Towel rails

For some unknown reason, our coach came with a set of towel rails inside the shower. Which makes no sense, since you’d have to remove the towels before using it.

So one of the first modifications we did after we got our coach was to remove the bars from those rails and flip the ends upside down, so they serve as hooks, and add another set of towel rails outside the shower.

Here’s a pic from years ago of the inverted ends of the rails (and soap dispensers, but we moved those elsewhere after I knocked them off a couple of times):

Shower dispensers

Our replacement is mounted above the toilet, next to the shower:

Towel rails

Much better!

McGinn’s PistachioLand Home of the World’s Largest Pistachio

We visited McGinn’s PistachioLand Home of the World’s Largest Pistachio. A fun roadside attraction that we saw in passing a couple of years ago, but got around to visiting this time.

World's Largest Pistachio

PistachioLand:

PistachioLand

World's Largest Pistachio

Nutastic!

White Sands National Park

We re-visited White Sands National Park in New Mexico. We first visited in 2022, but enjoyed re-visiting this year. As the NPS site says, it’s like no place else on Earth, the world’s largest gypsum dunefield.

The official NPS map; click or tap for full-size (and more info):

Visitor Center with the historic sign from before it became a National Park:

Visitor Center with historic sign from before it became a National Park

Road between sand dunes:

Road between sand dunes

Picnic area:

Picnic area

Sand dunes:

Sand dunes

The Thing?

During our travel to Las Cruces, we stopped at Bowlin’s “The Thing?” Travel Center for lunch (as mentioned in the travel post), and of course we had to explore “The Thing?” museum, another fun roadside attraction. The idea being WHAT IF… aliens have manipulated human history?

What if?

Cheesetastic fun.

Las Cruces KOA Journey

We stayed at Las Cruces KOA Journey in Las Cruces, New Mexico. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Our third visit to this RV park with a nice view.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-11-10
Check out: 2024-11-17
7 nights

Weather:

Mostly sunny
High temps ranging between 68-74°F, lows around 36-45°F
Some windy days, gusts to 27 MPH

Noise:

Negligible road noise (distant freeway noise, only audible outside)
No train noise

Site:

#53, pull-through, gravel (with some concrete strips that are only useful for trailers)
Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
Fairly level; high on passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
Site about 90 feet long by about 18 feet wide
Picnic table on gravel; no fire pit
Limited mountain view

Utilities:

50 amp power, a little inconveniently located
60 PSI water, somewhat conveniently located
Good sewer connection, inconveniently located (3 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 100-135 Mbps down, 18-21 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
AT&T: 29 Mbps down, 9 Mbps up, 150 ms ping
Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 100 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Seasonally closed pool
Garbage pickup from site (they didn’t used to offer this, so yay)
Package delivery to office

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Nice place to stop in Las Cruces

This was our third time staying here and our first time not staying in one of the “view” sites, although we still had a decent view of both mountain ranges. This campground is conveniently off I-10 and has easy access to anything in Las Cruces. We camped at Las Cruces KOA Journey in a Motorhome.

An interactive map of the park:

RV park map:

Map

Our site (with empty sites on either side, making it look more spacious than it was):

Our site

Utilities weren’t super convenient; having to use three 10-foot sewer hoses wasn’t ideal (the concrete pad and utilities were clearly set up with trailers in mind):

Utilities

We enjoyed a local pizza delivery on our last night; tasty, fast, and inexpensive:

Pizza

A neighbor fiver pulling out, with an unusual hitch:

Fiver

Other sites:

Other sites

Community room:

Community room

Playground:

Playground

Nice view:

Nice view

Sun rays through dust on the way back to the campground from a day trip:

Sun rays through dust

Dust obscuring Las Cruces:

Dust obscuring Las Cruces

Still a nice RV park. No doubt we’ll stay here yet again in the future. (See our previous two stays for more photos.)

Video

Video: Tucson, Arizona to Las Cruces, New Mexico motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 258 miles from Tucson, Arizona to Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Travel from Tucson, Arizona to Las Cruces, New Mexico

We drove our coach 258 miles, about four hours of driving, from Tucson, Arizona to Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading east:

Map route

An interactive map:

An example of why we don’t use picnic tables at campsites, at least without a tablecloth (but usually not even then): our neighbor was working on his sewer pipe connectors on the table:

Sewer pipes on picnic table

Joining I-10 East:

Joining I-10 East

Mountains:

Mountains

Interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

The Thing? travel center (post about the attraction later this week):

The Thing?

