This country of ours is filled with people and places that never cease to amaze and impress me. Breathtaking landscapes touched by the hand of God himself, thundering waterfalls, abundant and wildly varying wildlife and amongst that splendor are kind, interesting, engaging, hard working people. RVing and camping is a fantastic way to see our country and meet some of those people. I have been camping and RVing for a very long time. Something happened during and after Covid. The sheer number of people interested in seeing our country via RV rose by such a volume, that some state parks and private campgrounds near coveted destinations were nearly impossible to book a reservation. That’s when we discovered Harvest Host “Campgrounds”.
The way it works (https://www.harvesthosts.com/how-it-works) is that for an annual membership fee, members can stay at Harvest Host campgrounds for (usually) no cost. You are expected to patronize the hosts business in some form or fashion. Many Harvest Hosts are farm related. They produce fresh produce or meats. There are alpaca farms, bison farms (obviously) wineries and so on. Some (Like Bama Bison) also have Air bnb option. All that we have been to are friendly, welcoming and interesting. But none come close to Bama Bison. The Harvest Host campgrounds can make an excellent diversion while you are on your way somewhere and they reduce the dependency on larger campgrounds for overnight stays.
Bama Bison is female veteran owned and operated and is an active farm operation. There are only a small number of camp sites, but they have full hook ups with 30 or 50amp electric and most are in the shade. The property is immaculate and awash in the sounds of birds. I probably saw or heard over two dozen different species including two (the Loggerhead Shrike and the Yellow Billed Cuckoo-No Photo-Heard only) that are listed by Cornell Lab as a “Common Bird in Steep Decline“. We walked all over, took pictures, enjoyed the tranquility, bought some bison and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
We all tend to stick to what we know and are comfortable with. I think it’s the human condition. I would encourage you to stretch your legs and see someplace new. Meet new people. Try new things. There are delightful surprises to be had all over our country just like Bama Bison. Maybe even right around the corner from you right now. We just need to seek them out.
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