Travel from Taos to Albuquerque, New Mexico

We drove our coach 122 miles, about 3 hours of driving, from Taos, New Mexico to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to attend the 50th annual balloon fiesta.

The map route, heading south:

Map route

It had rained, so when we brought the slide-outs in, water poured off. I generally prefer to not be standing under that when that happens:

Water pouring off slide

Leaving the RV park:

Leaving RV park

An interesting round shave ice cart:

Shave ice cart

Adobe buildings:

Adobe buildings

Adobe buildings

NM-68

Rio Grande gorge:

Rio Grande gorge

Another circular shave ice cart:

Another shave ice cart

Mountains:

Mountains

Rockfall fences:

Rockfall fences

Old gas pumps:

Old gas pumps

Rio Grande river:

Rio Grande river

Roadworks:

Roadworks

Camel Rock:

Camel Rock

There was only one rest area on this route, but it was on the opposite side of the freeway:

Rest area on opposite side

So we exited after the rest area, and headed the other way to the rest area:

Round trip sign

Rest area

At the rest area; Paladin on the back of the passenger chair:

Rest area and Paladin

Lunch:

Lunch

Roadworks:

Roadworks

Rain:

Rain

We went past the turnoff to the balloon fiesta to go to a T/A truck stop:

T/A truck stop

A bit over half a tank of diesel:

Fuel

We also filled the DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid):

DEF

Then back towards Balloon Fiesta Park:

Balloon Fiesta Park sign

Balloon Fiesta VIP West sign:

Balloon Fiesta VIP West sign

Balloon Fiesta check in:

Balloon Fiesta check in

The truck following the coach, following a golf cart to our site:

Following coach

Taos Valley RV Park

We stayed at Taos Valley RV Park in Taos, New Mexico. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Buddy sites, but good enough for a couple of nights.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2022-10-02
  • Check out: 2022-10-04
  • 2 nights

Weather:

  • Rainy
  • High temps ranging between 61-64°F, lows around 44°F
  • Some wind

Noise:

  • No road or train noise

Site:

  • #50, pull through, gravel (too large stones for good jack stability)
  • Buddy sites (i.e. alternating directions, so doors face each other, though offset so not too bad)
  • Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
  • Rather unlevel
  • Medium site: about 80 feet long by about 30 feet wide
  • Full hookups:
    • 50 amp power, conveniently located
    • 60 PSI water, conveniently located
    • Good sewer connections, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
  • Picnic table on concrete; charcoal grill on gravel

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • Starlink: 10-83 Mbps down, 3-7 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
  • Verizon: 30 Mbps down, 7 Mbps up, 80 ms ping
  • T-Mobile: 3-7 Mbps down, 2-4 Mbps up, 150 ms ping
  • AT&T: 20 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 80 ms ping
  • Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

  • Garbage bins at each site
  • No pool

Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:

Charming campground in the heart of Taos

This was a nicely landscaped park close to Taos. It rained the entire time we were there, so we didn’t get to enjoy the park as much as we would’ve liked. The entire park is gravel, which is fine, but it’s the wrong type of gravel. River rock doesn’t settle and “lock” into place like coarse gravel does, so things shift underfoot and under the stabilizing jacks. With the rain, there was a lot of thick mud around. Our site wasn’t particularly level, and I think a thicker layer of coarse gravel would have helped with that and prevent the muddiness. Be aware that the pull-through sites are buddy sites. There’s a nice fence giving some separation between the two living areas, but we saw at least one person pull in facing the wrong direction, so their hookups were on the opposite side. We camped at Taos Valley RV Park & Campground in a Motorhome.

The park map:

Map

Our site:

Our site

We didn’t bother putting on the Magne Shades, since we were only there for a couple of nights:

Our site

Our site

Our site and the neighboring site; this is in a “buddy” configuration, where the sites face opposite directions, so the doors face each other. But not too bad in this case, since the sites are angled such that they are offset, and have a fence between them. Still, not our favorite configuration:

Our site and buddy site

The other neighbor had a nice Magne Shade on their windscreen:

Other sites

The sites had a picnic table and charcoal grill:

Picnic table and charcoal grill

Some stones with messages under the grill:

Stones with messages

Utilities:

Utilities

Other sites:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

After staying a night in New Mexico, we can finally add a new state sticker to our coach; the first new state for several months:

New Mexico state sticker

In about a month we’ll be adding Texas, where we’ll be spending this winter.

