Review Detail

3.6 81
Illinois 97415
September 22, 2007
Overall rating
 
2.6
Location
 
4.0
Cleanliness/Hospitality
 
1.0
Amenities/Facilities
 
1.0
Value
 
3.0
Overall Experience
 
3.0
We arrived mid-afternoon with no reservations. Self-registration is only good for one night. For longer stays, you must contact Outdoor Recreation. There are two sections of this campground, one in the woods with gravel/dirt sites, and one out in the open with concrete pads. They are adjacent to each other and share a common bath house. The water hook-ups are a bit tricky if you aren't familiar with this type of faucet. You have to pull downward on the flush valve while raising the on/off handle. The bath house/laundry is coldly functional, and not kept very clean. The toilets are stainless steel. You sit directly on the cold steel rim of the bowl. There are no hinged seats. It's as if whoever built it figured the scum-of-the-earth would be using this facility and that, first and foremost, it should be made indestructible. Comfort and aesthetics are completely absent here. The showers are constructed in the same mode, with bare concrete floors, and a destruction-proof water control button. There is no hot/cold control, just a button on the wall that starts the water flowing. You wait for it to warm up then use it until it stops flowing. There is no off button. Ostensibly, this is a water-saving device, but it just kept on running for a couple of minutes after I got out, which of course defeats the whole purpose of the design. The overall effect of this bath house leaves you with the feeling that campers can't be trusted with normal facilities because they would only destroy them. Not a good feeling. The above star rating of "one star" for amenities/facilities and cleanliness/hospitality is heavily weighted toward the prison-camp style bath house. I'd venture a guess that if the base commander or MWR officer had to use these toilets and showers on a regular basis, they'd make some major changes. Beyond the bath house, things are more normal-feeling and pleasant. There's a large commissary and exchange complex, and other nice facilities on base. And of course, the proximity to the great city of St. Louis makes this a good location. Side note: For users of Sprint cellular and broadband cards, the signal here is very good with EVDO.
Report this review Was this review helpful? 0 0

Comments

To write a comment please register or