Thousand Trails Colorado River RV Campground

We stayed at Thousand Trails Colorado River RV Campground in Columbus, Texas. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A fairly large Thousand Trails campground, with a nice new area.

Dates:

Check in: 2023-01-11
Check out: 2023-01-22
11 nights
We were originally going to stay a week, but we extended it to simplify our travels

Weather:

Mostly sunny, some fog, a little drizzle
High temps ranging between 60-80°F, lows around 36-63°F
Some wind, up to 28 MPH gusts

Noise:

No road noise, occasional train noise
Occasional neighbor noise

Site:

#E81, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked next to coach
Fairly level
Medium site: about 65 feet long by about 43 feet wide
Picnic table
Fire pit
Grass

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
50 PSI water, fairly conveniently located
Good sewer connection, not very conveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 94-106 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
AT&T: 78-102 Mbps down, 18-23 Mbps up, 32 ms ping
Verizon: 80 Mbps down, 22 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpster
Pool
Various planned activities
Package delivery to office for $5 each

Our review on Campground Reviews:

New sites are worth it

We’ve stayed at several Thousand Trails campgrounds and they usually look like they need some TLC and updating. But not this one. They’ve built a nice new area with 50A pull-through sites and paved roads, which was very appreciated and worth the $3 premium fee. Our site in this area had a nice view of the fishing pond and a good walk to the river. We camped at Colorado River RV Campground in a Motorhome.

An interactive map of the RV park; our site was to the right of the big pond:

Campground map:

Map

Being a Thousand Trials campground, we had to drive around looking for available sites, trying to find one we liked the look of. We really lucked out with our site, with a view of a pond, and a large grassy area in front:

Our site

We had a view of a pond (partially blocked by the next site). And nice sunsets:

Sunset

Another sunset:

Another sunset

The pond from closer:

Pond

Colorado River:

Colorado River

I rode my bike around the campground:

Colorado River

Other sites

An outdoor movie area:

Movie area

Other sites

Pecan trees:

Trees

Other sites

Mini golf:

Mini golf

Cabins:

Cabins

Other sites

Games

Pond and bird

Swimming pool:

Swimming pool

Closed sites, probably reserved for seasonal guests:

Closed sites

Someone had some sort of ladder thing:

Ladder thing

Pond:

Pond

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

Pond

Other sites

Pond

Birds

Jenn riding:

Jenn riding

Some videos of riding around the campground:

Morning fog:

Fog

Stars:

Stars

The day before we left, the neighbor left, giving us a better view of the pond for a few hours, until someone else arrived:

Pond and empty site

Sunset:

Sunset

Sunset and the pond out our window (and the new neighbor):

Sunset and pond out window

Thousand Trails campgrounds are often run down and cramped, and this one did have older sites like that, but the section we were in was very new and nice. It’s good to see them investing in improvements.

We’d definitely stay here again.

Travel from Lockhart to Columbus, Texas

We drove our coach 87 miles, about two hours of driving, from Lockhart, Texas to Columbus, Texas.

The map route, heading south then east:

Map route

Our coach and truck when heading out of the state park, pausing to take out the trash:

Coach

Leaving the state park, the day use area:

Leaving state park

Some of the trees are a little low; our antennas twanged on them:

Leaving state park

Closed swimming pool:

Closed pools

Park visitor center:

Visitor center

Road works:

Road works

We took a suburban detour in Luling, Texas due to a closed road:

Detour

This rail crossing was a little concerning in a long coach:

Rail crossing

Onramp to I-10:

Onramp

Flatonia:

Flatonia

Schulenburg, halfway to everywhere… i.e. middle of nowhere?

