At Last! An exit and an Open RV Park!

Plan ahead....

During our travels in our RV rambling East, West, North and South for a few years, we had many RV Park experiences! We learned our limitations on number of hours to drive and discovered we were good to go 4 to 5 hours a day without falling over in a heap on arrival!

Generally speaking, finding an RV park for the night is not usually an issue. There are many choices across the country, especially along the Interstate highways. However, planning our stop for the night became more important after we found ourselves in a remote location with only one choice for the night.

This one particular night, way out West, found us "between cities" with no place to stay. Finally, we came to a small town along the Interstate, and the sign "RV" next to the blinking Open sign could be seen at the only exit.

We pulled in, and if we'd had any other place to stay, we would have backed right out! The first impression wasn't the best!

"There's safety in numbers" and we could see a few other RVs parked in the lot beyond the registration building. So, we stepped up on the wooden porch, pulled open the screen door and stepped inside. Behind the desk was guy reading (looking at) a hot rod magazine. He looked up and grunted at us asking if we needed gas or a place to park.

This exit also had the only gas pump, and if you wanted gas after dark, "management" needs to pump it for you. We guessed that "pump and run" might be a local sport here.

We replied "RV spot" and the grunting gas pumper yelled over his shoulder, "Max, get out here and direct these folks to their site." "$45 cash, including tax" to us.

We paid in cash and followed Max out the front door. Max jumped into a small Jeep Wrangler and headed slowly around the building. We fell in line behind Max as he navigated around several potholes through the parking lot. One positive about this park, Max offered to do all the hookups for us, which isn't typical. We thanked him but we told him "No need to hook up the drains, just plug in the power" and we locked our RV doors and pulled down the blinds. There were no lights on in the park, and the only light was moonlight and whatever glowed from the registration building.

In the very early pre-dawn, big trucks were getting ready to head out, so by 5 a.m. or so, we were fully awake and raising our blinds for a look outside.

Wasteland. Nothing but the faint outline of a mountain range in the far distance, with only tumbleweeds for decoration. The RV Park (term is used loosely) was a parking lot and was quickly becoming vacant. So, our exit would be an easy one, except for the potholes which proved to be challenging, as they were many, and if you avoided the potholes for the front of the rig, you were most likely to hit one with the back wheels around the curves!

We made it to the front of the park and as we exited we got a friendly wave from Max, who was busily pumping gas for a customer.

As we went down the Interstate headed East, we plotted our distance in miles for a 5 hour drive and decided on the next city where we would stop...a Metropolitan area with an abundance of RV parks in the vicinity. After deciding on a park, we phoned ahead and made a reservation. And we vowed to never leave it to chance again!