Camp Margaritaville RV Resort and Lodge

We stayed at Camp Margaritaville RV Resort and Lodge in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. (Campground Reviews listing.)

One day we’ll learn that staying at resorts is a waste of money for us, but it was not this day.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-06-30
Check out: 2024-07-07
7 nights

Weather:

Partly cloudy, some rain
High temps 83-91°F, lows 64-73°F
Negligible wind, gusts to 12 MPH

Noise:

No road noise
No train horn noise
Some neighbor noise (mostly kids)
Nightly fireworks at nearby Dollywood

Site:

#84, back-in, concrete
Needed to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
Somewhat unlevel site (surprisingly for concrete; high on front and passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
Concrete driveway about 50 feet long by 18 feet wide
25 feet to neighbors on both sides
Picnic table
Fire pit
A couple young trees
Clean site

Utilities:

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

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 25-55 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up, 65 ms ping
AT&T: 90 Mbps down, 9 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
Verizon: 15-24 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage pickup from site
Pools
Restaurant (in theory with to-site delivery, but that didn’t work when we tried it)

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Nice resort near Great Smoky Mountain NP

We’re not “resort” people, but this one was nice. It was the nicest-looking resort close to the entrance to Great Smoky Mountain National Park and far enough off the main road, so it was reasonably quiet. The sites are all concrete pads, so you’d expect them to be level, which ours was not. Weird, but not a problem. We were down in “the valley,” which is the farthest you can get to the resort amenities, but that probably contributed to it being quieter. Our site was spotless, and all the utilities worked well. I loved being able to go up to the restaurant for coconut shrimp and a margarita (super spendy, but a bonus nonetheless). We camped at Camp Margaritaville RV Resort and Lodge in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Griddle:

Griddle

Utilities:

Utilities

Our site and others:

Our site and others

Other sites

Bathhouse:

Bathhouse

Lodge:

Lodge

Restaurant dinner menu:

Restaurant menu

Fancy fried green tomatoes:

Fancy fried green tomatoes

Burger and coconut shrimp, plus margaritas:

Burger etc

Lodge:

Lodge

Foyer:

Foyer

Breakfast buffet:

Breakfast buffet

Pool area:

Pool area

A nice resort, and we do appreciate an on-site restaurant, but we’re not really into other resort facilities. We probably won’t stay here again.

Video

Video: Beaver, West Virginia to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 246 miles from Beaver, West Virginia to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Travel from Beaver, West Virginia to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

We drove our coach 246 miles, about four hours of driving, from Beaver, West Virginia to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

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

Route map

An interactive map, showing potential stops:

We had no sewer hookup at our campsite; when we were ready to leave our gray and black tanks were both at 83%:

83% gray and black tanks

So we stopped by the dump station on the way out:

Dumping waste tanks

A very narrow road out of the park:

Narrow road

Of course, as we head out of West Virginia, we had to play John Denver’s Take Me Home, Country Roads:

John Denver's Take Me Home, Country Roads

Country roads:

Country roads

Fun with zoom:

Fun with zoom

South on I-77:

South on I-77

5% downgrade; nice to have actual hills for a change:

5% downgrade

East River Mountain tunnel:

East River Mountain tunnel

“Welcome to Virginia”:

Welcome to Virginia

Rest stop:

Rest stop

Big Walker Mountain tunnel:

Big Walker Mountain Tunnel

Fun with zoom

A colorful water tower, painted to look like a hot air balloon:

Colorful water tower

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Sbarro for lunch:

Sbarro for lunch

Back to our coach:

Back to our coach

An accident ahead:

Accident ahead

Accident

“Tennessee Welcomes You”:

Tennessee Welcomes You

Rest area:

Rest area

Heading in to Pigeon Forge:

Fun with zoom

Titanic:

Titanic

Hollywood Wax Museum:

Hollywood Wax Museum

MagiQuest:

MagiQuest

Swimwear and alligators:

Swimwear etc

Camp Margaritaville:

Camp Margaritaville

Check in:

Check in

Arriving at our site:

Our site

Custom couch side tables

While in Red Bay we also got Cody Poores of Cody’s Custom Cabinets to create custom side tables for our theater seating couch.

We already had nice side tables that we bought from Dave & LJ’s RV Interior Design in Woodland, Washington, along with our couch. Here’s the one on Jenn’s side of the couch, next to the kitchen pull-out counter and drawers:

Side table

And my side, using the top drawer as a surface for my iPad:

Side table

They were nice, but we wanted ones that were sized better for the space, matched the look of built-in cabinets, and had a better pull-out surface on top. Cody was able to produce custom units to match our requirements.

