2020 – Lake Conroe Thousand Trails, Willis, TX


We’ve spent a lot of time at Lake Conroe Thousand Trails at Willis, TX and I’ve written many reviews of this nice campground. However, our stays haven’t been in the heat of August. The afternoon heat has been brutal at times. Still, we’ve enjoyed some pretty sunsets over the lake and also some nice evenings. There were plenty of available campsites when we arrived although the campground filled up over the weekend. The Activity Center is closed and the pool is operating on a limited basis because of the pandemic. Because of the weather and the health related limitations I wouldn’t rate this stay as one of our better ones. Still we like Lake Conroe. It is one of our favorite Thousand Trails. Here are a few photos from this stay.

More Lake Conroe reviews are here.

2019 – Lake Conroe, TX Thousand Trails


We’ve stayed at Lake Conroe Thousand Trails near Conroe, TX several times and I’ve written several reviews of the place. Rather than rehash previous reviews I’m going to focus on just the new section (Section B) which is near the entry gate. It seems strange to us to be set up in a nice campground loop that we remember as a big, unused field. Even now new construction continues as vacation cottages are being built adjacent to the new Loop. There’s a lot to like about this section. The roads are very good and the campsites are all concrete, including a large concrete patio on each site. There are several pull through sites in addition to nice, easy access back in sites. As you can guess this new area of the campground is quite popular and sites in it don’t stay vacant for long.

Still, there are some things you might want to know about “B Loop.” As nice as the sites look, several are rather sloped. Pay attention to the back in sites closest to the big retaining wall. The sites aren’t all sloped, but some motorhomes had tires a considerable distance off the ground as people tried to get level. People in 5th wheels can get by better than those in longer motorhomes, but some have considerable piles of blocks under their jacks. On the other hand we were backed into a beautiful site on the north side of the section and got level front to back without much effort. I wouldn’t even try some of the other sites.

The only other thing to think about is that the new section is a ways from the Activity Center, the pool, and especially the lake. If you have children who want to spend time at the basketball, tennis, and mini-golf facilities you might be happier in a campsite closer to the center of the campground. In that case, the real plus of the new section for you is that there are more sites available in sections of the campground closer to the recreation facilities.

2019 – Lake Texoma Thousand Trails – Gordonville, TX


Due to the fact that Lake Texoma Thousand Trails, near Gordonville, TX, is located near the north-south route in and out of the Houston area it is often on our travel itinerary – either coming or going! We have stayed here several times and I have written other reviews, so there is no need to do yet another. This stay included the weekend prior to Halloween and the park went all out to make it a special time for the children. This is a popular weekend at the park and there were lots of children in attendance. Jackie enjoyed helping out with the carnival.

We also enjoyed worshiping with and visiting with our good friends at Denison, TX Church of the Nazarene.

All Lake Texoma Thousand Trails reviews are here

2019 – Horseshoe Lakes Thousand Trails, Clinton, IN


This is our third stay at Horseshoe Lakes Thousand Trails, near Clinton, Indiana. This is a good spot for a quiet stay. If you like fishing, though, it’s a destination campground with several lakes of varying sizes. We’ve seen folks out trying their luck every day that we’ve been here. One lady told me that they had enjoyed a fish dinner made up of fresh caught fish from that day. It appears that there are fish to be caught at Horseshoe Lakes!

Other reviews are here

Since I’ve reviewed this campground recently, there’s no need for me to do much of a repeat review. Here are a few new photos of this western Indiana campground.

2019 – Gettysburg Farm Thousand Trails – Dover, PA (take 2)


We are just finishing up our second stay in as many months at Gettysburg Farm Thousand Trails near Dover, PA. Since I have done a couple of recent reviews of this nice campground there’s no need for me to do another at this time.

The main reason we returned here was that we needed a base of operations to attend a wedding 100 miles from here. I was graciously given permission to leave the camper unoccupied for a couple of days (something not normally allowed for traveling members of Thousand Trails).

This stay is, though, part of a bit of an experiment for us this summer. During our previous years a stay of longer than 11 days was unusual for us. We “land” for the winters and travel throughout the summer. This year we returned to south-central Pennsylvania, bouncing between the various Thousand Trails for just over six weeks. Considering that we enjoyed a couple of visits from family and then attended a wedding it worked out. However, one outcome of our experiment is that we think we’d rather, in general, keep to less-than-two-week stays. There’s no right or wrong in any of this. We’ve known some folks who move nightly or close to it. For me that would be like having a job. Touring fulltimers have to find the approach that suits them best. For us, 10-11 days gives us the right mix of sightseeing and “just-living” days.

2019 โ€“ Hershey Thousand Trails โ€“ Lebanon, PA


This is our third stay at Hershey Thousand Trails, Lebanon, PA and our second in less than a year. Since I’ve already done two reviews of the campground I’ll just link to them and add a few new photos. Really, nothing has changed. We still like this campground! This stay our family joined us, staying in one of the cabins. After sorting out a mixup as to which cabin they were given, their stay was very good and they enjoyed the campground and especially sightseeing the area. Here are links to the previous reviews of this nice Thousand Trails: 20132018.

2019 – Circle M Thousand Trails – Lancaster, PA


The best thing about Circle M Thousand Trails is its location on the west side of Lancaster, PA. There’s a lot to see and do in the area. The campground itself has a few quirks that can be a challenge โ€“ or at least a surprise to a first time visitor.

Right off you want to know that the entrance to the campground is off a hilly curve on a rather busy road, Highway 741. Most people arrive from the north, driving in off of Highways 30 or 283 which means a drive through a busy area and then a hard left turn across that busy road in which the oncoming traffic is coming around a curve and down a hill. The turn in is really wide but you need to basically do a 180 degree turn in a rather tight area to enter the campground. If someone is exiting the campground as you are entering, you will likely need to sit back a ways while traffic backs up behind you while you let them get out. With our motorhome and car in tow I barely had enough room to make that big turn. All this is quite doable โ€“ as many people do it all the time, but if a person arrives at the turn without any prior knowledge of what is coming things could get dicey.

