Travel from Abilene, Texas to Las Cruces, New Mexico

We drove our coach 504 miles, an epic eight hours of driving, from Abilene, Texas to Las Cruces, New Mexico.

We normally prefer two hour drives, and will go up to four hours when on an interstate (as they are easier and usually have regular rest areas). We had planned two four hour days, stopping in Pecos, but the weather forecast called for 60 MPH gusts along the route on the second leg. So we decided to push on through, doing it in one day.

Here’s the map route, heading west:

Map route

An interactive map, with our stops marked:

Leaving the Abilene KOA:

Leaving KOA

There were pretty much non-stop pump jacks along the route:

Pump jacks

We stopped at several rest areas; this was the first:

Rest area

An interesting water tower:

Water tower

Wide load:

Wide load

“It would behoof you to slow down”:

It would behoof you to slow down

Road Ranger fuel stop:

Road Ranger fuel stop

Road Ranger

We went in, and had Church’s Chicken for lunch (our least-preferred fast food chicken chain):

Church's Chicken for lunch

Back to our coach:

Our coach

Sleepy Paladin:

Sleepy Paladin

A wind turbine blade:

Wind turbine blade

More pump jacks:

Pump jacks

As mentioned, we were originally going to stop at Pecos, Texas:

Pecos, Texas

Texas

Paladin probably would have preferred that we stopped, but this was just halfway:

Paladin

A nice rest area:

Rest area

We were so happy to see mountains again, after spending months in flat Texas:

Mountains

Lots of trucks:

Lots of trucks

Allegedly scenic viewpoint:

Scenic viewpoint

Entering Mountain Time Zone:

Entering Mountain Time Zone

A busy rest area; we parked on the side of the road:

Busy rest area

El Paso overpasses:

El Paso overpasses

El Paso artwork:

El Paso artwork

An interesting RV paint job:

Interesting RV paintjob

Goodbye Texas; entering New Mexico:

New Mexico

Mountains by Las Cruces:

Mountains

Our destination, another KOA:

KOA

That was quite the drive!

Travel from Gordonville to Abilene, Texas

We drove our coach 244 miles, about four hours of driving, from Gordonville, Texas to Abilene, Texas.

Here’s the map route, heading south then west:

Map route

Leaving the Thousand Trails campground:

Leaving campground

A rather rough road:

Rough road

Onramp to I-35, and interesting clouds:

Onramp and interesting clouds

Denton, Texas, “the home of happiness“:

Denton, the home of happiness

Exit to I-35W:

Exit to I-35W

Sleepy Paladin:

Sleepy Paladin

We never did visit a Buc-ees:

Buc-ees

A big cloud by the side of the road; we thought it was a fire at first, but it appeared to be some roadworks thing:

Roadside cloud

There were a lot of roadworks; we don’t enjoy having a barrier so close to the edge of the lane, since our coach takes pretty much the whole lane:

Roadworks

Exit to I-820, marking the start of our westward migration:

Exit to I-820

Exit to I-30:

Exit to I-30

Exit 420; we didn’t take that exit, I just thought it was “nice” (unsurprisingly, the only sign was above the road):

Exit 420

We stopped for lunch at a truck stop:

At a truck stop

Lunch at the Iron Skillet Restaurant:

Iron Skillet Restaurant

We do enjoy breakfast for lunch:

Breakfast for lunch

Back to our coach:

Back to our coach

Truck foursome:

Trucks towing trucks

A very empty rest stop:

Rest stop

Wide loads:

Wide loads

Wide load

A rolling work convoy:

Work convoy

Another wide load:

Wide load

Our destination:

Our destination

Travel days from US Virgin Islands

All good things come to an end eventually, and such it was with our USVI vacation.

