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.

Travel from San Antonio to Corpus Christi, Texas

We drove our coach 163 miles, about three hours of driving, from San Antonio, Texas to Corpus Christi, Texas.

The map route, heading southeast:

Map route

Leaving the campground, along the mile of dirt road:

Leaving campground

A fuel stop; a later one would have been better, but this location was cheaper:

Fuel stop

Paladin on the dash; not something we encourage. He was feeling a bit stressed about travel; sometimes he forgets about it:

Paladin on the dash

I-37 south:

I-37 south

Paladin on the dash again:

Paladin on the dash again

Fortunately it wasn’t too far to a planned stop for lunch, which gave him time chillax:

Stop for lunch

I like it when I spot a roadside diner with adequate truck parking:

Diner

This was Kuntry Korner cafe in Pleasonton:

Café

Menu:

Breakfast for lunch; not bad, if a little slow:

Breakfast for lunch

Back to our coach:

Back to our coach

Onramp from the service road to I-37:

Onramp from service road to I-37

Paladin on the back of my chair:

David and Paladin

There were several oil refineries near Corpus Christi:

Oil refinery

Our exit:

Our exit

Roadworks:

Roadworks

Buildings on stilts near the water:

Buildings on stilts

Our destination, the KOA:

KOA

Check in:

Check in

Our coach and truck when checking in at the office upstairs:

Our coach and truck when checking in

Being led to our site:

Being led to site

San Antonio River Walk

We explored the main downtown part of the San Antonio River Walk.

But first, lunch at Margaritaville near the river:

Margaritaville

A statue of Saint Anthony:

Statue

The river, with a glimpse of the Tower of the Americas:

River and tower

The river walk:

River walk

Buildings

Fountain

River

Duck

River boat

We had a second lunch at a riverside Mexican restaurant:

Jenn

They took some photos of us, gave this one free, and offered to sell others, but they weren’t great pics:

Boat

We decided to take a river boat tour, which was an interesting and entertaining experience:

Boat

Boat captain

Theater

Statue

River

Building

River

Building

River

Waterfall

Bridge

River

A theater, with seating on one side and the stage across the river:

Theater

River

Waterfall

Sculpture

River

Rivercenter

A nice downtown area.

Junction, Texas

The Pecan Valley RV Park is about 8 miles (12 minutes) west of Junction, Texas, the nearest city.

I thought that it might be interesting to post about towns we explore, in addition to travel days, RV parks, and attractions (please do let me know if this is actually interesting!).

So here are a selection of photos of Junction from a few visits there:

Junction, Texas

The Post Office:

Post Office

The grocery store:

Grocery store

Grocery store:

Grocery store

Junction, Texas

A roadside attraction, the Deer Horn Tree, made of hundreds of deer antlers, in front of a processing shop:

Deer Horn Tree

Junction, Texas

When in Texas, of course we have to have BBQ:

BBQ

Birds on electrical pylons:

Birds

Back to Pecan Valley RV Park:

Back to Pecan Valley RV Park

Big Bend National Park

We spent a day visiting Big Bend National Park in Texas, our last national park for the year, and our last new one until we visit Death Valley in March.

An interactive map of our route:

Entrance sign:

Sign

Persimmon Gap Visitor Center near the northern entrance:

Persimmon Gap Visitor Center

We asked the ranger about picnic spots; he told us about a secret picnic spot that isn’t normally mentioned, since they don’t maintain it; a couple of shelters, but just one table. So we had a picnic lunch there:

Secret picnic spot