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

Relief map:

Relief map

Mission Concepcion

This is still a functional church:

Mission Concepcion

Riding on the river path:

River walk path

Our next stop, Mission San Jose:

Mission San Jose

Relief map

Mission San Jose

River:

River

River walk path

Mission San Juan:

Mission San Juan

An art installation — Árbol de la Vida: Memorias y Voces de la Tierra:

Artwork

Mission Espada:

Mission Espada

Heading back along the river walk path:

River walk path

River

River walk path

Back at our truck:

Back at our truck

Mission Concepcion:

Mission Concepcion

A video of our riding route:

Hidden Valley RV Park

We stayed at Hidden Valley RV Park in San Antonio, Texas. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A rural campground minutes from the city.

We had originally planned to stay at a Thousand Trails campground a bit further from the city (because TT is free for us), but had concerns about access to it, and thought we’d rather be closer to the city, as San Antonio has lots of interesting attractions. We could have been closer still, but this place was a nice compromise between the kind of rural sites we enjoy, but close to the city.

Dates:

Check in: 2022-12-11
Check out: 2022-12-18
7 nights

Weather:

Mostly sunny, a little drizzle
High temps ranging between 59-77°F, lows around 41-61°F
Occasional wind, up to 28 MPH gusts

Noise:

Some road noise, occasional train and plane noise
No neighbor noise

Site:

#6, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
Unlevel; needed to use some blocks on the front jacks
Medium-large site: about 80 feet long by about 40 feet wide
Picnic table

Utilities:

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

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 1-22 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 46-93 ms ping
AT&T: 15-21 Mbps down, 8-12 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
T-Mobile: 4 Mbps down, 1-9 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
Verizon: 1-8 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpster (near entrance)

Our review on Campground Reviews:

A nice country feel, close to the city

This was a great place to stay for our visit to San Antonio. We were in the lower, creek portion of the campground, and it was nice to be able to visit the attractions of the city and come home to a nice, quiet place. We really enjoyed looking for turtles along the creek (you have to be sneaky as they dive under the water at the first sign of people). Our site wasn’t particularly level front-to-back, but with enough blocks under the front jacks, we were able to make it work. Cell service was good, and Starlink had a good view of the sky for a connection. We camped at Hidden Valley RV Park in a Motorhome.

An interactive map of the RV park:

The campground map; our site was in the “creekside” section, a bit separated from the main part:

Map

Our site:

Our site

The site was rather unlevel, so we needed to use blocks under our front jacks to get the coach level:

Jack blocks

The utilities were all conveniently placed:

Utilities

The cellular service was a little weak, and we had wanted to exercise the Starlink anyway, since it had been a few months since we used it last, so we put that out (with no sky obstructions):

Starlink

Charging up our ebikes:

Bikes and stuff

Our site and others:

RVs

One downside of this RV park is that it is accessed via a rough one-mile dirt road:

Dirt road

Military planes flew over a number of times, being somewhat near an air force base:

Plane

There was lots of open space, including picnic tables:

Picnic tables

A group fire pit:

Group fire pit

And a nice creek:

Stream

The creek had a number of turtles in it, too; they liked to sun themselves on logs:

Turtles

Though they were very skittish; as soon as they saw me, they dove under the water:

No turtles

Our site again:

Our site

A pleasant RV park, other than the mile-long dirt road to get to it.

Travel from Junction to San Antonio, Texas

We drove our coach 135 miles, about two hours of driving, from Junction, Texas to San Antonio, Texas.

The map route, heading southeast:

Map route

The chickens didn’t want us to go; they roosted on our sewer hose (the feeling was mutual; we could have stayed longer):

Chickens

Leaving the RV park, past the pecan trees:

Leaving RV park

Ranch Road:

Ranch Road

Steep grade ahead:

Steep grade ahead

I-10:

I-10

A stop at a rest area for lunch:

Rest area

Paladin on the back of the driver chair as we started off again:

Paladin

But he soon retuned to his safe space next to the passenger chair:

Paladin

A sign of approaching a big city; a HOV lane appears:

HOV lane

And freeway overpasses:

Freeway overpasses

Exit to I-35 south:

I-35 south

Another exit:

Exit

Our destination is appropriately enough on Campground Road:

Campground Road

A rough one-mile dirt road leading to the RV park:

Dirt road

The office:

Office

Paladin on the steps, waiting for Jenn to return from checking in:

Paladin on steps

Continuing on down the dirt road to our site:

Dirt road

Approaching our site

Our site:

Our site

Pecan Valley RV Park

We stayed at Pecan Valley RV Park in Junction, Texas. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice and quiet RV park, with chickens, ducks, goats, and other animals.

