Thousand Trails Lake Texoma RV Campground

We stayed at Thousand Trails Lake Texoma RV Campground in Gordonville, Texas. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Another Thousand Trails, more of the state park feel.

Dates:

Check in: 2023-02-16
Check out: 2023-02-23
7 nights

Weather:

Some sunny days
High temps ranging between 49-80°F, lows around 28-53°F
Some wind, up to 30 MPH gusts

Noise:

No road noise or train noise
No neighbor noise

Site:

#A43, pull-through, gravel
Buddy site, but on end so nobody facing us (other than the bathroom block)
Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
Not very level front to back or side to side; used blocks to help front jacks
Medium site: about 80 feet long by about 25 feet wide
Picnic table
Fire pit
Grass & trees

Utilities:

50 amp power, fairly conveniently located
75 PSI water, conveniently located (disconnected during sub-freezing nights)
Non-threaded sewer connection, very conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 20-55 Mbps down, 1-6 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
T-Mobile: 13 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 28 ms ping
AT&T: 15 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up, 37 ms ping
Verizon: 10 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpster
Closed pools

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Older campground, needs some love

Unusually for a Thousand Trails park, the staff knew what sites were actually available and we were able to select one at check-in. We wanted a 50 amp pull-through but unfortunately, all the 50A pull-throughs are buddy sites. I hate buddy sites. We were lucky enough to get one on the end so our living area wasn’t directly on top of someone else, but it did open up to the bathroom block. Scenic! The site was not at all level front-to-back and we had to maneuver a bit to find the most level location. The roads here are more pothole than road, so maneuvering our coach to avoid the worst of them was interesting. If we’d been planning to stay longer, I would definitely get one of the back-in sites tucked in the trees. We camped at Thousand Trails Lake Texoma in a Motorhome.

An interactive map of the park:

The map:

Map

Our site:

Our site

Rather close to the neighbor:

Our site

Utilities; can’t get any better sewer placement:

Utilities

The view out the buddy-side window wasn’t exciting:

View out window

We used the griddle and ate outside for several meals:

Griddle

Time to add the Virgin Islands National Park sticker to the coach:

Virgin Islands National Park sticker

And Virgin Islands stickers and a pin on the board inside:

Virgin Islands stickers and pin

No, this isn’t another picture of our coach, but a neighboring Tiffin with a very similar paint scheme:

Neighbor RV

This is the 37AP floorplan, a bit smaller than ours:

37AP

On the other side of our site were bathrooms, but separated by some grass, so it wasn’t too bad:

Bathrooms

Other RVs:

Other RVs

More buddy sites:

Buddy sites

A murky but nice pond and island:

Pond

Pond bench

The activity center has a large covered area:

Activity center

Games

Activity pools:

Activity pools

Lodge:

Lodge

Lodge pool:

Lodge pool

Bridge:

Bridge

A corner of Lake Texoma:

Lake

Sunset:

Sunset

Not the fanciest campground, but not too bad. We’d probably opt for a back-in if we stay here again.

Travel from NIRVC in Dallas to Gordonville, Texas

We drove our coach 76 miles, a bit over an hour of driving, from NIRVC in Dallas, Texas to Gordonville, Texas.

Here’s the map route, heading north:

Map route

We picked up our coach from NIRVC in Dallas, where it had received its annual servicing while we were away:

NIRVC

Paladin sat in the steps for a while:

Paladin

Denton Buc-ees:

Denton Buc-ees

Gainsville:

Gainsville

Our destination, another Thousand Trails:

Thousand Trails

Registration

Travel days to US Virgin Islands

To celebrate Jenn’s big milestone birthday in February, we had a six-night vacation on the United States Virgin Islands of Saint Thomas and Saint John.

The USVI consists of three main islands (and a bunch of minor ones) in the Caribbean, east of Puerto Rico.

This post is about our travel from Dallas, Texas to Saint Thomas, USVI.

But first, after dropping off our coach at NIRVC (as in a recent blog post), we dropped off Paladin at a cat boarding place:

Cat boarding

His room:

Cat boarding

Checking out the play area:

Cat boarding

Even a fish tank to watch:

Cat boarding

Then we headed to a hotel near the airport for the night, since our flight was very early in the morning:

Hotel

We left our truck at the hotel. The next morning, at 3 AM, we took a taxi to the Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) airport.

