KOA in Cherokee, NC

After leaving Pigeon Forge, TN, we headed to Cherokee, NC to spend a few days at the KOA.  KOA's are more expensive than I'd prefer, but they offer a lot of amenities.  Unfortunately, we like amenities that we don't use - we just like to see everyone else use them.  Case in point:  it's fun to have playgrounds and mini-golf, mainly because they attract a lot of kids and families and we like to people-watch.   I suppose that we're going to have to abandon that line of thinking in the long run because we aren't going to be able to afford to pay so much money for things we don't take advantage of.

Getting to the Campground

Before you can enjoy this KOA, you have to get there.  And following your big rig's GPS may not be the best way to do it.  Here's the best route (from the Pigeon Forge area):  40E to 74W.  74W to 441N.  441N through downtown Cherokee. Once you get to the light (right turn only) at Acquoni Road, keep going until the next right that goes through the woods to your right (this is called BIA Highway 441).  You'll cross a bridge and then turn left on Big Cove Road.  The KOA is about 5 minutes down Big Cove Road on the right.  When leaving Cherokee, follow the same route in reverse.  The only thing to be careful of are the small trees downtown that have some "light" branches extending over the curb on your way out; heights are fine.

The important thing to note, based on our research, is that you SHOULD NOT take Highway 19 into Cherokee.  Follow the above directions and you'll do just fine.

Overview of the Cherokee KOA

Like a lot of KOA's, this one is loaded with features that RVers like.  We took the time while we were in town to drive through Jellystone and some other nearby campgrounds and the KOA beats them all.  More room, better sites, easier access, and lots to do.

KOA Cherokee has two pools; one of them is indoors.  The outdoor pool has a poolside grill that serves cheeseburgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, salads, fries, and more.  There is a large campground store, with a gift shop up front where you can find souvenirs.  As you drive in, check-in and the store are to your right, with little huts on your left where you can purchase firewood and ice.  There are small play areas, a place to run your pets, a large bounce pad for the kids, and a very small 9-hole mini-golf area.

Pulling in can be tight.  They ask you to pull over into some RV spaces to your right.  If you pull up all the way, you'll have virtually no room in front of the spaces to turn left towards the campground when you've completed check-in.  It'll be easier if there's no one to your left.

The staff was nice, with the friendliest people being the folks who go to your site and handle any problems. When we were there, our breaker needed to be replaced and they were very prompt to fix it.  The office staff is too busy, and they really didn't seem to want to spend much time making small talk.  They just handled the transactions.  The poolside grill was very understaffed, with only two teenagers manning the cash register and the grill.  An order for a simple hamburger, no cheese, took more than twenty minutes - and there were only two people with small orders ahead of me and no one behind me.  And when I got it, it had cheese on it.  Oh well.

Above the pool on the second floor of a storage structure is an arcade, and lots of people took the KOA van to go tubing.  Another option is to take some paths behind the indoor pool and you can put in to some pretty nice tubing that's close by.

Sites

KOA Cherokee's sites range from ones for tents all the way up to the largest rigs.  Most of the sites in the center of the park are pull-thru's, while ones on the edges are back-ins.  There are quite a few small "tiny house" cabins that are available for rent.  Many of these also have creekside patios, as do some of the larger RV sites.

50A, full-hookup is available at most sites, as is cable TV with almost 50 channels.

This is a busy campground with lots of children.  Many of their parents coughed up the $7 per hour it cost to rent those recumbent bike-type 3-wheelers that sit low to the ground.  You really have to be careful moving your RV and toad around on the roads.

Our site was one of the back-ins along the creek.  It was also one of the really shaded ones.  All of them have sizeable "yards" with lots of grass.

Sites are medium difficulty as far as pulling in/out.  Just watch out for people and kids, which are plentiful.

Tips / Comments / Pros & Cons

• Reserve in advance.  This is a busy park.
• Follow the above directions for getting there
• Drive slow in the park
• Cons: It seems longer than it actually is to get into town; non-maintenance workers are slow and weren't too friendly overall; wifi is unusable because there are so many people on it
• Pros:  There's lots to do, especially for kids.  Nice store.  Nice cable.  Basically everything you need. Maintenance staff is great.

Up the Creek: A nice campground in Pigeon Forge, TN

Three times in the past, when our children were younger, we travelled to the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area and rented cabins.  The area is undeniably "touristy" and often crowded, but people are attracted by all of the things to do there.  Lots of shows, rides, amusements, and shops dot the multi-lane Parkway all the way from Interstate 40 on the north, through Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg.  If you can name the restaurant, you will probably see it on the Parkway.  And there are more pancake houses than Carter has liver pills.

