Our trip

[RGar974417]

My wife,I and our Lab,Maggie took a 16 day trip from eastern Pa to Payson, Arizona. We stayed there 4 days then headed for Texas to see our grand kids,then headed home. Our first stop was the KOA in Richmond,Indiana. Ok for an over nighter. Second night,Happy Trails Campground right off I-44. Looks like a former KOA.Courtney at the desk was very nice. $30 cash for full hookups. Next night Mustang Run RV park just outside Oklahoma City. Very nice upscale campground. All roads and sites are concrete. $45 for full hookups and cable. Bueatiful office and showers.Swimming pool and dog run.Nicest private park we have stayed in outside of Ft Wilderness at Disney.Next night Santa Rosa lake state park. We stayed in the primitive area $10 a night. They did have a section with electric but it was full.We mostly drove at night and we arrived at the Petrified Forest,Painted Desert national park about 2 hours before they opened. This is a nice park and was free with the senior pass. The Painted Desert Inn was really neat. We drove through the park loop then headed to Canyon Point,a Forest Service Campground around 10 miles west of Heber, Arizona on 260. This is our kind of campground. Sites are nicely separated. One loop has electric. The bath houses are fairy new and well maintained.It is run by Thousand Trails. With the senior pass it was $17.50 with electric. The next day we headed to Payson,Arizona and stayed at Houston Mesa and stayed 4 days. Nice Forest Service campground. Well run.Nice bathhouses and sites are nicely separated. Payson has a nice,big dog park that is opened to the public. Maggie liked this. We left Saturday evening heading towards Ft Worht to see out grand kids.We had reservations at Hickory Creek Campground which is an Army Corps of Engineers campground. The road to the campground was closed. We called the campground but no one answered. Luckily, a Corinth Police Officer came to our rescue and we followed him to the campground. This is a nice campground and Lewsiville lake.Our site was right on the water with electric.It appears the campground may have been built in the 70's. And while it is a nice campground,it needs to some up keep. Simple things like painting the rest rooms is needed. It seems the Forest service does a better job at keeping up their campgrounds than the COE does. None the less,we enjoyed our stay there and visited the Stockyards with our grandkids.We left Hickory Creek Wedenseday evening and drove over night to Meramec State park in Missouri. Nice camp ground. We had a site along the river with full hookps which was only $24.00 a night.You also pay a one time fee of $8.50 to enter the park. Our neighbors had a dog and we took our Lab and their golden doddle to the river and let then swim. They had a great time.Headed out early next morning and stayed our last night at the Richmond KOA where we started. The weather was good through out most of the trip.

[2012Coleman]

CavemanCharlie wrote:

RGar974417 wrote:
My wife,I and our Lab,Maggie took a 16 day trip from eastern Pa to Payson, Arizona. We stayed there 4 days then headed for Texas to see our grand kids,then headed home. Our first stop was the KOA in Richmond,Indiana. Ok for an over nighter. Second night,Happy Trails Campground right off I-44. Looks like a former KOA.Courtney at the desk was very nice. $30 cash for full hookups. Next night Mustang Run RV park just outside Oklahoma City. Very nice upscale campground. All roads and sites are concrete. $45 for full hookups and cable. Bueatiful office and showers.Swimming pool and dog run.Nicest private park we have stayed in outside of Ft Wilderness at Disney.Next night Santa Rosa lake state park. We stayed in the primitive area $10 a night. They did have a section with electric but it was full.We mostly drove at night and we arrived at the Petrified Forest,Painted Desert national park about 2 hours before they opened. This is a nice park and was free with the senior pass. The Painted Desert Inn was really neat. We drove through the park loop then headed to Canyon Point,a Forest Service Campground around 10 miles west of Heber, Arizona on 260. This is our kind of campground. Sites are nicely separated. One loop has electric. The bath houses are fairy new and well maintained.It is run by Thousand Trails. With the senior pass it was $17.50 with electric. The next day we headed to Payson,Arizona and stayed at Houston Mesa and stayed 4 days. Nice Forest Service campground. Well run.Nice bathhouses and sites are nicely separated. Payson has a nice,big dog park that is opened to the public. Maggie liked this. We left Saturday evening heading towards Ft Worht to see out grand kids.We had reservations at Hickory Creek Campground which is an Army Corps of Engineers campground. The road to the campground was closed. We called the campground but no one answered. Luckily, a Corinth Police Officer came to our rescue and we followed him to the campground. This is a nice campground and Lewsiville lake.Our site was right on the water with electric.It appears the campground may have been built in the 70's. And while it is a nice campground,it needs to some up keep. Simple things like painting the rest rooms is needed. It seems the Forest service does a better job at keeping up their campgrounds than the COE does. None the less,we enjoyed our stay there and visited the Stockyards with our grandkids.We left Hickory Creek Wedenseday evening and drove over night to Meramec State park in Missouri. Nice camp ground. We had a site along the river with full hookps which was only $24.00 a night.You also pay a one time fee of $8.50 to enter the park. Our neighbors had a dog and we took our Lab and their golden doddle to the river and let then swim. They had a great time.Headed out early next morning and stayed our last night at the Richmond KOA where we started. The weather was good through out most of the trip.

