Travel from Marathon to San Antonio, Texas

We drove our coach 332 miles, about five hours of driving, from Marathon, Texas to San Antonio, Texas.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading east:

Map

An interactive map:

Sunrise on travel day:

Sunrise on travel day

Goodbye Marathon Motel:

Goodbye Marathon Motel

Heading east on US-90; it’s nice to travel on highways, more restful than freeways (as we did on the following day):

US-90

Javelinas crossing the road:

Javelinas crossing the road

Nice canyon:

Nice canyon

A pleasant picnic area:

Rest area

Info sign and lookout:

Info sign and lookout

Our coach:

Our coach

Bridge:

Bridge

Pecos River:

Pecos River

Another bridge:

Another bridge

Low water level:

Low water level

Immigration inspection station:

Immigration inspection station

Our first sight of an H-E-B for many months (our favorite supermarket in Texas):

Our first sight of an H-E-B for many months

Rest area:

Rest area

Downtown San Antonio:

Downtown San Antonio

Arriving at our KOA destination for a one night stay:

Arriving at KOA

KOA

Guided to our site:

Guided to our site

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.

Fort Davis National Historic Site

We visited Fort Davis National Historic Site in Texas. As the NPS site says, “It is one of the best surviving examples of an Indian Wars’ frontier military post in the Southwest.”

The NPS map; click or tap to see more on their site. The red-roofed buildings on this map are now ruins, often just foundations, but the others are mostly intact, with some furnished:

Entrance:

Entrance

Gift store:

Gift store

Museum exhibits:

Museum exhibits

Officers quarters:

Officers quarters

Exhibits:

Exhibits

Barracks

Cart

Commissary:

Commissary

Officers quarters:

Officers quarters

Hospital:

Hospital

Officers quarters

Sign

Marathon Motel & RV Park

We stayed at Marathon Motel & RV Park in Marathon, Texas. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Dates:

Check in: 2024-11-17
Check out: 2024-11-30
13 nights

Weather:

Mostly sunny
High temps 61-80°F, lows 32-46°F
Some wind, gusts to 23 MPH

Noise:

Little road noise
Loud train horn noise right out front of the campground, about once an hour, generally between 10:00 and 22:00, though occasionally one or two overnight
Significant neighbor noise for a few days (big family on driver side), otherwise not much

Site:

#4, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
Mostly level site; a little high in front; used hydraulic leveling
Gravel driveway about 80 feet long by 18 feet wide
10 feet to neighbors on both sides
Separation between sites: just grass
Picnic table
A couple of tall trees
Mostly clean site
Elevation 4,060 feet

Utilities:

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

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 130-180 Mbps down, 30-40 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
AT&T: 53-70 Mbps down, 12 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 25 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Star parties
Package delivery to office
Chickens!

Our review on Campground Reviews:

High desert delight

This was our second time staying here, and we enjoyed it just as much as our first trip. The only downside is the freight train that runs through town with its horn blaring because of the uncontrolled crossings. Luckily, it didn’t tend to go through after 11pm or too early in the morning. Otherwise, this is a peaceful corner of West Texas, and Marathon remains a cute little town. The campground is delightful, with a cactus garden and a chicken run to enjoy. The sites in the 50A section are conveniently situated east/west to mitigate the worst effects of the famous wind. We camped at Marathon Motel and RV Park in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

A resident cat sitting on one of our chairs:

Cat

Another resident cat:

Cat

A short-term neighbor brought their outdoor cat, which got into fights with the resident cats, and hid in our engine bay:

Cat

GIF of wild javelinas (aka peccaries) walking through our site:

GIF of javelinas

Aerial views of our site and the RV park:

Aerial view

This park is in a dark skies area, so there were lots of stars visible (I’ll have another post later with more aerial photos and star pics):

Stars

A tiny home and covered RV across the road from the campground; if we ever buy land again, we might do something like this:

Tiny home and covered RV across the road

Other sites:

Other sites

Laundromat:

Laundromat

Outdoor showers and kitchen:

Outdoor showers and kitchen

Restroom:

Restroom

Bathrooms and motel room:

Bathrooms and motel room

More motel rooms:

Motel rooms

Historic signs:

Historic sign

Entrance and sign

The train track is across the road from the RV park, with an uncontrolled crossing right there, so the trains honk their horns several times:

Train

A nice courtyard:

Courtyard

Rita’s Cantina, which was closed last time and is still closed; they just can’t get the staff to open it:

Rita's Cantina

An RV park resident hosts star parties a few times each week:

Sky party area

Sky party

A desert garden area:

Garden

I enjoyed hanging out with the resident chickens:

Chicken coop

Despite the train noise, we still enjoy this RV park and town, and no doubt will be back again in the future.

Travel from Las Cruces, New Mexico to Marathon, Texas

We drove our coach 301 miles, about five hours of driving, from Las Cruces, New Mexico to Marathon, Texas.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading southeast:

Route

An interactive map:

Joining I-10 East:

Joining I-10 East

Recycled Roadrunner artwork at a rest stop:

Recycled Roadrunner artwork

Rio Grande with a little water due to rain (it was dry when we drove past earlier in the week):

Rio Grande with a little water

Nice mountains beyond Las Cruces:

Nice mountains beyond Las Cruces

Leaving New Mexico:

Leaving New Mexico

Welcome to Texas:

Welcome to Texas

Looking over the border into Mexico:

Looking into Mexico

Playing El Paso while leaving El Paso:

Playing El Paso while leaving El Paso

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Rainy drive:

Rainy drive

Immigration checkpoint:

Immigration checkpoint

Entering Central Time Zone:

