Making Another Change

When we went fulltime, we decided that we would keep some of the professionals we were set up with, like doctor, financial advisor etc. Because of that, and also to visit my sister and her family, we always spend at least a month in the Albany area. There really aren’t a lot of campground options here, although we are grateful that there are at least some options. The campground where we have been staying for the last three years has been a pretty good option. It is about 15 minutes from my sister’s house and not too bad a drive from Albany. The biggest downside for us has been that it’s only water and electric, but we have learned to deal with it. In fact, every year has been better for us in that area as we have learned some tricks to help stretch our tanks farther. So we haven’t had any complaints, and expected to stay here again for the foreseeable future.

But then when we arrived here this year, there was a pretty big problem. Last year before we left, we reserved the site again for a month. They took a deposit of $190 for our reservation. When we arrived this year, the “manager” told us that “we” had called in December and cancelled our reservation. (No we didn’t.) And on top of cancelling our reservation, they hadn’t refunded our deposit. If I had seen a refund on our credit card, I would have known something was up and would have called to see what was going on. Then luckily our usual site ended up being “empty” so we did thankfully end up with a site. It was right before Memorial Day so I suspect we would have had some challenge finding another place in the area. We have heard varying stories since then from the seasonal residents around us so we are not sure what the truth is, but basically the bottom line for us is that now we don’t really have any confidence in the management of this campground. A few days ago we decided to go check out basically the only other option that is anywhere near where we need to be.

It was a positive experience. The owner took us in her golf cart and showed us some of the available sites.

They had sites that were roomy and open, just the way we like them. This third picture shows the site we picked. The site extends all the way from where the golf cart is parked to where the campfire setup is. And it has full hookups! So a lot of positives. Basically the only downside is that it is about 20 minutes farther from Albany and 15, 20 minutes farther from my sister’s, but we would rather have confidence that our reserved site will be available when we arrive. This has sure turned out to be a year for changes. Makes life exciting!