Well, I have picked the wrong one before! Though I have been to places that have no house around the potty let alone no door that was not one of the mistakes!

However, the place where you had to walk through a trailer park section to get to the bathrooms was a mistake. The first stall I went to use had the stall door fall right off when I tried to go in. Then when you sat on the toilet you realized that the doors on the stalls were hung too high so they were not covering the bottom part of your body!

Same place... golf carts zipping around the site on all four sides 24 hours a day!

I picked the wrong place. We packed up early and went to a very nice hotel!

Or, how about the time we camped at the beach at a place near my cousin's wedding...

When you get to the place and find out your site is basically a paved parking lot with hookups on the edge.

When behind you is a tall fence and looming behind that is a huge power plant. You get lulled to sleep by the steady hum of the power plant.

You can't enjoy the scenic drive past the power plant every time you go in or out of the campground because of all of the danger signs. You wonder if you'll return home from this trip glowing in the dark.

Then since you are camping with young children you run out of milk as always happens. So, you go to the camp store and discover that they don't sell any milk but have a huge supply of colored condoms for sale!

Wrong place again!!!

^
:

hilarious.

Nothing quite that comedic for me, but one I recall was the place that had NO TREES, just a big grassy field bordered by bushes in the distance (woods are a requirement for me so I was appalled!) It didn't feel like camping at all. Oh, and it was packed with people, ZERO privacy btw. you and your neighbors.

Another place where we didn't actually camp (and never will) we just drove through to check it out, had all the sites right along a very busy road (lots of traffic noise, delightful). In the back of the campground was a HUGE chainlink fence, I guess to keep people out of the gorge that ran behind the whole place. It looked like you were camping next to a prison.

Too Funny! Now that we can look at it and laugh.
By the way, Jen, the postmark from Utah is on its way!
My all time favorite place had a "Water Slide" advertised.
Well, you could have scaled fish off of the concrete surface you were supposed to "slide" down. The park had a giant statue of a GORILLA at the entrance. What was that all about? Did the people get that for a discount somewhere? Seriously, the water slide had no attendant and there was rust along the edge of where the little water did run. We slid on our mats for the first 40 ft or so and then, the sandpaper surface stopped us like we hit something. We flew off our mats and paid the price as we scraped along til we could stand up and walk the rest of the way down, licking out wounds.

Good ones!!! I love hearing other peoples stories. I guess the best one I have is the time we went to a deserted campground in the Pine Barrens and got totally creeped out. Hubby, myself and the 3 boys who were pretty little all thought it would be fun to be the only ones at a closed campground. We got in touch with the owner who met us and let us in. The place had been closed for some time, but there were quite a few trailers still there and they were all open and most of them still had food, clothes, tv's, nintendo(that tells you how long it had been vacant) etc. still there. I'm talking years since anyone had been there. We set our tent up, it was right on the lake front. This whole place is VERY small keep in mind, maybe 15 or so sites total. Anyways, we went wading down to Batsto via the stream and had a good time, in spite of the horse fly's the size of small bats. The 2 dogs were going crazy trying to keep free of them. We used this old screen houes that was left there for cover in the day. OK, night comes and it is so dark and quiet deep in the Pine Barrens. It was a Sat. night, and out of no where we start to hear all this screaming, loud noises and it seems to be getting closer and closer. We are getting freaked a little bit, hubby and I. Kids think it's cute, what do they know. We are wondering if it will ever stop, we think about packing up and getting the heck out of there but it is late and impossible to see to get out of there. The whole place was closed in by a big locked gate and we did have a key to use to open and close up after ourselves. We pretty much didn't get any sleep that night wondering if it was the jersey devil coming for us...LOL you have to be from Jersey to understand. Next morning we got our things together and got the heck out of there. Before we left though a cop shows up from a near by town, we talk to him, he says he stops by every once in awhile to ck. on things for the owner. He said he couldnt believe someone camped there and laughed. We looked at him, didn't even ask and left. We always wonder what happened to the people, why their things were all still there and why it was shut down. Weird for sure.
Lynda

Lynda, I had a similar experience in the pine barrens. My older brother and I went to visit a residential school he attended. When we arrived the place was deserted but everything was open. We went into the dorms and everything was just there and had been for a very long time. The clothes were just strewn around, stereos, half drunk sodas, coffees, etc just laying around. Real eery. Same with the classrooms. Never did find out what happened. We went to visit somebody who used to work at the school and he said they had evacuated once for a fire but it would seem strange to me that they never went back. Very wierd. Then of course, he told us all of the Jersey Devil stories. This was an older gentlemen who lived in the area his whole life and he was telling me stories about night fishing and hearing the sounds you describe. He said they were nothing any living creature could make and he truly believes they were the Jersey Devil! He's not the first person who lives around there who believes in it!

