We discovered US Army Corps of Engineers campgrounds when we were tent campers and even with our big rig we still search our route for possible US Army Corps recreational facilities.
The areas are almost always by water and the parks we visited have been older, but maintained. Reservation can be made online at http://www.Recreation.gov up to six months in advance, which is what we should have done. We started planning our trip back to the Midwest only a couple of months from our departure date. The number of suitable sites were limited and with high hopes of squeezing into the available spots we plotted our course.
The campgrounds we stayed at did not have full hook-ups, but they all had potable water available and a dump station.
The fees for camping are almost always less than $60 a night (at this facilities our cost was $28.00) and if you have an America the Beautiful Senior Pass, camping is half-price.
Allatoona Lake is on the Etowah River and is about 30 miles north of Atlanta. There are a seven US Army Corps of Engineer campgrounds on Allatoona Lake. The construction for the recreation area began in 1941 and was completed in 1950.
We choose Old Hwy. 41 #3 for two nights at the end of May. This USACE has seven camp ground on the lake and ours was the facility on Lake Allatoona without a designated swimming area, but we would fit.
Site 10 looked perfect. Our trailer is only 40 feet long and there would plenty of room to park the truck next to the camper.
But what we couldn’t see from looking at the picture was the width, angle and slope of the road…of course the first approach had an extremely tight angle and the trailer wheels left the payment and immediately sunk into the soft ground like a graham cracker to a freshly toasted marshmallow. While the trailer slowly descended – I shouted, “stop, stop, stop.”
Of course DH thought I should have started calling out stop, before the wheels left the pavement. 
Luckily, he was able to pull forward without too much trouble. On the second attempt he took a longer approach and was able to keep all the trailer wheels on the pavement. 
Lessons learned from this adventure:
- Make reservations earlier or buy a smaller trailer.
- We are not the only ones who tests the strength of our marriage while backing up a trailer – proof is in the number of imprinted products with the saying: Sorry for what I said while trying to park the camper.
- The word ‘soft’ on roadway signs should be replaced with spongy or mushy or ground will swallow your wheels…
- Location, location, location…a lovely view of the water from the back windows
RVWife 