This RV Campout occured between 05/15-17/2025. It was just Julie R and I on this one.
Thursday, May 15, 2025- This was supposed to be a 4 day, 3 night RV camping trip at
We were going to spend one day traveling there, one day siteseeing, one day just chilling and one day getting home. That was the plan. However, two things happened that forced us to change those plans.
So we left Manassas, VA around 11:30 AM. Julie followed me in her vehicle. Our RV called the Breeze did well on the first 30 or so miles. Then, on I66 west between the Delaplane and the Markham exits, I started hearing vibrating sounds. They were faint at first but got louder as I was traversing the road at around 72 mph. By the time I got on I81 N the RV was shaking violently and the passenger and captains chair seats were creaking back and forth and making terrible noises.
At the Stephens City exit we stopped and used the facilities at
Good food! Then we proceeded north on I81 through the rest of VA, the panhandle of WV and then got to MD. We exited onto I70 west, took the first exit and then a series of left and right turns. Then it happened.
At the intersection of Rock Hill RD and Kemps Mill RD near Williamsport, MD the road was baricated. The Conocoheague Creek, which we were supposed to drive next to, had flooded Kemps Mill RD and it was impassable. What do we do now? A number of people stopped after us including a few RV’ers. There was a local who rode up to us on his electric golf cart. He said that since Kemps Mill followed this creek, that it would be even deeper as we got closer to the campground. I was so frazzled about the RV issues that I forgot to take an image of this flooded road.
Driving through the flood was not an option. I first tried calling the KOA but got their voice mail. We discussed just going back home. However, I remembered seeing signs for
on I81. So I called them and asked if they had availability for that night and they said yes. Problem solved! At least one of them was.
It was only about 7 miles or 15 minutes away from where the road was blocked. So we went to the Yogi Bear Campground for the night. The weekday price was comparable to the KOA. The weekend rate was much higher. But I was immediately impressed with this campground.
It was hard to count the exact number of sites at this campground. However, I estimated it to be about 250 RV, tent and cabin sites. They put us at site 749. It looked like the “full timers” section. But, at this point, we didn’t care. The site was level, had water, electric, sewer and about 100 cable channels. We were able to see the final Washington Caps game of the season that evening. Very sorry that they lost.
Lots of amenities at this campground. It looked like the ideal place to go camping with young children. And the Yogi Bear theme sure helped. The cable was nice and clear. The camp WIFI was OK but it was slow and occasionally dropped out. Both Verizon and AT&T cell service only had one to two bars. So using a hot spot was not much better than using the WIFI.
What impressed me most about this campground was the bathrooms. They were modern, private bathrooms that were clean and had hot water for the sinks. The last three campgrounds that we stayed at did not have at least one of these amenities. I checked my voicemail and KOA did call us that morning to tell us that the campground was not reachable. So it was my fault that I didn’t get my messages earlier. The staff at the Yogi Bear campground were friendly and helpful.
Another thing I liked about the Yogi Bear campground was that they only allowed certain flags to be displayed at campsites. We ran into this last fall at
A couple sites had Trump flags on very tall flexible poles that you could see from far away. I disliked it as that is how I felt about the candidate and about our current president. So I’m glad that this campground put a stop to that kind of behavior. The notice that we got at checkin is
Here.
Friday, May 15, 2025– We talked about checking out either the nearby outlet mall or some small shops. But I was still upset about the RV and tried to get some professional advice as to what the problem was. I called my mechanic and he said that it could be anything from a bad transmission, broken shock, broken strut, bad wheel bearings or a number of other things. Then I called some places about having a mobile tech check out my rig. I couldn’t get anyone to come out. So I checked my transmission fluid to be sure that was not the problem, then I decided that we would take a chance and drive the RV home. It was about a 100 mile drive.
I decided to take all back roads to avoid the interstates for the trip back home. We wasted half the day trying to get help. So we paid for another night at the Yogi Bear and decided to go home on Saturday instead of Sunday. That way, if I did break down, Julie would be available in case we needed to get the RV towed or if I had to stay with it or we had to clear everything out of it. We got some strong storms on Friday afternoon. But they cleared up by early evening. It seems like half of the campground was out taking a walk on Friday evening after the storms. We joined the crowds and got an ice cream at the Canteen.
Saturday, March 18, 2025- We left at about 9:30 AM and took the following backroads to get home: MD63 East to ALT40 East to US40 East to US15 South to VA234 East to Hoadly RD North to Purcell RD West and we were home. It didn’t take that much longer than going I81 to I66. It was more scenic and I got to keep my speed below 50 miles an hour most of the way home. This made the RV shake much less. And the trip was less stressful. I plan to take the RV in for service on Monday. So again, we will have to debate whether it is worth getting a 20 year old RV fixed or not.
Even though the campground WIFI and cell service were so-so, I was impressed with everything else about the Yogi Bear campground. So I will give it four stars. We may even go back there someday.
★★★★Mike C
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