San Antonio / Alamo KOA Holiday

We stayed at San Antonio / Alamo KOA Holiday in San Antonio, Texas. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A one-night stay on our way east, but a nice campground; we’d be happy to stay here longer.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-11-30
Check out: 2024-12-01
1 night

Weather:

Partly cloudy
High temp 65°F, low 44°F
No wind, gusts to 7 MPH

Noise:

Negligible road noise
Faint distant train horn noise
A little neighbor noise

Site:

#E5, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad, and didn’t, since only one night
Completely level site; used air leveling, since only one night
Gravel driveway about 73 feet long by 15 feet wide
12 feet to neighbors on both sides
Picnic table
Fire pit
Some tall trees
Clean site

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
60 PSI water, somewhat conveniently located
Good sewer connection, very inconveniently located (for a motorhome) at the back of the site (3 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 85-105 Mbps down, 5-10 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
AT&T: 470-550 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 30-100 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters and pickup from site
Pool
Onsite cafe with breakfast and Hunt Brothers pizza/wings for dinner

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Nice and convenient

We stayed here only one night on our way through San Antonio, and it was quite pleasant. There is easy access to freeways and anything you could want to do in the city. Since it was a short stay, we enjoyed having the on-site cafe available for dinner and breakfast. The staff were all friendly and helpful. We would stay here again and for longer. We camped at San Antonio / Alamo KOA Holiday in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Goose:

Goose

Other sites:

Other sites

Pool:

Pool

Camp store:

Camp store

Patio area:

Patio area

The Patio Cafe, which serves Hunt Brothers pizza and wings for dinner, and cooked breakfasts:

The Patio Cafe

We got pizza from the cafe for dinner (and leftovers for subsequent lunches):

Hunt Brothers Pizza for dinner

And breakfasts the next day:

Breakfasts

Event hall:

Event hall

Playground:

Playground

KOA sign and concrete cornhole:

Sign and concrete cornhole

We’d be happy to stay here again in the future.

Marathon, Marfa, and more

An assortment of pictures of Marathon and Marfa, Texas and surrounding areas.

In Marathon, we had lunch at the V6 Coffee Bar:

V6 Coffee Bar

The only (very small) grocery store in Marathon, The French Co Grocer:

The French Co Grocer

We got some BBQ from Brick Vault Brewery & Barbecue:

Brick Vault Brewery & Barbecue

An interactive map of a drive to Keesey Canyon Hoodoos for a picnic lunch, then Fort Davis National Historic Site (as seen in the previous post), and Marfa:

Keesey Canyon Hoodoos picnic area:

Keesey Canyon Hoodoos picnic area

Welcome to Marfa sign:

Welcome to Marfa sign

Marfa

The Giant Marfa mural, a tribute to the 1956 James Dean/Liz Taylor film “Giant“:

Giant Marfa mural

We enjoy quirky roadside attractions.

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!

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.)

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

The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens

We visited The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens in Palm Desert, California. It is one of the nicest zoos we’ve been to; not because it has a lot of animals; it doesn’t have as many as others. But because it specializes in desert animals and plants, and harmonizes the gardens so well with the area.

This was our second visit to this zoo, though the first time was somewhat different: we attended some holiday lights in December 2021.

Here’s a map of the zoo; click or tap to see a larger map on their site (please let me know if the link breaks in the future):

An interactive map:

Entrance:

Entrance

Animals:

Animals

A tasty lunch from their grill:

Lunch

Animals

Also fascinating plants:

Plants

Miniature railway:

Miniature railway

Miniture railway

Miniature railway

New area under construction:

New area under construction

Animals

Plants

Animals

Shields Date Garden

We visited Shields Date Garden in Indio, California, to have brunch, explore their garden, and browse their store.

Shields entrance sign

Firstly we went to their restaurant, the Café at Shields, for brunch:

I had the Churro Waffle, and Jenn had the Beef Sopes:

Food

There was live music (can’t really see him, but a guy playing a guitar):

Live music

Restaurant

After lunch, we explored The Walk, a garden path that winds through the date farm, with biblical statuary:

The walk

Ladders formerly used to harvest dates (nowadays they just use cherry pickers):

The walk

Then we watched their film about date growing and harvesting in the Romance Theatre (you can watch it on YouTube):

Romance Theatre

We perused their shop:

Shop

We bought a couple of date samplers, plus some Cactus Candy (that we’ve enjoyed elsewhere):

Date samplers and Cactus Candy

Finally, we got a date shake to share; it was very tasty:

Date shake

A worthwhile visit in the Palm Springs area.

