Location / Name: Lake Jacomo Campground, Lee’s Summit, MO

Date: 08/23/2016 (1 night)

Lake Jacomo Campground was located by looking at Google Maps in an area around 300 miles from my prior planned stop, which was Rend Lake, IL. Reviews and price were OK, and additionally there was a relatively close CVS pharmacy where my wife could pick up a prescription she needed (our local CVS pharmacist forwarded it for us,) so we spent one night on our trip from Georgia to Boise.

General description of park/area:

Lake Jacomo Campground is located in the Jackson County, MO, Fleming Park, a large 7,800 acre park just east of Kansas City with two lakes. It is operated by the county, along with another campground (Blue Springs) in Fleming Park. Fleming Park has boating, hiking, water sports, and historic sites. The park is a few miles south of I-70 and east of I-470, with easy access via good roads.

General description of campground:

The Lake Jacomo Campground is well-groomed and clean, with sites surrounding a central bathhouse. There are some pull-thru sites, and a number of back-in sites. The sites are nice and large, and most have big shade trees, although some sites are in full sun. Access to and thru the campground is easy. There is a gate at the entrance to the campground, and you must ring the host for entry. We came without reservations in mid-week, and the hosts were quite accommodating.

Access: There should be no problems with access in any kind of vehicle.

Site: We stayed in Site #37, a back-in site with a double wide driveway, because the driveway wasn’t deep enough to leave the car in front of the trailer. The driveway was gravel and nearly level. The site has a firepit with grate, a wooden picnic table, and nice trees for shade. It was a walk of about 50 yards across a grassy area to the bathhouse.  

Electric: 30/20 amp at standard electric RV sites; none at tent sites. Full hookup sites have 50/30/20 amp service. I used a basic analyzer/surge protector, and the 30-amp circuit passed the tests. It did not test for high/low voltage.

Water: Water connections are available only at the full hookup RV campsites. Otherwise there were three hydrants around the park where you can get water in your containers. The locations were not necessarily well place, in my opinion, but doable.  

Bathhouse: There is a single, centrally located bathhouse which was reasonably clean. It is built into a hill (Facebook / spousal guess that this allows it to double as a storm shelter), so there were no windows other than on the front side. The interior lights were somewhat dim, which may explain some dark corners where debris and dirt was still around. The bathhouse has 2 urinals, 2 toilet stalls, 3 sinks, and 2 shower stalls. The bathhouse is aging and seemed dingy, but clean enough. There was no hand soap (a trend I am finding in government-operated bathhouses; one I don’t like.) There was an electric hand dryer. The shower stall had no soap holder in the shower, but on the plus side each shower room had a lockable door and a curtain between the shower and the dressing room.

Sewer: Sewer connection at full hookup sites; a dump station near the campground entrance.

Cell Phone Service: 2-bar roaming service on my 3G Verizon cell phone; 2-bar 4G Verizon hotspot service. Data seemed slow.

Trash disposal: Dumpsters are located across from the dump station. No provision for recycling.

Cost: $30 for full hookup, $23 for electric only, $20 for tents. $2 senior discount, so we paid $21 for our electric-only site. Definitely worth it for us.

Supplies/Food: This campground is just outside a pretty large city, so you’re within a few miles of whatever you need.

T@b Note:

14.8 MPG for the 345 miles from middle Illinois. Somewhat disappointing to drop below 15 MPG, but not unexpected since we’re heading west into the wind, and starting an uphill climb to the Rockies. Also there was not as much truck traffic, so no drafting…