Travel from Surprise to Kingman, Arizona

We drove our coach 165 miles, about three hours of driving, from Surprise, Arizona to Kingman, Arizona.

Here’s the map route, heading northwest:

Kingman route

An interactive map, with our stops marked:

Saguaro cacti:

Saguaro cacti

This route was rather bad in terms of potholes on the road; these were relatively minor examples:

Potholes

So much so that some of our internet stuff fell down:

Internet stuff fell down

We had planned to stay at Horspitality RV Resort, but changed it due to our NIRVC visit:

Horspitality RV Park

A nearby horse event:

Horse event

Josua trees:

Josua tree

Josua trees

Josua tree

Back to saguaros:

Saguaros

Interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

A roadside stop, basically a wide dirt area, where we made lunch in our coach:

Roadside stop

More interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

A river:

River

A truck had a tire blowout on their trailer, with bits of the tire on the road:

Tire on road

An interesting old Silver Streak trailer:

Silver Streak trailer

The rough road seemed to have shook our front driver-side slide slightly out; there was a little light coming in underneath. That’s not great:

Slide slightly out

Snowy mountains:

Snowy mountains

We filled up at a Petro truck stop:

Petro truck stop

Paladin stretching at the truck stop:

Paladin

We filled about 76 gallons of diesel (half our tank capacity; we usually fill when it gets about halfway). The pump price was $376.66:

Fuel pump

But that’s not what we actually paid, thanks to the Open Roads fuel discount program; we saved $92.82 on that fuel up, so “only” paid $293.77:

Fuel discount savings

Our destination:

Destination

NIRVC Phoenix service to fix DEF head failure and more

When we arrived at the Las Cruces KOA, we got the Check Engine and Malfunction Indicator Lights on our dash, and the three error codes that indicated the dreaded DEF head failure issue — SPN 3364 FMI 9, SPN 1761 FMI 9, and SPN 3031 FMI 9:

Error codes

We tried to reset the errors with the BlueFire adapter, which worked… but at the end of the next drive, the errors came back. So we knew we had to get the DEF head replaced. The DEF head is a component of the Diesel Exhaust Fluid system, that measures the level and temperature of the DEF tank. But coaches built around 2017, as ours was, had a part with a design flaw, causing it to fail for many coaches. It was pretty much a matter of time before ours failed, so I got a DEF head simulator as insurance, and we never let the DEF get below halfway, to help reduce the chance of the issue occurring. But our time came regardless.

We could have taken our coach to a Cummins service shop, but they operate on a first-come-first-served basis, so we’d likely have to wait a few days. Not convenient when we live full-time in our coach. But fortunately we were a few hours south of Phoenix, Arizona, where National Indoor RV Centers (NIRVC) has a facility. A place we were familiar with, having had our coach serviced there before.

So I contacted that NIRVC, and asked if they could get the replacement DEF head from Tiffin, and fit us in to replace it. They were able to do so. We were super-impressed with their service. They worked with Tiffin to get the part overnighted, and Tiffin covered the cost of the part and labor. When we arrived, the Service Manager (Andrew Pringle) greeted me and came out to help us get parked in a campsite.

We also got them to do a few other tweaks while we were there. One was I noticed this pump/compressor/thingy that’s part of the air leveling system had come off its brackets, and was vibrating significantly when used (we pretty much never use air leveling, but tried it when arriving at NIRVC; great time to find that!):

Pump or something

The brackets were broken, so the tech drilled out and replaced the brackets to get it re-mounted.

We also got them to look for a rattling noise elsewhere in the generator compartment, which they partially fixed with some foam padding. And we got them to add a cover over the ceiling vent in our rear bathroom; something we wanted to do at the recent NIRVC service in Dallas, but the part was out-of-stock there.

Not bad for a day’s work at short notice!

We had been scheduled to stay in Tombstone for seven days, but we left early to go to NIRVC, arriving in the afternoon, and staying overnight at NIRVC, so they could have the full next day to do their work. We chose to stay there that night too, before moving on.

