One of the problems RV owners deal with when driving on the highway is the push and pull of 18-wheelers and other large vehicles as they pass you or as you pass them. Plus, as we discussed in our blog entry on December 21, 2022, called “A True Resort,” when there are windy conditions on the road, RV drivers experience a lot of push from the wind. Luckily, our friends John and Jade, who have been RVing for many years, told us about a stabilizer mechanism that you could add to your RV to help with this instability. John recommended a company called Safe T Plus, that sells a stabilizer for RVs and will install it for free if you take your RV to their factory in Tallapoosa, Georgia. So, we made our appointment, changed around our Florida schedule, made some RV park reservations in Georgia and drove to Tallapoosa.
The Safe T Plus stabilizer is made to stabilize the RV when dealing with the push and pull from 18-wheelers and side winds, and even helps if you encounter a bad road or have a front tire blowout. The installation time was about an hour. Then we took a test drive with the mechanic, he made some adjustments while we were on the road, and we were on our way. The owners keep this place perfectly organized and immaculate. It was the best decorated waiting room we have ever been to for auto/RV service! It was also well stocked with snacks and drinks.
The stabilizer works well; there is a lot less push and pull (more like how a car feels when an 18-wheeler passes). We are happy with our purchase thus far. If you are interested in purchasing a Safe T Plus stabilizer, please let us know because we would get a referral fee and you would get a discount.
We don’t know if it’s just wanting to get use out of the free truckers gimme hat from Safe T Plus or if the rural life is bringing out his inner-redneck but this is what Pat looks like around the campground now.
After having the stabilizer installed, we stayed at the nearby Little Tallapoosa Park, a county park in Carrollton, Georgia. The park has over 9 miles of hiking trails, a pond for fishing, “splash park,” and laundry and restroom facilities; however, we took advantage of none of these amenities (except doing some laundry) as this was just a one-night, layover camping site. We arrived at the campground about an hour before sunset and left the next day about an hour after sunrise. We didn’t even hook up to water or sewer while we were there (only electricity and used our freshwater tank for water). So, we can’t do a review of the park really. We can’t even say if we would come back, but I guess we could say that there isn’t a reason not to come back.
Well, our bad luck at arriving at Gay RV Campgrounds on the wrong weekend continued (see our previous post at a gay campground). The weekend before our arrival at the Oz Campground in Unadilla, Georgia, there was a COVID outbreak during the New Year’s Eve party at the campground. The manager called us the day before we arrived to inform us that, due to the outbreak, the bars would be closed (all three of their bartenders were sick) and there would be no group activities. The manager said he was offering people an opportunity to cancel their reservations because of the closures and inactivity. We chose to keep our reservations anyway; however, the closures seem to have chased most of the potential campers away.
We enjoyed ourselves anyway and we were happy to have a bit of privacy at our campsite. There were a couple of crazy squirrels to keep us company at our site and the usual campground ducks were spotted but we got one quick glance at a pretty green and yellow bird. Let us know in the comments if you know what he is.
We grilled on the second and third days we were there (steaks on Friday night and burgers the next afternoon); and we had the pool basically to ourselves on Saturday (two other people ventured out to the pool). On Sunday, we watched football for most of the day and attempted to do some laundry (see more details in campground review below). There was a big fire ring at our site where we built a blazing campfire!
Leaving Oz on Monday morning, we were headed to Tallapoosa, Georgia, to install a stabilizer on our RV (more on that in the next blog entry). We had our first big scare with our slide-out when it wouldn’t budge when we tried to retract it to leave the campground. We tried many things to troubleshoot the problem. First, we had to locate the slide-out mechanism. Then, we finally realized that one of the wires had been pulled out the mechanism; probably because of something we had put into or pulled out of the bin underneath the RV where the mechanism is located. Once we plugged the wire back into the mechanism, the slide-out worked perfectly.
