Best RV Parks & Resorts near Decatur, IL

Let me begin by saying that I scored this Love's RV Stop as high as I did not because it is my ideal camping spot - it isn't - and I don't think anyone looks for a spot to camp out on next to a super busy highway next to a commercial big rig gas station, but if you are doing some heavy duty highway traveling with your RV or 5th wheel and simply need a place to hold up for the night, then this place really is pretty amazing.  With that in mind, hopefully you'll pay this place a visit, stop, get fueled up, rest for the night and enjoy the convenience and easy on- and off-access that this place provides.  With this in mind …

This spot is brand spanking new, incredibly flat and offers up all the flat poured concrete where you want it and freshly poured gravel where you drive and all the other parts are surrounded by freshly sodded grass that has already grown in to near maturity everywhere else. Conveniently located on the highway axis where I39 / US51 meets I55, here in central Illinois in the city of Bloomington, Love’s RV Stop is an incredibly convenient and easy access spot to drop your RV anchor for the night. Extra points to Love’s RV Stop for providing gated key-pad entry and 24 hour CCTV security delivering a real feeling of safety throughout your roadside RV or 5th Wheel stay. 

The convenient app-managed reservation system is seamless and provides for an incredibly simple, remote check-in and payment process. You’ll find back-in or pull-through as well as ADA accessible sites with full hook-ups with water, sewer and choice of either 30 or 50 amp electrical at every site. At the main kiosk where you’ll check-in, there’s a brand new spartan clean single person shower facility as well as individual men and women’s restrooms in addition to a coin-operated laundry facility. Additionally, the property has 2 covered pavilions with picnic tables and gas-powered BBQ grills, community firepit that can easily seat a dozen people, 2 pickleball courts, kid’s playground and a dog park with real grass for the pups to do their business on.  Now granted, you'll be enjoying all of these amenities right next to all of the swooshing highway traffic, but surprisingly, we all got over this very quickly!

Because Love’s RV Stop is connected and managed by the neighboring Love’s Truck Stop, you’ll have nearby access to their full convenience store, as well as ATMs, Bojangles Restaurant (mediocre BBQ at best), as well as additional shower facilities along with, but of course, all the gas you can pump by the gallon. But if it’s something simple like firewood, ice, sundries or snacks, you can get these items back at the Kiosk and there are 2 soda vending machines as well as an ice machine behind this small building as well. 

Insider’s tips? Here’s a few: (1) As you are literally on the corner of one of the busiest highway intersections in the entire Land ‘O Lincoln, there is no escaping where you are at, no matter how high they build the fence or how many bushes and trees they place between you and the 8-lanes of rushing passerby traffic and there’s not a single site here to escape the noise, so bring your earbuds if it bothers you or crank up some Van Halen;(2) If you are looking for something more than the stale coffee or the Bojangle’s food they are serving up at the truck stop, there are endless chain options like Starbucks, Dunkin’, Moe’s Southwest Grill nearby as well as further afield; (3) If you want my top recommendations for restaurants that are worth the drive, try out Giordano’s for Chicago deep dish pizza or Portillo’s for their Italian beef & sausage sandwich (don't ask, just order and send me your thanks later); and (4) If you are looking for something to do with the kiddos, head on over to Miller Park Zoo for the wild animals, performances and mini-golf or try out Grady’s Family Fun Park, which is an amusement park with rides and games. 

While scoring criteria may vary from one person to the next, here are the 5 most important criteria that informed my rating of this overnight location: convenience (EZ on- and off-access), safety & security, quality (of facilities), peace & quiet and amenities (either on-site or nearby). Here’s how I ranked this particular overnight spot: 

Convenience: 5 

Safety & Security: 5 

Quality: 5 

Peace& Quiet: 4 

Amenities: 5 

Overall, I scored this location a 5.

Happy Overnighting!

The Forest Bo Wood Recreation area has grown each year since I first camped there in 1979.

In 2017 it has 150 camping sites, a boat ramp, fish cleaning station, several picnic areas and a bait shop at the entrance on Illinois Route 32 4 miles South of Sullivan. The camp sites all have parking space for a big rig and one vehicle. There are some tent only sites but most have been converted to at least 30 amp electric sites with water hookups near the site. Many lake side sites are available, some years back there was a problem with the bank, but that has been dealt with.

