A timelapse of activity at the Alamosa KOA Journey RV park.
Month: October 2022
Alamosa KOA Journey
We stayed at Alamosa KOA Journey in Alamosa, Colorado. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A decent KOA near Great Sand Dunes National Park, with pizza delivery to the site.
Dates:
- Check in: 2022-09-30
- Check out: 2022-10-02
- 2 nights
Weather:
- Sunny, cloudy, a little drizzle
- High temps ranging between 65-72°F, lows around 36-44°F
- Some wind
Noise:
- Some road noise; no train noise
Site:
- #57, pull through, gravel
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
- Fairly level
- Medium site: about 85 feet long by about 30 feet wide
- Full hookups:
- 50 amp power, somewhat conveniently located
- 30 PSI water, conveniently located
- Two sewer connections, somewhat conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
- Picnic table & fire pit on gravel
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Campground Wi-Fi: 10-57 Mbps down, 2-9 Mbps up, 15 ms ping
- Verizon: 13-28 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
- T-Mobile: no service
- AT&T: no service
- Starlink: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage pickup from site
- Closed pool
- Pizza and other food delivered to site
- Sand sled rental
Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:
Nice base for Great Sand Dunes
One of the things I’ve come to appreciate on a travel day is not having to cook dinner. We were pleasantly surprised that they not only offered pizza but that they’d deliver directly to our site. I call that a win! The staff were all very helpful, and the campground conveniently communicates via text. Our site was a pretty basic pull-through, but we had a peek of the mountains, which was nice. Some road noise from the highway, but not too bad. We had one full day here, so we rented some sand sleds from the office and hit the dunes at the national park. So much fun! We camped at Alamosa KOA Journey in a Motorhome.
The park map:
Our site:
A nice feature of this RV park is that they have a small kitchen with a menu featuring pizza, baked potatoes, and other items, which they can charge to the card on file, and deliver right to our coach. We got a couple of pizzas (enough for two meals), plus a baked spud for me (because I like them):
The office and camp store:
A picnic shelter:
Playground:
Bathrooms:
Cabins:
Dog park:
Art:
Other sites:
We had a nice view of mountains from our site:
Video: Colorado Springs, Colorado to Alamosa, Colorado motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 158 miles from Colorado Springs, Colorado to Alamosa, Colorado.
Travel from Colorado Springs to Alamosa, Colorado
We drove our coach 158 miles, about 3 hour of driving, from Colorado Springs, Colorado to Alamosa, Colorado.
The map route, heading south then west:
Leaving the state park:
Paladin emerging from behind the couch — travel day again?!
Fort Carson army base, across the road from the state park:
Elk and bald eagle artwork:
Park pond in Pueblo, Colorado:
Downtown Pueblo, Colorado:
Arkansas River in Pueblo, Colorado:
I-25:
Airstream travel trailer:
Mountains:
Wind turbines:
Exit towards Alamosa:
We didn’t particularly need fuel for our coach, but a T/A truck stop was a convenient place for fuel for us:
They had an A&W restaurant in the back of the convenience store:
We took it back to our coach to eat:
We considered getting fuel after lunch, but it was rather busy at the time, so we opted not to bother:
I started to close the step cover, but Paladin jumped down there to peek out the window, so I left it open until he went elsewhere:
Walsenburg, Colorado:
Snow fences and mountains:
Roadworks:
Scenic mountains:
Arriving at Alamosa KOA:
RV floorplan and square footage
I recently shared this edited floorplan of our coach:
Here it is again with annotations for the dimensions of each area of the coach, according to my measurements:
Basic stats from the spec sheet:
- Exterior length: 40’ 11”
- Exterior height: 12’ 7”
- Exterior width: 101”
- Interior height: 84”
- Interior width: 96”
- Fresh water: 90 gal
- Black water: 50 gal
- Grey water: 70 gal
- Fuel tank: 150 gal
My measurements of the interior, where depth refers to front-to-back, and width is side-to-side, in terms of the coach orientation:
- Cockpit: 65” d (windscreen to driver-side slide)
- Driver-side front slide: 23” w x 166“ d (72” for kitchen counter + 94” for seating and cabinets)
- Passenger-side front slide: 32” w x 189“ d (72” for TV + 74” for dining + 43” for fridge & pantry)
- Half bath: 34” w x 39” d
- Driver-side bedroom slide: 18” w x 75” d
- Passenger-side bedroom slide: 28” w x 81” d
- Bedroom total: 94” d (on bed side)
- Bathroom: 62” d (34” for shower; 29” d x 27” w for washer & dryer)
- Closet: 58” w x 24” d
One reason for measuring it was to calculate the square footage. So let’s give that a go (if you spot any errors, please let me know!).
The interior length is approximately 39’. So multiplying by the interior width of 8’, ignoring the slides, we get 312 square feet. So that’s the size with the slides in.
The front driver-side slide is 166 x 23”, i.e. 13.83 x 1.91’, which is 26.4 square feet.
The front passenger-side slide is 189 x 32”, i.e. 15.75 x 2.66′, which is 41.9 square feet.
The bedroom driver-side slide is 75 x 18”, i.e. 6.25 x 1.5’, which is 9.4 square feet.
