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Old 03-07-2013, 06:34 PM   #1
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Houston, TX

I'm still looking around east Texas trying to figure out where we want to live next.

Does anyone know anything about Houston East RV Park in Baytown? As in are they skoolie friendly? Too soon to email them to ask. Know anything about Baytown?

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Old 03-07-2013, 11:07 PM   #2
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Re: Houston, TX

Just email them, I do it just to see if they let skoolies in , I tried once in corpus christi TX and they said no, seems to me if the place has Resort in its name, they cater to higher end rvs , and they may want to see a pic of the bus
let us know if you find out, we are thinking about being a winter texen,
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Old 03-08-2013, 08:08 AM   #3
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Re: Houston, TX

Quote:
Originally Posted by gbstewart
... we are thinking about being a winter texen,
gbstewart
Did my post about never getting more than an inch of snow catch you at a weak moment after spending the day plowing and snowblowing?

I've noticed you northerners are pretty worn down by the time March arrives. Ready for spring?
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Old 03-08-2013, 08:43 AM   #4
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Re: Houston, TX

Quote:
Originally Posted by Diesel Dan
Quote:
Originally Posted by gbstewart
... we are thinking about being a winter texen,
gbstewart
Did my post about never getting more than an inch of snow catch you at a weak moment after spending the day plowing and snowblowing?

I've noticed you northerners are pretty worn down by the time March arrives. Ready for spring?
no kidding worn down is right, we had so mauch snow this year, and now theres a Alberta clipper heading this way, means another 4-5 inchs of snow with high winds! it takes me 6-10 hours of plowing snow at work, plus sanding the road. I just want to take the bus out!!
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Old 03-08-2013, 10:05 AM   #5
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Re: Houston, TX

Quote:
Originally Posted by gbstewart
Just email them, I do it just to see if they let skoolies in , I tried once in corpus christi TX and they said no, seems to me if the place has Resort in its name, they cater to higher end rvs , and they may want to see a pic of the bus
let us know if you find out, we are thinking about being a winter texen,
gbstewart

This park caters to workers. So I don't think they will mind a skoolie. I'm not ready to ask yet. We can't leave until I've worked at HD for 2 years ( been here only 1 year). PLUS we have to save up enough $$ . We won't be winter texans. I have to work so we will be there at least 2 years.

We had problems with the Rockport-Fulton / Corpus Christi area parks over having an old RV plus the food cart. We ended up at a mobile home & RV park on Flour Bluff in Corpus Christi (6 months). It worked for us. They said skoolies were okay. We had to get our own cable & internet. Walking distance to the public library, convenience store, Family Dollar and two restaurants (mexican & major chain Pizza).
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Old 03-08-2013, 11:02 AM   #6
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Re: Houston, TX

Pardon my ignorance, but why do parks care what kind of rig you have? Everyone's money is the same, and don't CGs want money? Isn't it more likely that people who have older rigs or skoolies may in fact be able to spend more money at the parks since they didn't just drop $80k on a ridiculous RV? Just seems a little biased and ignorant to me...

Then again I've always been in a customer service based industry where if you discriminate against any particular kind of people, you lose business and income so what do I know?
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Old 03-08-2013, 01:28 PM   #7
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Re: Houston, TX

In a nutshell, some park owners think that if you have a converted school bus that you are a crack head, travelling meth lab, or some kind of stoned out granola eating,living in tree hippie, or your broke, with 10 kids living in a bus, sorry didnt mean to sugar coat it, its really to bad , in all the parks that I stayed in lots of the big ass rv owners always wanted to see my bus, and where very nice people, also some parks have the 10 year rule, I emailed Quil run rv park in Quartzsite and asked if we could book for next winter, had to send them a pic of the bus, they said no they would not let skoolies in they also said my dog was to big, but theres plenty of parks that will take a skoolie, just check before u go
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Old 03-08-2013, 02:03 PM   #8
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Re: Houston, TX

I think the RV industry in general wants to protect what they have. If you're parked next to a rig that someone's paying off a hundred thousand plus loan, I don't think they'd appreciate being reminded of that monthly payment. Yes, the ten year-old age rule helps the park's owner keep the perceived "riff-raff" out, but more importantly, it helps sell new RV's.
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Old 03-08-2013, 02:54 PM   #9
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Re: Houston, TX

