What makes a campground (for us) great

As I scan through dozens of listings every time we move the rig, I've started to tighten down on a list of things that make a campsite great.  These naturally are my own opinions and reflect our situation (huge 'Merican rig, still haven't sorted out electricity conversion so dry camping, living w/ kids and dog 24/7 in the rig, etc).  Here's a list broken out by priority:

Must have:

• Maneuver and actual space for this big rig.  If we can't get to the pitch, it's a non-starter.  Ditto for a pitch that we can't fit in.
• Allows kids and dogs (I can't imagine hiding this rig full of attention grabbers)

Guaranteed we'll stay there (assuming the must have's are met):

• Wifi at the pitch.  Wifi at the park center is really nice (see below), but at the site is awesome.  If you have that, we'll go 10's of miles out of our way to stay there a few nights just so that we can upgrade multiple computers and devices with all of the required & recommended updates overnight!  I might be willing to even pay for this if the pricing is right and service is fast (1GBP/30min is absurd, and I'm willing to pay to help ensure that I'm not sharing bandwidth with 200 others all streaming netflix)
• Single vehicle mass transit to city (if we can reach an actual city in one step, awesome)

Big wins:

• Walkable grocery
• Walkable dining
• Walkable attractions
• Incredible view
• Good sized Playground, waterpark, etc

Additive (these will help v. other nearby sites):

• Water & Electric @ site
• Dumping @ site
• Playground (any playground is better than no playground)
• Playfield
• Reputation for clean and heated bathrooms (we have our own, so not so critical, but definitely indicative)
• Laundry facilities
• Free wifi at the center
• Town/City centre w/in 10 miles (we have a toad so we can cover decent range)
• Enough space to do the slides.  It has not been a problem here thus far as most spots seem to be square (and room for a 36' length pretty well ensures that we can do slides, and an extra car)

Things that will make us think hard/plan (if the following are true, we may not go, even with multiple big wins):

• No fresh water
• No dump facility
• Grass only site (must consider the rain and our 12T weight!)
• More than 30min drive from grocery or dining
• More 40GBP/night -- seriously?  I'm still shaking my head over 33GBP/night
• Reputation for stinky facilities, campsite has been "let go", year round tenants who commute to city (pensioners are nice & fine)

What baffles me most is that so many of these criteria are impossible to filter or sort on in the 6+ websites I have learned to peruse while searching for pitches (in just the UK!).  The information is in the review sites, but it's just not available to filter/search (rig size isn't there at all AFAICS).  So, I email and I call 5-10 places every time we plan to move.  Definitely room for a good aggregator to build a web site especially with availability.  Too bad I'm busy for the next several months just living.

Write

I may have blamed my delay in posting on driving the RV all the time, but as time goes on, I think I need to blame it on just being too busy.  The fact is, between planning travels for a day, doing the travels for the day, dealing with breakfast/lunch/dinner and miscellaneous work around the apartment/RV, it's awfully hard to take a few moments to post on what is up.

I've been heard to say that "when we're in the RV it'll be better" but I'm not really sure that will inevitably be the case.  We stayed for days in Red Bay and I didn't manage a single post.  We spent 2 weeks in DC, and I managed only a really quick post about our travels from Red Bay to DC.  Tomorrow is our 1 week "anniversary" in London, and still nothing even on DC, much less London.  Shouldn't being in hotels or an apartment be easier than an RV?  Yet, so little writing.

I once heard that Stephen King's secret is writing every day.  No matter what.  Write something.  Ditto for Piers Anthony.  In his authors notes (now my favorite part of his books), he points out that he writes even if what he writes is junk -- on his second and third revisions he sometimes purifies random nuggets into base metals.

Thinking further, writing every day is the secret to email's effectiveness/insidiousness.  Every day/hour/minute/second, there's a new email inevitably with some action -- to write.  And that writing so often creates some level of obligation for someone else to email.  Repeat.  Ad infinitum.

But blogging lacks that interactivity/imperative.  That implied obligation to respond with a few words or longer is not there with a blog.  No dialectical call to respond for me.  Nothing compels me to blog about a day other than my own will power.  And after a long day, it's hard to find it.  And at the fresh start of a new day, my mind is turned to the future day rather than reflections on the past.

If it cannot get more difficult to feel inspired to write, there is the fact that a blog is published.  It's public for all to see.  OK.  Admittedly, there aren't that many of you out there seeing it, but still, I feel that I have to write, edit and hopefully have something entertaining (and not too embarrassing) before clicking that orange "publish" button.  And that adds a level of paralysis a priori to putting fingers to keyboard.

But I know that somehow I must write.  The few writings I have done through the years are not brilliant, but they hold the thoughts and reflections of a me that I have long forgotten.  And this year is not one I will ever be able to truly replay.  The other 42 prior to this also cannot be easily replayed, but I was not so aware of their significance.  This year is about my family and our adventure together.  And while I want to live it to its fullest by being in the moment, I also want to be able to cherish it in some future moment.  And to not forget.

And so, I must write.