The areas surrounding that major thoroughfare have huge mountains with charming valleys where you can see farms, rural shops, roadside stands, and beautiful homes as you deftly negotiate curvy roads and hills.  

There are a lot of RV parks in the area; so many that it's quite a chore to pour through all of their web sites as you try to decide where to stay.  I wanted to be reasonably close to the Parkway, but have a place that was quiet so we could sit outside and read a book.  After a lot of consideration, I decided that we would stay at a place called Up the Creek.  We called and asked for one of their Deluxe Creekside sites, which were going for $44 per night and included "Full Hookup with patio dining table and chairs, concrete patio and stone fire pit" on one of the two creeks bordering the campground.  Our reservation was confirmed, but not with a specific site number.

We arrived at Up the Creek early on a Saturday afternoon in mid-July.  The drive lane in front of the office is double-wide, so it's the best place to un-hitch.  Check-in was quick and there were no problems.

Sites

We drove back to the site and easily pulled in because it was front-in parking.  Our windshield looked right out to the creek.  Nice!  There was also room to park our pickup truck right beside the coach, although many sites looked like they had to park behind or in front of their rig.

The site was gravel, with a stone/concrete (like pebbles in concrete - I'm sure there's a name for it) patio deck that was in front of the coach; it wrapped around the door side of the motorhome for another 15 feet.  I noticed that we were one of the few, and maybe the only site, that had this sort of l-shaped concrete patio.  Many others just had the patio on the door side.

Connections were easy, just like other parks.  Their cable TV offers about 16 channels.  Channels other than the major networks included Discovery, FoxNews, USA, History, Weather, ESPN, ESPN2, Travel, and Nick.   After we got comfortable in our site, the cable TV went out.  It turns out that there's a breaker switch in the pedestal for the cable TV booster.  It had tripped and just needed to be reset.

My rig is about 13'6" high, and a tree to our left was slightly scraping the roof.  I saw two men riding in a golf cart and asked if they worked for the campground.  They said they did, and the younger gentleman climbed up on a ladder and cut the branches.  As he was doing so, I thanked him for doing it and said that it was nice that he could cut the trees a little bit without consulting the manager.  He told me that he was the owner, and it was no problem.  Didn't expect that.

The creek wasn't flowing very much while we were there, but it was still nice sitting outside to talk and read.  You would think that mosquitoes would be a problem near a creek, but we didn't see any at all.  As a matter of fact, there were very few bugs as long as we kept our chairs on the concrete patio.  When walking through the grass, gnats come up and quickly become bothersome.  The solution is just to walk a few feet to the concrete.

Campground Overview

Up the Creek was recently expanded to 59 sites, and the owner told me that he was in the process of adding two more. From the campground, it's about a 15-minute drive to the Parkway via Highway 321.  If you take some winding back roads, it'll take you about 22 minutes, but you'll come out towards the northern end of the Parkway near the shows and the Apple Barn - and have no traffic at all.

The campground has trolley service to the Parkway that runs from 8am to 10pm and with pick-ups/drop-offs once every hour.

Pets are allowed, and they have a small fenced-in area that looks like a place to let 'em go and play.

Without a doubt, the best thing about Up the Creek is its relative isolation and quietness.  Many of the other campgrounds we saw as we drove to Up the Creek were crowded and the rigs were really crammed together.  Up the Creek offers a place to step out of your coach and enjoy nature without the sounds of cars and lots of people.

On the downside, there are no typical amenities at Up the Creek.  No playgrounds, pools, bath houses, public restrooms or laundries.  For this reason, I thought it was a little overpriced...but not by much.

In summary, if you are traveling without children, I'd recommend staying at Up the Creek.  But if you have the kids or grandkids, they better have water shoes and be happy walking in the creek and throwing rocks.  Otherwise, you'll be at Up the Creek without a paddle.  (Yea, couldn't resist it)

Fueling and staying overnight at a Pilot/Flying J

On our trip to Pigeon Forge from Orlando, I was sure that I didn't want to drive the entire distance in one day.  We also had to make a stop in Brevard, NC to drop off a UHaul full of furniture.

Since we only needed one night in Brevard, we decided to stop at a Pilot station and try to stay overnight, then find another spot to park the rig in Brevard the following night.  Before we left, I scrutinized the satellite photos of Brevard and found a church parking lot that looked perfect.  When I called them, they sounded reluctant, but agreed that we could park it there for one night.

