The RV Experience

Staying on campus is a hot ticket for owners of recreational vehicles during football season.

Written by Eugene Stockstill | Photographed by Joe Worthem

There are 197,054 recreational vehicle licenses within a 220-mile radius of Oxford, at least according to the most recent data from the state Department of Motor Vehicles. Most home-game weekends at Ole Miss, you’ll find more than a few of those parked in reserved lots on campus.

“It’s like a neighborhood block party,” said Augusta Weaver, who, along with the rest of her family, is a happy campus RVer.

The Weavers notched a season pass for the South Lot at the university last year and discovered the joy of staying in their own hometown while having a first-class staycation.

Here’s the skinny about what exactly is available on campus these days.

Season RV passes in the Baseball Lot and in the South Lot across from Old Taylor Road near the Ford Center are sold on a seasonal basis for $2,000 to those who donate to the Ole Miss Athletics Foundation. There is a waiting list. The old South Campus Recreation Center lot run by the Department of Campus Recreation will not offer RV spaces this year but will be used for overflow parking.

The Wesley Foundation also has RV parking at Jackson Avenue across from the Stockard/Martin dormitories for $375 per game or $2,500 for a season pass. Proceeds support the foundation’s campus ministry. There are additional parking spaces elsewhere on Jackson Avenue, too, which go for $500 per game or $3,500 for a season pass (see what’s available at hottytoddyparking.com).

Game days are usually booked solid. On campus, RV check-in starts at noon Fridays.

Additional time is available upon request. RVs have to leave by noon Sunday after a home game. Off campus parking lots also provide check-in and check-out times as well as guidelines including whether a car can park with the RV and how many guests are allowed.

Long story much shorter: RV’ing on campus is a hot ticket. Why?

“Getting to spend an entire weekend on campus during a home game right in the center of it all is pretty special,” Weaver said. “These are memories our children will cherish forever. They’ll hopefully continue the tradition with their own families one day. That’s what it’s all about.”

It is no mystery that tailgating is a big deal at Ole Miss and a bucket-list item for the curious and uninitiated, and from the sound of it, bringing your motor home only amps up the fun.

“Kids are riding bikes and scooters, everyone has an outdoor living room set up, food is plentiful,” Weaver said. “You can tell that the Grove is rooted in these RV tailgates. It’s very Ole Miss. Some of the RVs are like miniature five-star hotels: Marble countertops, high-end appliances, roomy sleeping quarters, exceptionally clean bathrooms with all the bells and whistles.”

The Weavers’ Airstream Globetrotter 30RB has a classic, retro look circa the 1930s and tons of modern amenities. They’ve used it to market Nest and Wild, their Tupelo-based mattress business, even at the Masters golf tournament.

When they parked it on campus for a weekend, they found a new definition of neighborhood, Weaver said. Their kids met other kids. Watching ESPN morphs into a community event. The Weavers’ oldest child once made friends with a youngster camping with his grandparents who live in the Weavers’ hometown in Tennessee, and a follow-up trip to Tennessee has already been planned.

“It was so wholesome,” she said. “We tailgate, have friends stop by and visit, walk to the stadium for the game, pop into The Grove for a bit and return to the Airstream for nightcaps, more food and fun and crash in our cozy camper. Easy cleanup and rollout Sunday morning.”

Jennifer Guckert Griffin lives in Nashville with her husband and their young son. They bought a Rockwood travel trailer in 2021 and now own a Tiffin mobile home. They started RV’ing on campus the same year they bought the Rockwood trailer, park in the same lot as the Weavers and come to all the home football games and some baseball games.

“We have been parking in the same spot for four football seasons so far,” she said. “So we have really had an opportunity to become great friends with the families around us. We have been on camping trips with them.”

The sense of community, Griffin said, is genuine. And having the luxuries of home like your own kitchen, bathrooms and air conditioner is an added bonus for the weekend.

“There are retired couples, parents of college students and families with young kids,” she said.

“It is like the Grove on game day. Everyone is always welcome. The more, the merrier.”

Park and Play

Oxford’s new RV destination features a water park and so much more.

Builders broke ground for Roundabout Oxford last year after two local couples dreamed up the idea that Lafayette County was long overdue for an RV park with an abundance of water-themed amusements.

Jay Hughes and his wife Cris had an RV and traveled all over the place. So did their friends, Andrew and Alison Ross. They knew all about water-themed RV parks in Louisiana and Florida, like the former Cajun Palms that was later renamed Margaritaville.

And voila! The inspiration for the very same sort of thing in the heart of North Mississippi.

“It was a team effort,” Hughes said. “We knew the things we liked and didn’t like.”

The $25 million project, which opened April 24 at 750 Highway 6, is just three miles west of Oxford.

In addition to 150 RV sites and 20 luxury cottages, Roundabout has huge water slides, multiple fire pits, a 912-foot-long lazy river, a miniature golf course, a swim-up bar, kid and adult pools and spas, a fitness center, basketball, volleyball and pickleball courts and a 20-foot inflatable TV screen.

“First and foremost, we are an RV park,” Hughes said, so amenities are primarily for those guests. But the business now offers a Monday-Thursday park-and-play option, too, that allows four people to come in per vehicle after making online reservations two days in advance and stay from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

“We have guests from all around,” he said. “The majority come from within a two-hour radius of Oxford.”

Roundabout Oxford, which is open all day every day, has water, sewer, power and internet hookups, which other RV sites do not, and that makes it a nice option for those who may not be pros at boondocking (an RV term that refers to self-sufficient camping).

And since Mississippi often stays warm through early fall, the water park should be available at Roundabout for several more months this year.

“The water amenities will stay open as long as guests are enjoying them,” Hughes said. “It was 80 degrees last Thanksgiving.”

Interested? Call 662-371-0496 or email info@roundaboutoxford.com.