Barbara Krumm: Ocean Lakes Family Campground does have a lot of water. We have one mile of oceanfront, and then we also have five large lakes that you can fish in. We have 859 campsites for RVs and tents. Most of our sites are averaged 45 feet long and 35 feet wide. We have some that are much larger, up to 80 feet long.
You don’t have to be a camper to enjoy this campground. You can rent a house that sleeps 6 to 22 guests, five, six bedrooms, four beds. The water park opened May 2016. It has 68,000 square feet of pool deck, two very large slides, a mat racer with four lanes, a tube slide with single and double riders, a huge adventure river with 17,000 square feet of water. It’ll take you about 15 minutes to coast around that.
The sunrise service was a really important feature that we started many, many years ago. Mr. And Mrs. Jackson, our cofounders, believe in church. It’s a big part of our campground. We have Sunday church service every week, and the sunrise service is a huge tradition with about 2,500 guests attending the 6:30 a.m. service.
Barbara: The golf cart is a huge part of Ocean Lakes’ culture, and it’s not anything our team invented. It just kind of evolved over the years, and although Mr. Jackson, one of our founders, he loved the Fourth of July golf-car parade, the guests were not happy with just that. So every evening, around 7 o’clock, along the Ocean Lakes front drive there on the beachfront, you will see hundreds of people line up with their golf cars and drive back and forth along that mile of oceanfront, high-fiving, cheering each other on, all ages. We have guards place down there, as this event took on its own life, and try and make sure that it stays family-friendly
Barbara: We have a great website. Oceanlakes.com, will tell you everything you need to know, and you can book reservations for campsites and search for our rentals as well, but we also have an avid Facebook page and other social media, such as YouTube, and you can link right from our site.
John DiPietro: After you’ve taken part in all the activities at the campground, one of the things that you may wanna do is venture outside. There’s so much to do here at Myrtle Beach, from great golf, to legendary concert performances, to great local restaurants and amusement parks. And if you wanna be a big wheel, you can be a big wheel at the SkyWheel at Myrtle Beach.
While at Ocean Lakes, John caught up with Chris Allen, manager of the Ocean Lakes RV Center and learned a few things about RV care along the Carolina coast.
John: I’m talking with Chris. Chris, when you RV on the ocean, there are special precautions that you need to take to keep your RV safe and sound, right? Chris Allen: Yes, there are. The most important thing is, when you go out to dinner at night or goin’ for the afternoon for an attraction, always put your awning in because you never know when a sudden storm may come up.
What are some precautions that people should take, actually, when they get home, if they’ve been camping on an ocean site? Chris: Wash and wax. You gotta stay on top of your product. Wash it, repeatedly. Wax it. Keep a fresh coat of wax on it at all times.
John: Okay, so it’s not just the metal components that we’re talking about. You’re talking about the clear coat, as well, right?
Chris: That’s correct. The aluminum siding trailers as well as fiberglass,
John: Okay, and the big thing that people always do when they go out, because they don’t wanna run the air conditioner, is they keep the windows open, but, again, ocean setting, little bit different idea?
Chris: That’s correct. I would suggest, if you don’t want the air-conditioning running, just put it on fan mode. You don’t wanna leave the windows open because, once again, an unexpected storm could come up at any time. John: Okay, there you go, direct from the pros who’ve won many national awards. I saw it in their showcase a little bit earlier at Ocean Lakes RV Center here in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. So, for “Rollin’ on TV,” it’s John DiPietro and my good friend Chris, saying, “Let’s go camping.”
