I tried had a very weak spray and no hot water, but the one I tried on a subsequent day was much better). All in all, I would stay here again. We camped at Four Mile Creek State Park in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Utilities… just electric:

Utilities

There were a number of water stations dotted around the campground (marked on the map):

Water station

I used the nearby one (you can see our coach in the background) to fill our water bladder:

Filling water bladder

Then pumped the water from the bladder to the coach:

Pumping from bladder to coach

Then filled the waste tote in the back of the truck via the macerator:

Filling tote via macerator

And dumped the tote at the dump station:

Dumping tote

My beard blowing in the wind while adding stickers to our coach:

David with beard blowing in wind

Added the New York state sticker:

Added New York state sticker

Just a few left:

Added New York state sticker

Watching the sunset over Lake Ontario:

Sunset

Very hazy due to wildfire smoke from Canada:

Sunset

Lake Ontario:

Lake Ontario

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

We actually used the bathrooms once or twice:

Bathroom

Including the shower, due to filling tanks after our slide issue:

Shower

The playground behind our site:

Playground behind our site

Other sites:

Other sites

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

Video

Video: Newbury, Ohio to Youngstown, New York motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 213 miles from Newbury, Ohio to Youngstown, New York.

Travel from Newbury, Ohio to Youngstown, New York

We drove our coach 213 miles, about four hours of driving, from Newbury, Ohio to Youngstown, New York.

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

Route

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Rain pouring off slide topper:

Rain pouring off slide topper

Needed to return the laminated parking pass:

Needed to return the parking pass

Road near Newbury, Ohio:

Road near Newbury, Ohio

I-90 East:

I-90 East

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

BK for lunch:

BK for lunch

Paladin on the dash when we returned to our coach:

Paladin on the dash when we return to our coach

Toe beans:

Toe beans

Paladin on the dash when underway:

Paladin on the dash when underway

Welcome to Pennsylvania:

Welcome to Pennsylvania

A truck took the curve too fast, and rolled over; that’s going to take a while to clean up:

Truck took the curve to fast

Welcome to New York:

Welcome to New York

New York Tollway:

New York Tollway

Service plaza parking:

Service plaza parking

Not something you see on a trailer every day:

Not something you see on a trailer every day

Text stop parking area; a good idea:

Text stop parking area; a good idea

Buffalo:

Buffalo

Tonawanda bridge:

Tonawanda bridge

Welcome to the City of Niagara Falls; we avoided the Niagara Scenic Parkway due to the 12’ 0” height restriction (we are 11’ 7”, rather close):

Welcome to City of Niagara Falls

And definitely avoided accidentally heading to Canada:

Exit

Arriving at Four Mile Creek State Park:

Arriving at Four Mile Creek State Park

Our site:

Our site

Our coach:

Our coach

Little did we know we’d be here a little longer than expected….

Exploded AC squirrel cage

We recently replaced the front and mid AC units on the roof of our coach, but the rear one was working fine. That is, until one day it exploded. Or to be more precise, the blower fan, aka squirrel cage, self-destructed.

A rather disconcerting loud bang. I’ve heard that this is a common failure, but this was the first one we’d experienced.

I looked on RV Help for a nearby tech to fix this for me; I was in Hershey, Pennsylvania at the time. The first tech I contacted never replied, but the second one did, and was able to get the part for me. I didn’t know that the squirrel cage was the issue, but I was pretty confident that it was, so he brought the part with him. Spoiler: I was right.

Mike’s Mobile RV came to the rescue:

Mike's Mobile RV

Three people, in fact: Mike himself, his wife, and an apprentice:

Mike's Mobile RV

(I would have preferred some padding on the ladder, though.)

Here’s the broken squirrel cage:

Broken squirrel cage

A quick fix.

Punderson State Park Campground

We stayed at Punderson State Park Campground in Newbury, Ohio. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice state park.

Dates:

Check in: 2025-05-27
Check out: 2025-06-01
5 nights

Weather:

Mostly cloudy, some rain
High temps 57-67°F, lows 41-54°F
Some wind, gusts to 22 MPH

Noise:

Some road noise
No train horn noise
Little neighbor noise
Construction noise; building new facilities right next to our site

Site:

#26, back-in, concrete
Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
Unlevel site; high in front; used hydraulic leveling
Concrete driveway about 40 feet long by 10 feet wide
About 75 feet to neighbor on driver side
No neighbor on passenger side
Trees between sites
Picnic table
Fire pit
Tall trees
Clean site
Elevation 1,140 feet, front facing NE

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
65 PSI water, very conveniently located
Unthreaded sewer connection (just a hole, without any room for the sewer pipe elbow), very conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

RoamLink: 18-25 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, 80 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: 60-75 Mbps down, 0.5-1.5 Mbps up, 45 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Lovely park, working on expansion

Beautiful park with something for everyone. They’re currently working on expanding and improving the campsites, and we were located right next to the construction site, which wasn’t ideal during the day, but it was relatively quiet at night. Our back-in site was not very level, even if it was a new concrete pad. I don’t think the state of Ohio knows how to hire contractors who know how to use a level, because we had the same problem at West Branch State Park with a very sloped site. Otherwise, it was a nice site with good hookups and a lakefront setting. We camped at Punderson State Park in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: Mangia! Mangia! Italian restaurant was excellent and very popular with the locals. It’s a good sign when it’s hard to get a parking spot.

Campground map:

Map