2023 travel plans

Enough reviewing last year; what’s in store for 2023?

We spent the holidays on the gulf coast in Corpus Christi, Texas. We are now doing a tour of more of Texas, including Austin, Houston, and Dallas. With a side trip to the US Virgin Islands for Jenn’s birthday (and to check off the Virgin Islands National Park) while our coach is being serviced. Then we’ll head back west through New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California, collecting a few national parks we missed previously, including Death Valley, Yosemite, and Redwoods. We’ll also go to Disneyland again, because why not.

Then we’ll head up the coast in California, Oregon, and Washington, and spend some time at Mom’s place while we take care of doctor visits and such. Then we’ll go east through Washington, Oregon, Idaho, into Wyoming, where we’ll spend some time at Yellowstone, before continuing on to North and South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas, some new states for us.

Following that, a little detour through Colorado and New Mexico to attend the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta again (yes, we recently managed to snag an RV site at the fiesta). Then some more new states: Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and finally we’ll spend next winter in Florida.

This route adds 10 new states towards our goal to visit all of the states.

The stops for this route have been mostly booked already; there are a few holes that don’t have reservations, as some places don’t allow booking this far out, but we’ll book them as soon as we can. And of course we will make changes as needed (and in fact have made some minor tweaks since making these maps, not affecting the route noticeably). But this is a fairly solid plan for the year.

Here is a map showing our proposed route on the states and color-coded time zones:

Timezones

A more detailed map:

Route map 2023

Here’s the same map with the routes and stops for 2021-2022 added; the 2021 Yellowstone trip is in brown, 2021 coach travel in green, 2022 travel in blue, and 2023 travel in purple:

Route map 2021 to 2023

The same map as an animated GIF, adding each year:

Route map GIF

It’s going to be another busy year. I hope you’ll follow along via this blog and the YouTube channel.

2022 selfies

I thought it’d be fun to create an animated GIF of selfies and other pictures of Jenn and me from 2022. We’ve been to some interesting places!

Grackles

We first saw grackle birds in Mexico, but they are quite common in Texas, too. In San Antonio, we encountered an area that was totally inundated with them. They are kinda cute, and make a very interesting noise, a bit like R2-D2… but this was a bit much.

Grackles

The Alamo

We visited The Alamo while in San Antonio. It is a site of great significance in the history of Texas. It started as a mission in 1718, and is best known for the 1836 Battle of the Alamo.

Here’s a GIF of a series of relief maps, showing how it grew and changed over the years:

Relief maps GIF

The courtyard in front of the Alamo church:

The Alamo

Statues:

Statue

The Alamo:

The Alamo

We took a guided tour, which was great to learn lots about the history:

Tour guide

We each had a device with an earpiece, so the guide could more easily talk to us:

Tour device

Drawing of the mission:

Drawing of the mission

A statue of a guy who lived in that house, and who defended the Alamo:

Statue

Monument:

Monument

James Butler Bonham and James Bowie:

Monument

Burke Trammel and David Crockett:

Monument

A cannon:

Cannon

Heading inside the The Alamo church:

The Alamo

The church is just one part of the mission:

Model

The Alamo

As part of a guided tour, we got to go into a room that isn’t open to the general public:

The Alamo

Army markings:

The Alamo

Exit:

Exit

Gift shop:

Gift shop

Back of The Alamo:

Back of The Alamo

Courtyard:

Courtyard

Cannons:

Cannons

Exhibits:

Exhibits

Decorations:

Decoratoins

Reenactor:

Reenactor

Gift shop:

Gift shop

Statues:

Statue

Model:

Model

Long barracks:

Long house barracks

A last look at The Alamo:

The Alamo

Sitting Bull Falls

We visited Sitting Bull Falls in New Mexico.

Some nice scenery on the way:

Hills

Road

Lincoln National Forest:

Lincoln National Forest

Road

Rocks

Wash

Last Chance Canyon trailhead

Hill

Road

Sitting Bull Falls Picnic Area:

Sitting Bull Falls Picnic Area

A time capsule and info about the Civilian Conservation Corps:

Time capsule

Sign

Very nice picnic shelters:

Picnic shelters

Rocks

Path to the falls:

Path

Rocks

Falls:

Falls

Selfie

Falls

Pond

Falls

Travel from Las Cruces to Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico

We drove our coach 122 miles, about three hours of driving, from Las Cruces, New Mexico to Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico.

The map route, heading northeast:

Map route

Or an interactive version from my trip planning, with potential stops marked; we only stopped at the TA and the overlook:

Heading east on I-10:

East on I-10

Recycled roadrunner artwork:

Recycled roadrunner artwork

Heading down towards Las Cruces, with socked in mountains:

Las Cruces

The Rio (not so) Grande:

Rio Grande

A fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Third of a tank of diesel:

Third of a tank of diesel

Giant chile:

Giant chili

High horse:

High horse

Always nice to see Dutch Bros coffee:

Dutch Bros coffee

Space Murals:

Space Murals

Peak:

Peak

A motorhome passing us:

Motorhome

We stopped at a nice viewpoint, the San Augustin Pass Overlook, for lunch:

Viewpoint

Rather cloudy, but still a nice view:

View

But partway through lunch, the wind suddenly picked up, rocking the coach, with sleet or graupel blowing:

Wind and sleet

So we decided to get moving, to get down off the mountain.