Travel from Alamosa, Colorado to Taos, New Mexico

We drove our coach 97 miles, about 2 hour of driving, from Alamosa, Colorado to Taos, New Mexico.

The map route, heading south:

Map route

Goodbye sand dunes:

Sand dunes

Passing through Blanca:

Blanca

Blanca

A short skoolie:

Skoolie

San Luis:

San Luis

San Luis

Their claim to fame is the oldest continuously occupied town in Colorado, which they declare on a hillside:

San Luis

This journey was rather rainy:

Windshield wipers

Horses open range:

Horses open range

An interesting trailer:

Interesting trailer

Welcome to New Mexico:

Welcome to New Mexico

A lunch stop in a wide area on the side of the road; I look for such places when planning the trip, if I can’t find proper rest areas (I’ll do a post about trip planning sometime soonish):

Lunch stop

Lunch stop

Paladin on the back of the driver chair during the lunch stop:

Paladin

Paladin

Paladin

Onward in the rain:

Rainy

Our destination was in Taos, an interesting town with lots of adobe-style buildings, founded in 1615. We might want to explore it some more in the future:

Taos

Taos

Taos

Taos

Our destination:

Our destination

The office (looks rather KOA-like):

Office

Our tow bar, with the lights on:

Tow bar

Alamosa KOA Journey

We stayed at Alamosa KOA Journey in Alamosa, Colorado. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A decent KOA near Great Sand Dunes National Park, with pizza delivery to the site.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2022-09-30
  • Check out: 2022-10-02
  • 2 nights

Weather:

  • Sunny, cloudy, a little drizzle
  • High temps ranging between 65-72°F, lows around 36-44°F
  • Some wind

Noise:

  • Some road noise; no train noise

Site:

  • #57, pull through, gravel
  • Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
  • Fairly level
  • Medium site: about 85 feet long by about 30 feet wide
  • Full hookups:
    • 50 amp power, somewhat conveniently located
    • 30 PSI water, conveniently located
    • Two sewer connections, somewhat conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
  • Picnic table & fire pit on gravel

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • Campground Wi-Fi: 10-57 Mbps down, 2-9 Mbps up, 15 ms ping
  • Verizon: 13-28 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
  • T-Mobile: no service
  • AT&T: no service
  • Starlink: not used

Amenities:

  • Garbage pickup from site
  • Closed pool
  • Pizza and other food delivered to site
  • Sand sled rental

Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:

Nice base for Great Sand Dunes

One of the things I’ve come to appreciate on a travel day is not having to cook dinner. We were pleasantly surprised that they not only offered pizza but that they’d deliver directly to our site. I call that a win! The staff were all very helpful, and the campground conveniently communicates via text. Our site was a pretty basic pull-through, but we had a peek of the mountains, which was nice. Some road noise from the highway, but not too bad. We had one full day here, so we rented some sand sleds from the office and hit the dunes at the national park. So much fun! We camped at Alamosa KOA Journey in a Motorhome.

The park map:

Map

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

A nice feature of this RV park is that they have a small kitchen with a menu featuring pizza, baked potatoes, and other items, which they can charge to the card on file, and deliver right to our coach. We got a couple of pizzas (enough for two meals), plus a baked spud for me (because I like them):

Pizza

The office and camp store:

Office

Office

Office

A picnic shelter:

Shelter

Playground:

Playground

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

Cabins:

Cabins

Dog park:

Dog park

Art:

Art

Other sites:

Other sites

Cabins

Other sites

Other sites

We had a nice view of mountains from our site:

View of mountains

Travel from Colorado Springs to Alamosa, Colorado

We drove our coach 158 miles, about 3 hour of driving, from Colorado Springs, Colorado to Alamosa, Colorado.

The map route, heading south then west:

Map route

Leaving the state park:

Leaving the state park

Leaving the state park

Paladin emerging from behind the couch — travel day again?!

