At 8:15am we were on the road going east on I-44 toward St. Louis, Missouri. In the vicinity of St. Louis we took I-255 around the city and then onto I-70 east across the Mississippi River into Illinois.
In Illinois we stopped at a Flying J for fuel a little after noon so we parked the motorhome and had lunch at the Denny’s restaurant on Flying J’s premises. We had planned to stop for the night at a KOA campground in Terra Haute, Indiana which was a little more than 300 miles, which we did. Tom registered us and came back saying we would only have water and sewer hook-up and the cost was $56.95 for the night- this was the most expensive camping fee we have paid this entire trip and in Terra Haute, Indiana. Go figure!! Oh, there was going to be a ham and bean dinner at no cost- big deal. The Trailer Life Campground directory for 2010 had quoted the cost of this campground as $36-45.00 and one would assume a full hook-up would be no more than $45.00. Here 2 years later than the date of the directory we were going to have to pay almost $12.00 more for a water/electric only site than the most expensive site in 2010- talk about inflation!! We got into our site and were beginning to hook-up. Tom came into the motorhome saying that the water was but a trickle and at that point we decided we were not going to stay here. Tom went to the office and got a refund and we were on our way. Thirty miles up the road was another campground, Cloverdale RV Park, that we stopped. For half the cost of KOA ($28.89) we have full hook-ups (water, sewer and 30-amp electric) and the campground is neatly maintained in a quiet setting. For the life of me I do not know what the draw to KOAs are. These campgrounds are most always more expensive and offer nothing more than other campgrounds. I have heard some folks say that they only stay at KOA’s and I think that these folks are missing some very nice campgrounds and are paying so much more. Another point- is it any wonder why RVers are finding WalMart parking lots, Flying J lots and other such parking places as suitable overnight camping sites? We went a little further(362 miles) than we had planned but we both feel better about the campground that we are staying in.