In passing, the US Army rocket exhibit:

US Army rocket

Rain:

Rain

Mountains:

Mountains

Passing by White Sands National Park:

White Sands National Park

An immigration checkpoint:

Immigration checkpoint

White Sands National Park visitor center:

White Sands National Park

A water tower:

Water tower

The world’s largest pistachio:

World's largest pistachio

A tumbleweed on the road:

Tumbleweed

Tularosa:

Tularosa

Mountains:

Mountains

Church

Elk crossing and view:

Elk crossing and view

Church

Snow on the ground:

Snow on the ground

Dogs on the road:

Dogs on the road

Actively snowing:

Snow

Our destination:

Our destination

The office:

Office

Amusing signs to pull forward:

Pull forward

Sometimes a golf cart guides us to our site; here, a car did that:

Car guiding us to our site

Thousand Trails Bend-Sunriver RV Campground

We stayed at Thousand Trails Bend-Sunriver RV Campground in Bend, Oregon. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Dates:

Check in: 2022-06-29
Check out: 2022-07-05
6 nights

Weather:

Partly sunny, drizzle
High temps ranging between 66-84°F, lows around 44-53°F
A little afternoon wind
A couple of afternoon thunderstorms

Noise:

No road or train noise
Some neighbor noise (kids and dogs)

Site:

#A4, back in, gravel
Needed to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
Somewhat level
Very large site: about 65 feet long by about 60 feet wide
Partial hookups:

50 amp power somewhat conveniently located
65 PSI water pressure; not very conveniently located
No sewer connection

Picnic table, fire pit

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 18-25 Mbps down, 9-14 Mbps up, 80 ms ping
AT&T: 8 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 32 ms ping
Verizon: 27 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 29 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpster
Two pools, closed
River
Various games

Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:

Sites: Good, Amenities: Bad

The amenities are definitely tired and in need of upgrades and refurbishment, but the campsites are all nestled amongst the pines which is nice. We were able to snag one of the very limited 50 amp sites, which was a bonus. Our site was also quite large. After I cleaned up all the trash left by previous campers, it was quite a nice spot. Not having a sewer connection is the main limiting factor for us, so rather than stay two weeks, we only stayed six days. Even still, the next time we want to visit Central Oregon, we’ll be back. We camped at Bend-Sunriver RV Campground in a Motorhome.

The RV park map; it’s a little hard to tell the blue 50 amp sites from the green 30 amp sites, but the 50 amp ones are limited to the lower-right corner of the map:

Map

Our site:

Our site

Fire pit:

Fire pit

We got a harness for Paladin, and have been getting him used to wearing it. During this stay, we briefly took him outside for the first time. Unsurprisingly, he was somewhat freaked out by the experience. We’ll do more practice later:

David and Paladin

We added another National Park sticker for Crater Lake:

National Park stickers

Burger and chips:

Burger and chips

Toasting marshmallows:

Toasting marshmallows

S’mores:

S'mores

A squirrel visiting our site:

Squirrel

Also a rabbit:

Rabbit

Let’s look around. The entrance:

Entrance

A little lending library:

Library

Town marshal decoration:

Town marshal

Lightfingers Lew:

Lightfingers Lew

Blacksmith:

Blacksmith

Seating area:

Seating area

Country store:

Country store

Store

They have a propane tank, but no longer fill propane for guests:

Propane

Wild rabbits:

Rabbits

Horseshoe pits:

Horseshoes

Pond:

Pond

Mini golf:

Mini golf

There are a couple of swimming pools, but both are empty (and have been for some time, by the sounds of things):

Empty swimming pool

Closed swimming pool

Other RVs, yurts, and cabins:

Other RVs

Other sites

Neighboring site

Rabbits:

Rabbit

Little Deschutes River snakes by the park:

Little Deschutes River

Mountain

Little Deschutes River

Me following our coach when leaving:

Our coach

A line for the dump station; since there was no sewer connection, we (and others) wanted to dump our waste tanks before leaving:

Dump station line

The dump station:

Dump station

Exiting:

Exit

Route maps

Here’s an animated GIF showing our RV travel routes: the Yellowstone rental trailer trip last year, adding travel in our coach last year, travel so far this year, and finally the planned route for much of the remainder of the year.

Route maps

Walnut Canyon, Sunset Crater Volcano, and Wupatki National Monuments

We took a day trip to three national monuments east and north of Flagstaff, Arizona: Walnut Canyon, Sunset Crater Volcano, and Wupatki National Monuments:

Map