Campers Come In All Shapes and Sizes

Rick and I prefer to stay in public campgrounds (state parks, COE campgrounds, US Forest Service campgrounds) rather than private ones.  We prefer the spaciousness and outdoor recreation activities at these type of campgrounds.

In public campgrounds, there is no telling what kind of campers you will see.  One of the things I like to do when we walk around the campground is find older and/or unusual campers.

It is not unusual to see older bumper-pull and fifth wheel campers, especially with window air conditioners.

Sometimes, we find older model motorhomes that were considered state of the art luxury in their day.

At Blue Bluff COE campground, this great boxy travel trailer was parked next to us.  It's hard to distinguish, but it was ALL chrome on the outside.

We spotted this retro camper at Wall Doxey State Park.  Love the wing  and hubcaps!

You have probably seen your share of tiny campers,

but this one probably ranks up there as one of the smallest I have seen.  Parked in front of this one was a new or close to new speed boat.

Every one in a while we come across these type of campers that have a top piece that pops up.

I don't know about other parts of the country, but here in the southeast U.S., it is not unusual to see a school

bus being used as a camper.  Here is one we saw at Paul B. Johnson State Park outside Hattiesburg, MS. 




Sometimes, it doesn't look like it has been modified at all.  We spotted this one at John Kyle State Park at Sardis, MS.

But my favorite, hands down was one we saw at Pickensville COE in Alabama.

This pretty much says it all!

Oak Grove Campground at Sardis Lake

It's ridiculous that it has been so long since I have written in this blog.  We have been camping several times since I last wrote, mainly at South Abutment campground at Arkabutla Lake and Oak Grove Campground at Sardis Lake.

Back in the fall of 2013, we camped at the state park (John W. Kyle) at Sardis and saw the Oak Grove campground right next door.  The two campgrounds are separated by a boat launch ramp and dock.  Kyle is a MS State Park while Oak Grove is a COE.  

We found that we really like Oak Grove.  There are plenty of shady spots and most pads have plenty of room between them.  

The access to the water is great and this campground is very popular with fishermen (& women).  The first time we stayed here, I kept seeing huge fish come out from under the dock when I put my bait (worm) in.  But they wouldn't take it.  I played around with it a little and made it seem like it was jumping around.  One took it and nearly pulled me off the dock.  It snapped my line and got away :(     

All sites have water and 30/50 amp electricity.  There is a dump station at the entrance.  There are 3 bath houses that are kept pretty clean.  

This campground does not take reservations, it is strictly first come, first served.  It operates on a self-pay system with the camp host coming around and checking every evening.  Since it is first come, first served, we try to get here on a Thursday before it starts filling up.  This worked out well, but Memorial Day weekend 2016 we ran into a problem.  We checked the state park next door several weeks ahead of time and found that they were booked up.  So, we decided to head out to Oak Grove on Wednesday, May 25 to get ahead of the weekend crowd...Wrong!  There was not a single site to be had on Wednesday :(  This campground is close enough to home so we just came back and decided to spend the Memorial Day holiday at home.

If TV reception is important to you, this isn't the place for you.  We could only pick up the public tv stations out of Oxford.  My Sprint service did not work well here, but Rick's C-Spire service did.

Nature Station at Land Between The Lakes

The U.S. Forest Service runs a Nature Station at Land Between the Lakes.  When we were camping at Hillman Ferry, the Nature Station was one of the attractions we visited.

The Nature Station consists of indoor exhibits (similar to what you might see in a museum of natural history) and an outdoor area with plants and animals indigienous to the area.  When we were there in mid-to-late May, many of the flowers were in full bloom and the backyard area was beautiful and tranquil.

We arrived shortly after the center opened at 10am and were able to see the bobcat being fed as well as the groundhog.  The groundhog was found by a woman when it was a baby and she thought she would try to keep it as a pet - not a great idea.  Same with the bobcat.


 As a result, both have no natural fear of humans but do associate humans with food, which can be dangerous.

The groundhog's enclosure goes 3-ft underground so that the groundhog can dig tunnels, as is its nature without popping up somewhere outside of its pen, like the bobcat enclosure.

We found this attraction to be very informative and relaxing.  We enjoyed it immensely.

