Tomoka State Park: AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!

Once upon a time, Tomoka State Park in Ormond Beach Florida was probably a decent place to camp. Those days are over. Simply because of location, we have camped there quite a few times, but enough is enough. Tomoka itself would be pretty nice if they would do something about the roads throughout the park. They are HORRIBLE, and they continue to degrade year by year. When the weather is good, the roads are EXTREMELY dusty. When it rains, like it did on our most recent visit, the giant craters in the roads fill with nasty water. The craters are so big in a lot of places that there's no such thing as avoiding them. They are nearly the full width of the road. In all weather conditions, the roads in Tomoka are filled with potholes and washboard type ripples. They are not only uncomfortable to drive on, but brutal on your vehicle and trailer's suspension systems. When we first started going to Tomoka during the Turkey Rod Run car show a few years ago, the campground was packed with classic cars and street rods that appeared at the show during the day, and made the campground their home at night. This year, Gary only spotted two show cars on his travels through the campground, and there were MANY empty campsites. We can totally understand why people with high-dollar classic cars no longer stay at Tomoka. Why would anybody want to subject their beautiful cars to the awful roads in the park? Our complaints over the years have gone unanswered. The powers that be at the park apparently prefer the "natural" element of unpaved roads over asphalt. That's fine, but the least they could do is fill the holes and grade the roads so they will drain. They continue to do nothing, and the campers are getting wise. Fewer and fewer people who have camped at Tomoka in the past make a return trip. We tried our best to get into nearby Gamble Rogers State Park this year for our visit to the area, but no campsites were available. We were lucky enough to stay there in 2015 and 2016, and it is REALLY nice. Gary has already told me that if we can't get into Gamble Rogers for Thanksgiving weekend in 2018, that we won't camp at all, and he will commute to the car show from home. Believe me, I'm going to mark the calendar for the first day that reservations can be made, and I'll be hounding him to book us a campsite ASAP. One thing for sure is that we will NEVER EVER go back to Tomoka, and I HIGHLY suggest that none of our camping friends go there either. I am usually sad to leave a campground, but the best part of our stay at Tomoka this year is captured in the last picture I've included, the one where we are heading HOME.