I've never heard of the "Jersey Devil" so after reading the above post, I found this.

Happy Halloween!

Here is a link that might be useful: creepy....!

Now-a-days I consider leaving the campsite after dusk a bad omen; let me explain why -

Some years back we were camped along a river in a neat little national forest campground (maybe 21 sites total), everything was going just fine and we took a notion to drive to town, about 12 miles away, to get a little supper at a local restaurant rather than doing what all campers are supposed to do when their out camping, i.e., make your own supper by lantern and campfire light! At the time I had an old pick'em-up truck, well used with a few scapes and dings, but it sure run like a top; and I referred to it as my river fishing truck - gave me some quiet pride when driving it around! This was a time before almost everyone drove a truck and there were a lot of offers to buy that good old truck! To make a long story short, we jumped into that truck (three of us) and we headed for town. Now I was not driving excessively fast as the road was narrow, curvy and hilly. As we were cursing along enjoying the pleasant evening and the smooth ride of the truck, when we crested a small hill and right over onto the downhill side was a skunk that was trying to make his/her way across the road; it stopped with a momentary stare into the headlights and then began a frantic zig-zag escape pattern ... all to no avail. I was trying to avoid the critter - plus I was braking hard - which I think was a mistake as it caused the truck to squat lower to the road. Just had nowhere to go and that skunk ended-up getting wadded-up under the truck - it banged and thumped front to rear as we passed over. But that skunk did not go down without revenge! While banging it's way fore to aft, the truck got a real good underside spraying of skunk juice! And almost immediately we were going down the road with our heads out the window for some fresh air. When we got to the resturant, we even had a skunk smell to us - you could tell by the stares and distance we got! On the way back to camp the truck even had an increased skunky aroma and, again, the ride was with heads out the windows. Next day, back at the campsite, there was a request for me to park the truck outside the campground on the incoming road as the odor was so bad. We even had to cut the trip short a day - wore out our welcome at the C/G because of that damn skunk!

Now when I got home tried EVERYTHING I had ever heard about removing skunk odor and nothing worked, at least for long. Thought maybe it was going away a little but after the truck sat in the sun all day and you opened the door, well, you were just overcome! Finally came across someone who had been after me to sell him the truck and he still expressed an interest in buying it; I explained in detail what had happened and how the skunk odor was still there. He says he "knows" how to remove the smell and buys the truck anyway. Well, I ran into him maybe a year later and asked how he did with the truck and the skunk odor; he then tells me he sold it because he could'nt get rid of the smell either!

Since I've rambled on and on with this story, I suppose I'd be remiss if I did'nt tell you another part of it that kind of keeps in my memory, about one of the guys in the truck with me the night we ran over that skunk. His name was Jack and a dear friend of mine for quite awhile - we fished a lot of places together and shared many a campsite. He was a true blue ole country boy if there ever was one. Born and raised on a farm and you know what they say about those folks: you can take the boy out of the country but you will never take the country out of the boy - and that was true of Jack. Although he was the first in his family to have a college education, he would still use country expressions and there was always a little country twang to his talk. Jack worked his way up the corporate latter a ways and finally retired from a mid-level management position - people around him and especially those under him loved working with him; he just knew how to treat people, country twang and all. If Jack had a fault it was that he could not stop smoking and that's what finally done him in. He would try to quit smoking, swear he'd never smoke another ... and would'nt, for a couple of months or so. One time he did make it to about a year and then I guess the moon got full and Mars lined up with Jupiter and decided to have another smoke. Anyway, Jack was finally diagnosed with lung cancer about five years ago; and he went down fast, we buried him by the following January. But while he was in the hospital and while he still had his facilities about him, I paid him a little visit and we did a little reminiscing about some of our past outdoor exploits; of course, the skunk story came up. I'll never forget Jack looking at me and with that ole country twang of his, saying, "that truck sure did stank".

Dale

Dale, thanks for sharing that story! That was too funny and also very sad about your friend.

Jersey Devil: See Frank Pearce's "Heart of The Pines", last house where the Jersey Devil was seen was on the North side of RT 542 between Wading River and New Gretna, just North of the tiny creek that the road crosses over. As a young man I overcame my own fears of the unknown there by teaching myself to walk throught the forest trails alone at night - with no flashlight!!!

