A few years ago an expensive outlet mall bought all the land surrounding it – which included the KOA - and built on only about 10% of it. Then I guess something else happened because eventually a gas station was plopped on the land and the owner of KOA set fire to the main building of the campsite. Many more years previous to it’s downfall, I stayed at a cabin there with my family. It’s always fun to see the places you loved as a child in such decrepit conditions. I’m kind of sick, huh?

On a nice Fall day Matt, Chas and I were driving aimlessly around town and we decided to check out the remnants of the campgrounds. We drove through the camp until we found an acceptable place to park, which was right by a camper that appeared to be occupied. The three of us wandered through the dirt roads in the woody area. We found a few old campers tipped on their sides, and a cabin that looked like someone set fire to it, then bashed the rest of it in with a sledgehammer.

Chas must have been bored, because he spent most of the time there tossing his maglite as high as it would go, then squealing as it loudly smashed into the ground. We passed by the bathrooms, which were bolted shut. No bother, I wasn’t too interested in the abandoned poop room.

Further down the road we reached the main building, which now sits within feet of a new chain-link fence, followed by a good 40 foot vertical drop, at the bottom of which is the gas station.

A rusted door melted to the side and a welcome mat made of moss looked straight out of a dali painting. Pieces of burnt wood crunched under our feet as we walked through the lobby. Shelves and stands were tipped to their sides, and post cards littered the floor. A breakfast menu advertising All-you-can-eat pancakes sat in a small puddle, covered in broken glass. Matt and Chas walked up an outdoor staircase that led to a storage room, filled with pamphlets and employee handbooks. The entire building reeked of mold and urine; we obviously didn’t stay long.

Once back outside, I tripped over a small stone wall, standing no more than a few inches high. We pushed back some weeds, which revealed part of a mini golf course. Only a few square feet of the course remained; it ended at the edge of the fence. The pool that once sat on the other side of the golf course was completely non-existent. Where the cabin I stayed in once sat, large rocks now form an eye-pleasing wall around the station.

I really enjoyed seeing what’s left of a place I have such fond memories of, but probably not as much as Chas enjoyed tossing his maglite.

~Keti Fallout