Here are my usual campsite stats; not a typical campsite, but great that NIRVC offers the ability to stay overnight, even with an electrical hookup:

Dates:

Check in: 2023-03-08
Check out: 2023-03-10
2 nights

Weather:

Mostly sunny
High temps ranging between 75°F, lows around 42-44°F
Negligible wind

Noise:

Some road noise, no train noise
Jets flying over from Luke Air Force Base

Site:

#4, back in, gravel
Needed to disconnect toad; parked beside coach
Fairly level
Medium site: about 70 feet long by about 25 feet wide

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
No water
No sewer (dump station available)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 62-75 Mbps down, 30 Mbps up, 80 ms ping
AT&T: 33-49 Mbps down, 12 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
Verizon: 47-70 Mbps down, 20-41 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

RV repair

Interactive map; the campsites are in the northeast corner of the grounds:

Our site (with the generator compartment open):

Our site

Electrical hookup:

Our site

Looking past our site to the front of the NIRVC building:

Our site

Front of NIRVC

We sat in the waiting room for a few hours:

Waiting room

Kitchen:

Kitchen

The waiting room has windows overlooking the massive indoor RV storage facility:

RV storage

Looking across the storage area, you can see the roof of our coach by the leftmost door:

RV storage

We were very happy with their service, glad that they could fit us in, and solve our DEF head issue plus the other improvements. We highly recommend NIRVC for RV service.

Travel from Tombstone to Surprise, Arizona

We drove our coach 219 miles, about four hours of driving, from Tombstone, Arizona to Surprise, Arizona, to visit NIRVC there.

Here’s the map route, heading northwest:

Map route

An interactive map, with our stops marked:

There wasn’t room to “toad up” (connect our truck to our coach) at our site, so we drove separately to an open area by the entrance of the RV park:

Leaving RV park

Toading up:

Toading up

An animated GIF of the brake controller operating; an air hose connected to the air brakes of our coach pushes the brake pedal in our truck for proportional braking:

Brake controller

On our way, with distant mountains:

Distant mountains

Mountains

A multi-vehicle accident at an immigration inspection station, caused by a car-jacking a few hours earlier:

Accident at inspection station

Four visible crunched vehicles (apparently there was a fifth):

Accident at inspection station

Hey, fellow Tiffin motorhome:

Tiffin motorhome

Overpass art:

Overpass art

We parked at a truck stop for lunch:

Truck stop

Restaurant

Jenn’s French dip lunch:

Jenn's French dip lunch

My BLT lunch:

My BLT lunch

Passing through Tucson:

Tucson

Picacho Peak:

Picacho Peak

Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch below Picacho Peak:

Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch below Picacho Peak

A rest area stop:

Rest area

Phoenix Sky Harbor airport:

Phoenix Sky Harbor airport

Tunnel:

Tunnel

Arriving at NIRVC:

NIRVC

Heading to a campsite:

NIRVC

Bisbee, Arizona

South of Tombstone, near the border with Mexico, is a cute little historic town called Bisbee, Arizona. We went there for a drive and dinner.

An interactive map:

The historic Mule Pass Tunnel:

Tunnel

Entering Bisbee:

Entering Bisbee

Bisbee buildings:

Bisbee building

Bisbee buildings

We had Mexican for dinner at Contessa’s Cantina:

Contessa's Cantina

Jenn’s dinner:

Contessa's Cantina

My dinner, stuffed potato:

Contessa's Cantina

Jenn’s dessert, sopapillas:

Contessa's Cantina

My dessert, Mexican deep fried ice cream:

Contessa's Cantina

More Bisbee buildings:

Bisbee buildings

Back through the tunnel:

Tunnel

Sunset:

Sunset

A cute artsy town; we quite liked it.

Tombstone RV Park & Campground

We stayed at Tombstone RV Park & Campground in Tombstone, Arizona. (Campground Reviews listing.)

An uncomfortably short site.

Dates:

Check in: 2023-03-04
Check out: 2023-03-08
4 nights
We were going to stay 7 nights, but left early to go to NIRVC (see upcoming posts)

Weather:

Mostly sunny
High temps ranging between 68-73°F, lows around 36-45°F
Negligible wind, yay!

