Palms Mobile Home RV Park

We agree with the previous reviewer’s assessment of this place, however, we decided to brave it and stay the night anyway because we needed hot showers and to get caught up on laundry and this place is very cheap. It is pretty run down but we did not feel unsafe here. There are dog running around loose so if you have a pet watch out for them.

This is the kind of park where you just have to take things for what they are. When we arrived, there was nobody in the office, so I left a message on the machine and we parked and waited (we did not have a reservation and had not called ahead). Eventually a friendly guy came out, said he was busy repairing something and apologized for missing our call. He directed us to a spot and told us to pay later and went back to work. The cost was$25 ($12.50 with Passport America). We never saw him again and the office was never reopened so we slipped the payment through a slot in the door. 

We didn’t plug in to power here, as our surge protector’s lights indicated an open neutral. There are loose dogs running around all over the place, and nobody seems to mind. People obviously live here permanently, and you can tell they have been living here a long time based on the happy chatter and greetings, especially when the work day was over and people started coming home from work. Two young entrepreneurs came and knocked on our door and asked if they could clean up the cement pad outside our RV, which was very cute. 

Early in the morning, around 5am, we heard people getting up and leaving for work, and later in the morning we saw kids on laptops all over the place, doing their schoolwork. 

The night was loud here, roosters crowing (all night!), dogs barking, trains, and cars. The sign out front said they have showers, but we didn’t see any. The laundry room was functional. 

Good cell service Verizon and AT&T. 

Sofia’s Mexican food in walking distance was delicious, and there are several other fast food options in walking distance as well.

CAVEAT: As a woman traveling alone, I didn't feel comfortable stopping to ask questions here, much less stay, but your experience and comfort level may differ.

Gila Bend is a charming little bump in the road between Phoenix and San Diego. It has a very Mexican feel to it, with souvenir shops and a good old-fashioned carneceria, and is also home to the Space Age Restaurant, which some consider a must-visit.

This particular RV park, however, would probably not be your first choice of places to stay, even though the other cheap choices here would be the parking lots at Pilot (east end) or Love's (west end). Someone has tried to liven up the fence line with new bougainvillea plants, but in general the place looks rundown/slumlike, and is mostly fixed-in-place mobile homes, not RV spaces. There are one or two places where mobile homes have just been left to decay where they sit, and there was a large trailerload of debris outside the office that looked like it had been there for quite a while. Given that the beautiful and pristine Painted Rock BLM park is only 30 minutes down the road and about a fifth to a third the cost, I'd give this one a miss.