The bedroom passenger-side slide is 81 x 28”, i.e. 6.75 x 2.33’, which is 20.4 square feet.
So the four slides add 100 square feet of space when extended, bringing the total to 412 square feet.
That’s about the size of a two-car garage. Pretty tiny compared to an average house, but comparable to an apartment in New York. And, of course, our home travels all around the country.
Garden of the Gods
We visited Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, a natural landmark with interesting rock formations.
It rained a bit while we were in the visitor center, but stopped soon after we got back to our car:
An interesting tour vehicle:
Rocks:
Tradong post:
Pikes Peak
We visited Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs. It has some interesting twisty roads, a cog railway, and a view that apparently inspired the “America the Beautiful” anthem.
The Pikes Peak Highway entrance:
Entrance station, which has a timed entry window:
Viewpoint:
Big Foot Crossing:
Crossing an empty dam, that is being updated:
Gift shop:
Big Foot:
“America’s Mountain”:
Historic Glen-Cove Inn:
Which contains a gift shop:
And café:
We got lunch from the café, eating outside:
View:
Continuing up the mountain:
A stop for a walk up a peak:
Further up, a view of some lakes:
At the summit, a cog railway car arriving:
Cog rails and a nice view:
The view inspired the “America the Beautiful” anthem:
The summit visitor center:
Café:
We tried the famous high-altitude doughnuts:
Of course, another gift shop:
Info displays:
Outside again:
The remains of the first summit house:
The visitor center:
A selfie by a cog rail car:
Another cog railway car arriving:
View:
Heading down the mountain, using manual gear to avoid using the brakes other than on corners (and not even then for several):
The winding road and views:
Fun switchbacks:
Timberline:
A mandatory brake check, where they used a heat sensor to tell people to let their brakes cool down if they were riding them down the hill, as these people in front of us were. Our brakes were 111°, which is within the normal range for flat driving, excellent for mountain driving:
Cheyenne Mountain State Park
We stayed at Cheyenne Mountain State Park in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A delightful state park.
Dates:
- Check in: 2022-09-26
- Check out: 2022-09-30
- 4 nights
Weather:
- Sunny, cloudy, a little drizzle
- High temps ranging between 74-78°F, lows around 46-53°F
- Some wind
Noise:
- No road or train noise
- Bugle music from Fort Carson army base down the hill:
- 0630: Reveille
- 1200: Charge
- 1655: Bugle call
- 1700: Retreat and To the Color
- 2200: Taps
Site:
- Raptor Glen campground #3, pull through, concrete pad, asphalt driveway
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
- Fairly level
- Large site: about 120 feet long by about 55 feet wide
- Full hookups:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 60 PSI water, conveniently located
- Non-threaded sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipes needed)
- Picnic table, fire pit, faucet on gravel, tent pad with eyes for ropes, 5 steps up
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 50 Mbps down, 10-40 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
- AT&T: 2 Mbps down, 10 Mbps up, 42 ms ping
- Verizon: 3 Mbps down, 2-7 Mbps up, 20 ms ping
- Campground Wi-Fi: none
- Starlink: not used
Amenities:
- Dumpsters
- No pool
Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:
Amazing views and fantastic sites
We absolutely loved this place and wish we had stayed longer. Our view from Raptor Glen loop was simply incredible, and the site itself was top-notch. In fact, it was pretty much my ideal setup for a site, with a table and fire ring and a large area for putting up a tent. The only thing I could nitpick about would be that the living area is on the wrong side of the coach on this side of the loop, but with some luck and cunning placement, we could still see most of the expanse before us. There is some occasional noise from the army base at the bottom of the hill (mostly the bugle calls for Reveille and Taps), but not bad at all. We were visited by deer, rabbits, turkeys, and a cute little lizard. We will be back! We camped at Cheyenne Mountain State Park in a Motorhome.
The state park map:
The campground was at 6440 feet elevation, so we got out of breath more easily:
A very nice site, though; here’s a sunrise:
More pictures of our site:
We used our Clam gazebo for shade:
A picnic table, fire pit, and faucet (none of which we actually used, but nice to have):
A deer visitor:
And a rabbit:
There were some cute prints in the concrete:
A map of the park:
Info signs:
Showers and laundry:
Bathroom:
Little free library:
Playground:
Amphitheater:
Sunset views:
We’d definitely stay here again.
Video: Longmont, Colorado to Colorado Springs, Colorado motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 121 miles from Longmont, Colorado to Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Travel from Longmont to Colorado Springs, Colorado
We drove our coach 121 miles, about 2 hour of driving, from Longmont, Colorado to Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The map route, heading south:
Leaving the campground:
Since that campsite didn’t have any sewer (or water), we stopped by the dump station on the way out:
A somewhat sharp curve leaving the park:
Heading towards Denver:
Denver buildings:
A somewhat low bridge, but high enough for us (we’re 12’ 7” high); they recommended trucks take the center lanes, though:
A feetball stadium:
Passing a Tiffin Phaeton motorhome:
Interesting rock:
Rocky Mountains:
The Tiffin Phaeton passed us:
Heading towards the state park:
Cheyenne Mountain State Park:
Our site:
