What to Have Ready When You Pull In Off I-40

You've been on I-40 or I-49 for hours, the tow vehicle is humming, and the exit finally shows up. Fort Smith-Alma RV Park sits just off that interchange in Alma, Arkansas, so the gap between highway and campsite is short. That's good news. It also means you can roll in still wearing your highway brain, and the first twenty minutes decide whether the evening starts easy or starts with a muttered argument about the sewer hose. Here's the short version of what's worth having sorted before you turn in.

Know your amps before you arrive

Every site at the park has 30 or 50 amp electric, plus water and sewer, so you won't be hunting for a hookup that fits. What matters is knowing which one your rig actually needs. Check the plug on your power cord: three prongs in a row with one angled is 30 amp, and a fat four-prong plug is 50 amp. If your RV is a 30 amp rig and the pedestal you're on is 50, a good adapter solves it, and it's worth keeping one in the bay. The thing to avoid is guessing, because running a big rig on too little power makes air conditioners and microwaves misbehave in ways that look like a broken appliance.

One cheap habit pays for itself every year: put a surge protector or an energy management unit between your cord and the pedestal. Plug it in with the pedestal breaker off, switch the breaker on, and read the display before you connect anything else. If it flashes a fault, you've saved yourself a bad night, and you can walk back to the office and say so.

Hookup order that keeps your hands clean

Everybody has a routine, and the best one is the one you repeat the same way every time. This is a sequence that works for most rigs.

• Park, then chock the wheels before you unhitch or disconnect anything.
• Level side to side first, then front to back. Do this before you open slides, since a tilted rig makes slides bind.
• Power next. Breaker off, plug in, breaker on, check the surge protector reading.
• Water after that. Run the hose for a few seconds to clear it, add your pressure regulator at the spigot, then connect to the rig.
• Sewer last. Connect the elbow and hose to the rig first, then seat it in the site inlet, and leave the gray and black valves closed until the tanks are worth dumping.

Putting sewer last isn't a rule, it's a kindness to yourself. Everything you touched earlier stays clean, and you only need to wash your hands once.

A pull-through is a lot of room

The pull-through sites at Fort Smith-Alma RV Park run 100 feet long and 30 feet wide. For most travelers that means you can drive straight in, unhitch, and leave the truck parked beside the rig without squeezing anything. Still, walk the site before you move. Look at where the pedestal sits, which side your door and awning are on, and where the fire pit is. It takes one minute and it's the difference between backing into the right spot once and doing it three times with your spouse waving contradictory hand signals.

If you're traveling with a long fifth wheel or a motorhome towing a car, that length matters. Decide if the toad comes off before you pull forward or after, so you aren't stuck with a cord that stops six inches short of the pedestal.

About that fire pit

The park describes the fire pit at each site as yours, not a shared ring, and that's a nice thing at the end of a driving day. A few habits make it better. Pick wood up at the general store on site rather than hauling it in, since the store sells bundles of wood. Keep the fire small and keep it on the pit side of your site. Don't leave it burning when you walk to the laundromat or the pond. Embers and wind don't care how pretty the sunset is.

Fire conditions change with the season and the weather, so before you light anything, ask the office whether there are any restrictions in place. They'll know the answer for that day, and that beats any rule we could print here.

If you're running late

Office hours are Monday through Saturday, 9 AM to 6 PM, and Sunday, 1 to 6 PM. If you'll arrive outside those hours, call (479) 632-2704 before you leave the road. One guest wrote in a Google review that when they arrived later than expected and had an electrical problem with their RV, they were walked to their reserved spot and the issue was fixed that night. That's one guest's experience, not a promise for every late arrival, but it's a good reason to phone ahead instead of hoping.

Last thing, and it's the simplest: take a breath at the site before you start. Look at the pull-through, the pedestal, the fire pit and the trees. Then start with the chocks. Done in that order, the whole setup is quieter than the drive was, and you'll be sitting down with a cold drink well before the light goes.