Here’s our plane:

Our plane

A map of our flight from DFW to CLT:

DFW to CLT

A plane selfie; we wore masks for the flights out, just in case:

David and Jenn

The plane needed to be de-iced before we could take off:

De-icing the plane

Dallas from the air:

Dallas

Sunrise above the clouds:

Sunrise

Charlotte, North Carolina:

Charlotte, North Carolina

A one hour connection, so we rushed to our next gate:

Charlotte, North Carolina

Rocking chairs in the terminal:

Charlotte, North Carolina

A map of our second flight, from CLT to STT:

CLT to STT

Boarding the plane:

Boarding plane

Takeoff:

Take off

Several other passengers were masked, but many were not; it’s no longer required:

Passengers

USVI:

USVI

Arrival:

Arrival

We were picked up by our rental car, and taken to their office; we booked a Jeep to handle the hilly terrain on the islands:

Rental car

Driving through downtown Saint Thomas; notice that they drive on the left side of the road on the islands, though the cars are US ones, with the steering wheel on the left; that took a bit of getting used to:

Downtown Saint Thomas

We stopped for some groceries on the way to our accommodations — and notice the chickens; there were free-range chickens all over the islands:

Groceries and chickens

Next time, a post about our accommodations.

Travel from Lake Whitney to Dallas, Texas

We drove our coach 101 miles, a couple of hours of driving, from Lake Whitney, Texas to NIRVC in Dallas, Texas.

Here’s the map route, heading north:

Map

Driving through Whitney, Texas on a rainy day:

Whitney, Texas

Rain

A fancy courthouse in Hillsboro, Texas:

Hillsboro, Texas

Low bridge (our coach is 12’ 7”):

Low bridge

Lunch stop at a Burger King within a TA Travel Center:

Lunch stop

Lots of trucks on the rainy freeway:

Trucks

Dallas, Texas:

Dallas, Texas

Glad we were not going south; I-35E south was a parking lot:

Dallas, Texas

Arriving at NIRVC:

NIRVC

Checking in:

NIRVC

Leaving our coach:

NIRVC

We left our coach at NIRVC in Dallas for a week, to get annual servicing of the engine, generator, Aqua-Hot hydronic heating, and a bunch of other maintenance and repairs.

Meanwhile, we headed to a hotel for the night, then flew to the US Virgin Islands; stay tuned for posts about that.

Travel from Lake Conroe to Lake Whitney, Texas

We drove our coach 196 miles, about four hours of driving, from Lake Conroe to Lake Whitney, Texas.

Here’s the map route, heading northwest (fun fact: the dots along the route were to change it from the recommended route, to try to stick to more major highways, since it had recently snowed):

Map route

We had a bit of rain, so of course when we brought in our slide-outs we had a stream of water pouring off the slide toppers:

Water pouring off slide-out

A GIF of the water (and if you look closely, you can see the slide moving in):

Water pouring off slide-out

Pulling out of our site:

Pulling out of site

On the (rather narrow) road out of the RV park:

Road out of RV park

A “stay alert, talk or text later” sign:

Stay alert

Paladin on the step cover:

Paladin

A 67-foot tall statue of Sam Houston, south of Huntsville, Texas, where he lived:

Sam Houston statue

We stopped at a rest area for lunch:

Rest area

Parked behind another Tiffin:

Rest area

Flooded trees:

Flooded trees

Buc-ee’s:

Buc-ee's

Paladin expressing displeasure at the rough roads:

Paladin

A big crane:

Big crane

Bumpy road:

Bumpy road

More flooded trees:

More flooded trees

Bridge in a dip:

Bridge in a dip

Horses:

Horses

Short wind turbines:

Short wind turbines

Mart, Texas:

Mart, Texas

At one point the road was so rough that the retaining bar and some internet stuff fell down:

Internet stuff fell down

City of West:

City of West

City of Whitney:

City of Whitney

Entering Lake Whitney State Park:

Lake Whitney State Park

Park HQ:

Park HQ

Campsites:

Campsites

Arriving at our site:

Our site

Thousand Trails Lake Conroe RV & Camping Resort

We stayed at Thousand Trails Lake Conroe RV & Camping Resort in Willis, Texas. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Another large Thousand Trails campground, also with a nice new area.