Driving (on the left, as was the style at the time) our rental car to drop it off:

Driving

A couple of cruise ships:

Cruise ships

The buses on the island are open air things like this colorful example:

Bus

Vodka:

Vodka

Passing by the end of the airport runway:

Airport runway

Rental car return:

Rental car return

The tiny one-terminal airport:

Airport

Some lunch:

Food

“Last sip in the Virgin Islands” on the back of a coffee shop:

Last sip

Our plane arriving:

Our plane

Boarding the plane was a bit of a snafu; they announced general boarding, and everyone rushed forward, but they turned people away for not boarding with their group. Then everyone was lined up outside while the plane was still being cleaned:

Our plane

Boarding:

Our plane

STT to MIA:

STT to MIA

A plane selfie:

Selfie

A view of the cockpit:

Cockpit

Takeoff:

Takeoff

In the air:

In the air

We splurged on business class for this leg. and enjoyed the snacks and beverage:

Snacks and beverage

And dinner:

Dinner

Miami:

In the air

Miami airport:

Plane

Skytrain:

Skytrain

We probably should have taken the skytrain, but weren’t sure where it went; we ended up walking the entire length of this terminal; fortunately we had some time to spare:

Terminal map

MIA to DFW:

MIA to DFW

Another plane selfie, this time in premium economoy:

Selfie

In the air:

In the air

On arrival in Dallas, we caught a taxi back to the hotel:

Taxi

Hotel room:

Hotel room

The next morning, breakfast at the hotel restaurant:

Hotel restaurant

Hotel breakfast

Then we checked out and picked up Paladin from his hotel:

Pet hotel

Paladin:

Paladin

He was very happy to see us:

Paladin and Jenn

It was a great vacation. We’d love to visit there again in the future (and the third of the main Virgin Islands, Saint Croix).

US Virgin Islands food

I thought I’d do a post about some of the food we enjoyed during our USVI vacation. (More exciting activities coming in subsequent posts.)

One nice thing about our Airbnb condo was that it was a short walk from some restaurants, including Sun & Sea Bar & Grill, which was below the swimming pool, right on the water. Here are the one side of the drinks and food menus as a sampling of the offerings:

Menus

Jenn enjoying the view:

Jenn

Beverages:

Beverages

The restaurant:

Restaurant

A fun thing was there were a bunch of fish that hung out next to the restaurant, as staff and patrons would occasionally throw leftovers to them:

Fish

Our food:

Food

A pelican on the dock:

Pelican

For breakfast the next day we went to Picaso’s Coffee Bar, a few minutes drive from the Airbnb:

Picaso's Coffee Bar

We brought the coffee and food back to eat on our lanai:

Messages on coffee

We got ham, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwiches on traditional “dumb bread” (kinda like a US-style biscuit or scone):

Dumb bread breakfast sandwiches

Dumb bread breakfast sandwich

We went to a grocery store to get more food, including freshly ground coffee beans:

Coffee beans

A lunch at Señor Pizza in Red Hook:

Señor Pizza

Heading to Margaritaville, one of the other restaurants an easy walk from the Airbnb:

Margaritaville

Menu:

A cat wandered through, looking hopefully at diners:

Cat

Beachside beverages:

Beverages

A rainbow; you can also see the Sun & Sea Bar & Grill restaurant (and its floating dock), and above that the Airbnb:

Rainbow

David

Food:

Food

A cannon:

Cannon

Back to the Sun & Sea Bar & Grill again another evening:

Sun & Sea Bar & Grill

Someone arrived at the restaurant by boat, and a pelican enjoyed perching on it:

Pelican on a boat

Back to Margaritaville again:

Margaritaville

Jenn

Margaritaville

One thing I wasn’t impressed by with Margaritaville; they had an easy-to-miss notice that they automatically added an 18% tip to the bill, but also included a tip line; if one weren’t paying attention, it’d be easy to significantly overtip (as I did the first time we were there). I usually tip 20-25%, but this just seemed sneaky (I did still add a small tip to bring it above 18%, though):

Margaritaville

(As a Kiwi, I still find tipping kinda gross, even after 22 years in the US. But it’s the system.)

On our last night, we made a dinner at our Airbnb:

Airbnb dinner

Space Center Houston

A rare excursion in our winter of downtime: while staying at Lake Conroe, we drive 1.5 hours south to Houston to visit the Space Center there.

