Category: Pets

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Coon Creek Campground, Oklahoma

Ruff Road Review

Overview

Coon Creek Campground, Oklahoma was our home for a week this spring. Read on for our Ruff Road Review of Coon Creek Campground! If you want a visual, check out our You Tube Coon Creek Campground, Oklahoma Ruff Road Review: https://youtu.be/qBpNpvbutBk

Our site was a WINDY site, but oh so pretty! We had sunrises AND sunsets! Coon Creek Campground is a US Army Corps of Engineers campground is located on Kaw Lake in north central Oklahoma. Kaw Lake, completed in 1976 by damming the Arkansas River and flooding the original Kaw City, required the town of Kaw City to be relocated. This campground is on a peninsula providing beautiful waterviews from every campsite. Coon Creek Campground is one of several US Army Corps of Engineers campgrounds around the lake. Due to the size of this 17,000 acre lake, you’ll find there are miles between this campground and other the other campgrounds and recreational areas around the lake.

Things to do

What is there to do? Well, first of all, anything that involves water: fishing, boating, kayaking, swimming. You’ll find a boat ramp here and you can hand launch your kayak on the Coon Creek cove area, which is just down the hill from our campsite. Kayaking Coon Creek, will reward you with a clear, rock bottomed, flowing stream with high banks. You will have to get out and pull your kayak over the shallow areas but this little trip is peaceful, scenic, and full of birds. It’s refreshing to wade in the cool, clear, rushing water.

There’s a playground for the kiddos near the boat ramp camping area. If you have dogs to walk or just like to walk, this campground offers a few miles of campground roads and open fields to check out. Watch your pups though, there are catfish heads and bones just left laying around in the grass. You can bike these roads and even head out on the quiet roads leading to the campground. There are hiking and equestrian trails on the other side of the lake, but since that was miles away, we skipped it.

Nearby, you can visit Kaw Dam and fish in the Arkansas River as it flows away from the dam. Finally, sightseeing and birdwatching are rewarding at this park and in the area. Of course, hanging out at camp made the list of things to do with beautiful sunset views. Ahhhh!

Phone Service

We can only speak for Verizon phone service here. We had service, no problems.

Noise Level

Overall, this was a quiet campground especially on the peninsula end where we were. The windiest area of the campground is the peninsula point area. You can expect wind noise there. There was less wind in the boat ramp area and more campers clustered there. It may have been more noisy in that area due to the higher number of campers, however that was only on the weekend. Still, we found it quiet and peaceful as we walked through those areas during the week.

Campground Views

Water, water everywhere! Across the water you see bluffs and far off sandy shores. We loved the grassy open spaces with blooming trees. In addition, there were shady areas below spring green leaves dancing in the wind. Most campsites provided views of sunrises and sunsets.

Cleanliness

Ok, we’ll have to be honest with this one. We wish that the bathrooms were cleaned regularly, they were not. Also, we wished that fishermen would not throw their dead fish on the ground and just leave it there. Did you know that dogs are in danger of getting hooked if a hook is still in a dead fish? Fortunately, our dogs did not get hooked but we had to watch closely to make sure they didn’t get stabbed by fish bones and catfish spines. Any other incidental plastic bags or trash we think could be attributed to the gusting winds that prevail in that area. Generally speaking, the campsites were clean and well maintained though That’s a plus!

Campsites

The campsites are large providing space between you and your neighbors. You won’t find any brush buffers here, but the campsites are quite spread out giving you the feeling of your own space. The campsites are large but spaced closer together in the boat ramp area. Still, the sites have more room than your typical private campground. Several sites had covered picnic tables, nice! Our site did not. Heads up, if you want to enjoy camping on the point of the peninsula, expect the wind to be much stronger there. The views are worth it though.

Conclusion

Coon Creek Campground on Kaw Lake, a US Army Corps of Engineers campground, is easy to drive to, easy to park your rig due to the openess of the sites, and scenic. We loved this openess and the views. However, we didn’t love the wind but we had some really good days during our stay there. Perhaps it was just the time of year. We didn’t love the messy bathrooms and fish heads strewn about. Also, just as a heads up to those who love full pressure hot showers, the shower water in our bathhouse was not adjustable and would be considered barely lukewarm. Still, the good outweighed the bad and we really enjoyed this campground. The campsites were reasonably priced and bonus, if you have the America the Beautiful or Access Pass, the rates are 50% off. Worth it! We give Coon Creek a Ruff Road Review thumbs up!

Check out more of our campground reviews right here or on our You Tube Channel, Ruff Road RV Life. See you on the road!

“We like looking at freedom!”

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Campground Review: Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area at Flagler Beach, Florida

Florida Beach Campground – Yes, life is good here in Florida!