We will need to come back to Oz Campground when it is actually in operation. The campground includes a pool, two bars, café, hiking trails, and themed weekends. While we got to enjoy the pool one day, the bars and café were closed, and activities canceled. We really liked our campsite, which was located next to a forested area and was fairly private. It was also located close to the laundry facility; however, the laundry facility is one aspect of the campground to which we would give a negative rating. First, there was only one laundry facility at this fairly large campground. Second, only one washer and dryer were operational on the first day we did some laundry; and the one working dryer was broken by the second day that we tried to do more laundry. Nevertheless, we would probably return for another long weekend at some point to enjoy the other aspects of the campground (and do our laundry before or after our visit to the campground).
We drove “way down” upon the Suwannee River to a resort in Cedar Key, Florida, named Low-Key Hideaway. The place is advertised as “A Couples’ Retreat” as it is for adults only. There are only 10 RV sites and the remainder of the Low-Key Hideaway is a one-floor boutique hotel, with each room looking into a courtyard. The RV sites are waterfront sites, backing up to the Suwannee Sound. We had some difficulty getting the RV level on the gravel site, as it wanted to favor the driver’s side; but we completed setup in time to watch the sunset from the bar.
Low-Key Hideaway is famous for its Tiki Bar, where we spent a few hours each evening at sunset. The bar was literally less than a minute walk from our RV site. The views of the sunset from the Tiki Bar were spectacular. We met so many different people in the Tiki Bar and everyone was very friendly. We seemed to meet different people each of the four nights that we were there.
Our first night, we met a Lesbian couple and hung around with them and another couple while we were at the bar, but that was the only night we saw them there. The next night we met a guitar player and his wife and had some shots with them. The third and fourth nights we met an older gentleman whose wife had passed away in the last year; he was there with his son.
There was a food truck, Lenny's Tiki Taste Tour, regularly parked a few feet from our door at our resort, where one evening Tim had a delicious shrimp po’boy and Pat had a Cuban sandwich.
The town was located a 24-minute walk down the road, so we walked into town one day. A Tiki Bar friend recommended a restaurant named Tony's, which bills itself as having award-winning clam chowder. We went for lunch and it did not disappoint; we even bought two cans to have on future cold evenings! After lunch, we walked around the town, which has a lot of restaurants, bars, and shops. We took pictures at various bridges along our trip to (and in) town.
On another day, we walked to the nearby Cedar Key Railroad Trestle Nature Trail and walked the .3-mile trail down an old railroad path. Pat saw a snake along the way, but we avoided it and DID NOT get a picture. We had one rainy day, so stayed inside catching up on emails and such until… it was time to go to the Tiki Bar!
We loved that Low-Key was only for adults 21+, particularly after our previous stay at Spirit of Suwannee Music Park and Campground (read that blog entry about the rowdy teens). We also loved that the fun Tiki Bar was located so close to the RV sites. As mentioned previously, the views of the Suwannee Sound directly from the back of our RV were amazing. It was convenient to have the town within walking distance, where we could have eaten at a different restaurant and drunk at a different bar each night. The food truck at the Low-Key was a great addition and delicious. We didn’t like how much time it took us to level the RV when we first arrived; the Low-Key needs to work on leveling their newly graveled RV sites. Also, there are no amenities like laundry. There was a sign saying the Low-Key would rent electric bikes to guests, but we tried to call on two different days and no one returned our phone calls. Despite these negatives, we would definitely return to the Low-Key for the views and the Tiki Bar!
We made it to Florida! We arrived at the Spirit of Suwannee Music Park and Campground with about an hour to set up before sunset. Yes, it is of that Suwannee River music fame (“Way down upon the Suwannee River, Far, far away”). The campground is the largest we have been to thus far, with 900 sites; and it was packed with campers ready for a New Year’s Eve celebration.
The campground is famous for its Christmas lights display; a 3-mile ride through some extraordinary Christmas decorations. It also has a smaller walk-through Christmas lights display, which we took advantage of on the Friday night we arrived. We walked around some of the other areas of the campground on the first night, including an outdoor arcade and activity area with entertainment; and we visited the Country Store that is located on the premises.
