Cody’s blog

Jonestown/Hershey NE KOA Journey
11 Lickdale Rd
Jonestown, PA 17038

717-865-6411

November 20 – 24, 2024

For my final stop of my trip, I stayed at a KOA instead of a state park. I’d stayed at this KOA when I moved from California to New York and liked it, and thought it would be fun to stay there again. Besides, that late in the year, most of the state parks were already closed. It turned out to be a good decision for several reasons!

It was a long drive getting there from my previous stop, Pocahontas State Park in Virginia. I’d decided to take a longer route in order to avoid driving through Richmond, VA, expecting the trip to take about five hours, but after several stops along the way for lunch at a rest stop, gas, and to try my complaining cat in the backpack carrier (which he hated even more, so I had to make another stop to move him back to his regular travel carrier), all of which added another hour to the drive, and didn’t get to the campground until after 6 PM, when it was already dark.

I checked in and was led to my site by a guy in a golf cart. Couldn’t really see much at that point, but after what seemed like a very long time, we drove between some trees, and the guy jumped out of his cart and told me I was there! Pointed out the electric and water hookups and drove away. The site was nice and level and the electricity was close and there were no other campers nearby. I thought I’d reserved a creek-side back-in site, but this was across from the creek and a pull-through. But whatever. I was glad to be settled in for the night.

The unsettling news was a Winter Storm Warning for my home county in New York for the next day. But I decided to worry about that later and rest for the night.

On Thursday, I went exploring. Turned out I was way at the end of the campground (no wonder I thought it took so long to get there!) in what was listed as a tent site — most of the sites at the KOA were full hook-ups and pull-throughs, and the tent sites were some of the only sites without sewer hook-ups. None of the other tent sites were occupied, unsurprisingly at that time of year, so I was all by myself out there. Which was nice and peaceful and private, although a bit of a walk to the bathhouse and camp store.

I went to the camp store, hoping to buy milk, since I’d run out of soy milk, but they didn’t have any out so I had coffee instead of cocoa for my breakfast drink. Also got my propane tank filled — it only took about 3.5 gallons, but it’s a 4.7 gallon tank? I think? Anyway, the tank read full, so I was happy.

By the afternoon, the weather report was still looking bad, so I went ahead and called the office and reserved another night. Fortunately, I had enough of everything to last me a few extra days, and a camp store where I could buy anything else I needed, so I was okay with hanging out a little longer.

Cell service was good, so I was able to use my phone hotspot for my laptop and tablet. I texted with my local RV guy, who was going to help winterize my van as soon as I got home, and told him I’d be staying in PA another day or two to avoid the storm. We agreed I’d text him as soon as I was home, so he could schedule the winterizing as soon as possible.

Friday it was cold and rainy, so I just stayed in the van all day.

On Saturday morning, I texted with my brother, who’d been texting with our neighbors at home, and found out that our neighborhood was under 12 inches of snow, the power was out, and the local guy we hire to plow our roads had broken his snow plow on the heavy, wet snow. So not driving home that day! I went to the office to get some supplies (they had milk! Yay!) and reserve another night at the KOA. They were very accommodating about letting me stay — even moved another camper they’d been planning to put in my spot that day so I could stay where I was. (One thing about KOAs, you reserve a type of site, but not a particular site, and they put you where they want you when you get there. Unlike state parks, where you pick your site on the map and that’s where you stay.)

Saturday was sunny and a bit warmer, so I took the insulating covers off the cab windows to let the sun in. Around noon, someone stopped by the van in their cart to make sure I was okay — I guess they noticed I hadn’t left the van all day the day before. Nice to know they were looking out for me!

Sunday, I texted my brother to see what the news was about our neighborhood, but hadn’t heard back by check-out time, so I decided to go ahead and head for home. It was a smooth and uneventful drive and I got home around 2 PM. The power was back on and the road was snowy and wet but drivable, so I managed to get the van into the driveway. Put Davey in the house, turned up the furnace, unloaded the food and other necessary items, plugged in the van and turned the heat to 40 F so it wouldn’t freeze before the RV guy came to winterize it, and my month-long fall trip was over!