Van Buren Missouri
Our next stop after Grand Rivers Kentucky was crossing the Mississippi to Van Buren Missouri. We scored a riverside site at this campground – The Family Campground at Current River.
This campground was difficult to find, the map took us to the wrong road first, then when we got to the correct road, the road signs were so faded they were hard to read – and there was no sign for the campground at all. Skinny roads, so our fingers were crossed it was the right road and not a dead end. I just don’t understand why these campground owners don’t make the effort to help you find their property.
But we did eventually find the campground and got parked at our riverfront site. These sites were gravel and dirt. There were a lot of families, and it was busy as we were there on the weekend. The site we had was not full hookup, no sewer, and it had 30 amp. But we made it work.
The campground offers tubes to float down the river, which a lot of people were doing. There is also boating, with apparently no speed limit, which is a little scary adding that to the tubing and swimmers. If you weren’t floating down the river, putting your chair in the river to cool off was another favorite – which is what we did. The downfall of a busy weekend is that our site became everyone’s beach – including some kids riding their ATV’s a little too close to the back of our trailer. This campground has no “camping etiquette” as far as your RV site.
The town is a few miles away and has a nice little market to pick up groceries. We found a Mexican food restaurant (not too many places to eat in town) and it was pretty good.
Van Buren, Missouri is a small town in the heart of the Ozarks. The area is known for its natural beauty, and there are plenty of things to do in the surrounding hills and forests. There are also several historical sites in the area, including a reconstructed Native American village. Visitors can also enjoy fishing and swimming in the many nearby lakes and rivers.
We were here on a Friday/Saturday night. Saturday was very busy. If you have issues with people cutting through your site, sitting behind your trailer in the campsite on the river, walking through your site, and even driving their ATV right behind your trailer, then don’t book a site on the river. There was no campground etiquette, at least on a busy day. We did enjoy our riverfront site.
Next stop – Branson, Missouri