This past Thursday morning, she hopped in the 26' UHaul and I took the RV with our toad and we headed up I95.  We talked along the way and chose the Pilot on I26 just west of I95.  We've stopped there before in our truck and were fully aware that it's a very busy place.

As it turned out, I was running a bit ahead of her and pulled into the Pilot to get gas and scope it out.  We had decided that we would move on down the road and check out a rest stop if there was no room at the Pilot for both of us.

Getting fuel at Pilot's is a little bit frustrating, because unless you have a commercial card or a Pilot/Flying J credit card, you have to go into the office to get pre-approval for your credit card before you can even pump.  If you want DEF, you need to tell them that when you get the pre-approval.  I figure out how much I'll roughly need (total cost) and round it to the next hundred.  When you get back out to the pump, it's all ready and all you have to do is fill it up.  When you hit your limit, it stops.  If you don't hit it, you're only charged for what you actually used and can go back in if you want and get a receipt.

For me, DEF putting DEF in at the pump is difficult because my fill point is at the right rear and the diesel fills are at the front.  If I put DEF in, I have to get back into the coach, move it up and then pump.  If there are truckers waiting, then I feel like that would really frustrate them.  To make it all work out, I carry two DEF jugs (ordered online), fill them and then use them to fill the DEF tank later at a campground.

After filling up, I asked the guy in the lane about parking.  The trucker's can back into some of the long parking spaces, but I can't back the RV with the toad.  Unless I found two long, back-to-back, available spaces, I wasn't going to be able to stay there.  The trucker was a nice older gentlemen and he explained that a lot of folks parked along the grass at the back of the complex.  I drove around and was lucky enough to find one of those spots.  Lucky because all of the sites were filling up fast - and it wasn't even 4pm yet.

When my DW arrived about an hour later, one of the back-in spots had come open and she backed the UHaul in for the night.  Parking is interesting at the larger P/FJ's.  There are the fuel pumps for smaller vehicles that are right in front of the store and, usually, a restaurant.  These pumps have gas and diesel (on some) available.   Next to the gas pumps are a row of parking spaces that are only big enough for cars. To the side, there is a large parking lot for trucks. The truck spaces are in two rows that are back to back against each other. This is just like the parking lot at your grocery store, except the parking spaces are very long to accommodate the trucks. Sometimes, as it was in the case of the Pilot that we visited, there is room around the side of the large roadways to park some other trucks or RVs.

After parking our RV and toad along the back of the parking lot, I thought I was going to be in good shape to pull out the next morning. However, when I woke up around 7 a.m. and looked out the window, I saw that two long semi trucks had pulled up during the night and had parked parallel to me - blocking my way out. If I had gotten up early and wanted to leave, it wouldn't have been possible. As it was, everything was clear and I was able to easily get out at 9 in the morning.

It seems like most of the Pilot truck stops have either a Subway, McDonald's, or a Denny's. All are open 24 hours a day. The stores are very well-stocked, and the drinks are nicer and less expensive than the drinks in the restaurant. The larger stops even have some mechanics and people that do tire work. From a convenience perspective, these sorts of stops are very nice places to stay.

I've read that a lot of people are bothered by the trucks coming and going at all hours of the night. We weren't so bothered by that, probably because our coach is pretty well insulated and also we ran the air conditioners all night. I admit it may have been different if we parked in the regular rows with the professional truckers.

What about cost? At first, I thought we would get a pretty good deal because it is free to stay at one of these stops. However, it was a very hot day and night and we felt like we had to run the generator. On the first afternoon, we arrived around 4 o'clock and left about 9 o'clock the next morning. That is about 17 hours on the generator. Given that half a load on the generator consumes about 1/2 gallon of diesel every hour, we used something in the neighborhood of 9 gallons of diesel while we sat in that parking lot. At an average of $2.50 per gallon, we spent about $23 on electricity and had no water or sewer hookups. So if we could have found a place on the side of the road that had full hookups for $25 or so, we would have been better off. And we would have been able to put our slides out.

In the long run, I think we'll avoid staying at truck stops and rest areas if we can find some sort of campground along the way that costs $25 or less per night.

Tropical Palms RV Resort in Kissimmee FL

We wanted to go somewhere close to home for a little getaway; one where we could invite the grandchildren for a couple of nights and also have some other family come by and stay a few nights.  A few months ago, on a night we were visiting our good friends Norm and Ellen at the KOA in Kissimmee, we passed by a large sign for Tropical Palms RV Resort.  This came to mind when choosing a location because it is quite literally surrounded with things to do.

