Harvest Hosts Reviews
I’ve talked about Harvest Hosts before and I absolutely love the program. You pay an annual membership fee which allows you to overnight in a self-contained RV on the property of a host.
Of course, there are rules. You must make prior arrangements, leave things as you found them, be kind and courteous, and it is suggested that you purchase something from the business as a thank you.
I’ve stayed on a farm, at a brewery, and a winery. My most recent Harvest Hosts stay was quite different. I was looking for a place to stop for the night while driving through Arkansas on my way to Texas.
While searching the HH site for a convenient location I found Thor Global Defense Group in Van Buren, Arkansas. Their writeup on the Harvest Hosts site reads as follows;
We offer a State of the art shooting facility. Lounge, RV parking, cabins, and more. Experience the Arkansas Valley. The natural state. Ride UTV’s and bikes on private trails, fishing in a private Harvest Host members only pond catch & release, have you ever wanted to shoot a machine gun, well we also have a wide selection of Harvest Host member only machine guns available at your disposal. We have on site instructors that we offer one on one training with to help improve your skills as well.
We also offer an out of state Conceal Carry License certification, if you are interested in this to be able to legally conceal carry a handgun on your travels the permit is currently recognized in approx.. 31 states.
Source
I was intrigued so I called to see if they had space for me the following night. The woman I spoke to asked if I’d like an electric hook-up but couldn’t tell me if there was a charge or what it would be. I also asked about the possibility of a shooting lesson and was told someone would call me back.
Because I didn’t receive a return call but I decided to take my chances and go there in person. It was early in the day and I had plenty of time to find another spot for the night.
When I arrived, I went inside and spoke to a man at the counter. He told me they had just begun with HH and were still working out the kinks but he did have notes about my call. He took me outside to show me where the electric site was so I could decide if I wanted to spend $25 or dry camp in the parking lot. Fortunately, just as he was pointing out the location of the electrical outlet, a huge blast of fully automatic machine gun fire erupted not 100 feet from where we stood.
Why would you put a camper at the front end of a shooting range for machine guns?
I anticipated gunfire at a shooting range but I didn’t expect to be lounging in Bridget to the rat-a-tat-tat of machine-gun fire close enough to make my teeth rattle so I opted for dry camping in the parking lot.
Aside from the sound of guns firing, the place was nothing like what I expected after reading the description. After hours, we went for a walk on the berm that surrounds the shooting range. The views were great and Murphy had a good snoop around.
I think I’ll stick with wineries and farms from now on.
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