The Homplace at Land Between The Lakes

The Land Between the Lakes area in Tennessee and Kentucky is rich with history.  One of the places we visited while camping at Hillman Ferry, was The Homeplace.

The Homeplace is an 1850's working farm which acts as a living history of what farm-life was like in this area prior to the Civil War.  We found the self-guided tour to be very interesting and thought-provoking as we thought about what life was like for people who would have lived back then.

A big plus for us was that we could bring our dog on this tour.  Be aware that there is a farm cat, ducks, and chickens that run loose on the farm as well as oxen, horses and pigs that are enclosed.  All dogs must be secured on a leash no

longer than 6-ft long.  Our little chihuahua-terrier mix was very interested in the chickens and ducks!

In addition to the "one-pen" house, which would have been a starter home, there is a "two-pen" house which is a 2-story traditional dog-trot style cabin.

Typical of farms in the hot and humid south, there are individual buildings for the various livestock, a tool barn, tobacco drying barn, corn cribs and spring house.

If you enjoy history, this is a must-see attraction in the LBL.  During the busy summer months, there are several different special events held at The Homeplace.

Hillman Ferry Campground Review at Land Between The Lakes

Hillman Ferry Campground Review
Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area
Grand Rivers, Kentucky
Visited:  May 15-22, 2015

Hillman Ferry Campground is one of 4 developed campgrounds in the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area (LBL).  It is the northernmost campground, fairly close to the north entrance.  Hillman Ferry is a very large campground.  It is the largest campground in LBL with 374 camping sites.  Most have electric and water hookups, some have only electric, a couple of loops have sewer hookups as well and the rest are basic sites with no hookups.  Some of the basic sites can accommodate fairly large campers and some are walk-up tent sites. There are a good number of waterfront sites.  We stayed in site 66 in loop C-3.

Here are some of the pros and cons of this campground.

First, the cons -

Most of the sites are not level.  We saw some precarious balancing acts at some sites in order to get the campers level.  They are all grey rock sites, except for the handicap spots which are concrete and level.

Many of the spots take some manuvering and gritting of teeth to access.  Because there are no pictures of these sites on-line, you just have to see what you got when you get there.  Our site had a fairly steep descent from the roadway to reach the actual "camping pad".  The descent area had a couple of significant ruts in it where the rainwater washes because of the topography.  In order to get un-hitched and hitched back up when we left, we had to extend the front legs of the 5th wheel up very high, much higher than we have ever had to before.

Our camping pad was shorter than we thought it would be.  I think they must measure the "camping pad" starting at the road even though that would include the descent area mentioned above.

Now, the pros (which outnumber the cons) -

The campground is laid out pretty well for such a large number of sites.  There is really no way to describe it unless you see it for yourself.  Some of the sites don't have much privacy between them, but a good number of them do.

The bathhouse that I used was clean and everything worked great.  Even though we used our camper shower most of the time, we did use the bathhouse a couple of times so we would not have to empty our grey tank so much.  There are several different styles of bathhouses in the campground, some with no roofs!  Those were mainly in the full hookup sections (I guess they figure if you have sewer hookups, you won't be using a bathhouse so much) and in the basic "primitive" camping loops.  Most of the bathhouses are your typical USFS bathhouse with private showers that have a "dressing area" and shower area separated by a shower curtain.  Some of the bathhouses also have a washer/dryer.

If you love the outdoors, and like to walk, hike and bike when you go camping, then you will love Hillman Ferry.  There are many, many miles of trails (both paved and unpaved) that run throughout the campground and beyond.  There is a premier biking trail which has paved and unpaved portions.  Of course, the campground is so large, there is ample opportunity to walk and bike even if you just stay on the main roads.  We biked a short paved loop near the pavilion and spotted this deer who was curious, but apparently unafraid of us.

Hillman Ferry has a well-stocked campstore with ice, camping supplies, food and many other items.  They don't price-gouge either.  There are several playgrounds withing the campground as well as a swim beach.  There are also several boat launches within the campground.  Hillman Ferry also has an Archery Target Practice area.

All in all, we really enjoyed our stay here.  If I had it to do over, I would probably pick a site in the "C" section that had full hookups.  The elec/water/sewer sites in the "C" loop are up on a hill which benefits from the lake breezes without having the full-on stiff lake winds.  The sites in this loop also have fairly good privacy between the sites.