Paladin emerging from behind couch

Fort Carson army base, across the road from the state park:

Fort Carson

Elk and bald eagle artwork:

Elk and bald eagle artwork

Park pond in Pueblo, Colorado:

Park pond in Pueblo, Colorado

Downtown Pueblo, Colorado:

Downtown Pueblo, Colorado

Arkansas River in Pueblo, Colorado:

Arkansas River in Pueblo, Colorado

I-25:

I-25

I-25

Airstream travel trailer:

Airstream

Mountains:

Mountains

Wind turbines:

Wind turbines

Exit towards Alamosa:

Exit towards Alamosa

We didn’t particularly need fuel for our coach, but a T/A truck stop was a convenient place for fuel for us:

Lunch stop at a T/A

Parking

Our coach

They had an A&W restaurant in the back of the convenience store:

A&W in the back of the convenience store

We took it back to our coach to eat:

David with food

Food

We considered getting fuel after lunch, but it was rather busy at the time, so we opted not to bother:

Busy truck stop

I started to close the step cover, but Paladin jumped down there to peek out the window, so I left it open until he went elsewhere:

Paladin on steps

Walsenburg, Colorado:

Walsenburg, Colorado

Walsenburg, Colorado

Snow fences and mountains:

Snow fences

Mountains

Roadworks:

Roadworks

Scenic mountains:

Mountains

Scenic mountains

Scenic mountains

Mountains

Arriving at Alamosa KOA:

Arriving at Alamosa KOA

Arriving at Alamosa KOA

Cheyenne Mountain State Park

We stayed at Cheyenne Mountain State Park in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A delightful state park.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2022-09-26
  • Check out: 2022-09-30
  • 4 nights

Weather:

  • Sunny, cloudy, a little drizzle
  • High temps ranging between 74-78°F, lows around 46-53°F
  • Some wind

Noise:

  • No road or train noise
  • Bugle music from Fort Carson army base down the hill:
    • 0630: Reveille
    • 1200: Charge
    • 1655: Bugle call
    • 1700: Retreat and To the Color
    • 2200: Taps

Site:

  • Raptor Glen campground #3, pull through, concrete pad, asphalt driveway
  • Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
  • Fairly level
  • Large site: about 120 feet long by about 55 feet wide
  • Full hookups:
    • 50 amp power, conveniently located
    • 60 PSI water, conveniently located
    • Non-threaded sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipes needed)
  • Picnic table, fire pit, faucet on gravel, tent pad with eyes for ropes, 5 steps up

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 50 Mbps down, 10-40 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
  • AT&T: 2 Mbps down, 10 Mbps up, 42 ms ping
  • Verizon: 3 Mbps down, 2-7 Mbps up, 20 ms ping
  • Campground Wi-Fi: none
  • Starlink: not used

Amenities:

  • Dumpsters
  • No pool

Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:

Amazing views and fantastic sites

We absolutely loved this place and wish we had stayed longer. Our view from Raptor Glen loop was simply incredible, and the site itself was top-notch. In fact, it was pretty much my ideal setup for a site, with a table and fire ring and a large area for putting up a tent. The only thing I could nitpick about would be that the living area is on the wrong side of the coach on this side of the loop, but with some luck and cunning placement, we could still see most of the expanse before us. There is some occasional noise from the army base at the bottom of the hill (mostly the bugle calls for Reveille and Taps), but not bad at all. We were visited by deer, rabbits, turkeys, and a cute little lizard. We will be back! We camped at Cheyenne Mountain State Park in a Motorhome.

The state park map:

Map

The campground was at 6440 feet elevation, so we got out of breath more easily:

6440 feet elevation

A very nice site, though; here’s a sunrise:

Our site

More pictures of our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site:

We used our Clam gazebo for shade:

Clam gazebo

Clam gazebo

Clam gazebo

A picnic table, fire pit, and faucet (none of which we actually used, but nice to have):

Table, fire pit, faucet

A deer visitor:

Deer

And a rabbit:

Rabbit

There were some cute prints in the concrete:

Prints

A map of the park:

Map

Info signs:

Signs

Showers and laundry:

Showers and laundry

Bathroom:

Bathroom

Little free library:

Little free library

Playground:

Playground

Amphitheater:

Amphitheater

Sunset views:

Sunset view

Sunset view

Sunset view

We’d definitely stay here again.