Tropical Palms is located just a few miles east of I4 in Kissimmee, the heart of "tourist country" near Walt Disney World.  It is probably no more than 30 minutes to Mickey's parking lot, and is right off of the main drag that hosts every restaurant imaginable, along with $15 helicopter rides and things like a military museum and more gift shops that you can count.  This main highway, US192, is less than a three-minute drive from the center of Tropical Palms.

Tropical Palms is a mixture of tiny cottages, FHU RV spaces, and lots of Water/Electric spaces.  There are hundreds of RV sites, a swimming pool with a full-service snack bar, a kiddie pool and an 18-hole mini-golf course.

The main office shares space with a well-stocked camp store that has lots of RV necessities and all of the basic things that you may need while camping.

Checking In and a bit about the Staff

When you arrive, there are two RV lanes.  You pull to the front and stop, then go inside the office to check in.  If you're in a pull-through site, you can just drive there.  If not, you can disconnect while in the lane.  There seemed to be about three people in the office during regular operating hours.  These people not only handle check-ins, but serve as the cashier's for the camp store and equipment check-in (like golf clubs for the mini-golf).  There are lots of people running around the complex doing chores like pool and lawn maintenance, but we only saw two guys on golf carts that were on-the-move and helping people.

Once you get to your site and need something from the office, you're probably better off walking to the office, because they haven't mastered the fine art of answering the phone.  I called twice during our 8-day stay, and hung up both times after patiently waiting on hold for more than 25 minutes.

When checking in, you will get a large campground map and some flyers that describe various upcoming activities.

Campground Overview

Site Map

As you can see by looking at the map, there are a lot of sites at Tropical Palms.  You drive in at the bottom center and you can see the pool in the middle.  The orange sections are full hookup pull-through sites - although they vary in length.  We stayed in the orange section (300's) in the center of the map.  Our location was convenient to everything offered at the resort.

The large swimming pool can be very crowded on the weekends, and (when we were there in 100 degree weather) was probably about 90 degrees.  They had a poolside DJ for much of the day.  There were also ice cream socials, s'mores, kid's crafts and games, and - on Friday and Saturday nights - "Dive In" movies by the pool.  

There were plenty of places to play outdoor games:  basketball, sand volleyball, bocce ball, shuffle board, corn hole, horse shoes, and an 18-hole mini golf course.  

There's also a clean central laundry room (there are others), a fitness room, and several bath houses. 

Golf carts may be rented, and you'll have let them know that you want to play most games so that you can pick up equipment.  Some games, like the mini-golf, require that they hold your ID. 

Tropical Palms is only about three minutes by car to Old Town, a popular location in Kissimmee that has many shops and an amusement park called Fun Spot with a lot of expensive rides.  Old Town is on Highway 192, which is a major thoroughfare

RV Sites

Some RV sites have full-hookups, others are water and electric only,  A dump station is on-site.  

Sites are close together:  I parked my truck in front of my rig and could have reached the door of the rig to our left with no more than 7-10 steps.  The sites don't seem as close together as they are, probably because the roads and the park itself are spacious and you don't pay as much attention to it unless you're having dinner on your picnic table and look up into the driver-side windows of your neighbor's rig parked about 8 feet away.

We were in a full hookup site, so our 50A power (30A available), water, and cable TV were on a single pedestal.  The sewer pipe was just a few feet away, although I could see that some rigs needed an extension to make the reach.

Most sites have picnic tables, but there are no grills or fire pits.  You may use your own grill as long as you keep it off the ground.

Getting into most of the pull-throughs looked easy, but some of them may be a bit tricky to exit.  Not many, though, as the vast majority of sites are nicely placed for maneuverability. 

Tips and Tidbits

• Visit their web site:  http://www.carefreecommunities.com/rv-parks/florida/tropical-palms/
• They give discounts for Florida Residents and Passport America members
• RV check out/in is 11a/1p (or 12p/2p depending on what papers you read!)
• Pay attention to the online site map and request the area you want when you reserve.
• The big pool is hot in the summer, the kids wading pool is much cooler.  I enjoyed just standing under the falling water in the kids pool.
• Bring your own ice cream.  I paid $4 for an ice cream sandwich in the store.
• When we sat out at night near the pond, mosquitoes were buzzing around us.  But at our site away from the ponds, they were few and far between.
• When you get there and they assign you a site, you may want to ask them to verify the length before you go with your big rig and a tow.  Some of the pull-throughs barely fit a large trailer.  However, there is usually ample "extra car" parking in the grass at the end of rows.