Technomadia

Home Base: 
High-tech nomads on the road full time since 2006.
Type of RV: 
1961 GM 4106 (35' Vintage Bus)
Web Site: 
http://www.technomadia.com
https://www.facebook.com/Technomadia
@Technomadia
143 Reviews
137 Photos
33 States Visited

Recent Reviews

Paradise Lakes Family Campground

3
May 2011

Eh... It'll Do

Stopped in here at the advice of a local for a night. Can't say we were terribly impressed. The staff checking us in was a bit short and rude, and really didn't do much to address our needs, so we ended up in a full hook-up site, when water/electric would have done it for us.

Could find no evidence of wifi being available at our campsite, so that was a disappointment. Most of the caps on the sewer hook-ups were missing, leaving them fully exposed. The bathhouse seemed way too small for the area it was in (next to the tent area), and was a bit run down. Not to mention, the ladies room was *very* pink. Also, none of the sites have a private or in nature feel.. they're just sorta lined up next to each other in scattered areas.

But, for a night - it did the job. Way overpriced for what it is.

AT&T had a weak Edge signal, and Verizon had solid 3G.

Date of Stay:
 May, 2011
Rate Paid:
 $33.50

Holly Bluff Family Campground

5
May 2011

Serendipity's Beacon

Our RV broke down across the street, and we saw the sign for this place. We got things fixed up and pulled across the road to arrive to some of the friendliest and most helpful people. Our alternator was going out, and they offered to give us a jump in the morning to get us back on the road and into Asheboro to a mechanic.

This campground is absolutely adorable - large shaded sites with full hook-ups and many sites with gorgeous bluff views. Very peaceful.

There is free wifi that works, and seems to be well spread parkwide. AT&T has a strong Edge signal here.

Date of Stay:
 May, 2011
Rate Paid:
 $28.00

Silver Lake Campground - Withlacooche State Forest

4
May 2011

Perfect Highway Break!

Perfectly located just off the exit for Brooksville off of I-75, this is a great spot to stop for the night! All of the spaces are nicely spread out and most shaded, there is electrical & water hook-ups and many of the sites of a water view of Silver Lake.

A rails to trails walking/bike path runs near by. The biggest draw back is that it's located almost underneath I-75, so you do hear highway sounds all the time. It's not bad, but while it looks like nature surrounding you - it doesn't sound like it.

Also, due to state budget cutbacks, the gatehouse is closed (so it's all self checkin and honor system) and the campsites were in need of cleaning. Ours had quite a bit of trash on it.

We had a solid 3G signal on AT&T & Verizon.

Date of Stay:
 April, 2011
Rate Paid:
 $20.00

Wekiwa Springs State Park

5
Apr 2011

Get Away!

A lovely Florida State Park to get away to, while still staying close to town.

The campground is two loops, with most sites well shaded. There is decent space between each site and each site is generous in size, providing good privacy. The bathhouses are well maintained and modern, and centrally located.

Hiking trails come right up to the campground, and you can easily walk a mile to the swimming springs and canoe rentals.

At the campground, we received a strong 3G AT&T signal, but it was spotty throughout the rest of the park.

Date of Stay:
 April, 2011
Rate Paid:
 $24.00

Treasure Island RV Park

3
Oct 2010

Some Improvements, A lot of worsening

We first stayed here about 2 years ago, attracted to the location and ease of getting around the Bay Area from this park - due to its proximity to BART. When we returned for a longer stay in the Bay Area again, it was our top choice.

Apparently, when you stay here for a month or shorter, you're charged their short term rates. So the monthly rate was $150 more than if we paid last time for our longer stay . However, it was inclusive of electricity (no way we use that much). Also, the sites for big rigs and the tiny sites for rigs like ours - all pay the same rate. Kinda frustrating. The short term sites are along the main road through the park - easy to get in and out of, but a lot of traffic constantly going right by your door, which also lessens your sense of privacy. There are multiple speed bumps, which mean you're constantly hearing trucks and cars slowing down, rattling as they go over and then speeding up.

The park management told us they had been given a blank check from the owner to make improvements. There was new landscaping and asphalt since we were last here - which made the park look slightly better. They are apparently close to breaking ground on constructing a new bath house too.

Which they dearly need. The main bath house that short term stay tenants utilizes is beyond its last leg. When we arrived, there were only two working showers in the lady's room. Within a week, one of them had broken (the showerhead only dribbled). By the time we left 3 weeks later - it still hadn't been fixed. 1 shower for everyone is unacceptable. (Sure, if you have a full size bath in your rig, you probably don't need it. But for us, part of why we pay for parking is for use of a 'real' shower - as otherwise, we could just boondock and dump occasionally.)

