RV

Posts featuring the coach.

Thousand Trails Peace River

We stayed at Thousand Trails Peace River in Wauchula, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)

We had some concerns about staying here, based on reviews, but were pleasantly surprised.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2025-03-02
  • Check out: 2025-03-09
  • 7 nights

Weather:

  • Mostly sunny, a little rain
  • High temps 68-82°F, lows 43-63°F
  • A little wind, gusts to 25 MPH

Noise:

  • Negligible road noise
  • No train horn noise
  • A little neighbor noise

Site:

  • #C50, back-in, grass
  • Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
  • Very level site, surprisingly; used hydraulic leveling
  • Grass site about 55 feet long by 40 feet wide
  • Just grass between sites
  • Picnic table
  • Fire pit
  • Tall trees
  • Somewhat clean site; a bottle and a few other bits of trash (TT doesn’t clean sites)
  • Elevation 40 feet, front facing North

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, conveniently located
  • 45 PSI water, conveniently located
  • No sewer connection; pump-out service available (one free per week, $15 for extra)

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • Starlink: 10-26 Mbps down, 11-16 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
  • T-Mobile: 290 Mbps down, 7 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
  • AT&T: 435 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
  • Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
  • Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

  • Garbage dumpsters
  • Pool
  • River

Our review on Campground Reviews is forthcoming.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site, in the non-sewer section; more spacious and quieter than the sewer section:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

A squirrel on our picnic table:

Squirrel

Towards the end of our stay the waste tanks were getting a little full:

Full waste tanks

We wanted to empty them for our travel day anyway, so we went to the office to schedule the free honeywagon pumpout; they gave us this sign to put in our window:

Honeywagon sign

The pumpout truck; quick and easy:

Waste pump

Aerial views of our site:

Aerial view of our site

Aerial view of our site

And the campground; you can see the more tightly packed sewer sites closer to the road, and much more spacious non-sewer sites closer to the river:

Aerial view of campground

Aerial view of campground

Aerial view of campground

Aerial view of campground

Aerial view of campground

Aerial view of bridge

Office:

Office

Playground:

Playground

Pool:

Pool

Courts:

Courts

Walking path by the river:

Walking path by river

Bridge, river, kayak:

Bridge, river, kayak

Kayak on the river:

Kayak on the river

There are a couple of dump stations, but on the wrong side of the road for non-sewer sites to use when leaving, weirdly (without looping around):

Dump station

Cabins:

Cabins

Other sites:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

As I said, we were pleasantly surprised. We’d be happy to stay here again.

Travel from Clermont to Wauchula, Florida

We drove our coach 68 miles, about 1.5 hours of driving, from Clermont to Wauchula, Florida.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading south (though we actually took the route closer to Lakeland):

Route map

An interactive map, showing our actual route:

Pulling out of our site:

Pulling out of our site

Line to leave TTO:

Line to leave TTO

A gate ranger collecting site tags:

Ranger collecting site tags

Can only turn right out of TTO, so we needed to do a U-turn to head south; we’d done it before, so know it’s easy for us:

Preparing to do U-turn

Another RV doing the U-turn:

Another RV doing the U-turn

Us doing the U-turn; doesn’t look like it here, but there was heaps of room, didn’t even need to go into the bike lane:

Us doing the U-turn; easy

Passing an accident:

Accident

I-4 West:

I-4 West

Route 570 toll road:

Route 570 toll road

Route 98 South:

Route 98 South

Turn:

Turn

17 / 98 South:

17 / 98 South

Paladin on the dash:

Paladin on the dash

An interesting building in Bowling Green:

An interesting building in Bowling Green

Arriving at Thousnd Trails Peace River:

Arriving at Thousnd Trails Peace River

Check in line:

Check in line

Clock in bathroom

A very minor modification this time: we added a battery-powered clock on the wall in our bathroom. It is an atomic clock, that can set the time automatically, and has convenient time zone support, useful for us as we travel around the country. Plus it shows the temperature and humidity, useful for the bathroom, and reminds us which day it is, handy when we’re still waking up:

Clock

It is attached with Command picture hanging strips, that has two velcro-like pieces that can be pulled apart easily, so I can change the batteries. Nice and convenient.