We had DQ there for lunch:

DQ for lunch

The Thing? and other swag:

The Thing? swag

More interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

Rest area:

Rest area

Paladin sprawled on the dash as we got underway again:

Paladin on dash

Welcome to New Mexico:

Welcome to New Mexico

“Zero visibility possible”… yes, anything’s possible:

Zero visibility possible

“Gusty winds may exist”… indeed:

Gusty winds may exist

Fun with zoom:

Fun with zoom

Instructions on what to do if caught in a dust storm (not very readable in this pic, but basically pull onto shoulder, turn off engine, foot off brake, lights off… presumably to save battery power):

Fun with zoom

Welcome to Las Cruces:

Welcome to Las Cruces

We really enjoy the mountains behind Las Cruces:

Interesting rocks

Our destination, the Las Cruces KOA Journey:

KOA

All decked out for the holidays (in early November):

KOA

Rechargeable motion lights

Inside cupboards and in the half bath we have compact motion-activated LED rechargeable lights, that are magnetically mounted to a self-adhesive patch, so they can be easily removed and recharged via USB. These lights have a switch to toggle between off, on, and auto; we leave them set to auto, so they come on via motion.

Convenient to illuminate in cupboards, and also in the half bath, so we don’t need to turn on the ceiling lights. In that bathroom, we have one mounted on the wall and one under the cabinet, above the sink.

Light

Saguaro National Park

We re-visited the two units of Saguaro National Park in Tucson, Arizona. We first visited in early 2022, but that was before Jenn was doing her National Parks passport book, so didn’t have a passport stamp for this park. Plus it’s nice to re-visit parks, especially ones we particularly enjoy like this one.

An interactive map of our route, starting with the west side (and a stop at a Subway to pick up some lunch for a picnic):

West-side entrance sign:

West-side entrance sign

West visitor center:

West visitor center

When we visited last time, they were limiting the bookstore to 10 people at a time due to COVID restrictions (but without masks by then), but this time there were of course no restrictions, though it wasn’t super busy:

West visitor center

Fascinating timeline of growth of a saguaro cactus:

West visitor center

Jenn got her passport stamp:

West visitor center

Exploring a dirt road with saguaros and other cacti:

Dirt road and saguaros

We stopped at the amusingly-named “Sus Picnic Area” for lunch:

Picnic area

Our picnic site:

Picnic area

Back on the dirt road:

Dirt road and saguaros

After leaving the park, an undulating road:

Bumpy road

Through the scenic Tucson Mountain Park, also with lots of saguaros:

Tucson Mountain Park

East entrance of the national park:

East entrance

East visitor center:

East visitor center

A saguaro outside the visitor center:

Saguaros

Along the cactus forest scenic loop in the park:

Saguaros

A nice park. There’s something about cacti and desert landscapes that we really enjoy.

Voyager RV Resort & Hotel

We stayed at Voyager RV Resort & Hotel in Tucson, Arizona. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A huge RV resort, mostly park models (small manufactured homes), with a section for transient RVs. A 55+ age-restricted park; our first, now that I’m 55. And as an Encore park, it’s free with our Thousand Trails membership.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-11-03
Check out: 2024-11-10
7 nights

Weather:

Sunny; rainy on arrival
High temps 62-70°F, lows 35-46°F
Some wind, gusts to 21 MPH

Noise:

Distant road noise
Some distant train horn noise
Negligible neighbor noise

Site:

#07-176, pull-through, asphalt
Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
Somewhat level site; high on passenger side and front; used hydraulic leveling
Asphalt driveway about 100 feet long by 10 feet wide
13 feet to neighbors on both sides
Picnic table on 20 feet long by 4 feet wide concrete patio
Charcoal grill
Loose gravel elsewhere in the site
No trees
Clean site

Utilities:

50 amp power, very conveniently located
48 PSI water, conveniently located (towards the end of the stay, disconnected due to near-freezing temperatures)
Good sewer connection, very conveniently located (2 2-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 165 Mbps down, 14 Mbps up, 20 ms ping
AT&T: 85-133 Mbps down, 8 Mbps up, 50-75 ms ping
Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 2-4 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Residential-style rolling garbage and recycling bins on each site, with pickup on Tuesdays
Pools
Restaurant (which we didn’t try)
Lots of other stuff

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Snowbirding in suburbia

This is a vast 55+ resort with all the amenities you would expect. Most of the sites are full-time residents in park models, with relatively few RV sites. The biggest SNAFU was when we arrived, the gate guard told us to pull up into the waiting area, and someone would bring out our paperwork and escort us to our site. Not so. After we sat there for about 10 minutes, someone came by in a golf cart and told us that the “ladies are waiting for you inside”. So, ignore anything the guy at the gate says and go inside the hotel lobby to check in. After that, we were escorted to our site. We had a decently long pull-through site with decent hookups and a fine stay. We’re not really into the RV resort community vibe, but we’d happily stay here again as it was convenient for anything we’d want to do in Tucson. We camped at Voyager RV Resort & Hotel in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Very convenient utilities:

Utilities

Residential-style trash pickup:

Trash pickup

Propane delivery:

Propane delivery

RV check-in area:

RV check in area

Registration:

Registration

Hotel:

Hotel

Outdoor area:

Outdoor area

Mailboxes for residents:

Mailboxes

There’s even an onsite library:

Library

And hairdresser:

Hairdresser

Fat Willy’s Bar & Grill / Market, which we didn’t try, as we went out pretty much every evening; we were going to try it the first night, but it was raining, so we didn’t want to bother. Maybe next time:

Fat Willy's Bar & Grill / Market