Dale,

Great story!! I got a lump in my throat when reading about your buddy Jack. Thanks for sharing this.

I lost my mother-in-law to lung cancer several years ago, and despite all the mother-in-law jokes, I miss her dearly. She also could not quit smoking.

Mike //////\/\\/\///////

Check out the photo of the WRONG campground! It is our old popup being set up to the left. Notice the space between the popup and bigger rv. That was a site that filled in as well as all of the other "parking spaces" in that row! There was about two feet between the sites. We would have never picked this place but my cousin was getting married in another state and she recommended it! Take note of the large looming power plant behind the tall chain link fence!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1357358}}

Well, Jen - those smoke stacks are kinda high, sort of like a tall pine tree! (LOL)

Reminds me of a couple I knew that took their van and popup camper from South Carolina clear across the country to the west coast. They even found a campground within Los Angeles, CA! Said they were so tired when they pulled into the C/G and asked if there were any sites available. Of course, there was one left. Backed into the slot and there was a high hedge at the back of the site. They got the popup set-up and jumped into bed only to find out that the hedge is what seperated them from an active railroad track! Said there was AmTracks that passed all night and the camper shook violently everytime one did!

Ya never know!

Jen, that picture is PRICELESS!

One might think I was exaggerating the description until they saw the photo! It's funny my then six year old daughter took that photo with her first camera not realizing what she was capturing!

Well, let me tell you folks--the Jersey Devil you all talk about was none other than my sister-in-law! She was it, for sure! She lived in Blackwood, New Jersey!
She "deviled" my brother and our family for many years! she would howl and screech at him and the neighbors, until they were ready to pass out!
I know why you haven't seen the Jersey Devil! its because the Devil moved to Tallahassee Florida some years ago! My brother has just about lost his mind by now, and will probably exit this earth soon! But, she is so bad, she'll just go on, deviling other folks.
So, don't look for the devil in N.Jersey! He/she has left! And moved to sunnier climes!
by: rustyj

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thats too funny!!!!! No wonder I haven't seen her/him yet. I only live half an hr from the pine barrens too, thanks for redirecting me Rusty.
Lynda

Well, let's see, there was the campground in Northern California that we stopped at after driving all day. It looked perfect for us and our three young children...until I got out and realized that all the bushes surrounding the site were poison oak.

Then, there was the trip to Lake Tahoe. We had an okay site, kinda close to the neighbors...who insisted on playing that d*mn Credence Clearwater Revival tape over and over and over and over allll day until I worked up the nerve to ask them to PULEEZE turn it off, LOL!!

Barb

When one of our camping friends died, his widow didn't want to quit camping, and since our son and her kids were such good friends, I suggested I would teach her how to tow her travel trailer. so, she got pretty adept at towing, so we'd go on short trips--us in our pickup & trailer, and she in her Station wagon & Trailer.
Her youngest daughter sort of adopted me as her substitute father, so i treated her as good as her daddy did, or so i tried to do. (She still calls me Dad)
We were up in northern Ohio on one trip, and upon seeing a sign for a campground, we pulled in, and as my wife stepped out of the truck, a beer can rolled out of the door opening! This wouldn't have been so bad, but the camp was a religious camp! And then, my semi-adopted daughter got out of the car behind us, driven by her mother (Not accompanied by a male!) and hollered:"Hey, Dad, is this where we are going to stay tonight?" Well, by this time, my wife had been talking to the man in charge, and when he heard Debbie say that, we got the "Bum's Rush!" I suppose he saw the beer can, too!
A funny thing about that situation was--there was never any hanky-panky going on, but we'd kid about me and my 2 wives and all our kids, wherever we went!
We all had gone to Westmoreland Mall one day to shop! I didn't want to do all that walking, so i went to an ice cream store, bought a big cone and went outside to eat it! i sat on a park bench, and began talking to an old guy there. And then, the 2 ladies and 4 kids came up, saying:"Dad, why didn't you buy ice cream for all of your kids?" The old guy gave me a funny look, got up, and walked away, fast!
by: Rustyj

From reading this, Rusty, I could've guessed you were a banjo player! Speaking of, one of my most memorable campgrounds was a chigger-infested farm field at Bean Blossom, Ind., the annual bluegrass festival. I was remembering those chiggers long after my toes stopped tapping!

Thanks for serving in WWII.