Schulenburg, halfway to everywhere

Our exit was exit 695, but there wasn’t an offramp when coming from the west, so we needed to go past to exit 696:

Columbus exit

… then double-back:

Onramp

… to exit 695. With a totally reassuring evacuation sign:

Exit and evacuation

Texas crossroads:

Texas crossroads

We needed to turn left across the highway:

Turn across highway

Thousand Trails entrance:

Thousand Trails entrance

A bridge:

Bridge

Check in:

Check in

Our coach:

Coach

We stopped behind a Tiffin Phaeton; always nice to see another Tiffin:

Tiffin Phaeton

Checking in at the welcome center:

Welcome center

Heading to the entrance gate:

Heading to the entrance gate

At Thousand Trails parks, one can choose any available site (if not reserved for seasonal people). We went straight to section E, the newest section with nice 50-amp pull-through sites:

Section E

Lockhart State Park

We stayed at Lockhart State Park in Lockhart, Texas. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice state park with a golf course view.

Dates:

Check in: 2023-01-02
Check out: 2023-01-11
9 nights

Weather:

Mostly sunny, some drizzle
High temps ranging between 61-82°F, lows around 40-66°F
Some wind, up to 25 MPH gusts

Noise:

Distant road and train noise (only audible outside); some small plane noise
Negligible neighbor noise

Site:

#6, back-in, asphalt
Needed to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
Not very level
Large site: about 90 feet long by about 50 feet wide
Picnic table on concrete patio with shelter
Smoker, fire pit
Grass

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
80 PSI water, conveniently located
Unthreaded sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 12-24 Mbps down, 2-7 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
AT&T: 7 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
Verizon: 0.5 Mbps down, 0.5 Mbps up, 29 ms ping
T-Mobile: no service
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Garbage dumpster
Golf course

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Nice golf course view

This was a well-maintained campground in a nice state park with a 9-hole golf course. We were in the full-hookup loop with a terrific view over the course and really enjoyed a nice, quiet stay. Our site was a bit unlevel front-to-back, but we got it level with a couple of extra blocks under the front levelers. The site was huge, with a nice covered picnic table and shade trees at the front, but with a good clear view of the sky at the back for the Starlink. We camped at Lockhart State Park in a Motorhome.

An interactive map of the RV park; our site was on the south side of the circle near the center of the map:

Park map sign:

Park map sign

Info sign:

Info sign

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

Our site:

Our site

Lockhart is the “BBQ capital of Texas”, so of course each site has a smoker:

Smoker

The utilities were conveniently positioned:

Utilities

Cellular service was limited, so we broke out the Starlink Dishy again; it had an unobstructed view of the sky:

Starlink Dishy

We also used our griddle, and ate several meals outside:

Our site

You may think “duh, don’t you always?” No, we don’t always use the griddle or eat outside, depending on the weather and other factors. We’re not camping, this is our life. We have a good kitchen and comfy dining table inside, sometimes that’s just easier. Similarly, almost all campsites come with a picnic table; this one has a nice shelter over it. But we hardly ever use them; our folding chairs and table are more comfortable.

A sunset between the trees:

Sunset

Almost full moon above our coach:

Moon

I spent several days working outside; here I have a second screen magnetically mounted on my laptop:

Working outside with extra screen on laptop

Our last flower of the season on our Christmas cactus:

Our last flower of the season on our Christmas cactus

Another griddle dinner, with all sites occupied for the weekend:

Busy for the weekend

Squirrel:

Squirrel

A not-great picture of a cardinal bird:

Cardinal

More cardinals:

Cardinals

Golf course view:

Golf course view

Other RVs:

Other RVs

One of the campers had what we assume is a catio — an outdoor run for a cat (or maybe another small animal):

Catio

Clear Fork Creek:

Clear Fork Creek

We do enjoy state parks. We’d be happy to come back here again.

Travel from Corpus Christi to Lockhart, Texas

We drove our coach 217 miles, about four hours of driving, from Corpus Christi, Texas to Lockhart, Texas.