This park is still a great location. And if they paid any attention to the existing facilities and/or actually build the new bathhouse - it'll again regain our higher rating. But for now, afraid we have to downgrade it.

Date of Stay:
 October, 2010
Rate Paid:
 $25.83

Meriwether Lewis National Park

5
Sep 2010

Beautiful! Shady! Free!

We journeyed to Hohenwald Tennessee in May to visit the Oliver Travel Trailer Factory to handle a few issues with our trailer. Afterwards, we wanted to find a nice place to camp where we could put down roots for an entire week to get caught up on projects and just spend some time enjoying being at home.

The folks at the Oliver factory told us about the nearby free campground located along the Natchez Trace Parkway – so we decided to check it out before venturing further afield to find check out a few promising state parks.

We were blown away.

This place is free?!? Wow!

The 444 mile Natchez Trace Parkway runs from just south of Nashville to Natchez, Mississippi. It is administered by the National Park Service, and it is one long interrupted greenbelt that completely isolates you from modern buildings, commercialism, advertising, and even trucking. This route has been in use by travelers and animals for hundreds of years, and the only indication of what century you are in is the ribbon of asphalt cutting through the trees instead of a dirt trail. The Natchez Trace is one of the most beautiful scenic drives in the country.

The forest is beautiful and quiet. Even over Memorial Day weekend the campground did not fill up.

There are three free campgrounds located along the Natchez Trace, and the one located at the Meriwether Lewis Park near Hohenwald is a beautiful wooded oasis. We found the sort of tranquility we were looking for, and we even had a workable cell signal to get some work online handled too!

The Meriwether Lewis National Monument is located within the park, and it marks the grave of the famous explorer. Lewis (most likely) committed suicide in 1809 while spending a night at an inn while traveling along the Natchez Trace. He was journeying from St. Louis to Washington D.C. to handle some problems with reimbursement of his expense reports for the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Clearly frustration with bureaucracy is not a new invention…

The park offers no hookups (not even a dump station), but fresh water is available from centrally located faucets and there are very clean bathrooms with flush toilets.

All of the sites are in the trees, which is great for shade but which limited the effectiveness of our solar system. We ran the generator for an hour or two every other day to keep our batteries topped off.

Despite being free, the Meriwether Lewis Park campground is beautifully maintained, and it is even staffed with a campground host to keep an eye on things. The bathrooms lacked showers, but flush toilets and running water are available.

Meriwether Lewis Park is a gem, and we thoroughly enjoyed a chill week catching up with ourselves there.

In the future we will certainly return, perhaps while journeying the full length of the Natchez Trace southward.

Summary Details:

View: Beautiful forrest.

S
Cell & Data Coverage:

AT&T – Weak, but usable.

Sprint - Very slow but still usable CDMA 1xRTT. (D: 115Kb/s, U: 56Kb/s, 669ms) (Sprint indicates roaming – probably on Verizon)

Date of Stay:
 May, 2009

Erbie Campground - Buffalo National River

4
Sep 2010

Down a long dirt road...

We saw a road sign indicating a campground in the woods off to our left, so we headed down a dark dirt road in search of a place to stop for the night.

The sign hadn’t made any mention of how FAR it was to the campground, and at night in the dark the five miles seemed like thirty – particularly since there were many steep sections and there was no easy places to turn the trailer around should we decide to retreat.

But in the end, we found Erbie – a beautiful remote campground located right along the Buffalo National River.

Not surprisingly considering how remote it is, Erbie has no hookups. The campground is clean and well maintained though, and the spots are fairly widely separated along a large gravel loop. Even though there were two other sites occupied, we felt like we had the whole place to ourselves.

Our cat's impression: "I loved camping at Erbie. The river was swollen and scary, but there were trails to explore, trees to climb, and even bunnies to chase. I did get wet paws though from all the morning dew – be warned!"

Erbie is often used as a base camp for people venturing out via canoe or kayak to explore the pristine Buffalo National River. Recent flooding had closed the river, but there were extensive trails to explore nearby.

One of the trails leads from Erbie Campground to the nearby Parker Hickman Farmstead – a glimpse back in time at turn-of-the-century rural life. We thoroughly enjoyed an early morning hike upstream to explore this place.

The most significant thing lacking at Erbie was wireless network access of any sort. They did have this museum quality ancient communication device called a 'pay phone' on display however…

Overall, Erbie was a wonderfully tranquil place to spend the night and get away from it all. If only there were at least some network access, would love to return and explore the area further.

