If you’re new to us here at Wander To Get Lost, we are in the process of becoming full time RV travelers. What started as a conversation at our anniversary dinner in 2019 is now almost becoming a reality. What does that have to do with our KOA trip this past September….well, it was our “Official” Shakedown RV trip. Since owning the RV we took it to Jordana’s parents for Christmas and then with the outbreak of Corona Virus a bunch of our early spring trips were cancelled. I ended up spending 16 days on the Rv while quarantining and then we’ve been working to get the RV ready for us. So, we finally did an official RV trip and we took a 3 hour drive north of us to the city of Newburgh, well Plattekill, and stayed at the KOA. We never stayed at a KOA before and there were a few reasons for selecting this place. 1. a group of friends planned a 3 day trip for everyone to come together. 2. it was far enough from home, but not too far should anything bad happen. 3. We would have full hook up and would be able to test out all the RV components we haven’t used yet.
One great thing we scored was a BOGO deal from KOA. Being off season we able to get a night for free and we ended up splurging for the full hookup site. I believe the daily fee is around $68.49, which seemed a bit much for the size of this koa.
Below is the campground map and a link to their site.
We were excited and after some project cramming and hasty packing we were on our way. It was a rather easy and uneventful drive up to the KOA.
After just under 3 hours we made it and checked in at the main desk. Check in was easy and the two ladies behind the desk were very pleasant and welcoming. They informed me that we’d be getting a staff member to guide us to our site. After a few more minutes of driving we were backed in to our site and began our set up.
Our first afternoon / evening at the KOA was spent exploring the campground and playing. I’d say about 90% playing on the playground.
With this being our first real RV voyage far from home and our flat towing set up not ready yet we ended up leaving the Jeep at home. This pretty much locked us to the campground. A few issues with this is that the campground is small. We were able to ride our bikes around the whole thing in about 10 minutes. The campground was in off season mode, so a lot of activities were no longer available including access to the pool. I believe both Saturday and Sunday were over 80 degrees and having the pool would have been nice. Had we towed the Jeep with us we would have taken advantage of going off site and visiting some of the sites around the area. you know who didn’t get sick of the playground? Aurelia and Odin! We spent about 90% of our time at the playground the whole weekend. As long as they were happy we were happy.
A few bummers about this KOA was that it seemed to be in a bit of disrepair. Whether or not this had to do with being off season, I am not sure, but it was only a few weeks post Labor Day. The playground while fun for the kids had some glaring rust and some safety issues. The volleyball sand pit didn’t seem like it was raked for a few years and the net was almost torn off. It may seem like nit picky stuff, but at almost $70 a night and a campground that was not empty, they should reinvest more in capital improvement. The campground area is gorgeous and why would you want to distract from that beauty with eye sores? Having worked on numerous camp staffs in my early 20’s, we would never have been allowed to let this slide.
We spent a lot of great family time together and ate a lot of s’mores. Each night we were there we had a camp fire to end the night and snuggle with each other. It really showed us what we can look forward to when we hit the road full time.
All in all the Newburgh KOA was a good destination for us to have our first official RV trip. We had a great time there for 3 days and following our stay we went to Wright’s Farm to do some apple picking. Would we recommend this KOA? Yes, but make sure you have a vehicle with you to be able to get off the campground to see the area sites. The KOA makes a good home base for exploring the area. I’d rate it a 3/5.
For more on our stay at the KOA click here to see our recap video.
Thanks for reading and be well!
Stay Lost!