Noise:

Some road noise, no train noise
Occasional loud neighbors

Site:

#45, pull-through, gravel
Needed to disconnect toad; parked beside coach
Fairly level
Small site: about 38 feet long by about 25 feet wide
Picnic table; no fire pit

Utilities:

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

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 6-23 Mbps down, 3-8 Mbps up, 100 ms ping
T-Mobile: 17-23 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
AT&T: 16 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 75 ms ping
Verizon: no service
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Heated pool

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Good spot to stop close to Tombstone

This was a really nice, well-run park and a great launching point for all the area has to offer. The hosts were all very friendly and helpful from check-in, to guiding us to our site, to helping us with package deliveries. Our site was clean and level. On the other hand, it was also pretty short for our 40′ motorhome and tow vehicle. Usually, if we have a pull-through site it’s okay if we unhook the tow after we park the coach. Here, we really should have unhooked beforehand as the truck was completely blocking the lane until we unhooked it and parked alongside the coach. Even so, the motorhome was poking out to the front and rear. We had to use our safety cones for the first time to help demarcate our corners. We camped at Tombstone RV Park and Campground in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: Chiricahua National Monument and Fort Bowie National Historic Site are a good day trip away and shouldn’t be missed.

Interactive map:

Tombstone newspaper and RV park map:

Newspaper and map

Guided to our site:

Arriving at site

Our site; it was rather short, so we put out mini cones to help prevent people hitting our coach:

Our site

The tombstone theme: “here lies [site] 45”:

Our site

The cellular services weren’t great, so we used Starlink:

Starlink

The entrance at sunset:

Entrance at sunset

Office:

Office

Activity center:

Activity center

Swimming pool:

Swimming pool

Cart:

Cart

Other sites:

Other sites

It was fine, though the site was too short for comfort, and the roads a bit tight in places.

Travel from Las Cruces, New Mexico to Tombstone, Arizona

We drove our coach 247 miles, about four hours of driving (and a couple of hours of stoppage), from Las Cruces, New Mexico to Tombstone, Arizona.

Here’s the map route, heading west:

Map route

An interactive map, with our stops marked:

We usually toad up (aka connecting the truck to the coach) by our site, but there wasn’t a great place to do that this time, so we went over by the office. So Jenn drove the coach, and I followed in the truck:

Following our coach

Toading up; hooking up the tow bar and cables, switching the truck transmission to neutral, disconnecting the battery (via a push button), and connecting the brake controller:

Toading up

The brake controller:

Brake controller

On our way; there were lots of signs like these for several tchotchke shops:

Signs

Fireworks and tchotchkes:

Fireworks and tchotchkes

Inspection station, with nobody staffing it:

Inspection station

One of several billboards for The Thing?

The Thing?

Our first stop, at a parking area (i.e. like a rest area, with no bathrooms):

Parking area

Nice to see mountains:

Mountains

Another tchotchkes shop, with a fun fence painted like storefronts:

Another tchotchkes shop

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

A third of a tank (we actually paid less than this, thanks to the TSD fuel discount card):

Fuel stop

Filling the Diesel Exhaust Fluid:

DEF

Then we parked at this truck stop for lunch:

Lunch stop

Heading out:

Leaving truck stop

Continental divide:

Continental divide

Lots of signs about dust storms; this one sensibly worded as “caution dust storms”:

Caution dust storms

Another sensible sign, “zero visibility possible”:

Zero visibility possible

But “dust storms may exist”; yes, indeed, but kinda a clumsy way to say that:

Dust storms may exist

Mountains

Welcome to Arizona:

Welcome to Arizona

Mountains

Another truck stop, just for a stretch and bathroom break (in our coach, of course):

Truck stop

An interesting and very sketchy-looking homemade trailer:

Interesting trailer

Mountains

Benson, Arizona:

Benson, Arizona

One lane roadworks:

Roadworks

Uncomfortably narrow for our coach:

Roadworks

St. David:

St. David

Hills

Our destination:

Destination

Las Cruces KOA Journey

We stayed at Las Cruces KOA Journey in Las Cruces, New Mexico. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Our second visit in just a few months to this RV park.