Thousand Trails Orlando RV Resort

We stayed at Thousand Trails Orlando RV Resort in Clermont, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A fourth visit to TTO, the flagship Thousand Trails park. The second of two stays here this year, totaling five weeks, separated by a week in the Disney bubble.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2025-02-16
  • Check out: 2025-03-02
  • 14 nights

Weather:

  • Mostly sunny, a few rainy days
  • High temps 62-82°F, lows 38-61°F
  • Occasional wind, gusts to 31 MPH

Noise:

  • A little road noise
  • No train horn noise
  • Little neighbor noise
  • Distant fireworks from Disney most evenings

Site:

  • #6 Hurricane Road, back-in, concrete
  • Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
  • A little unlevel site; a little high on passenger side and front; used hydraulic leveling
  • Concrete driveway about 60 feet long by 12 feet wide
  • 18 feet to neighbor on passenger side (a mobile home)
  • 35 feet to neighbor on driver side
  • Just grass between sites
  • Picnic table on 22 by 10 feet concrete patio
  • Some shrubs
  • A bunch of small trash on site
  • Elevation 120 feet, front facing West

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, conveniently located
  • 40 PSI water, conveniently located
  • Unthreaded sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • Starlink: 135-165 Mbps down, 16-20 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
  • T-Mobile: 50-67 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up, 20 ms ping
  • Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
  • AT&T: 26-49 Mbps down, 3-11 Mbps up, 75 ms ping
  • Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

  • Garbage dumpsters only in a central location
  • Package delivery to office, for $5 per package (we got a local mailbox)
  • Pools

See our previous stays here for our review on Campground Reviews.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

Birds and other sites:

Birds

Bird

Other sites

We still enjoy TTO, and will no doubt stay here again next time we’re in Orlando, whenever that may be.

Travel from Disney World to Clermont, Florida

We drove our coach just 26 miles, about half an hour of driving (plus killing a little time at a Love’s truck stop), from Disney World to Clermont, Florida.

It’s a little awkward, as check out time from Fort Wilderness is 11:00, and check in at TTO is noon (very strictly enforced), but the drive time between the two is only about half an hour. We considered waiting for a bit in the overflow area at Fort Wilderness, but it was full. We also considered going to a rest area to kill some time, but we noticed a Love’s truck stop on the way, and figured we could spend some time there. Love’s doesn’t usually have parking that works for us, but what with a long time to get through the intersection and a few minutes at the pump, it used up enough time.

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

Map

An interactive map:

Toading up on the way out of the campground:

Toading up

Leaving Disney World (how sad):

Leaving Disney World

Exit to I-4 East:

Exit to I-4 East

Disney-shaped power pylon:

Disney-shaped power pylon

Love’s truck stop:

Love's

Joining the very long line to enter TTO; this was at 12:07 on a Sunday:

Joining line to enter TTO

Almost to the entrance, at 12:18:

Almost to the entrance

Finally on the entrance road, at 12:20:

Entrance road

We knew it’d take a long time to get in, so I made some lunch while we inched forward:

Making lunch in the line

Paladin on the dash:

Paladin on the dash

Welcome:

Welcome

Almost to the entrance gate, at 12:54:

Entrance gate

But wait, there’s more: joining the line to get a site, at 12:56:

Line to get a site

People watching the line:

People watching the line

Almost to the front of the line, at 13:22; I waited in the truck after we untoaded:

Almost to the front of the line

Getting guided to our site, at 13:36:

Getting guided to our site

So yeah, arriving shortly after noon on a Sunday, finally getting to our site an hour and a half later. One day we’ll learn and arrive mid-week, when it isn’t so busy, though we prefer to travel on weekends to avoid impacting Jenn’s work.

Power steering fluid leak repair, engine bracket replacements, underside of coach

I need to get better at checking the fluids of our coach.

We heard some weird noises coming from around the front wheels while driving, and couldn’t figure out what was causing it for a while. Since we were heading towards Red Bay at the time, I contacted Bay Diesel and made an appointment for them to investigate.

We eventually guessed that it was related to power steering. When I looked in the power steering reservoir in the engine compartment, it was completely dry:

Empty power steering reservoir

Oops.