It was a rainy day up north, but I knew it was dry south of Houston:

Rain

Houston:

Houston

Minute Maid Park:

Minute Maid Park

Houston

A space suit outside a McDonald’s near the Space Center:

McDonald's space suit

Space Center Houston:

Space Center Houston

SpaceX Falcon 9:

SpaceX Falcon 9

Space Shuttle Independence atop a jumbo:

Space Shuttle

Space Center Houston:

Space Center Houston

We had lunch at the Food Lab food court:

Food Lab

Exhibits:

Space Center Houston

The Shuttle on a jumbo; the Shuttle is a replica, but the plane is one of two used to transport the Shuttles:

Shuttle on plane

Exhibits in the plane:

Exhibits in plane

We had wanted to do one of the guided tram tours of the space center, but their reservation system was being dodgy, so we weren’t able to do so, which was a little disappointing:

Tours

Shuttle on plane

Inside the replica shuttle:

Inside shuttle

Shuttle on plane

Space Center Houston

Gift store:

Gift store

Selfie:

Selfie

Space Center Houston

A few more pics of downtown Houston on the way home:

Houston

Thousand Trails Lake Conroe RV & Camping Resort

We stayed at Thousand Trails Lake Conroe RV & Camping Resort in Willis, Texas. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Another large Thousand Trails campground, also with a nice new area.

Dates:

Check in: 2023-01-22
Check out: 2023-02-03
12 nights
We were going to stay 10 nights, but extended it to avoid bad weather

Weather:

Some sunny days, a little drizzle, several days of thunderstorms
High temps ranging between 52-69°F, lows around 33-57°F
Some wind, up to 30 MPH gusts

Noise:

No road noise or train noise
A bunch of neighbor kids

Site:

#B18, pull-through, concrete
Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked beind coach
Fairly level
Medium site: about 75 feet long by about 40 feet wide
Picnic table
Fire pit
Cement patio
Grass

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
55 PSI water, conveniently located
Loose sewer connection, somewhat conveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 0.5-6 Mbps down, 0.5-3 Mbps up, 50 ms ping (through modem; much faster directly)
AT&T: 15-25 Mbps down, 17 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
Verizon: 22-26 Mbps down, 16 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
T-Mobile: 2-9 Mbps down, 1-5 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpster
Pool
Package delivery to office for $5 each

Our review on Campground Reviews:

New premium sites

They seem to have a focus on selling vacation homes here, but they’re still making an effort to add nicer amenities for camping, too. We stayed in one of the newer sections with concrete pads and 50A connections, which was nice. Some of the sites in section B were a bit steep for a larger class A and we watched more than one large 5th-wheel have a hard time backing up a driveway. Our pull-through site had a short driveway with a hill, but the pad itself was perfectly level. We camped at Lake Conroe RV & Camping Resort in a Motorhome.

An interactive map of the RV park; our site was in the new section to the right of the entrance:

The campground map:

Campground map

Our site was in a new section, with nicely paved roads and concrete sites; we managed to snag one of the best sites, a large pull-through:

Our site

Convenient water and power:

Utilities

The sewer connection was threaded, but the thread seemed stripped, so I wasn’t able to screw my sewer pipe into it. So I added a water-filled weight over the top to make sure it didn’t pop out. Spilling sewage wouldn’t be ideal:

Utilities

We used the griddle a few times:

Griddle

Sunset:

Sunset

A griddle kiwiburger (with pickled beets and egg):

Burger

There were several days of thunderstorms; here’s a screenshot from my weather app:

Thunderstorms

A couple of screenshots of the LightningMaps.org site, which shows recent lightning strikes, with circles for the thunder sound wavefronts:

Lightning map

A real-time GIF:

Lightning GIF

Rain:

Rain

A somewhat flooded road:

Flooded road

A fiver (fifth-wheel trailer) being backed into a site, almost scraping the rear and jacks — the sites have steep driveways:

Fiver almost scraping

Other sites:

Other sites

In other sections:

Other sites

New sites, not yet open:

Other sites

Very close buddy sites; no thank you:

Other sites

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

This Thousand Trails has several communities of permanent tiny homes; here are the Hidden Cove cottages:

Hidden Cove cottages

The Reserve cottages:

The Reserve cabins

New cottages just arrived for another expansion area:

New cabins

Rental cabins:

Cabins

The business office:

Office

That’s were we went several times to pick up packages:

Office packages

A food cart near the office:

Food cart

Car wash and dump station:

Car wash and dump station

Dog park:

Dog park

Courts:

Courts

Lake Conroe boat ramp:

Lake boat ramp

Lake docks:

Lake docks

We lucked out with our site. We’d stay here again, as they continue to expand the sites. Even the older sections weren’t too bad… other than the buddy sites!

Columbus, Texas

The Thousand Trails campground was near a small town called Columbus in Texas. We drove though it to get some Whataburger drive-though, our first experience of that fast food chain.