Our latest campground review is for Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area in Flagler Beach, Florida.  We stayed at Gamble Rogers in February.  February in Florida, on the beach or near the beach, can get quite chilly.  In fact, it was one year ago this month that we took Ruff Road on his first excursion- a drive along A1A in this same area and we were freezing when we stopped for a beach walk.  This year, we were lucky and the weather was great!

This campground has a river side and a beach side.  We camped on the river side because that was all that was available when we booked.

Terra and Luna’s first beach trip!

Peace and Quiet

Why yes.  This campground was peaceful and quiet even though most or all sites were occupied.  The river bordered our campground area allowing peaceful nature walks or just chilling on the soft green grass or having a picnic riverside.  The beaches in this area are less crowded than the neighboring beaches to the south of us, Ormond Beach and Daytona Beach.

Peace and Quiet Rating:  5 stars

Things to Do

Well this is one of those parks that you just want to sit and be zen with the breeze blowing through the palms and beach side waves that you could even hear at times in the river side campground.  Watching the sunset or sunrise at the beach or the river offered some excellent photography moments or again to just soak it in.  There is a small nature trail that winds through the palms and trees and even along the river.  The beach is within walking distance to do some beach walking, shelling, or just chilling at the beach.

Gary was able to surf fish and he also fished in the river.  This park also has a boat ramp.  If you like to bike, A1A is a scenic highway along the Atlantic coast that passes through North Peninsula State Park.  I rode my bike on the sidewalk for miles with little stress of traffic or busy road crossings.  It was too windy while we were there to kayak but if I wanted to drive over to nearby Bulow Creek State Park, it would have been less windy than the river.  There are several state parks in this vicinity so you can plan to “park hop”.  You will find many activities listed on the Gamble Rogers website.  There is something for everyone.

https://www.floridastateparks.org/park/Gamble-Rogers

Things to Do Rating:  5 Stars

 

Biking A1A

Surf fishing

Bathrooms, Showers, and Laundry

We didn’t really have the need to use these but a quick glance proved they are clean.  Florida really does a nice job with their facilities and the upkeep.

Bathhouse Rating:  5 Stars

Dog Friendly

This one is important to us since our two kids, our pups, Terra and Luna are with us always.  Sadly, dogs are not allowed on Florida State Park beaches.  We could walk the trails and have them in the campground but no dogs at the beach.  Fortunately, there is a public beach right next to the park where we were able to take them.  It really wasn’t much further than the park beach and even had a parking area.  They enjoyed romping in the sand at the beach and romping at the river.  The trails are long enough to get a good walk in.  Wildlife is around because they loved sniffing everything along the trail.

Dog Friendly Rating:  4 stars (because no dogs on the beach!)

 

Always playing

It’s a feather!

Campsite

The campsites are nicely spread out so you have space.  There is no vegetation between sites and the beach side seemed to be a little tighter that the river side.  Sites on the inside of the river side loop were just in a grassy field with a few palms here and there.  Most sites on the outside of the  river side loop had nice wooded backdrops.  Either the road or the beach dunes were behind campsites on the beach side.  We loved our site because we were on the outside and we could access the nature trail through the woods right behind us.

Campsite Rating:  4 stars (personal preference, we like a little more woodsy)

Overall Rating:  4.6 out of 5 Stars, YES, we would stay here again!

Blanket to block the wind…and view of other pups

Funny Story…

I always say, if you don’t have an adventure, you don’t have a story.  Here’s our Gamble Rogers story.

My dear Gary (insert bless his heart here), just loves to fish.  On this trip, he decided to try his hand at surf fishing.  Of course, we would need to take the dogs with us so he planned on doing a little evening surf fishing.  He spent the day getting ready.  All bait, equipment, water, chairs…ready to go.  Our plan was to park in the beach side parking lot and walk to the dog gate that led to the dog beach because remember, no dogs on the park beach.  As I whizzed by on my bike earlier that day, the walk didn’t look that bad.

So we parked and headed out, with the dogs, with the chairs, with the bait, with the fishing gear- hands, shoulders, and backs were loaded!  We began the trek to the dog gate.  We walked and we walked.  I think Gary may have done a little cursing along the way.  When we got to the point that I thought had the gate, we realized that the campground went on and we were only halfway through it!  After much huffing and puffing and lugging, we finally made it to the dog gate and followed a little path to a parking area.  Gary wondered out loud, “Why didn’t we park here in the first place?”  I laughed and we went on down the stairs, across the sand to our fishing spot.

