Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Eldorado, TX

As a general rule, we like to stay somewhere a month.  At Pecan Valley, we did so, of course not knowing what to expect exactly, as always.  We were very pleasantly pleased with our stay, and we will definitely be back.  I'll just bullet point out all the pros, followed by one single con.

Pros:

• Quiet.  I-10 is across the river branch the CG sits next to, but you really don't hear it unless you're listening for it.  You definitely can't see it!
• DEER!  Every day, about 6:30'ish the come across the main road, through the pecan orchard, behind the owner's house and equipment areas into a large field.  It was so awesome to keep a side window open and holler at the wife: "It's DEER-THIRTY!"  (There is also a large heard of Axis deer in the area.)  We saw as many as 30 at one time.
• Chickens.  Their "rules" state to keep your animals leashed, because the chickens are their pets!   They even let you know what is not okay to feed them.  We had some oatmeal that we bought that wasn't what we expected, but made great chicken feed. "Chick, chick, chick!" will bring them!  I named two of them "Big Elvis" and "Little Elvis" based on the size of the "hair" on their heads (even though they are likely hens.)  They are super curious, don't leave your bay doors open!  It's fun to watch them taking dirt baths!
• The river is right there!  We tried to walk most every day, sometimes up the entrance all the way to the main road, sometimes down past the many-chickens coop and "Goat on a Boat" area, down to the river.  When no one else was there, I liked skipping rocks.  
• Cute little gift shop.  Just write down in the book what you got and pay at the end.
• Owners:  Delivery of pecans (regular or candied), firewood, packages.  I'm telling you, the owners were so friendly and so awesome, maybe the best we've ever had in 4 years of full-timing.  We had gotten one bundle of firewood (just as inexpensive as anywhere, but MORE of it, and it's hardwood), but realized that we likely wanted more.  The owners were driving by on their golf cart, parking someone, and I just asked for a couple more bundles when they got a few minutes.  Sure enough...about 15 minutes later, they came by in the golf cart with more firewood!
• Drainage.  The second-to-last day of our stay (and also right before we arrived), there was a very rainy day. We had gotten back with groceries and it was a torrential downpour.  (I took off my tennis shoes in the truck and just muddy-sock-footed the groceries and put them inside.)  The rain slowed later, and it was almost back to normal.  It rained, again hard, during the night, but tapered off around 2am.  When we got up to pack up the rig in the morning, there weren't really any muddy spots.  We've been in campgrounds where it's just horrible.  Pecan Valley set up their spots correctly!

Cons:

• Tree Sap.  Now, this doesn't apply to every spot and, honestly, it's not that big of a deal.  Unlike pine sap, the sap from the pecan trees just washes off easily.  Every few days when we'd get in the truck, the windshield would look horrible, but a squirt of washer fluid and a couple of wiper wipes and it was perfectly fine.  That rainstorm our last day, it washed off the truck completely!

Town Notes:

• Lowe's Grocery store:  Not a bad little store for a small town.  Much better than I expected.
• Spurs Liquor store:  Right on the corner between town and FM 1674 (road to campground).  Cute little store, was pleasantly surprised.
• Junction Fuels:  If you need diesel, go here.  Don't be intimidated by the setup.  I just parked, went inside to ask "how it works", then got it handled that time and the rest.  You want the "CD" pump (Ultra-Low Sulphur Diesel), second unit with pumps 3 and 4.  Park at the pump, go to the blue box at the end, enter your pump number and put in your credit card and zip.  Maxes at $75, I had to run it twice.  Absolutely best price in town, way better than at the corner of I-10.  During our stay, most in town were like $4.69 whereas Junction Fuels was $3.99.  At one point, it had dropped to $3.97, but no else had dropped at all.  This means they are being reactive to market prices.  (I believe this is the right propane location, too, though we didn't need it during our stay.)

We stayed here for 4 nights in early May 2019. We stayed in the Red Arroyo Campground at the South entrance of the park. The best thing about this park is the amount of space between spots. Plenty of space between you and your neighbors. The park is beautiful and very quiet. When we were there the wildflowers were in full bloom. Spots are water and electric only, but there is a dump onsite. We had spot #13 and it was steep, but we were able to tuck our 30ft trailer at the bottom where it leveled out. No levelers required. The park has many trails for hiking and biking. Some of the trails were a bit muddy, but they had recently had rain. Cell phone service was good. We were able to get internet through the hotspot. Overall, it was a nice stay and we would stay here again. $20 price reflects camping fee only. Day use fee is $4 per person if you do not have a Texas State Park Pass.

I was trying to put in as many hours of driving as I could, not realizing how sparse things like actual campgrounds are off of I-10 in the middle of Texas.

Luckily I found this place here on the app. I arrived around 11 pm and located the tent camping loop, set up and crashed for the night. The loop was nice and grassy, with picnic tables for each site.

In the morning, I walked to the gift shop to pay for my night. Tent camping is $15.

I took a quick shower and, honestly, the shower area could definitely use a really good cleaning, but it had been quite a few days since I’d seen a shower, so I wasn’t too picky.

The staff there was really nice and I stuck around long enough for a tour of the caverns ($20) before getting back on the road.