Florey Park Campground

I went there to see what had been done with Florey since I had many childhood memories from this old park. My grandparents actually lived there back when it was an oil field camp....home to the many families that worked in the oilfields. After the houses were long gone there were many activities planned out there. There was a club house and trees everywhere. For this flat, desert landscape, those clump of trees were a sight to see! Florey Park holds lots of memories for many people who grew up in Andrews. When I heard they had put in RV parking, I was so excited to visit Florey Park once again so I scheduled a stop on my way to visit friends in Midland. I was so disappointed. With all that space and all those trees, there is so much that could have been done to offer really nice RV parking. Instead, you basically stay in an open parking lot out on the edge of Florey park. The first "hook up" I went to didn't work so I had to move (which is NOT easy in my rig) The showers were just OK, and of course you are not allowed to build a campfire, so it was just as dead as dead could be out at Old Florey Park and the RV Parking lot. It actually left me feeling sad. So much more could have been done. It was not worth $35.00, and I have been there for my last visit.

When we arrived, the managers, Josh and his wife, were very nice. The sign said $35/day for full hookup, $10/dry. We ended up paying $15/day for 50amp with water and sewer VERY close. We were the only people in the park. Josh met us at our site and helped us get set up. He said the park used to be full all the time, but with the oil bust of the last few years, it's been empty.

The actual RV hookups and sites are in what's essentially a huge parking lot. The rest of the park is well-maintained grass and trees. Showers were ok - good water pressure, lots of hot water, but not QUITE hot enough for my taste. Shower head (at least in the ladies) was old school and difficult to get right under. The whole place is VERY well maintained. Josh was out mowing and keeping things tip-top the whole time we were there.

As for interesting ... first, coming in, there's a big yellow sign "CAUTION: Poisonous Gas may be present". Turns out there is a oil processing facility next door (other side of the trees). The first night there was a horrible stench at about 2 am, lasting for about 90 minutes. Turns out, according to Josh, that it's H2S (hydrogen sulfide). Not poisonous at the levels there. Again, according to Josh, when it smells it's about 2 ppm and alarms go off if it goes over 10ppm. Per the wikipedia, that's safe (but it still smelled awful). Luckily, it was only that one night.

The other interesting point is "Rattlesnake Danger". We didn't see any snakes, and Josh said he'd only seen one (in a shed) in the last 4 months. Since it was wet and pretty cold, we didn't really worry about it.

We also got some amazing weather while we were there. A thunderstorm/tornado cell went just around us (on both sides). 5 or 6 tornados touched down within 15 miles, but it was clear (and VERY, VERY windy) at the park. We watched a terrific lightening show for several hours (while monitoring the Weather Channel closely).

One of the nice points of the park is that since it was so empty, we were able to let our dog run loose (and the cat). Apparently the local police come there sometimes to work with their dogs (we didn't see them).

I took off one star for the site quality and overall rating because of the smell at night.