I refilled it with Dexron III (as required) and kept an eye on it; sure enough, the level dropped during drives:

Dexron III

When we arrived at Bay Diesel, they wasted no time lifting up the coach:

Coach on lift

They found and repaired the power steering leak, from a hose under the rig:

Power steering leak

They also inspected the entire underside of the coach, with special attention on the engine, and found cracked clutch and tensioner brackets; common issues with this vintage of coach:

Cracked bracket

Cracked bracket

So they replaced them with better, stronger brackets. Here’s a comparison of old and new brackets:

Old and new brackets

Rebuilding the clutch assembly:

Rebuilding the clutch assembly

They also lubed the various lube points:

Lubing

A nice thing about Bay Diesel is that they were happy for owners to hang out in the shop. I wandered around under our coach and took lots of photos. Here are a bunch of pictures, starting at the front and working my way backwards:

Front with the generator partially out:

Front with generator partially out

Entry step:

Entry step

Entry step

Entry step

From in front of the front wheels:

From in front of front wheels

Independent front suspension:

Independent front suspension

Independent front suspension

Safe-T-Plus steering stabilizer:

Safe-T-Plus steering stabilizer

Back of the generator:

Back of generator

A small void behind a front mudguard, with a junction box for the ground effect light strip:

A small void behind a front mudguard

Behind the front wheels, with air horns and generator exhaust:

Behind the front wheels, with air horns and generator exhaust

Under the basement storage bays:

Under basement storage bays

Under the wet bay, with hot and cold low point drains, Aqua-Hot coolant overflow, and Aqua-Hot exhaust:

Under wet bay, with hot and cold low point drains, Aqua-Hot coolant overflow, and Aqua-Hot exhaust

Under the wet bay, with my sewer outlet and the fresh water drain:

Under wet bay, with sewer outlet and fresh water drain

Rear wheels and engine area:

Rear wheels and engine area

A couple of techs inspecting the engine:

A couple of techs inspecting the engine

Oil pan, with a non-concerning minor leak:

Oil pan, with a non-concerning minor leak

Oil pan

The engine:

Engine

Engine

Allison transmission:

Allison transmission

Allison transmission

Allison transmission

Drive shaft; this piece was removed when our coach was towed back in 2023:

Transmission linkage

Other side of the transmission:

Other side of transmission

More engine bits:

More engine bits

More engine bits

More engine bits

More engine bits

More engine bits

Side radiator gearbox and fan:

Radiator gearbox

Radiator gearbox and fan

More engine bits

Rear of the engine:

Rear of engine

Finally, the rear of the coach:

Rear of coach

Fascinating!

Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground

We stayed at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground within Walt Disney World, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A magical campground within the Disney World bubble.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2025-02-09
  • Check out: 2025-02-16
  • 7 nights

Weather:

  • Partly cloudy
  • High temps 79-87°F, lows 59-66°F
  • Little wind, gusts to 20 MPH, but sheltered

Noise:

  • A little road noise (including bus on main road)
  • No train horn noise
  • A little neighbor noise (kids)
  • Fireworks most nights

Site:

  • #555, back-in, concrete
  • Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
  • Level site; used hydraulic leveling
  • Concrete driveway about 55 feet long by 25 feet wide
  • 30 feet to neighbors on both sides
  • Trees between sites
  • Picnic table
  • Fire pit
  • Tall trees
  • Clean site
  • Elevation 100 feet, front facing West

Utilities:

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

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 230-300 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up, 15-35 ms ping
  • AT&T: 155 Mbps down, 32-55 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
  • Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
  • Starlink: not used
  • Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

  • Pools
  • Garbage bin near site
  • Golf cart rental
  • Boats and buses to Disney World parks

See our previous stay here for our review on Campground Reviews.

Campground map:

Map

Another map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site, with our rental golf cart out front:

Our site

Our site

Not quite as long as the site we had last time, but there was room to hang off the back of the pad:

Our site

Our site

Convenient utilities:

Utilities

We rented a golf cart, and decorated it a bit to be festive, and to be able to identify it in golf parking lots:

Golf cart

Solar-rechargeable lights at night:

Golf cart

Other nearby sites in our loop:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

A squirrel trying to get into a box left on a neighbor site:

Squirrel

Horse-drawn carriage ride:

Horse-drawn carriage

A bus stop near our loop, that we used to pick up our golf cart:

Bus stop near our loop

We could have used the shuttle bus to get from one end of the campground to the other instead of getting a golf cart, but the cart was more convenient:

Shuttle bus

Playground over the road from our site; not as annoying as the basketball court we had next to us last time:

Playground over the road from our site

Golf cart parking:

Golf cart parking

Meadow Swimmin’ Pool:

Meadow Swimmin' Pool

Meadow Swimmin' Pool

Meadow Snack Bar near the pool:

Meadow Snack Bar

Meadow Trading Post:

Meadow Trading Post

Definitely the best place to stay when visiting Disney World.