This is my first RV I've owned and it's now in storage. Aside from staying with my grandparents in their 16-foot travel trailer, and camping in a Class C in a New Jersey casino parking lot to play in a poker tournament, I don't have any experience yet with RV parks.
I drove out yesterday to a RV park 35 minutes from my condo outside of Washington DC, called "Hillwood Camping Park" with great expectations, and even thinking I could move my RV there and full-time while earning extra money by renting out my condo.
I was DEEPLY DISAPPOINTED with what I saw. The campground bills itself as
"offers extended camping services at our full-hookup campground. Military, government, or business employees who are looking for long term campground accommodations close to the Washington D.C. metro and other offices... provides workers traveling to the D.C. area for long-term business or military assignments with a peaceful respite far enough away from the metro to relax but close enough for daily travel."
It looked awful. Horrendous.
The RV's were crammed side by side with just a couple of feet between them, only a few had space enough for a picnic table, most were just an arms lengths from the next one. The ground was uneven, bumpy, and muddy. There was a lot of makeshift outdoor storage apparatus, tarps pulled across and tied to trees, and "stuff" just scattered outside the rigs. Many of them had cars parked in front of them. There wasn't a soul to be seen.
It looked like a depressing scene out of the trailer park from the movie "8 Mile". I fully expected Eminem's drunken mother to come yelling out of a run-down trailer and Cheddar Bob to pull up in a squeaky beat up rusty old Lincoln.
There was about a 30:1 ratio of fifth-wheels to Class A. Just a couple of bumper-pull trailers and I don't recall seeing any Class B or C. Many of the fifth-wheels looked new, and there was A LOT of Montanas. There was one row which was all Montana rigs, many of them new.
I don't know if I had some pollyannac expectations of beautiful lakes and sunsets, fireside cocktails and conversation, and plenty of room around the rigs, clean and neatly kept sites. But all that was dashed in an instant. My brother who went with me couldn't keep from laughing and said he couldn't wait to tell his co-workers about the dumpy meth-head trailer park his brother was going to live in and how "Scott's next move in life keeps getting worse! Bahahahaha!"
The website for the place looked nice, but all I wanted to do was get outta there fast.
For $787 EWS, I expected nicer. Maybe because it's near Washington DC and meant for gov't and military contractors who come to work temporarily in the area and just need a place to park their rigs so they can live and go to work until the contract is over and they move to the next city.
These were the only reviews on RV Park Reviews:
Quote:
"Overall Rating: 0.5 out of 5 stars
This was the worst place I have literally ever been. Filthy!!! Wouldn't recommend this place to anyone. The lady in the office is constantly talking bad about all the people staying at the park. Not a nice person at all and the owner takes no pride what so ever in this park. Lots of full time residents that have tons of old stuff hoarded around the outsides of their campers. This place was just gross! We camped at Hillwood Camping Park in a Motorhome."
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Quote:
Overall Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
This park needs lots of improvement. First off this is not a tourist park, it is mostly long-term campers who are here on contract jobs from out of town. There is no maintenance or upkeep of the park, all the sites are nothing but grass which turns to mud every time it rains or snows. Sites are not level either. If it snows, trees fall on your camper and destroy it, two campers completely destroyed during our stay. There are two maintenance workers on-site, but only one of them actually cares and will help you if you need something. The restrooms, showers and laundry are very rustic, old and filthy. While we were there, a camper had his back window broken out and everything was stolen out of the camper, so this place is not safe, nor does it supply any security. There were some reports of campers having their LP tanks stolen too. Be careful what you say to the lady that works in the office, she will tell everyone your business. The owner is very indifferent, unfortunately they are the only long-term camping park in the area and they know it, so complaining about anything in the office is not worth your trouble, basically the attitude is, you’re more than welcome to leave or find someplace better. So bottom line, if you are a tourist, I recommend you stay away and find another campground. If you are here on a long-term job, it is the only game in town, but you have been warned. Too bad too, this could be a nice park if the owner cared for it. We camped at Hillwood Camping Park in a Motorhome.
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Please tell me this is not how RV parks are like. I want to believe in sunsets, glassy mountain lakes, nature's beauty, and fireside cocktails and laughs with new friends.