View Larger Map

So the holiday weekend was over at Savannas Preserve State Park and so was our time there, so off we went to Riverbend Motorcoach Resort in LaBelle, Florida, another familiar place since we have already been here twice (February, 2012 in our Fleetwood Discovery and in December, 2013 in our Aspire). Since we have been primarily staying in State Parks (and loving them), moving to a luxury Class A resort was a bit of an adjustment. Not to worry, it only took about 15 minutes to acclimate to the change!

During the four years we’ve been active in the RV world, we’ve stayed at several Class A Resorts. At first we enjoyed them but eventually the glitz wore thin and our opinion soured as their true nature emerged. Riverbend however seems to have somehow escaped that fate and remains one of our favorites. Not only is it beautiful, well run and has lots of things to do, we find the people here super friendly, unlike the cliquish (and sometimes borderline hostile) environments we found at other Class A resorts.

It was close to 11:00 a.m. by the time we left Savannas but that was okay, we only had a 115 mile trip ahead of us, a little over 2 hours. Rob didn’t like the routes that Mrs. Garmin and Mrs. Google chose – he remembered one 30 mile stretch of road (US-70) between Okeechobee and US-27 being unusually narrow and unpleasant so he decided on his own route. After leaving the campground we headed north on US-1, west on FL-70 (stopping at a Flying J near I-95 to fuel up), then at Okeechobee turned onto FL-15 S/US-441 S/US-98S, then within 3 miles turned right onto FL-78W. In Moore Haven, he turned onto US-27S which he followed until he exited onto State Road 80W and headed east. Thirty miles later we arrived at Riverbend. All roads in this route provided an easy comfortable (mostly 4 lane divided) drive with the exception of about 10 miles of SR-80 east of the Ortona locks.

We were greeted at the gate by Rich, a work camper we had met here last year. He and his wife, Joyce, have been here since October and will be here until April, working 5 days a week.  We parked the coach in the check in parking area and walked over to the registration office. Joyce was working as well. Nice couple, good to see them again. Read our detailed review of Riverbend.

When I had called to make a reservation, I was hoping we could get the same site as last year (#47) or one close by because of the view of the small lake but #47 had been sold (to people who also owned an Entegra Aspire) and the immediate sites next door weren’t available either. Our first site here in 2012, #189, didn’t come with any type of table which was pretty inconvenient so now when I call I always ask for a site that has a patio set. There were several sites available but we ended up choosing site #54. So after chit chatting with Rich and Joyce for a few minutes, we walked back to the coach, unhitched the toad and off we went. Not as nice as #47 since it was on a corner and didn’t seem quite as big. It did have a view of the lake off to the side but directly across the street was another coach (happened to be an Entegra). But it was still pretty nice.

Rob quickly backed the coach in. The site is fairly deep and in order for him to get close to the hookups, he wanted to go as far back as he could so the rear of the coach would overhang the grass. But he couldn’t because the patio furniture, a Rubbermaid cabinet (about 5′ x 4′ x 3′) and a large gas grill were on the grass, close to the pad. As transients come and go, a crew usually washes down the pad, clearing away any debris or dirt. Apparently they did this but forgot to move the owner’s personal items back on the pad. So our first chore here was to move the rather heavy and awkward table with it’s huge umbrella and base onto the pad, then wheel the grill off the grass. So far, so good. But then Rob went to lift the Rubbermaid cabinet, well, the thing fell apart and all of it’s contents (pressure washer, tarps, and other items) fell out, ending up strewn on the cement. Jeesh! Finally with everything moved, he finished backing up. Of course, later after we were settled in, he had to reassemble the Rubbermaid, pick up the contents and stuff everything into the cabinet. A little annoying to say the least – we mentioned it at the office the next day figuring that even though it wasn’t a big deal to us, it might be to someone else.

Rather than regurgitate all of the amenities offered here and what we liked and/didn’t like, if you are interested, you can read our review from our last visit here.

We’re here for a month (until 12/31) but not planning on doing a lot of sightseeing. A visit with our friends from EGYC, Chris and Bob, who just moved into a new home in the same community in North Fort Myers, perhaps go to the Edison Estate to see the Christmas lights and eating out at a few old favorites and perhaps a new one. Rob’s hoping to get some small projects accomplished but I’m sure like our recent two week stay at Jonathan Dickinson, there will be plenty of distractions and the time will fly by!

More later!