Colorado River bridge:

Colorado River bridge

Downtown Columbus:

Columbus

Whataburger:

Whataburger

Not bad; we tried the Dr Pepper shake, which was interesting. The fries and burger were decent, but we’ve had better:

Whataburger

On another day, we went back to Whataburger for a second time, going inside this time:

Whataburger

After dinner we went across the road to the H-E-B grocery store, right next to the Walmart:

Walmart and H-E-B

A fairly small store, and not as nice as others we’ve been in:

H-E-B

“If you hit this you’ll hit bridge”; a 14’ 6” bridge, which we went under on our way to the Thousand Trails (our coach is 12’ 7”):

If you hit this you'll hit bridge

Austin, Texas

We were still recovering from our colds while at Lockhart, so not feeling too adventurous, but since we were 45 minutes south of Austin, we felt we should at least do a quick driving tour there.

All the roads into Austin seem to be toll roads:

Toll pay by mail

We stopped at a MOD Pizza for lunch; a favorite chain of ours for years:

MOD pizza

Then we drove by downtown Austin:

Austin

We looped around the capitol building:

Austin

No doubt Austin has lots of interesting things to see and do, but we weren’t up for it on that occasion. So of course we weren’t overly impressed by the city. It did remind us of Portland, which shares the “keeping it weird” theme, but we weren’t overly impressed by there either. We’re just not big city folks anymore; we prefer small towns.

Lockhart, Texas

While staying at Lockhart State Park we visited the city of Lockhart a few times.

The first visit was to the Lockhart Post Office, to pick up a General Delivery package:

Lockhart Post Office

This was actually the first time we’ve used General Delivery — that is where you just address a package to [Your Name], General Delivery, [City, State ZIP], then you can pick it up at the post office counter. A useful service when staying at somewhere like a state park that doesn’t accept packages for campers.

The Lockhart fire station:

Lockhart fire station

The Lockhart courthouse is a fascinating and distinctive building:

Lockhart courthouse

Lockhart claims to be the Bar-B-Que Capital of Texas:

The Bar-B-Que Capital of Texas

A castle-like museum:

Castle-like museum

There certainly are a lot of BBQ restaurants in town. The oldest is the Original Black’s Barbecue, operating since 1932; Texas’ oldest BBQ joint owned by the same family:

The Original Black's Barbecue

We got some BBQ to go; it was pretty good:

The Original Black's Barbecue

Another couple of pictures of the courthouse:

Lockhart courthouse

Downtown buildings:

Downtown

The museum again:

Museum

A hat shop:

Hat shop

Another BBQ is Terry Black’s BBQ; yes, from the same family as the original one, but they had a schism. After working at the family restaurant for a few years, they set off on their own in Austin, then recently opened this restaurant in Lockhart:

Terry Black's BBQ

Also very tasty:

Terry Black's BBQ

Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my first experience of a H-E-B grocery store; very popular in Texas, and we can see why; lots of good house brand stuff, we could find everything we wanted, and super-friendly people:

H-E-B groceries

Super-friendly people really describes Texas as a whole, actually.

Corpus Christi KOA Journey

We stayed at Corpus Christi KOA Journey in Corpus Christi, Texas. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A high-service waterfront RV park.

Dates:

Check in: 2022-12-18
Check out: 2023-01-02
16 nights

Weather:

Mostly cloudy
High temps ranging between 36-72°F, lows around 25-62°F
Some strong winds, up to 47 MPH gusts

Noise:

No road or train noise, occasional plane noise
Some neighbor noise (especially a frequently screaming kid)

Site:

#48, back-in, concrete
Needed to disconnect toad; parked beside coach
Mostly level
Medium site: about 65 feet long by about 30 feet wide
Concrete patio, picnic table, grill, adirondack chairs, fire pit

Utilities:

50 amp power, fairly conveniently located
40 PSI water, conveniently located (we boosted with our water tank and pump)
Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
We filled the water tank and put away the water pipes, filters, and softener for a few nights where the temperatures dipped below freezing

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 40-75 Mbps down, 5-9 Mbps up, 55 ms ping
AT&T: 44 Mbps down, 21 Mbps up, 37 ms ping
Verizon: 20 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpster (near entrance)
Garbage pickup from site
Package delivery to office
Heated swimming pool
Private beach
Kayak etc rentals
Weekly propane fill on site

Our review on Campground Reviews:

