That'll Be Seven Dollars

American Wilderness Campground. A Good Sam member - not sure why. Most of the Good Sam parks we've stayed at have been nicer than this. They advertise themselves as being the closest campground to Cleveland. Really?? I think I might be able to find some closer, but I took their word for it. I remember this place from when I was a teenager. Sort of. At that time, it was pretty much an open field - not much in the way of hookups, but that was okay, camping was different in those days. (No glamping!) It was in Belden - nothing much there then, nothing much there now. I overheard my next door neighbor on the phone complaining to whoever was on the other end - "it's too much for what you get". And it is. It looks like they made an attempt at landscaping and then decided it would be too much trouble. Belden is a good location for me because most of my family and friends live in Wellington, Grafton, Elyria, Sullivan and Medina. It's relatively convenient, but I'm sure other places could be just as convenient. The other problem is that they say it's full hook ups, but it isn't. No sewer. Although they will send a truck around to pump your RV for $20. That's NOT a full hookup. That's nickel and diming you to death.

Anyway, aside from that small detail, I should have known there was another problem when my sister-in-law and I went out for a manicure and she tried to drop me off. They wouldn't let us drive the car in unless she registered with the office first. She needed to get home to make lunch for my brother before he left for work. No time to register . I told her I'd walk. No problem. Fortunately Mark and I were parked fairly near the gate. If I'd had to walk to the far reaches of the campground, I would have been very unhappy. Very unhappy indeed.

But then the next day, one of my cousins wanted to come by to visit. I gave her the site number. When she got there, THEY WANTED HER TO PAY SEVEN DOLLARS!!! Now, it's not that seven dollars is going to break anybody. But whatever for? (I sort of know. They have a swimming lake and most of the people who stay there are relatively local. They need a way to stop somebody from inviting every child in their neighborhood to stop by for a swim at no charge. I get that. But charging a woman over 50 with no children in the car after 6 PM in September is not the solution to their problem. They only irritate people doing that kind of thing. They've irritated me enough that I'll never go back.

Nonetheless, she only wanted to visit for about an hour and seven dollars seemed a bit steep. The woman at the desk made her a deal, they offered to give her an hour at no charge, but they took her driver's license and held it hostage. Not thinking about it much at the time, she complied. (It's not in my family's nature to be suspicious.) But then, to make it worse, when it got to be 45 minutes, the girl at the desk decided it was time to go home and gave my cousin's driver's license to a guy who said he was "going right by there." So now, her license, with her name, address and social security number has been in the possession of two complete and total strangers. By this time she's seeing the problem with this. So was I. They'd just better hope that there are no identity theft attempts on her account because it would be really easy to hold American Wilderness responsible.

I've just got to say that we were completely put off by their "security". All they are really concerned with is someone using their swimming hole. It's not that good. Plenty of other places you can swim at no charge. We have paid less than this for really nice sites - landscaped with plants rather than crabgrass and assorted weeds - no hassles for visitors, and close to amenities like restaurants. We won't be staying at American Wilderness again.