Circle M is one of the Thousand Trails that is assigning types of sites based on the RV. It also has many sites down along the Conestoga River which borders the property on three sides. The river sites are all water/electric only and most are “parallel parking” on the grass along the road. The sites across the road from the river aren’t especially level. Those that are back in sites there are almost all uphill. Honestly, the area is best for smaller campers and tents although I saw several larger rigs there.

The rest, and majority, of the campground is made up of a mixture of back in and parallel parking sites. Many of them aren’t very level. If you arrive when things aren’t real busy you won’t have any problem finding a nice spot. If you arrive after a busy weekend has started you may have to take what you can get.

The facilities at Circle M are top notch. There are two pools, including an indoor pool. There are activity rooms, a nifty covered min-golf course, a nice basketball and tennis court, a store, and a restaurant. There’s a “foot golf” course that looked like it would be a lot of fun but we only saw one or two groups trying it out. Our Verizon signal was poor and data was slow. We decided to try the paid WiFi. The startup was a bit of a challenge but once we figured out how to connect (and re-connect, which was the biggest challenge) it was okay if not great. My satellite TV setup was easy enough.

We had the misfortune of being at Circle M during a record setting heat wave. Our electric held up quite well in spite of the campground being full and everyone’s a/c being taxed to the limit.

Over all, we’ve been in better campgrounds so far as the sites in particular are concerned. However, we think that the great location and good facilities do make this a desirable campground.

2019 – Gettysburg Farm Thousand Trails – Dover, PA


We were at Gettysburg Farm Thousand Trail near Dover, PA less than a year ago and I wrote this review then. Obviously, not a lot has changed in just nine months so this will be a brief review with some new photos.

Last fall when were were at Gettysburg Farm the creek-side sites were closed due to flooding. This stay they were open. However, the area got quite a bit of rain right after Independence day and those sites got pretty soggy. I’ll include a few photos of the wet conditions. I don’t think I’d want to stay in that area which is basically grass camping with water/electric hookups.

The rest of the campground had some standing water, but nothing that would cause anyone any problems.

We appreciated the helpful staff who went out of the way to make us feel welcome. Also, the pool was open and much enjoyed by many, especially during the flip-side of the rainy days when it was very hot and muggy.

One thing I noticed, especially on the hotter days is that one row of campsites is right across the road from some of the animal pens, including the pigs and goats. It may be that you really want the farm experience, but if not, you might want to pick a spot a ways away from those pens.

When you reserve a campsite at Gettysburg Farm you now pick whether you want a w/e/s site or just one with w/e. Of course, the FHU spots fill up first. Don’t get me wrong, some folks really enjoy the creek-side spots and, with the free pump out service, it really isn’t that big of a deal (although, the potential standing water problem would concern most anyone). Anyway, if you want to get a FHU site on a summer weekend you will want to reserve early if possible.

Another change we noticed is that new arrivals aren’t allowed to check in before noon. One morning I saw four or five rigs lined up waiting to move to a spot even though there were a number of vacant sites. In this case the early bird just gets to wait till noon.

Again, we like this campground and would have no problem returning for another visit.

2019 – Harbor View Thousand Trails, Colonial Beach, VA


We enjoyed our stay at Harbor View Thousand Trails in Colonial Beach, VA. This is a smaller Thousand Trails with only 144 or so sites. The campground is mostly level with decent spacing between the sites. However, campsites in much of the campground are “back to back.” There is room between sites, but the neighbor to the back will practically be bumper to bumper. I will mention that there are a few pull through sites and also some tent sites.

This is one of the Thousand Trails campgrounds that have started assigning spots based on rig size. We were led to our site by an employee on a golf cart. The site was, indeed, suitable for us. During the week there were a few vacant sites, but things pretty much filled up on the weekends.

The campground features a large pool, a basketball court with a new playing surface, and a mini-golf course which was being redone during our stay. From what I could tell the campsites are all 50 amp/FHU sites.

The place has lots of tree cover providing welcome shade on hot, humid afternoons. It also makes it practically impossible to get a satellite signal. It looked to me like the seasonals have chosen a few spots that offer a “hole in the sky” for satellite. I used all my satellite finding skill to spot one of the Dish Network satellites. We didn’t get most of the channels we usually get but we got the baseball games we enjoy and that worked out for us.

The nearest Walmart is nearly 30 minutes away but Colonial Beach has a couple of grocery stores and plenty of eating places. There are lots of historic attractions in the area and we enjoyed visiting several of them.

Harbor View doesn’t really offer a view of any harbor. There’s a marina adjacent to the property on Mattox Creek but it isn’t associated with the campground. No campsite has a view of even the creek although a few are close to a small fishing pond located in the campground. My Verizon signal was quite good giving us solid data service.

All in all, Harbor View is a nice place and worth adding to your Thousand Trails camping plans.

2019 – Chesapeake Bay Thousand Trails – Gloucester, VA


We last visited Chesapeake Bay Thousand Trails, Gloucester, VA in 2013 and we were looking forward to this return visit. The campground didn’t disappoint and we had another nice stay. Really, not much has changed since my previous review, so I’ll just post a few more photos and let them speak for themselves.

The previous review is here.

I will mention that we were disappointed that the hot tub was out of order this visit. Also, there was some kind of electrical failure that impacted a couple of sections of the park, including the one we were in. We decided to leave a couple of days early rather than just change campsites.

All in all we enjoyed this second visit to Chesapeake Bay and recommend it.