Easy Button Camping
We were only there two nights because we do not gravitate towards RV parks and/or such places where groups of campers gather together in confined spaces. That being said, if you’re going to spend some time in a more public venue, Ich-Kep-Pe park is one I would recommend.
We discovered this park on freecampsites.net, a website created for and maintained by those free-spirited people of the country who are bound and determined to see America while not breaking the bank. Here you can find places to camp as well as helpful reviews by other campers- describing the amenities or lack thereof, the ease of access, acceptable RV size, vibe of the area, etc.
As its my shift to drive The Buffalo, Stephane sits shotgun and reads the park reviews aloud. Everything sounds perfect except for one common theme, which may be a deal breaker: in every single review, the roads are described as rutted out and super rough. Now, we’ve taken The Buffalo down some pretty sketchy roads but if more than one person is commenting on the decayed quality of the roads, then we may need to start looking for another spot for the night. But before we go down that road (no pun intended), we’ll give Ich-Kep-Pe a shot. Because we’ll always give it at least one shot, maybe two if its worthy.
It’s night when we pull into the entrance to Ich-Kep-Pe; not sunset or civil twilight, it’s dark, black night. Which makes it a little harder to read the road but Stephane turns right on in. We scan the gravel road anxiously for the inevitable super washboard that will shake sawdust from The Buffalo or the giant pit that will bust an axle. Except…we don’t see (or feel) anything except an ordinary, nicely maintained, gravel road. We laugh out loud – what were our fellow RV-ers thinking? Not only is the road absolutely fine, all of the camp spots are super easy to access.
If we’re talking in Free Range terms, staying @ I-K-P park is like DOCKING at the ritzy Puerto Bahia marina in the Dominican Republic after being anchored out at various hard-to-get-to, untenable anchorages. Its important to experience both sides so that you can truly appreciate each for its virtues.
At I-K-P, you give up a little privacy, the feeling of being out in nature on your own, and the feeling of complete freedom and self-reliance. But, you don’t have to live with your smelly trash, you can stand under the hot water of your shower an extra minute or so, and if you don’t like your spot, feel free to move – there’s 48 others you can easily drive into.