Dates:

Check in: 2023-01-22
Check out: 2023-02-03
12 nights
We were going to stay 10 nights, but extended it to avoid bad weather

Weather:

Some sunny days, a little drizzle, several days of thunderstorms
High temps ranging between 52-69°F, lows around 33-57°F
Some wind, up to 30 MPH gusts

Noise:

No road noise or train noise
A bunch of neighbor kids

Site:

#B18, pull-through, concrete
Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked beind coach
Fairly level
Medium site: about 75 feet long by about 40 feet wide
Picnic table
Fire pit
Cement patio
Grass

Utilities:

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

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 0.5-6 Mbps down, 0.5-3 Mbps up, 50 ms ping (through modem; much faster directly)
AT&T: 15-25 Mbps down, 17 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
Verizon: 22-26 Mbps down, 16 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
T-Mobile: 2-9 Mbps down, 1-5 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpster
Pool
Package delivery to office for $5 each

Our review on Campground Reviews:

New premium sites

They seem to have a focus on selling vacation homes here, but they’re still making an effort to add nicer amenities for camping, too. We stayed in one of the newer sections with concrete pads and 50A connections, which was nice. Some of the sites in section B were a bit steep for a larger class A and we watched more than one large 5th-wheel have a hard time backing up a driveway. Our pull-through site had a short driveway with a hill, but the pad itself was perfectly level. We camped at Lake Conroe RV & Camping Resort in a Motorhome.

An interactive map of the RV park; our site was in the new section to the right of the entrance:

The campground map:

Campground map

Our site was in a new section, with nicely paved roads and concrete sites; we managed to snag one of the best sites, a large pull-through:

Our site

Convenient water and power:

Utilities

The sewer connection was threaded, but the thread seemed stripped, so I wasn’t able to screw my sewer pipe into it. So I added a water-filled weight over the top to make sure it didn’t pop out. Spilling sewage wouldn’t be ideal:

Utilities

We used the griddle a few times:

Griddle

Sunset:

Sunset

A griddle kiwiburger (with pickled beets and egg):

Burger

There were several days of thunderstorms; here’s a screenshot from my weather app:

Thunderstorms

A couple of screenshots of the LightningMaps.org site, which shows recent lightning strikes, with circles for the thunder sound wavefronts:

Lightning map

A real-time GIF:

Lightning GIF

Rain:

Rain

A somewhat flooded road:

Flooded road

A fiver (fifth-wheel trailer) being backed into a site, almost scraping the rear and jacks — the sites have steep driveways:

Fiver almost scraping

Other sites:

Other sites

In other sections:

Other sites

New sites, not yet open:

Other sites

Very close buddy sites; no thank you:

Other sites

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

This Thousand Trails has several communities of permanent tiny homes; here are the Hidden Cove cottages:

Hidden Cove cottages

The Reserve cottages:

The Reserve cabins

New cottages just arrived for another expansion area:

New cabins

Rental cabins:

Cabins

The business office:

Office

That’s were we went several times to pick up packages:

Office packages

A food cart near the office:

Food cart

Car wash and dump station:

Car wash and dump station

Dog park:

Dog park

Courts:

Courts

Lake Conroe boat ramp:

Lake boat ramp

Lake docks:

Lake docks

We lucked out with our site. We’d stay here again, as they continue to expand the sites. Even the older sections weren’t too bad… other than the buddy sites!

Travel from Columbus to Lake Conroe, Texas

We drove our coach 132 miles, about three hours of driving, from Columbus to Lake Conroe, Texas.

Here’s the map route, heading east then north — the route was a bit wacky as we saw that an accident had closed a portion of the freeway we were on, so we took a detour to avoid that:

Map route

Leaving the campground:

Leaving campground

For the first part of the trip, Paladin sat on the steps, looking out the window:

Paladin on steps

Looking back across the pond towards the site we had:

Pond

A herd of deer:

Deer

Onramp to I-10:

Onramp to I-10

Passing the town of Columbus:

Passing Columbus

We stopped for fuel at a brand-new Road Ranger station:

Road Ranger

Due to roadworks, we had to drive on a frontage road for a few miles, before we found an ramp back onto I-10:

Onramp to I-10

Oil containers:

Oil containers

We still haven’t checked out the super-popular and massive Buc-ees gas station:

Buc-ees

Exit to TX-99:

Exit to TX-99

A high overpass:

Overpass

This is a toll road, but we have the “Freedom Pass” transponder in our coach via TSD Open Roads, so we should be covered — but this was the first time using it, so we’ll see!

Toll road

We saw that an accident had occurred ahead on TX-99, so we took the exit to 290 to bypass it:

Exit to 290

Exit to Sam Houston Tollway north:

Sam Houston Tollway

Another high overpass:

Overpass

A glimpse of downtown Houston in the distance:

Houston downtown in the distance

Toll lanes:

Toll lanes

Toll transponder readers; here’s hoping it works:

Toll transponder readers

A third overpass:

Overpass

Exit to FM-830:

Exit to FM-830

The entrance to our destination, Thousand Trails Lake Conroe:

Thousand Trails Lake Conroe

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