Travel from Longmont to Colorado Springs, Colorado

We drove our coach 121 miles, about 2 hour of driving, from Longmont, Colorado to Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The map route, heading south:

Map route

Leaving the campground:

Leaving the campground

Leaving the campground

Since that campsite didn’t have any sewer (or water), we stopped by the dump station on the way out:

Dump station

A somewhat sharp curve leaving the park:

Sharp curve

Heading towards Denver:

Heading towards Denver

Heading towards Denver

Denver buildings:

Denver building

Denver buildings

Overpass

A somewhat low bridge, but high enough for us (we’re 12’ 7” high); they recommended trucks take the center lanes, though:

Low bridge

A feetball stadium:

Stadium

Denver buildings

Denver building

Passing a Tiffin Phaeton motorhome:

Tiffin Phaeton motorhome

Interesting rock:

Interesting rock

Rocky Mountains:

Mountains

Mountains

The Tiffin Phaeton passed us:

Tiffin Phaeton motorhome

Heading towards the state park:

Heading towards state park

Cheyenne Mountain State Park:

Cheyenne Mountain State Park

Cheyenne Mountain State Park

Cheyenne Mountain State Park

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

St Vrain State Park

We stayed at St Vrain State Park in Longmont, Colorado. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Delightful waterfront camping.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2022-09-22
  • Check out: 2022-09-26
  • 4 nights

Weather:

  • Sunny
  • High temps ranging between 63-80°F, lows around 43-45°F
  • Negligible wind

Noise:

  • Significant road noise; no train noise
  • A neighbor with a wind chime and other annoying noises, but not too bad

Site:

  • Mallard campground #27, back in, cement
  • Needed to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
  • Level
  • Large site: about 90 feet long by about 60 feet wide
  • Electric-only hookups:
    • 50 amp power, conveniently located
    • No water connection
    • No sewer connection
  • Picnic table with shelter, and fire pit on gravel
  • Waterfront

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 75 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 33 ms ping
  • AT&T: 7 Mbps down, 11 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
  • Verizon: 6-20 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
  • Campground Wi-Fi: none
  • Starlink: not used

Amenities:

  • Dumpsters
  • No pool
  • Waterfront

Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:

Beautiful park, pity about the highway noise

This was a nice base camp to explore the region. On the plus side, our site was very nice, with a view of Mallard Pond. Everything was well-kept and clean. On the negative side, $36/night for electric only is a bit steep (plus the extra day-use fee for our rig and tow vehicle), and there is constant noise from I-25. We would stay here again, despite the noise, if we had a full hookup site. We camped at St. Vrain State Park in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: If you arrive late and have to use the “iron ranger” to pay for your day-use fees, don’t get the annual pass. Just get a day pass and stop by the ranger station the next day to upgrade to an annual if you’re staying a while (or visiting other CO state parks). If you have a motorhome and tow vehicle, you will need two passes.

The RV park map:

Map

And an interactive map, showing all the ponds:

Our site had only electric, no water or sewer, so we arrived prepared, with a full water tank. We wouldn’t want to stay more than a week, but we coped just fine; the night before departure, our fresh water was only halfway, and grey and black were negligible (Jenn had a long shower on departure day, which reduced fresh to 30%, which is our preferred level for travel):

Levels

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

David

The pond behind our site:

Pond

Pond

Canada geese:

Swans

Swans

Pelicans:

Pelicans

Other sites:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

An accessible fishing pier:

Accessible fishing pier

Pond

Our coach across the pond:

Our coach across pond

I spotted a couple of hot air balloons — we’ll be seeing hundreds more of those soon:

Balloon

Balloon

Balloon

Balloon

This was a very nice state park; we’d be happy stay here again, and would enjoy staying longer, if we were in a full hookup section.

Travel from Wheatland, Wyoming to Longmont, Colorado

We drove our coach 155 miles, about 2 hour of driving, from Wheatland, Wyoming to Longmont, Colorado, with a stop to repair a leaking tire.

The map route, heading south:

Map route

Heading south on I-25:

I-25

Green hills and cell towers (I appreciate the good cell reception down the freeway):

Green hills

Domes:

Domes

Interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

Interesting rocks

Interesting rocks

Man, horse, dog artwork on a hill:

Man, horse, dog artwork

Mowing ahead:

Mowing ahead

Rain:

Rain

Expect fog… yep indeed:

Expect fog

We stopped at Little America of Cheyenne:

Little America

To visit Rocky Mountain Truck Center, to diagnose and repair a slowly leaking tire on our coach:

Rocky Mountain Truck Center

Rocky Mountain Truck Center

Rocky Mountain Truck Center

While they looked at it, we headed up to the Little America resort for lunch, passing a Sinclair Oil dinosaur dressed as a cowboy:

Sinclair cowboy dinosaur

Little America buffet restaurant:

