In the book, The Complete Guide to Full-Time RVing: Life on the Open Road, by Bill and Jan Moeller
But yesterday, my birthday, was a long driving day, full of wrong turns, close calls with construction barricades, backtracking, and hot sweaty weather. So after about 4.5 hours of driving, we caved in and parked for the night in Somerset, just inside the Wisconsin border across from the Twin Cities, where stripmalls meet farmland, and sports bars are the only entertainment.
We knew it was going to be cheesy just by the description in our directory. River’s Edge Camping Resort on the Apple River is a huge chunk of land with every Wallyworld type of amenity. “Tubing” down the river, miniature golf, waterslides, swimming pool, lots of cheap beer, and even a “Fine Eatery.”
What did we pay for the honor of staying in this “resort” off of a swampy, mosquito infested stream called the Apple River? $36 a night, for just the campsite, with only water and electric, no sewer. If we wanted to participate in the fun activities with hordes of screaming kids, that was $24 per person, per day plus another $13 for the site. And it didn’t even include the breakfast bay promoted in interesting locations throughout the campground. No thanks.
We were told we could swim in the pool, even though we weren’t paying for the extra fun that could be had. We went in the pool area, and saw this sign (read to bottom):
Our theory is that they had to have this sign because once people sat their butts in innertubes that floated down that skanky river, they got out full of bacteria and skin infections. Then they’d get in the pool. Ick!
In the local paper, we read about a lot of fights that happened last week when Korn played in the other tubing ‘resort’ in the area.
We spent one night there and got out before the weekend crowds showed up and the brawls started up. Never again!
It’s called, hanging out with college buddies, going to concerts like Jack Johnson or Country Splash, floating the Apple, lettin loose for a weekend. I don’t drink PBR. There’s no littering on the river, they fine groups that don’t bring all their cans back. I’m not a redneck…I have a good job in Minneapolis. I grew up in the area and believe me, the Apple River has been popular probably longer than you’ve been alive. The Apple River was the Wisconsin Dells before the Dells became popular. A special on River’s Edge and Apple River was aired on CBS news with Walter Kronkite in the 70’s. Sure, maybe the crowds have gotten younger and roudier…but if you take pride in touring the country and living life on the road in the RV, maybe next time, bother to check up on the history before you diss a place that has given so many fun memories and experiences over the years.
Hey Tom, we didn’t realize how wrankled people would get from this post. Wow. We’ve seen a lot of things in our two years on the road, and try not to jump to conclusions about places. Our review might have been harsh, but it was our first impression, and first impressions mean a lot, don’t you think?
As a former print journalist, I’ll say this as objectively as I can: there was indeed trash in the river, it was swampy and full of ag runoff, the campground was overpriced, and the week before we got there, fights had broken out at the concert.
And that’s the way it was . . .
Woohoo! If you enjoy scraping your ass in three inches of algae laden pasture runoff while downing PBR, only to toss your cans in the brush and and leave your bandaids in the pool, have at it!
We’ll gladly hit the road in our home sweet home on wheels to go find a real river where we can watch wildlife, not rednecks, and enjoy a nice gin and tonic from our rig.
What a loser article. Obviously you’ve never tubed the Apple before, so you wouldn’t know what a good time really is. Take your high horse and expensive RV back to rich and boring land. Get a life and try drinking a little and have some fun.
But we missed out on the old water slide that dumped you out in a 1′ deep 10′ x 20′ puddle at the end. But then again, maybe we’d get more abrasions and not be allowed in the pool.