Pleasant Creek


We had snow on the weekend but it quickly disappeared and it has been gorgeous ever since. Spring is definitely in the air and it is making us anxious to get the 5th wheel here and move in. Sunday afternoon we went out to Pleasant Creek state park near Palo IA. I've been checking rates and it looks like the state parks are particularly less until April 30th. So off we went to check out the park. We've been here many times and even tent camped here last summer but now we look with a much more critical eye. We check things like obstructions to the slides, slope and the ease of getting in and out, also whether they are reservable or non-reservable sites. We found several that we like, one pullout (photo below) that the patio side would look out over the lake, and several pull thrus we like. There we 3 RVs already in the park and it looks like the electric is up and running but I doubt that the water is turned on. This park will only have 30 amp electrical at most of the sites we like and no water at the site. Both are doable and it looks like in April it will only be $11 a day. Cool.
I also garnered from the check in board that the state has camping coupons. Went online and found them. You can buy groups of 7 coupons for $91 , which comes out to be $13 a night. This is comparable to the county parks so it gives us lots of options. I think most of the time we will stay a week at each park coming back to our favorites often. Only one of the parks we want to stay in has full hook-ups (Lake McBride State Park) and it is a little more out of the way so may only stay there a week or so.
John finally got online and ordered a few of the items we still need and we found the external water filter we wanted at Wal-Mart. The preparation for this has been overwhelming at times. As we get closer to going I have sensed some disapproval from some friends, who I believe thought that this was all talk. It definitely is a different way of doing things and sometimes I'm surprised we have gone this way - but surprised in a good way. Tonight is the next step as we talk with our financial advisor again and see when we can make the jump to retirement.

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