Saturday, October 12, 2013

Hillsdale Lake Camping..

I just googled this park and it is 24 miles down here from my home in Overland Park...  And of course the main road has to be closed for bridge work...

That is much shorter than most of our motorcycle rides....  But this is perhaps the closest Kansas State Park to our home...

In Kansas they have a state park fee, which is a daily usage fee just to drive on the property...  You can buy a state park permit with your license plate for an annual...  But I never know which of my vehicles to purchase it with...

I might go state park camping once a year, and it seems that we never use the same car...  But with Loyce gone now, I will perhaps go more with the kids in the future..  She wasn't as keen about the state parks because they didn't have full hookups and the toilets are mostly vault style..

When I paid the fee last night, I had to pay the day use fee for the motorhome for over 65 at $2.75 a day which is normally $4.50.  And that didn't seem prohibitive, until you realize that they tack on another $3 for the concessionaire...

And then the camping was a separate purchase for water and 30 amp electric..  That was $16.50 a night, and if there was a concessionaire fee, it must have been embedded..   The camp host had a small wooden shack that he had all of this electronic equipment in to go online and record these transactions..  But he could take credit cards.........!

So we are camped for two nights of the weekend on a grassy sight along this lake.. That you might be able to see if you walk to the far end of the grounds..

The lake itself is a army corps of engineer project, but Kansas has and runs the camping..  Some of the COE projects here in this state have both state and federal campgrounds.  But there is only a state park here..

Of course that is good right now as we are in the federal shut down.  I would assume that those parks are shuttered now.

But the good part of being here is the fact that they let you wash on your camper without further fees.  So my son Ben and I were attacking the front of this motorhome with a brush and a big bucket of soapy water...

The sun was drying out the suds before we could even rinse it off, so we only did the bugs on the front, but they had been on there since we were in Michigan in July...

I rationalized that driving to Arizona would put me in rain somewhere before got to the destination...  Maybe I can get the coach professionally washed down there once I arrive...

It is rather cool here, just barely making 70 degrees with a wind out of the North.  Couldn't ever get away from the sweatshirt once you were out of the sun... But that's camping in the fall..

Retired Rod

4 comments:

  1. I much prefer the federal parks, and they are much less expensive especially for seniors. What I don't like are concessionaire run parks. They seem to gouge you any way they can, and maybe they are ok if you have a large RV, but if you are a solo in a tent you really get the shaft. Glad you are out and about though, and enjoy the park.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glad you are out and about, enjoy your time camping!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Glad to see you are out camping with your family, Rod. That state park sounds pretty affordable to me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. HOORAY, Rod, it's only money!!!! Sure am glad you and the kids went camping, even only 24 miles from the house... We have a US ARMY COE park across the road from our ranch, that the in-laws always use, because it has sewage hook-up... They don't believe in carrying ANYTHING in their black-tank !!!! We have electric & water, right here on the ranch, that everybody else uses.... They have $$$$...
    Hope y'all have a gooood time and HAPPY DAYS !!!!!

    ReplyDelete

Anonymous comments had to be eliminated.... For the most part this has removed unwanted responses.. If you can't post your comments, please email me and we will make other arrangements...