Tom Sawyer's Mississippi River RV Park

Perfection

Other RV Park Owners - Take Note. This is one that sets the bar of what makes a perfect park.

1) Scenic location along the banks of the Mississippi River
2) Close, but not so close, to a major city to explore
3) Large, well spaced water front sites - optimized for motorhomes and 5th wheels to get their best possible views to watch the barges go up and down the river.
4) Super friendly staff with flexible reservation policies
5) Well maintained everywhere you look, without feeling like a classy 'resort'.

and then add in free WiFi (well, it could work a little better) and FREE laundry in some of the cleanest and highest tech machines we've encountered in a campground?!?

Oh, and really reasonable rates.

It's pure bliss. If they added in a hot tub, we'd probably never leave. Well, until the floods lifted us away anyway.

Well done Tom Sawyer's. You've won our hearts.

AT&T & Verizon LTE work just fine here.

Wickham Park

Much Improved!

Lots of improvements have been made to Wickham Park since our prior reviews. Many new sites added, and all made to be full hook-ups.

On this visit, we experienced no weirdness as we had on the previous visits below - so hopefully lots of internal changes have happened as well.

Would recommend avoiding the 'C' section if you can - as this was the previous overflow area that is now tightly space full hook-up sites. We love A and B however, lots of room to park and feel space around you.

Lake Louisa State Park

Decent State Park

We love checking out state parks, and this one is only ok.

The park itself doesn't really offer too much. It's very large and spread out, with the campground being 3 miles from the entrance. We went on several of the hikes, but they seemed to mostly be old service roads to the orchards, and not necessarily scenic. They're also very sandy, making it difficult to walk on.

The campground itself is also only ok. It's a very long drive down to it, but the sites don't really offer the sense of isolation and privacy that we've become fond of in other Florida State Parks. The sites are all gravel and very defined, and a bit too close together by state park standards. They offer little isolation between each other, not much of a view and none of them have shade. Other than being in walking distance to two fishing piers, the campground is pretty generic feeling and could have very well been anywhere - so why so far away from the entrance?

But, on the plus side, the park seems to be able to accommodate RVs of all sizes with several very long pull-thrus and spacious back-in sites.

There's also ample LTE signal within the park for AT&T and Verizon, and marginal for T-Mobile.

All and all, just an 'eh' feeling for us as compared to other state parks out there. But if looking to avoid private RV parks in the area, this could be a fine choice.

Grayton Beach State Rec Area

One of our favorites!

Wow, what a treat to stay in this park - exactly our style. We were able to snag site 12 for 5 nights, which is on the older loop with water access.

Yes, some of the sites are smaller and the loop is tighter. But there are plenty of sites in the loop that can accommodate 35-40' rigs - just check Reserve America to pick them out. A little patience in backing into your site, and you are surrounded by glorious privacy! And the sites on the outer loop along the lake all have private walk ways out on the Western Lake for amazing sunset views over the dunes, and there are several kayak launches.

The new loop is nice, but not nearly as private feeling - and no water access. But if you need 50A and sewer, it's still great. We just prefer the old-style Florida state park experience so much more.

We loved our stay here and exploring the quirky contrasts of Grayton Beach to the west and Seaside to the east. Definitely check out The Red Bar, a great location for local music!

Had great Verizon & AT&T LTE service here. We'll definitely be back!