7/9 Good Campground - Tongue River Reservoir State Park

What do you visualize when you think of an ideal campground?  Do you imagine pine trees, sandy forest floor, nearby lake, picnic tables, and families gathered around campfires? 

That is fairly typical in the eastern part of the U.S., but the trees and sand part is rare in the western part.  Unless you are high in mountains, campgrounds in the west tend to be treeless, with clouds of dust every time someone drives by. Many, if not most, are along rivers or reservoirs, but basically, many campgrounds are built on what we the east would consider deserts or dry grasslands. This is true of both state and commercial campgrounds. 

The dust from such campgrounds drives me crazy!  There is nothing like watching huge plumes of dust created by each car that drives past your open windows!  I have a very small home, but I try to keep the inside clean because I am living in it, and I do occasionally wash the outside to remove dust and bugs. I seldom can leave my windows open, so I rely heavily of my air conditioner, which does not bring in outside air.  I don’t mind a gravel or dirt campsite, but I REALLY like to have asphalt roadways through a campground.  Paved roads have become one of my main criteria in selecting a “good” campground. 

I like the lack of trees in the west because I have satellite TV, and too many trees prevent me from getting a signal. (Can’t stand to miss my favorite TV programs.) I also like the openness because that means you often have a view of distant mountains.

I’ve been in some terribly dusty campgrounds in the past couple of weeks, so I was very pleased that the state park I am at now, has recently paved both the roads in one large area, but has also paved the very large campsites.  They even put reddish gravel in the areas along the road where it was disturbed by the construction.  In between sites the land is grassland, as is this whole area of Wyoming.  And look at the size of the sites!! 

 

 

 

If I had a car, I could easily park it in front and still have room for a boat trailer beside my spot.

 

And I could not leave out this photo of my drive across Wyoming to Montana.  You can imagine buffalo grazing as they once did on this endless grassland. Now it is just cattle and a few horses once in a while.  Interesting to note that the land next to the freeway that has not been grazed is a lot greener than the rest of the land.

 

 

Postscript on bad campgrounds:  The thing about traveling in a motorhome, as opposed to staying in hotels, is that if you get a bad hotel, you end up with a lousy room and bed, and maybe a dirty room and bed.  If I get a bad campground, I can close my drapes and enjoy my own home.  I know that my shower, bed, recliner, and rest of my lodging is clean and comfortable!!  I have my own things and a refrigerator full of food I have selected. 

 

Nice!!!