Covered Bridges Campground, Rockville, IN: 1 - 5 August 2018

I will do the review of Covered Bridges Campground first for those that just want to learn about the location.  After that I will write about our experience.

Reserving the site:  I made the reservation by calling the number on the website.  We chose this campground because of its close proximity to downtown Rockville and all 5 of the covered bridge tour routes originated from the campsite area.  We paid 32.00 a night for full hook-ups.

Travel to site:  From Frankfort, KY it was about a 4 hour drive I-65 north to Indianapolis.  From there Hwy 63 for 55 miles east to Rockville, IN.  All highway driving to Hwy 63 which was a 2 lane road. 

Checking in:  Arrived at the campground at 1500, check-in was 1400.  There was no one at the office but a note on the door to call Brian or Kim.  I called him and he happened to be on the property and told me we could stay on any site we liked.  

Site:  We chose a site with a couple trees that offered some shade.  The sites are very close together but there was only a couple other campers so we had pretty much the entire section of the campground to ourselves.  The campground is definitely not a relaxing type of campground as it was there solely for those visiting the covered bridges events.  It did have free wi-fi, but you had to be in close proximity to pick it up.  All the hook-ups were working.  They had 30 amp service.  The water pressure was great.  The site was gravel and mostly level.  We have been using a really cool leveling system that we picked up at Bluegrass RV

All you have to do is choose the side to level and roll up on them until you are level. Then insert the wedge to serve as a chalk.  We use a small level in the doorway during the process.  The majority of the sites are pull-through.   Unfortunately there was no good places for the hammocks unless you wanted some poison ivy.  We had to pull over a portable fire pit and picnic from another site.   

Activities:  The campground is all about Covered Bridges.  There are no activities at the campground.  You can walk from there to the very historic downtown area.  Very typical town square with courthouse in the center with a lot of antique stores.  About 20 minutes from the campground is the Turkey Run State Park.  A great park with amazing hiking trails.  There was an entry fee of $7.00. To the east of the campground, about 10 miles, was Racoon Lake Recreational area with marina, boat ramps, and man-made beach swimming area.  Again $7.00 fee per car.    

Facilities:  There are 1 bathhouse/bathroom.  It was very run down with 2 showers in each male/female.  Jennifer said she physically had to reach into the tank of the toilet to make it fill with water, wait for it to fill, then again reach into the tank to flush.

Overall campground:  The campground was very basic with no highlights to speak of.  Trees surrounded the campground while the center was open.  There was no store available in the campground.  We ran into the owners a couple times as they were mowing the property.  They were very nice but almost too laid back.  I asked about paying the remaining balance and he said he would go check with his wife.  When he came back he took my number and said his wife would call me on Monday, which really means Tuesday to her,  to get the remaining balance...we'll see...Will we pay or will we not?  If not, it's not for a lack of trying! There were 5 covered bridge routes each about 30 miles that looped out like a clover patter that returned back to Rockville.  

Our Experience

Wednesday - This area interested us because we have found covered bridges to be very nostalgic.  Rockville, IN is known as the covered bridge capital of the world.  There were 34 covered bridges within 30 minutes of downtown Rockville. We put the newly bought bike in the back of the truck for this trip, minus the tailgate, to allow for some great riding through farm country.  The roads in this part of Indiana are in bad need of repair.  I guess other than covered bridge tourists it's just the farmers on these roads

 I have never seen so many massive corn fields...thousands of acres per farm.   

We arrived on Wednesday and set up without any issues other than the fact we realized we had left our water pressure regulator at Holly Bay Campground, dang it...got to pay more attention during breakdown.   The weather was in the upper 70's with low humidity.  We hit the local Pizza Hut and came back to the camper and watched a classic 48 hrs.   and called it a day.   The campground was really quiet other than the locusts which was relaxing to listen to as we went to sleep.

Thursday-   A pancake breakfast morning.  We got on the bike and covered the Red, Black, and Brown routes.  The weather was perfect, low 80s and low humidity with sunny skies.  After we bought the bike we got new LS2 Rebellion half-helmets that were set up for bluetooth technology.  We installed Sena LS2 Linkin RidePal II in the helmets that synced to our phones.  We could talk to each other, listen to music and make/take phone calls.  They worked great once we figured out how to be patient while they turned on!  The bridges were amazing we took alot of pictures and included just a few here.  

The curved wooden arches were an amazing feat back in the day

Jennifer selfie while riding.  

Our favorite bridge

The most popular bridge

The curved wooden arches were an amazing feat back in the day

Friday -   A cereal breakfast and back on the road for more bridges.  We took the truck because there were several gravel roads on these loops on the Yellow and Blue Routes.  Some of the pictures above were on this trip.  In the afternoon we went to Turkey Run State park and went on Trail #3 which the ranger said was the most popular.  It was about a 2 mile loop (Jennifer swears it felt closer to 7).  We were totally amazed that the trail was along the bottom of a canyon cut by a stream.  It reminded us of a slot canyon at times.  We loved it. 

 

 

 Saturday - A trip to the local donut shop.  We are not much on cake donuts but these were the best we have had.

We spent some time exploring the small town as the temperature was well into the 90's.

Ain't she funny

We met the employee at Neva's antiques who was so helpful

An old timey drug store

We ate at the Thirty Six Saloon Friday night and it was a great atmosphere, a lot of motorcycle riders.

Saturday afternoon we make one more motorcycle ride back to Brighton Bridge to try their homemade ice cream.  It was so good on such a hot day

Sunday - Packed up and out by 0930. 

Campground rankings (best to worst) to date: #1 - Holly Bay, #2 - Carter Caves, #3 Dale Hollow State Park, #4 Green River, #5 Covered Bridge Campground, #6 KY Horse Park

Next stop Smokey Mountains, TN for some outdoor activities