RV Trip Planner: Janesville, WI to Golf Shores Alabama

Dates: Saturday March 26th to Sunday April 3rd

Duration: 7 Days

Miles: 2,294

Driving Hours: 36 Hours

States Visited: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri

Major Towns Passed Through: Rockford IL, Chicago IL, Indianapolis IN, Louisville KY, Knoxville KY, Chattanooga TN, Birmingham AL, Montgomery AL, Mobile AL, Memphis TN, St. Louis MO, Springfield IL.

Overview: This trip was a spring break RV Trip from Southern Wisconsin to Golf Shores Alabama. We had 2 adults, 3 teens and a dog on this trip. We wanted at least 3 days at the beach as well as see some sights along the way.

Below is the itinerary for our RV Trip:

Saturday Day One:

Travel Day -Depart Janesville, WI for Red River Gorge

We stayed at 4 Guys RV Park at the Gorge 10137 Campton Rd, Stanton, KY 40380, USA - We found the campground to be very clean and we felt safe. It's not to far off the interstate and getting in and out (Even in the dark) was not hard with our big rig. They had a nice little creek running through it that my boys enjoyed fishing at. It was to cold for the pool but it looked like a nice little place to cool off. The weather this time of year was chili. In fact it got down below freezing our first night but the next day it got into the 50's which was perfect for our hiking adventure. The campground is very close to Red River Gorge.

Sunday Day Two:

Red River Gorge Tour & Underground Kayak Tour

Due to the size of our motor home and the fact that we where not pulling a vehicle we arranged a tour of Red River Gorge with Red River Outfitters. Red River Gorge is basically the Natural Bridge State Park, Clifty Wilderness Area and The Daniel Boone National forest. Red River Outfitters picked us up and provided a private guide who was super present and very knowledgeable of the Gorge. It was money well spent as we saw so much that we never would have seen on our own. The guide knew the trails well and we really enjoyed our time. He even provided a cold lunch with a local soda to drink. Red River Outfitters also set up a under ground kayaking adventure for us in the afternoon at Gorge Underground which is an abandon mine that can be toured by boat, kayak or paddle board. They dropped us off and picked us up to get us back to the RV Park. The teens quite enjoyed The Gorge Underground. They even had fish swimming around you could see.

Tuesday Day Three:

Travel Day- Red River Gorge To Golf Shores

After a second night at 4 Guys RV Park we got up early and headed out to Golf Shores. After a full day of travel we arrived at Buena Vista Motor Coach Resort Buena Vista was an amazing place. They bill themselves as a high end motor coach resort and they didn't disappoint. Our camp site was by the pool and lazy river, all cement with patio furniture and overlooking a pond in the back. The entire facility is gated and very secure. It seemed to be a nice mix of vacationers and people that are there for the season. NOTE- You must have a newer 32 foot or longer class A motor home to stay here. If your pulling a camper I would suggest golf shores state park. It's close by and allows campers.

Buena Vista was a bit of a walk to the beach but we rented a car from Enterprise for the time we where at golf shores.

Wednesday Day Three:

Beach Day and Charter Fishing

In the morning we drove around and explored the area and had lunch at a beach front restaurant in Orange beach. In the afternoon we had a fishing charter planned with Fish On Charters. Unfortunately they cancelled on us after we had driven all the way up to their location in Fort Morgan due to mechanical trouble on the boat. It was really the only disappointing aspect to this entire trip. We did have some friends charter out of Fort Morgan that same day on a different charter and they caught a lot of fish. I'd like to try it again next time we go. We ended up making it a beach day and went to Golf Shores State Park. The water was warm and clear and the beach sand was fine powder.

Thursday Day Four:

USS Alabama Tour and Pool Day

We decided to take a break from the beach and drove up to Mobile Alabama for a tour of the USS Alabama. The teenagers where not to sure about this but they enjoyed exploring the ship and they also had a WW2 Sub on site that we went through. In the afternoon we returned to Buena Vista and relaxed by the pool followed by dinner out at a local Mexican restaurant Called Cactus Cantina. The food was good and reasonably priced.

Friday Day Five:

Travel Day To Overnight in Jonesboro, AR

We started our trip home with plans to stop off in St. Louis and see the Arch. Instead of driving straight through we planned to stop overnight at Lucky Camper In Jonesboro, AR. Lucky Camper was something I'd definitely change about this trip. We arrived around 5:00 PM and the office was closed and there was no information out on how to find our camp site. We tried calling the office number and no one answered. To say Lucky Camper Campground was sketchy would be an understatement. It appears to be more of a trailer park with permanent residents then a campground. We observed cars up on blocks and a generally unkept campground. We honestly didn't feel all that safe and decided since we didn't know where our site was we would just move on. To be fair, Luck Camper did call us back a few hours later and they did give us a full refund but I would skip this campground if at all possible if your planning this trip. We ended up staying in a Love's travel plaza that night.

Saturday Day Six:

Short Drive to St. Louis Arch Tour and BBQ

We got up and drove to St. Louis. Our goal was to see the St. Louis Arch and get some good BBQ. We settled on the Draft Queens Casino RV Park. Our logic was it was right downtown and we could Uber to the arch. The reviews I read and the research I did online indicated that the Casino RV Park was gated with a code to get in and that security patrols constantly monitored the Park.

When we arrived the gate would not open so we had to call the office and they ended up letting us in. Apparently there was a problem with the gate and they ended up leaving it open for our entire stay. The campground itself was dirty and I saw one security vehicle the entire stay. It's basically a big parking lot. They did have full hookups which was nice. We awoke to gun shots in the middle of the night and police sirens going off not long after that. This did not happen in the RV Park but it was really damn close and set my wife and dog on edge. The other people staying in the campground seemed to be a mix of people passing through like us and construction workers that seemed to be in the area for a few months.

Our day of exploring the arch and BBQ at Pappy's Smokehouse (A St. Louis Institution) was a lot of fun but we could have done it all in a half day. For those of you with younger kids the City Center Museum would have been another fun activity to fill the afternoon. It was on my list of things to do but my teens wanted to skip it.