Pineola, NC Rally – Trip Day 7 – Campground And Trip Home

Our original plan was to return home on Saturday but since the weather for Friday was mostly rain and then all rain predicted on Saturday, we decided to go on home on Friday so we left during a lull in the showers and in time to beat the Friday afternoon traffic near home.

Here are some final thoughts about the campground and the area.  For several years, I had been looking for a place in the NC mountains to spend a couple of weeks beating the high heat at home and Down By The River Campground could have been the perfect place.  The basic utilities and Wi-Fi all worked well, the sites were nicely spaced, and many were in the shade.  The pavilion was very nice as was the activities center – we didn’t use the bathhouses or laundry but I would expect them to be as nice as everything else.  While a little curvy-road driving was required, the campground was easy to get to and only about 3½ hours from home.  The area has plenty of activities for nearly all desires from the touristy town of Blowing Rock to secluded mountain areas, with plenty of restaurants offering a wide variety of cuisines.

The reason I said “could have been” was because of the campground’s inflexible rules, some of which make no sense.  They only allow two dogs per coach regardless of their size or how responsible pet owners you may be.  They don’t have cable and don’t allow use of your own satellite dish even though it has virtually no impact on the campground – so TV watching is pretty much out.  They also don’t allow wi-fi range extenders for those in the back of the campground and they also have no impact on their wi-fi.  They don’t allow streaming on their wi-fi which does make sense as it quickly uses all of their bandwidth.  Lastly, they prohibit use of onboard washers and dryers requiring campers to use their coin operated machines.

Fortunately for them, they are positioned well enough that even with the restrictions they are likely full all season and as I said in the first post, over 80% of their sites are seasonal renters providing a steady income for the campground – rates range from $3000 to $3800 plus electricity.  Daily rates are between $50 and $65 depending upon vehicle size and location in the campground plus $5/day for additional adult.  This is a great place for the folks who want to spend winters in FL and summers in the cooler mountains and were it not for their restrictions, I’d like to spend some summertime there as well.

We got on the road at 11:30am and after a nice, uneventful trip we got home at 4pm after a fuel and unhook the car stop.  It’s always nice to go but equally nice to return to the comforts of our home at Almost Heaven South.

Now it’s time to finish up the spring landscaping work, clean up the boat and clean and open the dock for summer.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

05/13/22 event date