Butch K.

The Dyrt Pro

Livingston , TX

Joined September 2020

Retired, full-time RV'er

perfect for what it does

full hookups, very easy access from I-40 to your site and back. Extremely pricey for the bare necessities even with a few bucks off for being a senior. The gate closes behind you after enter the code from your e-mail confirmation. So you are safe from traffic, but nothing would keep pedestrians from marching right up to you door. WiFi was great. Only because I had the whole place to myself did I not feel gouged.

no frills and crowded

I stayed 3 nights, most people do not. great WiFi for free. Walmart within walking distance. Fuel available at good prices. lots of food service places. Hard to find. It's between the restaurant and I-40. there were lots of frantic birds at dusk everyday I was there.

different, in a good way

I enjoyed my 3 nights. I had a great view of a pond and a row of A-frames but the sites on my passenger (viewing) side were not occupied or I would have been billboarded. The  sites are very close together but the season is apparently over. Very little traffic even on thanksgiving. The roads are narrow and the trees get close. Th signage could be better but the host left me a text when I arrived and found me while I was waiting outside the office. Very quiet, no road noise or trains or planes. Just a little longer drive off the main highway

easy in and out, and noisy

I spent 8 nights here. Almost everyday some huge rig would pull up in front of what little view I had and block me out completely. I was lucky if I had a few daylight hours of a view of the sky and trees.Most people left early in the morning. Even for the thanksgiving week that was a lot of activity. And I would think that since I booked 8 nights up front they would put be some place quiet and secluded. I got just the opposite. Fuel stations and restaurants nearby.  My experience with KOAs is turning into just a stream of places you should only sleep at and get F out.

Escapees only

First class RV park where only members of the Escapees 

rv club may lease or rent a site. Most sites have a casita which are taxed locally as "sheds". The waiting list to lease a site is several years. I am currently number 248 on the  list. 2o months ago I was 350. It is also a 55+ years old RV park

big, lots of trees and noisy

Stayed here a week. Had the place pretty much to myself especially on the rainy days. Outstanding features for me were the 4 pull thrus, one of which I scored,. Water is available here and there but not at every site. One side of the campground abuts an asphalt plant which was quit noisy at times. The park is on the river at the bottom of a valley. The highway traffic comes down one side with engine brakes bellowing and the passing lane going back up is almost as loud with truck drivers using every gear to stay up to speed. I noticed the number of dump trucks near the park/asphalt plant on my way in. Near quitting time for the plant the highway many feet above you sounds like the scene in full metal jacket on the beach with the helicopters coming and going,  the plant is on the same side of the river next to the bridge. I was very close.

Lackluster and full service

The weather was terrible while I was there, so perhaps this review may be biased. The Campground was very quiet in mid October. Many of the sites seem to be seasonal as there was no traffic to or from them. But there was quite a bit of daily traffic, usually arriving late and leaving early. Perhaps because the weather was turning very chilly and although the leaf peeping was at its peak for this season, I think people were heading south fast like me.

Stay campy

"Stay campy" is on the brochure for the Campground. The proprietor of the operation is open and friendly and very accommodating. But the whole atmosphere of the place is campy. I had to look that up again. It seems the Campground prides itself on being so bad that it's good. I stayed two nights. Not too bad really, just generally older rigs, no clearly defined campsites, but it does have electric and water. When I arrived, there was a very handicapped person in a wheelchair motoring around in front of the Park office. He seemed to be interested in my being there, but when I asked him where I should check in, he held out a straight arm, pointing towards the distant horizon and moaned. I did not try to connect with any of the other Park patrons. The next morning are slightly more agile character began mowing the lawn and got closer and closer to my rig until I had to jump up and go warn him not to run over my stink cables. I did get a nod and a yeah, out of him. it was noisy and dusty. I suppose even luxury resorts have to mow the grass.