The second day we were at the campground was New Year’s Eve. We completed our “re-engineering” of our new gas grill to connect it directly to the RV and used our new grill for the first time to grill steaks (our New Year’s Eve tradition). We also sat outside and watched football on our outdoor TV for the first time!
But the New Year’s Eve celebration at the campground was the reason we had chosen this place. There are various musical venues located throughout the campground, with lots of live performances. On New Year’s Eve, the live performance was in the Music Hall by a band called Big Engine. The $75 per couple ticket included the music, as well as a buffet. The band was very good, playing a variety of musical genres. The lead singer also got his two children involved by having them play the trumpet and saxophone for a few songs. We sat at a table with two other couples, who got more animated as the evening went on; partially because we ended up buying shots for all six of us, they eventually bought a round of shots for the table, and a good time was had by all! There was dancing and singing, groups of interestingly dressed women nearby, and some really drunk folks (it was New Year’s Eve after all).
*** OOOOH, we have to give you a link to THIS SONG that they played before the band started. I guess they are very self-aware😕.
We had our midnight countdown in the Music Hall, then proceeded outdoors for the fireworks display, which did not disappoint. It was a huge and long-lasting fireworks display; and the crowd really enjoyed it.
We spent our third and final day at the campground doing some laundry, eating leftovers, and looking forward to our next adventure.
With 900 sites, this campground is humongous! The downside to that is the campground squeezes the RVs very close to each other; we did not have much privacy. Because of the size, the campground also rents golf carts to campers to get around and lots of people own their own. With many of the campsites being families, unfortunately there were teens riding around on golf carts at crazy speeds. Whether it was crazy golf carts or New Year revelers, the campground stayed pretty rowdy throughout the days and late into the evenings.
In addition to the Country Store (which was large and carried most of the items you might need to get), the campground has a museum, bird sanctuary, bat house, arcade game room, hiking, horse trails, café (which was closed during our stay), and pool (which was also closed). In addition to renting golf carts, you can rent bicycles, canoes, and fishing gear. We also took advantage of the laundry room while we were there.
We have two small recycle containers, one for cans and one for plastic. We have never seen a SINGLE recycling receptacle in ANY of the campgrounds that we have stayed at in “all of our extensive” RV park travels. We were really surprised that this is the one to treat us!!
We enjoyed our stay and would have taken advantage of some of these other amenities if we were here for a longer stay. We loved that the campground had so many music venues, and it seems to have bands booked to perform many weekends.
We would definitely come again for New Year’s Eve and maybe even just to visit in quieter times.
We were on our way to our New Year’s Eve destination in Florida and needed a stop between Louisiana and Florida to cut down on driving time. So, we stopped for two nights at an Escapees Campground, Rainbow Plantation, in Summerdale, Alabama.
There was a lot of space between us and our next-door neighbors at this campground, giving us a feeling of solitude and privacy. We spent the time we were there taking care of little things we had neglected to do during Christmas. We did some laundry, caught up on emails, and “spatially organized” gifts we had received at Christmas. We didn't allot enough time to snapping photos around the park so we only got two random shots. It was a short but relaxing stop.
Review of Rainbow Plantation
We receive many amenities from our Escapees membership, including discounts at RV campgrounds owned by Escapees; Rainbow Plantation is one of those campgrounds. It is just outside of the quaint Alabama cities of Daphne and Fairhope, which had many shops and eateries; too far for walking but we could have possibly taken an Uber. Gulf Shores is also just 20 miles southeast of the campground. We enjoyed how much space there was between sites at the campground; however, it was not a peaceful stay as our site was located next to a main road that had a lot of traffic. The campground had activities such as a dinner on the day we arrived. It also had a pool and laundry. We could possibly return to this campground because of the discount if we needed a one-night stop between Florida and Louisiana, but we doubt we would ever stay at this campground for an extended period of time due to the traffic noise and lack of stores/restaurants within walking distance.