Here he’s removing the old units:

Side table

Jenn’s new unit, without the top; you can see the pull-out surface:

Side table

My unit installed:

Side table

The pull-out surface is very useful for resting my iPad and MacBook Pro:

Side table

Jenn’s unit:

Side table

Hers also has the pull-out surface and two drawers:

Side table

Much better!

Little Beaver State Park

We stayed at Little Beaver State Park in Beaver, West Virginia. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice state park near New River Gorge National Park.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-06-23
Check out: 2024-06-30
7 nights

Weather:

Partly cloudy, some rain
High temps 77-88°F, lows 55-64°F
Little wind wind, gusts to 21 MPH, sheltered by trees

Noise:

No road noise
No train horn noise
Negligible neighbor noise

Site:

#19, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind and in front of coach
Somewhat unlevel site, high in front and driver side; used hydraulic leveling
Gravel driveway about 100 feet long by 10 feet wide
20 feet to neighbor on front/passenger side; 30 feet to road on driver side
Picnic table
Fire pit
Tall trees
Clean site

Utilities:

50 amp power, very conveniently located
80 PSI water, conveniently located
No sewer

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 6 Mbps down, 12 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
AT&T: 1 Mbps down, 0.1 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
Verizon: 15 Mbps down, 4-6 Mbps up, 38 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Dump station

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Good base for New River Gorge

This is a nice state park conveniently located near New River Gorge National Park and not far from the freeway. A word of caution, however: the road to get to the park and the roads in the park are not for the faint of heart, whether you have a small or big rig. The way in from the north is slightly less heart-stopping but still not ideal. Site 19 was a pull-through with a steep driveway and a relatively flat area about halfway, which was just perfect for our 40′ motorhome and tons of room to park our tow vehicle either in front or behind. We camped at Little Beaver State Park in a Motorhome.

Park campground and trail map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Completed another row of National Park stickers:

National Park stickers

A lightning storm during our stay:

Lightning map

This site didn’t have any sewer connection. After a week, our gray tank was at 71%, and black tank at 63%:

71% gray and 63% black tanks

Squirrel:

Squirrel

White-Marked Tussock Moth caterpillar:

Catapiller

Other sites:

Other sites

Office:

Office

Registered campers only:

Registered campers only

Playground:

Playground

Cabin:

Cabin

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

We’d be happy to stay here again.

Video

Video: College Park, Maryland to Beaver, West Virginia motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 314 miles from College Park, Maryland to Beaver, West Virginia.

Travel from College Park, Maryland to Beaver, West Virginia

We drove our coach 314 miles, about five hours of driving, from College Park, Maryland to Beaver, West Virginia. The beginning of our westward migration, heading towards our home base in Washington state.

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

Route

An interactive map:

Toading up:

Toading up

I-495:

I-495

Church

I-495

Welcome to Virginia:

Welcome to Virginia

Paladin in his high place:

Paladin in his high place

I-64:

I-64

I-66:

I-66

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Tiffin Phaeton motorhome:

Tiffin Phaeton motorhome

Apples on water tower:

Apples on water tower

We were going to park and have lunch at the fuel stop, but there wasn’t any parking that would work for us, so we continued on. There wasn’t any room at the next rest area either:

Rest area

So I made lunch on the road:

Lunch

A later rest area:

Rest area

I-64:

I-64

Welcome to West Virginia:

Welcome to West Virginia

Of course, we had to play John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” while entering the state:

Take Me Home, Country Roads

Rest area:

Rest area

I-64 hill:

I-64 hill

I-64

7% grade:

7% grade

Sandstone Mountain elevation 2,765 feet:

Sandstone Mountain elevation 2765 feet

Little Beaver State Park:

Little Beaver State Park

Narrow sloping curve:

Narrow sloping curve

Little Beaver State Park

Narrow entrance:

Narrow entrance

Lake:

Lake overflow

Lake

Very narrow road to campground:

Narrow road to campground

Narrow curvy road

Campground office:

Check-in office

Guided to our site:

Guided to our site

Custom desk

Our motorhome came with a couple of couches opposite each other, which we removed before even moving into the coach.

We replaced the passenger-side couch with a cheap desk in 2021, then in 2022 we replaced the desk with IKEA drawers and cupboards. and Jenn used a height-adjustable platform on the end of the dining table.