Little America restaurant

Little America restaurant

We cut lunch a bit short, as they needed us to jack up our coach, using the leveling jacks. We raised only the driver side, to keep the passenger side wheels on the ground — raising all of the rear wheels off the ground is dangerous, as that’s the parking brake:

Jacked up coach

They found and marked the location of a nail in the tire, and worked on removing the tire:

Removing tire

Removing tire

Removing tire

Removing tire

I didn’t get a close-up picture of the nail in the tire, but here’s a zoomed crop:

Nail in tire

The inner tire of the dual pair, and the rear jack:

Inner tire

Inner tire

Paladin sitting on the driver seat:

Paladin

The repaired tire re-installed:

Repaired tire

After getting that repaired ($70 total), we fueled up at the slowest truck stop ever. Usually truck stops have high-speed pumps, but this one was not. It was taking so long, we decided to fuel from both sides for the first time ever:

Fueling both sides

The main pump, as usual:

Fueling both sides

The secondary pump, on the passenger side; it is activated by the main pump:

Fueling both sides

Continuing south, some hilltop buffalo artwork:

Buffalo artwork

Buffalo artwork

Budweiser factory:

Budweiser factory

Paladin in the steps:

Paladin

Roadworks:

Roadworks

A fascinating concrete-laying machine (concrete freeways are the worst):

Roadworks

Our destination, St Vrain State Park:

St Vrain State Park

Entrance station:

St Vrain State Park

Due to the tire excursion, we arrived later than usual, so the entrance station was closed. We used the “iron ranger” (as the rangers call it) to purchase a couple of Colorado state park annual passes (one for the coach, one for the truck):

Iron ranger

Though when we talked with the ranger the next day to exchange the temporary ones, it turned out that we should have bought one, with a half-price add-on for the second vehicle. So we did that, and submitted a form for a refund for the second one. Oops. (We decided to get annual passes as we’re staying just enough days at Colorado state parks to offset the cost. Ironically, next year we don’t expect to visit Colorado at all. Still worthwhile, though.)

This is a rather nice park; stay tuned for more pics from our stay:

Entrance road and pond

El Rancho Village RV Park & Cabins

We stayed at El Rancho Village RV Park & Cabins in Wheatland, Wyoming. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A basic RV park next to a freeway.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2022-09-20
  • Check out: 2022-09-22
  • 2 nights

Weather:

  • Overcast, drizzle, thunderstorm
  • High temps ranging between 67-85°F, lows around 49-55°F
  • Some wind

Noise:

  • Significant road noise; no train noise
  • No neighbor noise

Site:

  • #21, pull through, gravel
  • Didn’t need to disconnect toad, and didn’t bother
  • Not particularly level
  • Large site: about 100 feet long by about 45 feet wide
  • Full hookups:
    • 50 amp power, conveniently located
    • 30 PSI water, conveniently located
    • Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
  • No picnic table or fire pit

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 64-75 Mbps down, 15-26 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
  • AT&T: 45-56 Mbps down, 2-4 Mbps up, 65 ms ping
  • Verizon: 30-40 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
  • Campground Wi-Fi: unknown
  • Starlink: not used

Amenities:

  • Dumpsters
  • No pool

Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:

Convenient stop off I-25

This was a decent place to stop on our way through Wyoming. Met by a friendly manager who checked us in. It feels like they’re still getting settled in at the office, but it’s very low-tech, with a manual form to fill out and hand-entered credit card details. Our site wasn’t particularly level, but we managed to beat the leveling system into submission eventually. Utilities all worked as expected. I really think they missed a prime opportunity, though, because all the sites face towards the interstate instead of the distant mountains. Expect road noise from the interstate. We camped at El Rancho Village RV Park & Cabins in a Motorhome. 

They didn’t have an RV park map, so here’s an interactive map, though they’ve made a few improvements since this satellite image:

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

As usual on arrival, I used our outdoor shower and collapsable bucket to prepare to clean our windscreen:

Windscreen cleaning

Office and cabins:

Office and cabins

Cute cabins:

Cabins

Cabins

Very basic playground and shelter:

Playground and shelter

Bathrooms with nice murals:

Bathrooms

Other sites:

Other sites

A friendly dog, I think belonging to the owner:

Owners dog

Stormy clouds:

Stormy clouds

Lightning:

Lightning

This park is right next to the I-25 freeway:

Right next to freeway

A decoration:

Decoration