Dates:

Check in: 2023-02-25
Check out: 2023-03-04
7 nights
We arrived one day early to avoid traveling during 60 MPH gusts

Weather:

Partly cloudy
High temps ranging between 52-69°F, lows around 27-37°F
60 MPH wind gusts on the first day, and 30-40 MPH most other days

Noise:

Negligible road noise (distant freeway noise, only audible outside); no train noise

Sites:

#28, pull-in, gravel; unusual to have a front-in site
Needed to disconnect toad; parked beside coach
Fairly level
Large site: about 55 feet long by about 45 feet wide
Full hookups (on both sides, for front-in motorhomes and back-in trailers):

50 amp power, not very conveniently located
45 PSI water, fairly conveniently located
Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Picnic table on concrete pad; no fire pit
City and mountain view

We were only in that site for the first night, as that was the extra day for arriving early (as a separate reservation). Then we needed to move to a different (similar) site:

#16, pull-in, gravel
Needed to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
Fairly level
Medium site: about 60 feet long by about 20 feet wide
Full hookups (on one side, for front-in motorhomes):

50 amp power, very conveniently located
50 PSI water, very conveniently located
Good sewer connection, somewhat conveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)

Picnic table on gravel; no fire pit
City and mountain view

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 12-16 Mbps down, 34 Mbps up, 58 ms ping
AT&T: 9 Mbps down, 9 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
Verizon: 1-11 Mbps down, 10 Mbps up, 65-588 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpster
Closed pool

Our review on Campground Reviews:

The best views

This was our second time staying here and it was just as nice as the last time. We came in a day earlier than originally planned to avoid some wind storms in the area and were able to get a reservation that morning for a view site. Because it was technically a second reservation, they had to do some rearranging and we wound up moving from site 28 to 16 at the start of our original reservation. No biggie, other than the disconcerting feeling of bringing in the stabilizing jacks and feeling the wind buffet the rig violently from side to side. Some of the most white-knuckle driving ever just to go from one end of the campground to the other. The staff were so helpful and understanding in accommodating our early arrival and relocation as we weren’t the only ones with the idea to avoid the weather. You just have to get a view site at this place or you’re really missing out. I’m sure you could get a peep of it from further back or enjoy the view from one of the communal areas, but it’s just so awesome to view it out the front window of the motorhome. We’ll definitely be back when we come this way again. We camped at Las Cruces KOA Journey in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: Bosque Brewing across from NMSU has good beer and food.

An interactive map of the park:

RV park map:

Map

Our first site before parking:

Our first site

Our first site with our coach and truck; this may look familiar to long-time readers, as it’s the same site we had last time we were here:

Our first site

The view from inside our coach:

Our first site

The utilities of our first site (I didn’t bother hooking up the sewer pipe, since we were only there one night):

Our first site utilities

After that first night, we needed to move to another site. Here’s our second site before parking:

Our second site

Our second site with our coach and truck:

Our second site

Notice the sky; it was very windy and dusty, so we only put out the driver-side slides (being leeward), and left the passenger-side ones in:

Our second site

We received an emergency alert for the dust storm:

Emergency alert

A screenshot of my weather app, showing the wind gusts:

Wind gusts

The coach is a bit weird with one side in, but still quite usable:

One slide in

Nicer weather:

Our second site

The view from inside:

View

Our second site utilities:

Our second site utilities

Cleaning the windshield:

Cleaning windshield

Nice view:

View

Mountains

A tiny Casita trailer next to our 40-foot coach; kinda looks like we laid an egg:

Tiny trailer

Since the wind was ongoing, if not quite so strong, and we wanted to put the slides out, I added ropes to brace slide toppers:

Ropes to brace slide toppers

One day, it even snowed!

Snow

A video of the snow:

A video from the dash cam, showing the snow clearing:

(Did you spot the cat?)

Snowy mountains:

Snowy mountains

You can see more of this RV park in my post for our previous stay, but here are a few pics, starting with the office:

Office

Dog park:

Dog park

Tent and camp kitchen areas:

Tent and camp kitchen areas

Other RVs:

Other RVs

Sunrise view from our coach:

Sunrise view

Sunset views:

Sunset view

This is a nice RV park; the sites aren’t the best, especially being buddy sites, but the view more than makes up for that. This was our second visit, and we’ll probably stay here again if we’re back this way in the future.