Entering Central Time Zone

A long building on a trailer at stop opportunity:

A long building on a trailer at stop opportunity

Rainbow:

Rainbow

Sun rays:

Sun rays

A blimp (I think used for watching the border with Mexico), grounded probably due to the lightning storms in the area:

Blimp

Picnic area stop:

Picnic area stop

Arriving at Marathon Motel & RV Park:

Arriving at Marathon Motel & RV Park

Our site:

Our site

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

Voyager RV Resort & Hotel

We stayed at Voyager RV Resort & Hotel in Tucson, Arizona. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A huge RV resort, mostly park models (small manufactured homes), with a section for transient RVs. A 55+ age-restricted park; our first, now that I’m 55. And as an Encore park, it’s free with our Thousand Trails membership.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-11-03
Check out: 2024-11-10
7 nights

Weather:

Sunny; rainy on arrival
High temps 62-70°F, lows 35-46°F
Some wind, gusts to 21 MPH

Noise:

Distant road noise
Some distant train horn noise
Negligible neighbor noise

Site:

#07-176, pull-through, asphalt
Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
Somewhat level site; high on passenger side and front; used hydraulic leveling
Asphalt driveway about 100 feet long by 10 feet wide
13 feet to neighbors on both sides
Picnic table on 20 feet long by 4 feet wide concrete patio
Charcoal grill
Loose gravel elsewhere in the site
No trees
Clean site

Utilities:

50 amp power, very conveniently located
48 PSI water, conveniently located (towards the end of the stay, disconnected due to near-freezing temperatures)
Good sewer connection, very conveniently located (2 2-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 165 Mbps down, 14 Mbps up, 20 ms ping
AT&T: 85-133 Mbps down, 8 Mbps up, 50-75 ms ping
Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 2-4 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Residential-style rolling garbage and recycling bins on each site, with pickup on Tuesdays
Pools
Restaurant (which we didn’t try)
Lots of other stuff

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Snowbirding in suburbia

This is a vast 55+ resort with all the amenities you would expect. Most of the sites are full-time residents in park models, with relatively few RV sites. The biggest SNAFU was when we arrived, the gate guard told us to pull up into the waiting area, and someone would bring out our paperwork and escort us to our site. Not so. After we sat there for about 10 minutes, someone came by in a golf cart and told us that the “ladies are waiting for you inside”. So, ignore anything the guy at the gate says and go inside the hotel lobby to check in. After that, we were escorted to our site. We had a decently long pull-through site with decent hookups and a fine stay. We’re not really into the RV resort community vibe, but we’d happily stay here again as it was convenient for anything we’d want to do in Tucson. We camped at Voyager RV Resort & Hotel in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Very convenient utilities:

Utilities

Residential-style trash pickup:

Trash pickup

Propane delivery:

Propane delivery

RV check-in area:

RV check in area

Registration:

Registration

Hotel:

Hotel

Outdoor area:

Outdoor area

Mailboxes for residents:

Mailboxes

There’s even an onsite library:

Library

And hairdresser:

Hairdresser

Fat Willy’s Bar & Grill / Market, which we didn’t try, as we went out pretty much every evening; we were going to try it the first night, but it was raining, so we didn’t want to bother. Maybe next time:

Fat Willy's Bar & Grill / Market

One of the pools:

Pool

Lots of pickleball courts:

Pickleball courts

Shuffleboard:

Shuffleboard

Hundreds of park models (small manufactured homes):

Tiny homes

Other RV sites:

Other sites

Sunset

A nice RV park, that really lives up to the resort label, not that we took advantage of any of it, as usual. But we’d be happy to stay here again.

Travel from Winterhaven, California to Tucson, Arizona

We drove our coach 260 miles, about four hours of driving, from Winterhaven, California to Tucson, Arizona.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading east:

Route map

An interactive map:

Exiting the RV park:

Exiting RV park

I-8 East entrance:

I-8 East entrance

Arizona State Line over the Colorado River:

Arizona State Line

Welcome to Arizona:

Welcome to Arizona

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Closed US Border Patrol Checkpoint:

Closed US Border Patrol Checkpoint

6% downgrade:

6% downgrade

Interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

Rest area:

Rest area

Paladin sat in his dash bed for quite a while while we drove on the freeway:

Paladin in his dash bed on the freeway

Then Paladin snuggled with me for a while:

Paladin snuggling with David

Saguaro cacti:

Saguaro cacti

Parking area:

Parking area

Cotton field:

Cotton field

I-8 joined I-10:

I-8 joined i-10

Very large dump truck part:

Very large dump truck part

Interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

Sun rays:

Sun rays

Arrival:

Arrival

Check in area (the gate guy said someone would come to us with the paperwork, but after waiting for 10 minutes someone told us that he was wrong, we needed to go into the hotel reception to check in):

Check in area

Double rainbow:

Double rainbow

Rainbow from our site:

Rainbow from our site

Museum of History in Granite

On the other side of the I-8 freeway from the Encore Pilot Knob RV Resort was the Museum of History in Granite, along with the Center of the World, the Maze of Honor, and the Church on the Hill.

One could consider this a kitschy roadside attraction, and it is that, but it’s also a lasting testament to the passions of one man, wanting to record history in stone that’ll last for centuries. Reading about his history is interesting: born in France in 1929, moved to the US at age 11, became an investment banker, bought a war-surplus plane and learned to fly, then invented the sport of skydiving (or “sport parachuting”), and finally created the “town” of Felicity in 1985, establishing it (via a fairy tale he wrote) as the Center of the World, and created the History of Humanity in Granite. Read that history page for details.

An interactive map:

Sign