Summary Details:

View: Woods & hills!

Facilities: Pit toilets, boat launch.

Cell & Data Coverage:

AT&T – Nope.

Sprint - Did I mention how far down a dirt road this place is?!?

Date of Stay:
 June, 2009
Rate Paid:
 $10.00

Columbus - Belmont State Park

5
Sep 2010

Beautiful bluff views!

Working our way down the Mississippi from St. Louis towards Tennessee, we were hoping to find a scenic spot along the river to stop for two nights.

We struck gold when we stumbled into Kentucky’s Columbus Belmont State Park just before sunset. The view looking west from high up on the bluffs overlooking Mississippi River literally took our breath away.

We paid $2 extra per night to camp in one of the “premium” spots located right on the bluffs with a commanding view of the river. It was SO worth it to be able to watch the barges on the river right out our back window…

These bluffs have long been known for their domineering position on the river. During the Civil War the Confederate fort built on the bluffs was referred to as the “Gibraltar of the West”, and the Confederate army actually installed a massive chain across the entire Mississippi river to block Union supply lines and gunboats.

There remains a lot to do in the park for Civil War buffs. The remains of the fort are located a short walk from the campground, the giant chain is on display, there is an old cemetery to walk through, and there is even a small museum on site. Every October historic re-enactors swarm the park to recreate the 1861 Battle of Belmont, the start of the Union’s western campaign and General Ulysses S. Grant’s first active engagement in the Civil War.

But we weren’t here for the history – we just wanted a place to relax, enjoy the view, and get some work done.

The parklike lawn offered a beautiful environment for working outside. Until the lawn care crew showed up with their power tools, that is…

Unfortunately, our cell phone data signal was slow and intermittent, and our booster wasn’t much help.

Even worse (from the standpoint of relaxing and getting things done), a lawn care crew spent the entire day mowing and trimming and edging and buzzing about. The downside of a beautiful parklike setting is the work that goes into maintaining it, I guess…

We loved sitting and watching the giant barges plying the waters heading up and down the Mississippi.

But once the lawn crew dispersed, the view from the bluffs well worth the annoyance. Magical, tranquil, and serene.

Would definitely recommend staying here. But unless you are coming for the Civil War history, make sure that you get one of the bluff-side camp spots. The rest of the campground area is rather typical and generic, but the spots along the river will take your breath away.

Very cool that KY State Parks offer AAA discounts!

Cell & Data Coverage:

AT&T – Weak but usable.

Sprint - Marginal CDMA 1xRTT. (Dropped in and out…)

Date of Stay:
 July, 2009
Rate Paid:
 $22.00

Anthony Chabot Campground

4
Sep 2010

Beautiful, but some annoying quirks..

This is a beautiful location and a beautiful campground with some great views of the east bay area. They offer some sites with full hook-ups, and some with none at all.

Since the campground is so shady nestled in the trees, we had to opt for hook-ups since our solar panels wouldn't do much good. Unfortunately, cell signal was difficult to get where the hook-up spots are - but seemed much better just down the road in the primitive sites. If we went again, we'd probably get a primitive site and just plan to top off the batteries with our generator.

Great hiking around here.

The annoyances with this campground - as far as being a base camp for exploring the bay area in general - include: The gates lock at 10pm - no ins & outs, period. Unless you buy a key to the gate from the ranger, who seems difficult to track down. It is also a bit of a drive - while you can see San Leandro below you, it's a good 20 minute drive down the road. The Castro BART station is closer by, so you can get access to public transit.

So likely not ideal for exploring the bay area, this is a great location to escape the hustle and bustle and traffic of the land below.

Date of Stay:
 September, 2008
Rate Paid:
 $25.00

Black Rock City - Burning Man

5
Sep 2010

Greatest Place on Earth!

For one week a year (ending on Labor Day) the greatest temporary city on earth converges in the Black Rock Desert of northern Nevada - becoming Black Rock City. It's a city based on gift economy, artistic expression, self-reliance and self-expression.

This is a very RV friendly event, providing you don't mind extreme dry camping and lots of dust.

Beware.. this is not your typical RV Park. There is all sorts of self-expression going on during the festival. Tantalizing costuming, nekkid people, imbiding and more - definitely not for the faint of heart. But if you're an explorer of all things of this earth with an open mind - welcome home!

Burning Man doesn't have a defined purpose, and you will find here whatever it is you are looking for - spiritual enlightenment, art, partying, exploration, heat stroke.

Date of Stay:
 September, 2010
Rate Paid:
 $42.00

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