Bath rooms and shower houses are very clean and there is good bank fishing near the pavilion at the turn around at the west end of the area. There is a marina just 1 mile South and across the bridge another ½ mile is the Sullivan beach. Just 1 more mile South is a Rosatti's pizza located in a gas station with a liquor store. Rossati's delivers pizza's to the 2 campgrounds that are this close to the business. People that love the comforts of home while camping love this campground, so it fills up in the spring and summer months.

All sites are spacious and include a picnic table, lantern stand, fire pit with grill grate and some have added camp stove stands. I find that October camping at Bo Woods most agreeable with less people tent camping and less boat traffic on the lake. The fishing this time of year is also very good.

The Opossum Creek Recreation area is open year-round for the boat ramp and Disabled / children fishing pond and pier. The campground is only open Memorial Day to Labor Day. I camped here in June, however I did the photography in October so there are no campers in the shots. This campground is only about 6 miles from the town of Shelbyville where there is a Walmart, restaurant’s, gas stations, bait, hardware stores, medical care, the Shelbyville Dam, Beach, City Park with lakeside trails and firewood. This proximity to facility’s makes it popular, so having less than 100 campsites it tends to fill up quickly. It is advisable to book ahead on-line if you want to stay here. The sites are nice and the park is clean, but the sites are close together. The boat ramp is well thought out with tons of parking and being close to town is usually busy in the summer season. This campground is also cared for by the Corps of Engineers and seasoned camp hosts man the gate house at the campground. The disabled fishing pond is well stocked so it is easy for wheel chair bound fishermen to catch their daily quota. I recommend this campground for people with motorhomes, fifth-wheels and campers that want to take in the Shelbyville lake town experience while visiting.

General: 40-site campground with three non-electric and the rest are either 30 or 50-amp electric. Several water spigots are sprinkled throughout the campground. 

Site quality: All sites are gravel and level. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring. The sites are spaced a decent amount of distance apart and with the many trees, it did not feel crowded, despite being almost full when we were there. 

Bath/Shower: Very clean with soap, paper towels, and a shelf for toiletries. Did not use the shower but it looked clean as well. 

Activities/Amenities: There are two well-marked and well-maintained trails plus a playground and basketball hoop. There is also a historic schoolhouse, and guided tours are available by calling. Before leaving the next morning, I enjoyed a walk on the two trails. There is a dump station and potable water.

The campground was almost completely full on a Friday at the end of October yet very quiet.

Beautiful place! We called ahead to see if they had sites available for the next two nights. Arrived just before the office closed at 5:45pm. The campground area past the office is electronically gated and registrants receive a scannable card for entry. Once we had scanned and entered through the gate they escorted us to our pull-through full-hookups site. The campsites are nice and wide, gravel like the roads, with wide grassy areas between and beautiful mature shade trees everywhere. Our site had a picnic table and a small fire ring. Full hookups worked fine.

The campground is next to a large corn field that has recently been cut; I suspect during the growing/harvest season there may be dust and noise from equipment, and perhaps overspray from any chemicals that are dusted on it. This time of year it was nice and quiet. The noise from the highway bordering both cornfield and campground, however, was loud and constant.

Bathrooms were clean and aerated by large fans which were loud but effective.

We would definitely stay here again.

Review of Drive In Tent Camping Site 2. Showed up on a Thursday night and had our pick of all the drive in and walk in sites. We decided on site 2 in the drive in area. Previous reviews and a book by John Schirle on Tent Camping in Illinois helped us with this decision as well. Decent maintained sites with some older picnic tables and fire rings, but let's be honest this stuff sits outside 24/7. Site 2 seemed to sit back the farthest with site 1 a close second. Both wooded sites that made for great shade and helped some when it was raining. Any two families looking for two sites could certainly set up and share the experience. Nice little cove behind them to try fishing. Just watch the hike down the path or ravine. Dog friendly, fresh water supply (hint put the handle all the way up and wait a few seconds), ability to store stuff in the car close by, outhouse toilets visible at the walk in parking lot, and helpful host for easy check in who even sells fire wood made for a great few days ($5 a bundle). Rated B/S site at a cost of $10 a night.