I think you guys pretty much covered it, but to summarize: yes I imagine the RV industry benefits by creating a culture in the RV world where people feel they are in an "exclusive class" of their own, and the RV "resorts" support this culture by keeping the fancier parks free of bus-converting hippies and rednecks. Sure there are people from all walks of life converting buses, but let's face it, there are a much higher percentage of hippies and rednecks driving buses than you would find driving ultra-expensive RVs. I totally understand where they are coming from and have no problem with it. I would not want to stay in those kind of places anyways. I would much rather hang out with rednecks and hippies. Makes life more interesting.
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Old 03-08-2013, 02:58 PM   #10
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Re: Houston, TX

We have not had any problems with staying in the campgrounds with our skoolie. But we haven't put it in very many. What we have had problems with was AGE of RV's. We have been turned down, sight unseen, by Shipp's and by Best Trav-l-Park both are in Chattanooga, TN. In Rockport-Fulton, Port Aransas, Aransas Pass, Corpus Christi (all are in the same area in TX) we were trying to stay in a 33 year old Class C (at the time) and we also has a food cart. We were being turned down because of the old RV, the food cart or both... except at one place... they turned us down because I was "too young" at 49 yo and we had our daughter with us at the time (23 yo at the time). The park was a 55+ and told David (55 yo) he was "welcome to stay but your wife and daughter will have to find someplace else to stay". We found a park (Hatch RV) in Corpus Christi that had no problem with us (or a skoolie.. I asked) but sites were too small to fit us, the Class C, the food cart and 2 Jeeps all on the same site. We ended up in the mobile home park because we left the 55+ park and simply turned left and stayed on that road. We drove past a couple other expensive RV parks and were looking for a place to turn around when we found Shady Grove Mobile Home & RV Park. It was cheap, we got a site on the end of the run which meant we could park the food cart between our RV and the parking lot. We did need an adapter to plug our 30 amp RV into the 50 amp outlet. I still have the adapter just in case we have to be in a mobile home park again. Shady Grove changed ownership around the time we pulled out (2010). So I don't know what they are like now.

This is a recent review from Google They are not on RV park reviews despite having a a large chunk of the sites filled with RVs.


We look for certain key words when we look for a long term site: Workers, permanent RVs, long term residents, older RVs tend to signal to us that this may be a place we would like to stay at.

Check out the reviews from http://www.campgroundreviews.com. We have stayed at the following parks in our vintage Class C:
Cordele, GA
Georgia Veterans Memorial State Park (Public):- great park but it is a typical State Park. It has only water/electric sites. This is our favourite GA SP.

My review from May 2007
Quote:
GA Vet's has 3 comfort stations. Loops 1 & 2 have 2 showers per side. Loop 3 has 3 showers per side. We have always found this park to be very clean. Unfortunately it does fill up for the holidays and you need to book far ahead. We had to leave and stay at Dixie RV park across the street for Memorial weekend. This is one of our favorite parks in the GA State system. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Vienna, GA
Dixie RV Park (Private): this is actually about 7 miles from the entrance to GA Vets. We were usually the only ones there. We did a lot of work on the Class C. Full hookup sites (50/30 amp) are under the pine trees on the little hill just past the bathhouse and pond. Under the pine trees is the only shade. All sand but it was solid enough for us and more than one mega RV had pulled in there too. I believe it is a Passport America Park. It's supposed to fill up when the Big Pig Jig is going in Vienna. You would have no problem putting a skoolie in here.

My review from May 2007
Quote:
Very quiet. Not much in the way of shade. Good alternative to Ga Vet's State Park. From Hwy 280 & Entrance to Ga Vet's take Cannon Rd (opposite State Park entrance) for 6 miles. Turn Left onto Camper's Haven Rd for 1/2 mile. Campground on Right. Self check-in. There is a tiny store at the little campground 1/2 mile farther down the road. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Benbrook, TX
Holiday COE (Public) we stayed here on our way out west. There is a great Italian restaurant (Toscana on east side of Benbrook Blvd) in town or was, it may be closed, I can't seen to locate it anymore. Our waiter used to live in .... Vienna GA! We liked this park. We were there for two nights at the end of July. The solar heated showers were so hot David could not take a shower. Stacey & I showered in the Class C and never turned the hot water heater on. Traveling thru TX in July is not something I want to do again! We really liked this park and the bathhouse was clean too. Dumped tanks/took on potable water here.