Dates:

Check in: 2022-12-04
Check out: 2022-12-11
7 nights

Weather:

Mostly sunny, a little drizzle
High temps ranging between 63-78°F, lows around 47-61°F
A little afternoon wind, up to 25 MPH gusts

Noise:

No significant road noise; no train noise
Occasional neighbor noise
Chicken song!

Site:

#17, pull-through, asphalt
Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
Very level
Large site: about 65 feet long by about 50 feet wide
Picnic table, fire pit

Utilities:

50 amp power, fairly conveniently located
50 PSI water, fairly conveniently located
A little too low sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 79-80 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up, 80 ms ping
AT&T: 50 Mbps down, 9-17 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
Verizon: 80 Mbps down, 24 Mbps up, 75 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Garbage bins
Package delivery to site
Country store with various swag
Fresh eggs
Chickens and ducks and goats, oh my!

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Close to I-10 but a world away

We stayed for a week and wish it had been longer. This park (and I do mean park) was so tranquil and relaxing but also convenient on/off the Interstate and close to town for groceries, etc. When we pulled in, we were met by the owners, who guided us to our site. All the sites look out over a large grassy area and are nicely spaced, so there’s a good feeling of openness. We also had a good view of one of the chicken coops and really enjoyed watching the hens throughout our stay (and giving them treats). There is a nice farm store by the main chicken coop and goat pen where you can buy goodies and swag, plus the owners or camp hosts will bring farm-fresh eggs to you on request ($5/doz). You can also wander down to the river for swimming, fishing, or just relaxing with the resident ducks. We will definitely stay here again when we pass through the area. We camped at Pecan Valley RV Park in a Motorhome.

An interactive map of the RV park; our spot was to the right of the “Space #18” marker:

This RV park is delightful in part due to its free-range chickens — not so great if you’re afraid of the tiny raptors, but we enjoy them, and miss them from our former homestead. Here are several chickens at our site:

Our site, with chickens

The utilities were fairly convenient:

Utilities

We also got around to adding the Big Bend National Park sticker to our coach, the last new park for several months:

National Park stickers

More pictures of chickens at our site:

Chickens

We gave them some leftover rice as a treat (the owners invite people to give treats); here’s a video of chickens eating the rice:

And a slow-mo video of chickens eating rice:

They liked to hang out on our mat (yes, I had to clean off a little poop when we left; not a big deal):

Chickens

Chicken

Chickens

David and chickens

Chickens

Chicken

The RV park also has some goats:

Goats and chickens

Goats

And a few ducks down at the adjacent river:

Ducks

River

Ducks

They also feed the wild deer daily; the deer are smaller than we’re used to:

Deer

And there are squirrels living in the trees; here’s a video of lots of them scampering:

They have a raised bed garden near the river (currently dormant, being winter):

Raised beds

And an unstaffed “general store” where people can go in and choose items to buy, purchasing by writing the selected items on a pad of paper:

General store

Well, the store is staffed by chickens, but I’m not sure they count:

General store

Inside:

General store

The store list:

General store list

We bought some cookies, candied pecans, and a tea towel:

Swag

They also sell freshly laid eggs; we bought a couple dozen:

Eggs

An RV park sign:

Sign

The “chick-in” point:

Chick-in

When we arrived, we received info on items for purchase etc, and a free sample of candied pecans:

Info and pecans

Art and a garden:

Art and garden

The RV park was fairly sparsely populated at this time of year. Here are some other RVs and the bathroom:

Other RVs and bathroom

Bathroom

Other RVs

Near our site was a mobile chicken coop; here it’s being opened in the morning:

Opening chicken coop

Chickens emerging:

Opening chicken coop

Mobile chicken coop

Peeking in the pop door of the coop:

Mobile chicken coop

Roosting bars:

Mobile chicken coop

Nesting boxes:

Mobile chicken coop

More rice treats for chickens:

Rice

Chickens

Paladin watching the chickens:

Paladin watching chickens

Chickens

A forward-and-back GIF of chickens; I love how they run:

Chickens

Eating GIFs:

Chickens

Let’s finish with a couple more pictures of our site:

Our site

A delightful park; we’ve really enjoyed having the chickens and other animals around. We’ll definitely stay here again.