The map route, heading north:

Map route

The somewhat narrow road from the campground:

Road by the campground

Joining South Padre Island Drive:

Joining South Padre Island Drive

Oso Bay:

Oso Bay

A pitstop at a picnic area for lunch:

Picnic area

A Hurricane Evacuation Route sign; totally reassuring:

Hurricane Evacuation Route

Exit 69, nice:

Exit 69, nice

Exit to Karnes City:

Exit to Karnes City

Refinery:

Refinery

Pump jack:

Pump jack

Nixon, Texas mural:

Nixon, Texas mural

Water tower:

Water tower

Paladin:

Paladin

Another stop for a short break:

Stop

Another water tower:

Water tower

Lockhart, Texas:

Lockhart, Texas

Our destination, Lockhart State Park:

Lockhart State Park

The welcome center:

Welcome center

A flood gauge:

Flood gauge

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

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 stickers

On the passenger-side slide-out, we have a large sticker with the Sinclair Trails logo, a map of the US showing the states we’re visited, and stickers with the SinclairTrails.com domain name and @SinclairTrails social handle:

States

The states sticker consists of separate stickers for each state, applied to a base sticker. Our rule is that we have to spend a night in a state for it to count (and only since purchasing our coach). Once we have spent a night in a new state, we add its sticker. So far, we’ve visited 12 of the 50 states:

States

Visiting Alaska is going to be a major project. And of course we can’t take our motorhome to Hawaii, but we’ll count that just by the next time we visit (and may or may not rent a camper of some sort, depending on how strict we want to be).

On the driver-side slide-out of the coach, we have stickers for each of the National Parks we have visited, that being another of the goals in our travels. So far, we have visited 27 of the 63 parks:

National Park stickers

Of course, we’ve also visited numerous National Monuments, National Historic Sites, and other classifications. With 423 parks of various types in the National Park System, not to mention parks administered by states, forest services, etc, we had to cap the memorializing of them somewhere! National Parks are the goal; others are gravy.

However, inside our coach we have a framed board with a wooden map of the US, around which we add stickers (and other objects) for any kind of attraction we visit:

States and stickers board

The wooden map has pins for states we’ve visited (in their capitols); the pins feature the state flags:

Map

Some of the stickers above and below the map:

Stickers

2022 travel route

Happy New Year! 🎉

As we begin 2023, let’s look back at our coach travel in 2022. You may also want to check out the 2021 travel summary.

For another perspective on our travels, check out the Coach Timelapses playlist on the YouTube channel, which will enable you to watch all or some subset of the driving timelapses. Kinda interesting seeing how my editing style has evolved (minimally) — the first several videos didn’t even have a soundtrack.

We bought our 2017 Tiffin Allegro Bus 40SP diesel pusher motorhome on September 2, 2021, and other than a few times when we’ve been out of it during servicing appointments, we’ve lived in it full-time since then.

When we bought the coach, it only had 5,161 miles on it. In 2021 we drove it about 2,300 miles. In 2022 we drove another 8,772 miles, so have driven it 11,072 miles on our adventures so far, for a grand total of 16,233 on the odometer.

One of our goals is to visit every state. In 2022 we stayed in 5 new states: Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, joining Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, California, and Arizona in 2021, for a total of 12. We actually went to all 12 in 2022, revisiting states we’d been to before. As we head back to our Pacific Northwest domicile each year, we’ll see a lot more of those states. Still lots more yet to visit!

Here’s a map of our coach travels and stays in 2022, via the excellent RV Life Trip Wizard website, using a variation of their maps that more clearly shows the state borders and color-coded time zones (did you know that a portion of Oregon is in the Mountain time zone?). The route starts south of Phoenix, Arizona, heads west to the California coast, back to Arizona, then heading north, doing a big serpentine loop though the states in a generally clockwise direction, ultimately ending the year in coastal Texas:

Timezones

Another variation of the map, with more detail:

Route map 2022

And finally, the route map with the travel in 2021 also displayed in different colors; our Yellowstone trip in brown, our 2021 coach travel in green, and our 2022 travel in blue:

Route map 2021 to 2022

Fascinating!

San Antonio Missions National Historical Park

We explored the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park.

We rode our bikes between the four missions, starting at Mission Concepcion in the north. Here’s the approximate route on an interactive map (we diverted from this a little; see the actual route in the video at the end):

Mission Concepcion:

Mission Concepcion