New, very nice, with killer bugs

I was in site 43, it was long enough it could have fit two of the biggest RVs I have ever seen. My 75 foot starling cable did not even reach all the way back out to the road. I drove through the equestrian loop and found it very confusing. Lots of fences and shared pedestals. I stayed in the next loop, stagecoach. Everything looked spic and span like it had just opened last month. The young man at the check in station said there were very few people there except on the weekends. I only saw three or four other rVs and two of them had to camp right next to me. I saw the bugs, some of them clearly mosquitoes and I never saw one get away with biting me. But I ended up with two lower legs and two forearms that constantly itch like mad. I will never go back in June.

overcrowded, tightly packed, sketchy campers

I'm not used to seeing so many druggies in a state park: they typically can't afford a state park. I pulled in and my site was free on both sides. Then a small car pulled in and a woman sat on the picnic table chain-smoking cigarettes. A little later a pick up truck showed up with three more people. A little later another vehicle showed up with more people. I think at one point there were at least five people, but you couldn't tell if it was a family or, some strange tribe. Well, they camped right under my window and proceeded to burn fallen sticks and branches and whatever they could find. They came and left a lot probably to get drugs.

The campground is quiet Highway 400 is not

About 10 drive-through sites requiring a turning radius my 20 foot trailer could hardly manage, spaced out quite nicely mostly right on the bank of the fishing pond. Most people would not consider a body of water where you can see the bottom as a lake, that would be a pond. Kansas State fishing lakes are mostly ponds. this one is shallow enough. I think you could walk across it in waders. The highway noise is not too bad. It's been so windy here with severe thunderstorm warnings that you cannot hear the highway traffic. Picnic tables, fire rings and a pit toilet. That's it. They recently buried some culverts under the road which should prevent any future washouts. But beware the sandy road base could get you stuck.

A dozen empty sites

An obvious camping loop with picnic tables had one small car parked in a spot when I got here. He woke up and drove away. I saw another couple people sitting in a car at the stop sign. Looked suspicious to me. The flattest most level site I could find is barely adequate. All the rest have quite a tilt.

some of the sites are pretty cramped

quiet. lots of trees, hard to find a spot for starlink

Awesome views overlooking the lake



tight, cramped, poorly designed, needs work

I took the last site on short notice with electricity for four nights over the weekend, the handicap site. I went back and double checked, the NMSP website has not clearly state that only a van or very short class C would fit in the spot. I got my 20 foot trailer in but my truck is sticking out into the road a tiny bit. The sites are very close together and unfortunately, right after I arrived a couple of families set up right next to me complete with screaming kids and yapping dogs. Campers with kids and dogs should have their own camping loops, maybe their own campgrounds. So many people do not appreciate the quiet and solitude of a natural woods. As soon as the kids arrived, it seemed like they were told to scream as loud as they could. Disgusting. So one star for this campground and the poor layout

Just a NM rest area

this is a NM rest area.

good God the flies

When I left the Margie Cove area, I crossed over 85 on Woods Road to old US 80, actually called historic  old US 80. Apparently a regiment of Mormon soldiers built a road some 2000 miles through the area in the 1840s when the US was stealing the land from Mexico and the indigenous peoples. Anyway, I found the source of the flies. There is a huge cattle stockyard about 2 miles from Woods Road.

First to Review
Dry camping on the cheap side

It state trust land. You need a permit, which is available online and I believe the image of the receipt on your phone or laptop would suffice. Should anyone check, which I have never seen. This is at least my second stay here. Nothing exciting but it is right off of I eight, which is not audible right now over the noise from apparently someone's generator. Haven't heard any yapping dogs or idiot kids running around with a parents bearing their asses off but this is my kind of place.

Just a mile off 85

A lot more flies than I remember ever having been here before. I think I've been here near the end of the year and I don't remember the flies being so plague.

You can see Mexico from here

The traffic going down the highway to Puerto. Palermo is much more busy than I had expected. Watch out for the rattlesnakes. A friend of mine had just sent me a picture of the skin of a 20 footer on the wall in a shop not far from here. One local told me the rattlesnakes were quite populous this year. But I never expected to see one with the overnight temps in the 40s in the High barely reaching 70.