Orangeland RV Park

We stayed at Orangeland RV Park in Orange (Los Angeles), California. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Our third stay here. Tight sites, but a few miles from Disneyland.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-10-06
Check out: 2024-10-13
7 nights

Weather:

Partly sunny
High temps 80-85°F, lows 58-61°F
Negligible wind, gusts to 11 MPH

Noise:

No freeway noise, some road noise
No train noise, but distant horns a few times
Occasional helicopter noise
Some neighbor noise

Site:

#26, pull-through, asphalt
Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
Somewhat unlevel site; high in front and passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
Asphalt driveway about 45 feet long by 12 feet wide
15 feet to neighbors on both sides
Table, chairs, and umbrella on 9×8 feet stamped concrete patio
Orange trees that can be harvested
Fairly clean site (a couple small bits of trash)

Utilities:

50 amp power, very conveniently located
85 PSI water, conveniently located
Loose sewer connection, very conveniently located (4 foot of pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 5 Mbps down, 5-25 Mbps up, 30-40 ms ping
AT&T: 18 Mbps down, 3-5 Mbps up, 30-45 ms ping
Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
Campground Wi-Fi: 5-6 Mbps down, 1-4 Mbps up, 5 ms ping
Starlink: not used

Amenities:

Garbage pickup from site
Swimming pool and hot tub
Package delivery to office
A few miles to Disneyland

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Best urban campground

This was our third stay here and it’s still a favorite. They’ve raised the prices since last time, but it’s still a fair rate for the location and what it offers. The sites are on the smallish side, with one of our slides getting very intimate with one of the orange trees on our site, but it doesn’t feel cramped since the trees and other landscaping give a bit of a buffer. A quiet getaway it isn’t, but if you’re here, you’re probably doing Disney or any of the other things LA has to offer and not hanging out at your campsite, so it’s a pretty fair trade. We camped at Orangeland RV Park in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

A nice patio with table, chairs, and umbrella (but we also put out our own chairs, as the patio chairs weren’t all that comfortable for sitting for any length of time):

Patio

When staying in a city, it’s nice to be able to take advantage of pizza delivery:

Pizza delivery

And Chinese food delivery:

Chinese food delivery

Utilities:

Utilities

The sewer connection was loose, but protruding enough, so I used my Dump Buddy for the first time; it clamps on to the pipe and my hose to hold it in place:

Dump Buddy

Neighbor site after they left; there was a trailer there most of the week, but this shows an empty site:

Neighbor site after they left

We’d be happy to stay here again, but next time we might try another RV park that is even closer to Disneyland.

Thousand Trails Soledad Canyon

We stayed at Thousand Trails Soledad Canyon in Acton, California. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A fairly typical Thousand Trails campground, but with a recently renovated 50 amp section with large sites.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-09-29
Check out: 2024-10-06
7 nights

Weather:

Sunny
High temps 89-102°F (!), lows 63-73°F
Negligible wind, gusts to 11 MPH

Noise:

Some road noise
Some train horn noise
Little neighbor noise

Site:

#K-45, pull-through, sand
Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
Mostly level site; high in back and driver side; used hydraulic leveling
Large sand site about 65 feet long by 40 feet wide
Picnic table
A couple of tall trees
Somewhat unclean site, as usual for Thousand Trails
Non-invasive ants

Utilities:

50 amp power, very conveniently located
65 PSI water, very conveniently located
Good sewer connection, a little inconveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 80-95 Mbps down, 15-19 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 35-50 ms ping
AT&T: 2-6 Mbps down, 0.05-0.25 Mbps up, 40-115 ms ping
T-Mobile: negligible service
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Pool
Package delivery to welcome center for $10/package (didn’t use)

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Decent campground close to LA area

The Gold (K) section has all 50A full hookup sites, so we headed that way first. The sites are mostly pull-through and decently sized. We lucked out and got a site on the last row with a gorgeous view of the hills. These sites also have the advantage of being further from the railroad tracks along the park’s edge. The Platinum (B) section is half 50A but has the extreme disadvantage of being buddy sites. Other sections are 30A or W/E only, so there’s something for everyone. We camped at Thousand Trails Soledad Canyon in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

View out our windshield:

View out our windshield

From outside:

View

Watching baseball on TV while griddling pancakes and bacon:

Watching baseball on TV, griddling pancakes and bacon

A neighbor had a cute outdoor cat that was curious about our truck:

Neighbor cat

Clubhouse:

Clubhouse

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

Another neighbor site, with lots of space:

Neighbor site, with lots of space

Some other sites were also very wide:

Some other sites were also very wide

It was too hot to walk around to take pictures of other sites, so I flew my drone to get an aerial view; here’s above our site:

Aerial view

This is the 30 amp section, with buddy sites (eww):

Aerial view

Looking back to the 50 amp section where we were:

Aerial view

Heading back down:

Aerial view

We’d be happy to stay here again, though only in the 50 amp section; the rest of the park is 30 amp and buddy sites. Unfortunately, you never know what you’re going to get with Thousand Trails (though they are slowly rolling out a more conventional booking system).

Sequoia National Park: northern side

We visited Sequoia National Park in California, including the Lodgepole Visitor Center and Grill, and the General Sherman Tree, the largest tree in the world by volume. And saw a couple of bears in a tree.

An interactive map of our route:

Relief map in the visitor center:

Relief map