Leaving Sugar Land, Texas, our next destination was Florida; however, we broke it up with a few stops on the way, including one in Henderson, Louisiana, near Lafayette, where most of Tim’s family resides. This was only a two-night stay, so we didn’t have much of an opportunity to do anything in and around the campground, except laundry. The campground is also in transition to new owners, so most of the amenities were under construction and/or unavailable. We did see a beautiful sunset on the lake that is a part of the resort.
We also had a chance to visit with Tim’s Mom on both nights that we were there; and, we had our gift exchange with family, including Tim’s Mom (Sugie), Chris, Barry, Daniel, Hope, Cindy, Toby, and Brian. Tim also had an opportunity to take care of transferring his sister’s car title back to her (thanks for the “loan” car Chris) and Pat drove to Texas to get his driver’s license process finally completed. Too quick of a visit, but we will be back in Louisiana in March.
Review of Cajun Palms RV Resort
Cajun Palms is in transition to its new owners, Camp Margaritaville RV Resort. Camp Margaritaville is a very famous RV resort owner, with locations in various states. Based on what we observed, when the renovations are completed, this will be an awesome RV park. We are considering having this resort as our stop before and/or after tailgating for LSU games. Not much to say about the RV resort at this time though since most areas are under construction and are closed. We will be back when it has fully transitioned..
We stayed four nights in Sugar Land to spend Christmas with our oldest son (Tod), his wife (Leah), and their kids...our grandchildren (Ella & Alex). Kevin, our youngest son, also drove over from his new home base in Austin, Texas, to join in the holiday fun. Everyone got to tour the RV for the first time. Three-year-old Ella was intrigued by what she called the "car-house" even though we had been bombarding her with toys that were travel trailer/motorhome themed for over a year! She made us a Christmas Tree decoration when she got home and told us we had to put it on our fridge, so we did!
As we shared in an earlier post, we ("we" meaning practically the entire country) had a "generational freeze" event. We had decided that our water hose would freeze solid if we connected to city water, so we used our heated freshwater tank instead. We also did not use our sewer hookups the first few days. We had prepared by filling our propane tank before we left Mission, Texas, so we had plenty of propane to run the furnace during the freezing temperatures, which dipped as low as 15 degrees our first night there. It was warm enough by the third day to connect to "city water" and sewer. Kevin was supposed to stay in the RV with us BUT Kevin decided to stay at Tod & Leah's house because while we could keep our bedroom very warm during the freezing temperatures, it was a little colder in the bunk bed he would have been using at the front of the RV over the driver and passenger seats.
We rented a car and drove to Livingston on our first full day in Sugar Land. We needed to get our mail and Pat still needed to get his new driver's license (turned out the DMV was closed). Tim also needed to buy a new heavy coat to prepare for the freeze (he threw his old, torn one away in Brooklyn thinking he wasn't going to need a heavy coat anymore). But almost all of the rest of our trip to Sugar Land involved holiday activity related to two things: kid watching and food.
We fixed our traditional Christmas Eve gumbo at Tod and Leah's house and got to spend the day making cookies and playing with the kids. On Christmas Day, we volunteered to cook the entire Christmas meal, consisting of turkey, rice dressing, cornbread dressing, green bean casserole, and chocolate pecan pie. We spent the entire day at Tod and Leah's cooking, watching football, and playing with the kids. What a great way to spend the Christmas holiday!
Review of Sugar Land RV Park
Hi, this is Pat. Up until this entry, we have collaboratively written each blog post; however, Tim's sole input into the review of Sugar Land RV Park is that he hates it and never wants to stay there again! We didn't take any pictures of the RV park but there are a few from our earlier stay here.
It is definitely the worst RV park that we have visited in our limited travels BUT it is a SEVEN MINUTE car ride to the grandkids (and eleven minutes by bicycle when we get those). There isn't much short of damage to our motorhome that would keep me from staying at this park.
