Emporia RV Park

Have stayed here before so we knew the pros and cons. Pros: only campground in Emporia. Bathrooms are clean. Showers are hot. Bath house is warm. Gravel Pulls through are easy to park in. Nice grassy areas for walking dogs. Staff is friendly and efficient.
Cons: only one con and that is the road noise. This park sits between highways US 50 and I-135. Busy busy busy. Also a train comes in sometimes. But if that doesn’t bother you then this is a very nice ma and pa park.

Day 3 of consecutive overnighters en route to Tucson this was our only option on a long stretch of I-35. Emporia RV Park serves the purpose; convenient access off I-35, long pull-thru sites (ours site #8) was spot-on level and did not require us to unhook from tow vehicle), newer power pedestals with good 30/50A, and super clean bathhouse and laundry (1.50 wash/1.00 dry). Otherwise very basic. Alternating pull-thu’s means you are sharing the pedestal, green-space between sites and the one picnic table. Literally yards away from the interstate - so lots of highway noise during the day. A little disk golf park in back gives ample grass space to walk dog and exercise kids. Contactless check-in was a plus.

If you need to be in Emporia, this is pretty much the only RV campground within 30 mins or so. Chunky gravel roads and sites with grass in between. It isn't quiet — you have the trucks revving up to speed as the get onto I-35. You get others coming in on the rumble strips down US-50. Plus the trains blow their horns pretty much 24x7. Lots of rabbits around at dusk. The last 2 sites in each row don't have sewer hookup but there is a dump station up front. There was a cable hookup but only found one channel — OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network), also couldn't find anything available over the air. Bathrooms were clean — 1 urinal, 2 stalls, 2 showers (in the Mens).

Seeking a primitive spot but all sites had water and power. Selected a back-in spot and clerk (John?) was helpful and courteous. Close pond(s) offered a fairly intense accompaniment of mosquitos, there was apparently wifi, but I did not test @ time of review. Closest town of Emporia (.2mi) had a solid dive bar off commercial Ave, Charlie’s.

We stayed here a month to visit family.

Pros - Roads and sites are all hard rock, mostly level. Easy access and maneuverability for big rigs and small RVs alike. Hookups are good and conveniently located. Monthly rates for 50-amp were $600 all-inclusive. ATT hotspot was pushing 41mbps up and 9mbps down.

Cons - Sits right next to the Turnpike and train tracks so it is noisy. The hookups are shared between two sites so if you have a neighbor, their front door faces yours and there is only a 6-8' grassy area between both rigs. The playground equipment is old but they have installed a new frisbee disc golf course on-site, which is big in Emporia.

We stayed here in a 40' MH and will stay here again while visiting family.

Called ahead to make a reservation and voice mail said “... we’ve got pull thru sites available, no reservations needed.” Left message anyway and did not receive call back. Arrived and surprised to see park mostly full. Chose a site at end of park, followed instructions and went to office to pay. After a bit of looking around, found envelopes (no price posted) and was filling out when a woman came up and yelled at me “we’re full, what are you doing?” She said all sites were occupied or had cones on them (not true). I explained I’d found an open site, #39 and had unhooked. She said “oh, that site is open but electric only.” She said that was fine but next time to not park without her approval and to leave a message and the office was only open 4-7 pm and I was ‘lucky’ she was ‘letting’ me stay (!). As Emporia is miles from nowhere, winds were gusting and I wanted to get to the Tallgrass National preserve, I chose to stay.