Then Gary remembered, he forgot his pvc pole holder.  Sooo, I volunteered to walk back across the sand, up the steps, across the parking area, through the dog gate, through the now glaringly large beach side camping area, back to the truck.  The plan was to just move the truck to the dog beach parking area.  I turned the key.  Nothing.  Dead battery.  I asked passerbys for a jump start but no one had cables and we didn’t either.  Ok.  So I locked the truck up and carried the pvc pole holder through the beach side camping area, through the gate, along the path, through the parking area, down the steps, across the sand and reported to Gary that the battery was dead.

We decided to go ahead and fish and get a jump from one of the campers or campground host.  It was a fun evening of Gary catching a few fish and the pups happily digging and playing in the sand.  We headed out a little after dark.  I sat with the gear and Gary headed back on the trek to the truck to try to get a jump.  He returned awhile later and had to call our insurance company for roadside assistance.  It appeared the campers were all tucked away in their rvs and the host’s lights were out.

So we loaded up with the last gear left and headed back to the truck on this long trek now in the dark.  When we reached the truck, I asked for the keys.  Gary said that he had left it open.  Well the wind had other ideas and had blown the door shut with the keys inside.  We had a spare in our RV, but the RV keys were in the truck also!  So another phone call to roadside assistance was made to request a locksmith to get into our truck.  I won’t lie, I had some choice words until I learned that this was covered and would not cost us money.  Then I was good.  I’m not sure about Gary.  He was tired from all of our trekking today.

We waited.  We just unfolded our chairs and had a sit under the night sky with the crashing waves sounding behind us.  This story has a good ending.  Our rescuer arrived, unlocked the door, jumped our truck in a matter of minutes.  During this wait time, Gary realized the battery was the original battery and most likely done.  We then had a nice little drive to the nearest auto parts store to buy a new battery just 15 minutes before closing.

And that, my friends, is a story that we will remember about this trip!

Fishing riverside…Luna just wants the bouy

Have you ever stayed at Gamble Rogers?  How was your experience?  Subscribe to hear more of our travels.

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How Do You Say Goodbye to Your Pet?

How DO you say goodbye to your pet?  If you are a pet lover and have been for awhile, you have most likely crossed this bridge.  We have.  More times than we care to count in our years on this earth.  However, each time is different.  You pray that your beloved pet will reach a ripe old age and go to sleep and pass peacefully on their own.  This happens.  It did with the majority of our past dogs.  What do you do when it doesn’t work out that way?  How do you know when it’s time to make the decision to say good bye to your pet, put them at peace, with the help of a veterinarian?

This last week, we had to make that dreaded decision for our companion of 15 years, our miniature poodle, Phoebe.  Phoebe was diagnosed with a nose tumor last fall.  We knew then that there was no viable treatment for her, especially given her age.  Still, she was perky and continued to prance behind her favorite, Gary, and put our other two dogs in their place.  This went on for many weeks.  However, her decline was evident in little ways everyday.  Our veterinarian told us we would “know” when it was time.

There were times that it seemed like she might be improving, but these were short lived.  Some days we wondered if she would ever wake up, then she would want to eat without her appetite pill and follow Gary around the yard.  There were no easy answers.  How did we come to this decision then?  It’s hard when your pet, the one who has been with you for 15 years, looks you in the eye, tracks your every movement, and curls up next to you at night.  Ultimately, we knew what we had to do and it hurt.  There were tears from both of us and our family.  But it was time.  She went peacefully.  We put her puppy toy, Sharky, in her box along with her soft blanket.  We cried.  We cried some more.

We wanted to share our considerations for our choice.  We never discussed this in front of Phoebe.  Animals are smart.  Phoebe was especially smart.  When we talked about her future, it was in private.

Here are our considerations for our choice:

  1. Were we keeping her with us for us …or for her?
  2. What was her quality of life?
  3. Was she in pain?
  4. Would she get better?
  5. What did our gut say?
  6. What did her eyes say?

My hope is that no one or no animal suffers, but in this world of yin and yang, there is life and death. We do believe that life goes on beyond death and that our Phoebe is prancing and playing on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge.

 

 

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Meet the Big Dogs, Terra and Luna

If you are reading this, you are most likely a pet lover.  Isn’t it interesting how each individual animal has their own unique personality.  Our two girls are no exception.  They are sisters but Terra, the lighter colored one, is playful and just a little bit goofy.  Whenever I fuss at Luna, I can expect Terra to run over and give me licks to make it better.  Luna, on the other hand, is sneaky and watches to see when my back is turned.  She has to be redirected, a lot.  Still, she is very loving and wants us to rub her forever.  In this video clip, Luna had just lured Terra away from the chair only to steal it for herself.  Terra just makes the best of it by trying to lay standing up on the ottoman.  This scenario plays out several times a day.

Stay tuned for more Terra and Luna laughs!