Does anyone have any experience with parks in this area, if so - were they good or bad? Thanks.

Judy Ann,

We have spend a lot of time looking at sites around Ocala but not Gainesville. We have spend one night at Silver Springs Campers Garden across street from Silver Springs. This a old park and hard to get in and out of with a large motorhome. We have looked at sites as far as 10 miles east of Ocala and did not find any good ones. I understand the Ocala-Silver Springs KOA on I-75 is OK but we have not been to this site. I think noise would be a problem.

We have spend time at Salt Springs in the Ocala National Forest on Hwy 19. This place is a short ride over to Ocala. You have two parks one very large (priv) and one National Park Service. The Nat. Park is $16.00 and half price if you have a Golden Age or Access Pass. Roads in park are Blacktop, cement pads to park on, water, 50 amps, and sewer on site. Across the street is Salt Springs park (look it up here under Salt Springs). This park sets on a very large lake. You can pull in to parking lot and check place out. Note: you can not check out Nat. Park sites but you can see them from road. Very low noise around this place. Cells phones may not work in some places.

John Tampa, Fl.

Judy: We've stayed at the Travelers Campground in Alachua, just north of Gainesville. As usual for its advertisers TL rates this campground highly--a 9-9-8. It is definitely not worth this rating. While the folks at this campground are very nice and helpful, the spots are in a line--the first person there gets in the front, the second behind the first, the third behind the second, and so forth. When you get ready to leave, unless you want to drive around all sorts of obstacles, you have to wait for the guy in front to leave. The sites are grass, and are not level. Try somewhere else.

thanks, will avoid this one. Are there any reviews in the rv magazines that you can really trust to not "puff the goods" ?

Judy Ann,

Sorry to say the answer is NO. RV magazines, Good Sam's, and web sites "can" be be a very good place to look up information. You will see sites on web pages that look great and as you drive in you think what "year" did someone take this photo. A lot of RV parks are out of money to repair and upgrade. Some sites are great and some are very poor and should be shut down. The parks that have full page ads, 800 phone numbers, and very nice web pages are the best as a rule. I use this site to check all places we plan to vist before we start out trips. Lot of good sites and a lot of poor sites as well. We have looked at hundreds of sites here in FL.

John Tampa, Fl.

You might want to check into Grand RV Resort----its north of Ocala a bit-----listed mostly as Orange Lake, FL----right next to the Ocala Fronton----on Orange Lake (which was coming back from almost being dry a year ago)---anyway its a very large lake-----and back talking about the RV Resort-----no tents here----truly a first class RV Resort-----rates are so so (approx 30 per night if I remember)--------but very nice.

Travelers Campground right off of 75 is a great place for an overnite stay in my opinion. I wouldn't consider it a resort destination but I do like it for an overnite stay because of the easy pull in and out configurations. You're lined up in rows so you can get in and out easy. Maybe the other reviewer (sorry, I forgot the name) ended up in a bad spot. Come to think of it, if the person in front of you has a very long RV it could present a problem if you were pulled up close. We stay overnite there as our half way point between Palm Beach and Atlanta and have never had a problem. Anyway, they do have some cool exotic birds and animals, and the people are nice. ~~~ There is another place called River Rendevous about 10-15 miles from there that is on the Suwanee River. They have a little restaurant and cater to spring and cave water divers, as well as hunters I think. ~~~ All in all, not that either of these places are bad, but if I were looking for a resort type vacation destination I would prefer something more upscale than either of these.

Penny

Lake Waldina is a great park if you like company and fishing. The park is quiet but the regulars tend to walk up to you on a daily basis and talk your ear off.. that isn't a bad thing but I like to talk alot to
Colby Woods is just west of Lake Waldina and it too is a pretty nice park. If you have a family with children I would Rec. Waldina, great fishing from 2 docks and summer swimming. The water is quite high this year and the catfish were going crazy during Dec. I tend to only park the Yellow Rose RV where I can fish.
Just north of Ocala is Crescent City, there are MANY camp grounds. It is east of Salt Springs and we found one, Gerogetown Marina and it is 200 per month if you want to stay a month, 100 per week. WE opted for 2 months because it is on the lake.. back to that fishing thing again.
West of Gainesville is Old Town and we spent 2 weeks at Yellow Jacket. It is about 30 miles west of the Oaks Mall in Gainesville and right on the river. The catfish are slow there unless you fish the right hours of night. Owned by nice people and the place is beautiful. I will stay there again.