A prime spot right on the water

We have a motorhome, but very occasionally, I wish we had a toy hauler. This place would have been absolutely perfect for that as we were backed right up to the Laguna Madre with views towards North Padre island. The first few days, we didn’t have a neighbor on the passenger side, so we had unobstructed views, and it was amazing. And then we got neighbors (with the world’s most obnoxious screaming children, which was not as relaxing…so ignore the label at the top of this page that says “no minors”), and the weather turned to freezing and windy, and we both got sick…so we didn’t get to enjoy the campground or the area as much as we would’ve liked. But before all that happened, I couldn’t believe this campground was only a “Journey” when we’ve stayed at KOA Holidays that had fewer services and amenities. The staff are all amazing and friendly, even going so far as to allow us to ship a new mattress there and help us get it loaded into our rig. It may be one of the pricier places we’ve stayed, but it was well worth it. We camped at Corpus Christi KOA in a Motorhome.

An interactive map of the RV park:

The campground map:

Map

Our site had a waterfront view — from the side and back, which isn’t as ideal as a front-in site, but the sites were angled enough to have a decent side view:

Our site

The patio site had everything including a propane grill (with tools), though it was too cold to want to actually use it:

Patio

Utilities:

Utilities

It was time to regenerate the water softener, which involves adding two containers of salt, then flushing it out for a while:

Regenerating water softener

A nice view out or window, at least when there wasn’t an RV in that site:

View out or window

Views from behind the site:

View

A pelican on the water:

Pelican

Working outside:

David outside

Afternoon view:

Afternoon view

Sunset view:

Sunset view

Info:

Info

Rentals:

Rentals

A well stocked KOA store:

Store

Playground and private beach:

Playground and beach

Private beach

A heated pool; a few brave people did use it (too cold air for us to want to swim, though):

Pool

Pelicans and gulls:

Pelicans and gulls

A deck; the map says that they want to add a fishing pier off here eventually:

Deck

A shore bird of some kind:

Shore bird of some kind

Grackle:

Grackle

Grackles checking out garbage awaiting collection:

Grackles checking out garbage

Paladin watching a grackle on our roof:

Paladin watching a grackle on our roof

The staff does a really good job of cleaning sites between occupants:

Cleaning sites

Other RVs:

Other RVs

An empty patio site, and houses beyond:

A patio site, and houses beyond

A nice-looking newer Tiffin Allegro Bus (a 45FP floorplan); we don’t want a 45-foot coach, but I would like that rear exit door:

Tiffin Allegro Bus

Nice paint job:

Nice paint job

This KOA only has one cabin (plus a rental house next door):

Cabin

Weekly propane delivery to sites; we took advantage of that to refill our 20 lb tank. They asked if we wanted to fill the coach propane, but we don’t have propane onboard — it’s an all-electric coach:

Propane delivery to site

A van selling tamales also came around (the office sent text messages to announce these visits):

Tamales

We tried the tamales, corn chips, and salsa:

Tamales

As seems to be traditional in our holiday stays, I got sick, with a 100°F fever for a few days, and other fun symptoms. Of course, I did an at-home COVID test, which was definitively negative:

Negative COVID test

It’s just a cold, but not the most fun way to spend the holidays. On the other hand, it’s a good time to have it, if I must, since we were here for a couple of weeks, and didn’t have any excursions planned.

Oh, just as I was starting to feel better from my cold, Jenn had her turn with it. It’s so romantic how we share everything.

The weather wasn’t great; we had several very windy and cold days, with several fun alerts:

Weather alerts

Hard freeze weather alert:

Hard freeze weather alert

Since we were here over the holidays, we added some festive lights:

Christmas lights

And a mini tree:

Christmas lights and mini tree

Mini Christmas tree

A nice RV park… probably not worth paying extra for a patio site we didn’t really use, but if the weather were nicer (and we weren’t sick), we would have enjoyed it more.

Sinclair Trails

The travels of David and Jennifer Sinclair, full-timing in their Tiffin Allegro Bus 40SP motorhome.

food

Travel from Abilene, Texas to Las Cruces, New Mexico

Travel from Gordonville to Abilene, Texas

Travel days from US Virgin Islands

US Virgin Islands food

Space Center Houston

Thousand Trails Lake Conroe RV & Camping Resort

Columbus, Texas

Austin, Texas

Lockhart, Texas

Corpus Christi KOA Journey