Hobbs, NM
Harry McAdams Campground (Public): I'm not sure if this is a State Park or formerly a State Park that was turned over to the County. This was a nice campground. The huge jackrabbits was a little creepy. We stayed here 1 night. It was lovely to take a long cool shower. We were so hot. Park had full hookups & wifi too. CHEAP!!! We would most definitely stay there again if near that area. I would most definitely recommend it to anyone.

Socorro, NM
Casey's Socorro RV Park (Private) this is one of only two RV parks in town. This is the one we lived in for so long. Only one "long term resident" let her dog roam loose. Best to walk your dog across the road in the flat empty lot they are dumping fill dirt in. The bathhouse is CLOSED. It will not be reopened from what we were told. The folks who stay there for the county fair (fairgrounds is right down the road from the park) trash the bathhouse and rip the sinks off the walls.

my review from 2011
Quote:
We have stayed here twice. First time (2009) for 3 months. Second time (2010-2011) for 17 months. The "permanent" residents are mostly working folks and students attending NM Tech. They are quiet and tend to turn in shortly after 10PM as they tend to leave out early in the morning to go to work/school. It is a safe park. We had no problem leaving our daughter (a 25 year working full time RVer) alone in this park. Pet walk is along the wall outside the park entrance. At the time of this posting, there was a nice level vacant lot across the street that is a nice place to walk your pet. This is a skoolie (school bus conversion) friendly park. We camped here in a Motorhome.
Roswell, NM
Town & Country RV Park (Private): our current location. We are not terribly thrilled with this park. It has to do with the managers. Last managers were okay, current ones are overly strict and have lots of rules. Really picky over picking up after pets and not leaving cig butts anywhere (they will boot you out and no refunds). To give you an idea... The current manager has a sign on the chain link fence that here dogs stay in "Do not feed my dogs. If you feed my dogs I will call the police and prosecute you." We no longer use their bathhouse. We got the shower set up to use in the bus. The wifi is iffy for me. I use a long range antenna but it's Cable One internet and while the wifi signal is strong, there isn't always internet on the other end. I usually know when I'm going to have problems connecting based on what the cable TV looks/sounds like. This is a skoolie friendly park. And it is FULL of workers. I'm not the only one up at 3AM! Convenience store (and a Redbox) is across the street from us. Handy.

There is a park (Trailer Village) in town that does not allow any RV in unless it has an RVIA sticker on it... that means they do not allow the highway coaches either. And they stink. Really both Trailer Village and Red Barn have feedlots or something backed up to the. They smell very strongly of cow poo all the time. Or at least every time we have been past there. All of Roswell smells like "money" at times. Even our park does at time. But not like that. Phew!

I have found that I can open up Google Maps, type into the search bar "RV /Parks, City, State" or Mobile Home Parks, City, State" and far more options will pop up that RVparkreviews never shows. Try it for areas you are very familiar with. See what pops up then compare to RVparkreviews. Most of the time the difference is huge. What I can't figure out is the rampant openly hostile bias towards "workers". I'm pretty sure that these RVers have held down a job or two in their lifetime. I don't get it.
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Old 03-09-2013, 09:34 AM   #11
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Re: Houston, TX

Last time we were out,a guy walked up with a old wanderlodge pull over one,we chatted and he asked to see inside,I showed him and he smiled and sayed ya'll are having fun....I miss that part.....
Later he showed be his newer wanderlodge.....damn it was only a few years old...wow....he prefers his 1985 wanderlodge....but the kids like the newer one.
Most older folks that are true to the lifestyle of bus'in ....really like skoolies
The new rich dumbazz's are the thorn in my side....so damn arrogant and upity
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Old 03-17-2013, 04:29 PM   #12
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Re: Houston, TX

Quote:
Originally Posted by lornaschinske
I'm still looking around east Texas trying to figure out where we want to live next.

Does anyone know anything about Houston East RV Park in Baytown? As in are they skoolie friendly? Too soon to email them to ask. Know anything about Baytown?
just for shits & giigles I emailed that park last week and sent a picture of my bus, to see if they would let skoolies in, and I still havent heard back from them, that was a week ago well Ill wait another week, and ask them again.
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Old 03-17-2013, 05:29 PM   #13
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Re: Houston, TX

I have only had one park ever email me back within a month. That was to tell me they did not allow buses. I have one park email me back a year later and the rest seemed to ignore their emails. And this was when we had a sticks-&-staples Class C and I was asking about pet sizes as their rules were not clear on that.

One of my daughters used to live in Houston. When we go over to Socorro next month, we will ask about that side of Houston (she lived on the west side) and if she knows much about Baytown.
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