Travel from Abilene, Texas to Las Cruces, New Mexico

We drove our coach 504 miles, an epic eight hours of driving, from Abilene, Texas to Las Cruces, New Mexico.

We normally prefer two hour drives, and will go up to four hours when on an interstate (as they are easier and usually have regular rest areas). We had planned two four hour days, stopping in Pecos, but the weather forecast called for 60 MPH gusts along the route on the second leg. So we decided to push on through, doing it in one day.

Here’s the map route, heading west:

Map route

An interactive map, with our stops marked:

Leaving the Abilene KOA:

Leaving KOA

There were pretty much non-stop pump jacks along the route:

Pump jacks

We stopped at several rest areas; this was the first:

Rest area

An interesting water tower:

Water tower

Wide load:

Wide load

“It would behoof you to slow down”:

It would behoof you to slow down

Road Ranger fuel stop:

Road Ranger fuel stop

Road Ranger

We went in, and had Church’s Chicken for lunch (our least-preferred fast food chicken chain):

Church's Chicken for lunch

Back to our coach:

Our coach

Sleepy Paladin:

Sleepy Paladin

A wind turbine blade:

Wind turbine blade

More pump jacks:

Pump jacks

As mentioned, we were originally going to stop at Pecos, Texas:

Pecos, Texas

Texas

Paladin probably would have preferred that we stopped, but this was just halfway:

Paladin

A nice rest area:

Rest area

We were so happy to see mountains again, after spending months in flat Texas:

Mountains

Lots of trucks:

Lots of trucks

Allegedly scenic viewpoint:

Scenic viewpoint

Entering Mountain Time Zone:

Entering Mountain Time Zone

A busy rest area; we parked on the side of the road:

Busy rest area

El Paso overpasses:

El Paso overpasses

El Paso artwork:

El Paso artwork

An interesting RV paint job:

Interesting RV paintjob

Goodbye Texas; entering New Mexico:

New Mexico

Mountains by Las Cruces:

Mountains

Our destination, another KOA:

KOA

That was quite the drive!

Abilene KOA Journey

We stayed at Abilene KOA Journey in Abilene, Texas. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A very basic KOA, with loud freeway traffic.

Dates:

Check in: 2023-02-23
Check out: 2023-02-25
2 nights

Weather:

Cloudy
High temps ranging between 48-57°F, lows around 35-41°F
Negligible wind

Noise:

Loud road noise from the freeway; distant train noise
No neighbor noise

Site:

#58, pull-through, gravel
All the pull-throughs are buddy sites, except this one and the one next to it, where they converted the next-door site to a patio
Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
Level site
Medium site: about 60 feet long by about 30 feet wide
Concrete patio
Patio table & chairs
Fire pit
Propane & charcoal grills
A few trees

Utilities:

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

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 46-62 Mbps down, 8 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
AT&T: 5 Mbps down, 9 Mbps up, 78 ms ping
Verizon: 1 Mbps down, 0.5 Mbps up, 200 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage pickup from site

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Buddy sites and road noise

We stayed here for two nights which was about one night more than necessary. The pull-throughs were pretty much all buddy sites (which I hate), but we splurged on the patio site which meant that we had a little buffer between us and our neighbor on the living side (nevermind that our neighbor the first night seemed to think it was a communal area, but I digress). The real downside of this park is the constant noise from I-20 with trucks using their jake brakes at all hours. We camped at Abilene KOA Journey in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: Frontier Texas! (the exclamation point is part of the name) was pretty cool and worth a stop.

An interactive map of the park:

The map:

Map

Our site:

Our site

A nice patio, that we didn’t use, since the weather wasn’t great; but still worth it to avoid being in a buddy site:

Patio

A nice fire pit area on the patio:

Fire pit

A GIF of the freeway from our site, showing how close it was:

Freeway

Our site

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

Cabins:

Cabins

Other sites:

Other sites

This RV park was a convenient stop for a couple of nights, but we wouldn’t choose to stay here other than for that purpose, what with the loud freeway noise and buddy sites.