Dale Brechlin, the recently hired general manager for the Astoria-Warrenton-Seaside KOA?campground outside Hammond, isn’t new to historic places. Before moving to the North Coast, he managed a KOA?campground in Harper’s Ferry, W.Va., a battleground during the Civil War.

“I’ve been with the company for seven years,” said Brechlin. “I started in Custer, S.D., then Mount Rushmore, S. D. We’ve crossed the country four times. We’ve worked in Tampa, Florida, San Antonio, Texas and Las Vegas.

“We’re used to snow, and now it’s the wind and the rain on a regular basis. It’s certainly something that we can definitely get used to.”

Brechlin said he jumped at the opportunity to manage the KOA?in Hammond, which was recently ranked as one of the top 100 campgrounds in the United States by Woodall’s, a national registry for campgrounds.

“It’s a phenomenal opportunity,” he said. “This property is the focus of capitalization for the company.”

KOA, said Brechlin, is adding camp sites, an activity building for rainy days and, eventually, an outdoor swimming pool to couple with its indoor variant.

“We offer 1,000 things to do,” said Brechlin.

He and his wife previously worked for a credit card company, which downsized and offered them severance packages. Seeing a chace to travel the country, they bought a motor home and ended up managing camp grounds all around the country.

Brechlin is trying to make the KOA?experience all-inclusive, even buying a 1977 Volkswagen Bus, painting it yellow and erecting a surfboard on top with plans to use it for campsite pizza delivery. He hopes to eventually have a KOA?publication out documenting every surrounding attraction for people staying at the campsite.