By J.R. Montigel
A new RV park under construction in Elkhart, Indiana, where about 4 out of 5 American RVs are made, is different from most other campgrounds currently under development. It’s not aimed at luxury RV owners or young families with children. There’s no pool, no jumping pillows, game room, mini-golf course, hot tubs or other amenities designed to entertain RVers and often their families.
The Garden Inn RV Park will have 67 concrete pads up to 90 feet long, all with full hookups. RVers can stay one night, a month, or as long as they want, if, for example, they have a job in the area. But one type of RVer may benefit most, those just passing through who need a night or two to rest, not play pickleball or watch their kids ride by on rented pedal cars. There’s no fishing lake, no evening ice cream socials. Just the park.
It’s a good idea, and a badly needed one with the recent explosion of new RVers, who increasingly find it difficult to find a place to stay with it enroute from one place to another.
It’s owned by the Garden Inn Hotel, which is next door. RVers will have access to the hotel’s pool and other guest facilities.
The park is expected to open in April. It’s located off exit 92 of the Indiana Toll Road, and will stay open all year.
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A return back to the day when camping was the event and people did not have to be entertained. The entertainment is left up to the campers.
What is the cost? A good idea to keep the costs down would be to meter the electrical to be paid with a credit card.
I agree; the cost is everything. At a few bucks a night it’d be a great alternative to Wally-World or a rest area.
But, more likely, it’s going to approach the cost of a cheap motel, at which point it stops making sense for itinerant travelers like myself.
Sounds like a great idea. Just an overnight. Just what Chuck ordered.
It’s about time! This is just what is needed.
My kind of campground. If I were passing through, I’d seek this place out. Don’t need all the extras.
About time someone is thinking about those of us who just need a place to stop on the way to a preset destination.
What a good idea.
This is exactly the type of stop-over we like to use. A great idea.
It’s about time
Yes! So long as at least some of the park is limited to short-stays. Some Love truckstops are implementing something similar. A year-round place to park overnight, rest, deal with the tanks (fresh and waste).
Elkhart also makes a LOT of sense. RVers may be able to set up appointments for repairs best done directly by the manufacturer and arrive a day or so in advance.
For what it is worth, we winter in a pleasant (meaning landscape better than an open pasture) RV park whose only amenities other than full-hookups, are bathhouse/laundry and a community center with kitchen facilities. The winter crowd make their own entertainment, as do the rallies in the summer season. There are lots of other things to do within an hour’s drive in any direction from the RV park. None of the ‘residents’ want to pay for a bunch of other expensive park amenities we wouldn’t use.
Wow! What a great idea.
Its a “trailer court”….plain and simple. It will be for people who live in trailers and RVs that never move. This is nothing new. Move on.
Yep. Stopped reading at “or for as long as they want”. It will be an apartment complex of permanent “RVs”.
This looks like the types of places around Odessa TX for the oil workers! A place to park and sleep so you can to go to work…
$15 night
I wish they would have more campgrounds like this around the country. Sometimes we like to camp close to a city and check out what they have like museums, historical sites, shopping or restaurants. We don’t need a lot of amenities at the place we are camping.
Great idea – need more of basic RV parks. Rarely use any thing more than the bathrooms and laundry room. I am in a resort that advertises planned events by a recreation manager but the 9 years I have been here (due to husband’s illness) they have never had one. Their advertised wi-fi doesn’t even work.
I don’t care for the unlimited time to stay.
We entertain ourselves and like this idea for a traveling rest place. Thinking of repairs, shopping for a new RV and just passing through with a nice week or so to explore the area.
Knowing this place can accommodate Large RVs including tow vehicles FINALLY! We have a Toyhauler 44ft plus the Dually Truck. We need the space.
Hoping this Era of RV Short Stay parks will spread quickly. EXCEPT must have a TIME OF DEPARTURE. Not a living situation – 30 days at the most. No returning for 30 days after a 21 day stay or more stay.
Keep the full-time living situation in a controlled environment specifically for that purpose.
That would be great- but for those of us who are contract workers (travel nurse) we need somewhere to be 3-6-9 months at a time. So- the need for long term is greater than you think- especially with the need for nurses all across America!
Did anyone look at the picture before applauding? I didn’t get into RVing to be jammed into a grim parking lot. No thanks. Plenty of truck stops and crowded no-amenities RV parks out there. I can honestly say that RV parks that happen to have pools or other ‘frills’ is really not a problem.
What’s the rate structure on this ‘bold new concept’? I’ll bet it’s $50 and up just like the full-service parks.
This may serve a particular purpose, but you certainly can’t call it a campground. It’s a parking lot.
Great idea if the price is right $20~