Cody’s blog

Needles KOA Journey
5400 Route 55
Needles, CA 92363

760-326-4207

July 31, 2021

In the summer of 2021, I moved from Tehachapi, California to Windsor, New York, traveling by truck and trailer with my two cats on a 17-day journey across the country. I had never pulled a trailer before, and I’d only owned it for about a week when I took off, so it was quite a learning experience!

I headed out Saturday morning at around 10 PM. I’d planned to stop at a rest stop along the way for a leisurely lunch in my trailer, but all the rest stops seemed to be closed for repairs except for the one I finally stopped at, and it was so full I could only pull off along the side of the road next to the highway. Between the road noise and the heat — 100 F and no way to hook up the electricity to run the air conditioner — I just quickly ate my sandwich and continued down the road.

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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.

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Pocahontas State Park
10301 State Park Rd
Chesterfield, VA 23832

804-796-4255

November 17 – 20, 2024

After a four-hour drive, we arrived at Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield, VA. Once again, I managed to pick an very sloped site, both front to back and side to side. I leveled it as best I could with the leveling blocks and decided to let it go, since I’d only be there for two days. First order of business, after getting settled in and plugged in, was to take a shower in the conveniently located bathhouse — my first in five days, since it had been so cold and windy at Oregon Inlet, and the showers there were unheated and exposed to the outside.

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