While in Red Bay earlier in 2024, we had Cody Poores of Cody’s Custom Cabinets build a custom desk for us, based on my design. We wanted a built-in desk that matched the existing cabinetry, didn’t take up too much space on travel days, but expanded when in use. Plus included a space for Paladin’s litter box. Here’s my design:

Desk design sketch

A timelapse video of drawing the design using Linea Sketch on my iPad Pro with Pencil:

The empty space after removing the IKEA cabinet; the main TV is on a televator, inside that cabinet below the window:

Empty space

A nice thing about Cody’s service is that he comes to you at your campsite in Red Bay. Here’s the new desk arriving at the end of the week:

Desk arriving

Being brought inside:

Being brought inside

Desk

My design included a TV lift for the computer monitor. We supplied the lift mechanism. Here it’s being mounted:

Mounting monitor lift

Back of the new cabinet, with the monitor lift area and cupboards on the left, drawers in the middle, and the cat litter area on the right:

Backside

The desk in place, without desktops (and with the main TV raised):

Desk in place

A closer look at the cupboard and monitor lift area without the desktops:

Cupboard without desktop

The right-hand pull-out desktop installed:

Desktop in place

The left desktop also in place:

Left desktop in place

Desk

The new computer monitor (Apple Studio Display) raised, still wrapped:

Monitor raised

The completed desk with the coach slide-outs in for travel:

Desk with slides in

We store the desk chair by the dining table for travel, and stack the dining chairs:

Desk with slides in

Looking down the back at the monitor lift and cables:

Monitor lift

A couple of grommets for wires:

Grommets for wires

Wires behind the drawers between the two grommets:

Wires behind drawers

A side view of the monitor lift:

Monitor lift

Cupboards:

Cupboards

Cat litter bin and litter box on a drawer slide, so it can be easily pulled out for cleaning:

Cat litter bin and box on slide

Jenn’s typical work setup:

Work setup

When work is done, the monitor can be lowered and desktop closed, and the main TV raised:

There are a couple of Velcro patches inside the desk, and corresponding patches on Jenn’s work and personal laptops, so they can be stored on travel days without sliding around:

Monitor down

Laptops stored

Travel mode:

Travel mode

A huge improvement.

(Update: we got Cody to tweak the desk a bit on our next visit to Red Bay; look out for a blog post about that in 2025.)

Cherry Hill Park

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

A very nice resort, convenient to the DC area.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-06-09
Check out: 2024-06-23
14 nights

Weather:

Partly cloudy
High temps 76-96°F, lows 57-69°F
Little wind, gusts to 18 MPH

Noise:

Some freeway noise
No train horn noise
Negligible neighbor noise during the week; lots of noise during the weekends

Site:

#39, back-in, gravel
Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
A little unlevel site; high on driver side; used hydraulic leveling
Gravel driveway about 45 feet long by 14 feet wide
About 12 feet to neighbors on both sides
Picnic table
Fire pit
Tall trees behind site
Clean site

Utilities:

50 amp power, fairly conveniently located
50 PSI water, fairly conveniently located
Good sewer connection, very conveniently located (less than a 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 25-45 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 43 ms ping
AT&T: 500 Mbps down, 60 Mbps up, 80 ms ping
Campground Wi-Fi: 20 Mpbs down, 20 Mbps up, 8 ms ping
Verizon: 15 Mbps down, 7 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
Starlink: not used

Amenities:

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

Our review on Campground Reviews:

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 were in site 39, in the far corner of the park, backing onto trees. The site was a little unlevel side-to-side, but nothing our levelers couldn’t cope with. It was also plenty long enough for our 40′ motorhome with space to park our tow vehicle in front. There was some freeway noise, but it was mostly a distant hum. The staff were all very friendly and helpful. We have already booked our next stay when we swing through the area next year. We camped at Cherry Hill Park – Washington, D.C. In a Motorhome.

A handy campground map for getting to our site:

Map

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

Map

Tours:

Tours

Cafe, bus, etc:

Cafe, bus, etc

Wristbands:

Wristbands

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

Our site

Backed into the foliage:

Backed into the foliage

Our site at night; we don’t usually turn on our undercarriage accent lights and door light, but I did on this occasion, as Jenn was arriving back after spending a few days with her girlfriends:

Our site at night

We appreciated an onsite cafe with food delivery to the site on arrival day (and probably would have partaken on other evenings if we weren’t busy with exploring etc):

Food delivery