Thank you for the write up. Glad you had fun !!! Keep us posted on your adventures and take pictures !!!

X2!

[CavemanCharlie]

RGar974417 wrote:
My wife,I and our Lab,Maggie took a 16 day trip from eastern Pa to Payson, Arizona. We stayed there 4 days then headed for Texas to see our grand kids,then headed home. Our first stop was the KOA in Richmond,Indiana. Ok for an over nighter. Second night,Happy Trails Campground right off I-44. Looks like a former KOA.Courtney at the desk was very nice. $30 cash for full hookups. Next night Mustang Run RV park just outside Oklahoma City. Very nice upscale campground. All roads and sites are concrete. $45 for full hookups and cable. Bueatiful office and showers.Swimming pool and dog run.Nicest private park we have stayed in outside of Ft Wilderness at Disney.Next night Santa Rosa lake state park. We stayed in the primitive area $10 a night. They did have a section with electric but it was full.We mostly drove at night and we arrived at the Petrified Forest,Painted Desert national park about 2 hours before they opened. This is a nice park and was free with the senior pass. The Painted Desert Inn was really neat. We drove through the park loop then headed to Canyon Point,a Forest Service Campground around 10 miles west of Heber, Arizona on 260. This is our kind of campground. Sites are nicely separated. One loop has electric. The bath houses are fairy new and well maintained.It is run by Thousand Trails. With the senior pass it was $17.50 with electric. The next day we headed to Payson,Arizona and stayed at Houston Mesa and stayed 4 days. Nice Forest Service campground. Well run.Nice bathhouses and sites are nicely separated. Payson has a nice,big dog park that is opened to the public. Maggie liked this. We left Saturday evening heading towards Ft Worht to see out grand kids.We had reservations at Hickory Creek Campground which is an Army Corps of Engineers campground. The road to the campground was closed. We called the campground but no one answered. Luckily, a Corinth Police Officer came to our rescue and we followed him to the campground. This is a nice campground and Lewsiville lake.Our site was right on the water with electric.It appears the campground may have been built in the 70's. And while it is a nice campground,it needs to some up keep. Simple things like painting the rest rooms is needed. It seems the Forest service does a better job at keeping up their campgrounds than the COE does. None the less,we enjoyed our stay there and visited the Stockyards with our grandkids.We left Hickory Creek Wedenseday evening and drove over night to Meramec State park in Missouri. Nice camp ground. We had a site along the river with full hookps which was only $24.00 a night.You also pay a one time fee of $8.50 to enter the park. Our neighbors had a dog and we took our Lab and their golden doddle to the river and let then swim. They had a great time.Headed out early next morning and stayed our last night at the Richmond KOA where we started. The weather was good through out most of the trip.

Thank you for the write up. Glad you had fun !!! Keep us posted on your adventures and take pictures !!!

[garmp]

Meramec State park in Missouri. Nice camp ground. We had a site along the river with full hookps which was only $24.00 a night.You also pay a one time fee of $8.50 to enter the park.

To the OP:
Missouri State Parks do not charge an entrance fee (at least that I'm aware of). Since Missouri passing the 1/8 of 1 percent sales tax, Missouri State Parks have been free of entrance fees. I believe the $8.50 is the reservation fee.

[Tin_Pusher]

Remembering why I lurk more than post 🙂

Still, thanks to both sides. To the OP, my apologies.

[RGar974417]

afidel wrote:
I had a different take on Mustang Run, while the physical facilities were new and very well done I found it to be too much concrete, too close to the interstate (we were only overnighting, but I've stayed at truck stops with less road noise). To my eyes it was basically a parking lot with a nice bathhouse attached, not my idea of an upscale campground. My ideal park is more like some of the ones in the Keys, large semi-private spaces right on the water but still with nice facilities.

Our ideal campgrounds are state and federal parks so we don't have a ton of experiences with parks like this other than KOAs. In fact Mustang Run,which was much nicer than most KOA's was less money than the KOA we stayed at.We don't have any experiences with upscale campgrounds in the keys.

[afidel]

I had a different take on Mustang Run, while the physical facilities were new and very well done I found it to be too much concrete, too close to the interstate (we were only overnighting, but I've stayed at truck stops with less road noise). To my eyes it was basically a parking lot with a nice bathhouse attached, not my idea of an upscale campground. My ideal park is more like some of the ones in the Keys, large semi-private spaces right on the water but still with nice facilities.

[nineoaks2004]

Sounds like you used the RV for it's intended purpose, and soundslike a great trip...

[memtb]

Glad you had a safe, enjoyable trip. Wishing you many more!