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

Govee smart thermometers

It can be nice to know what the temperature and humidity is around us, so I added some smart thermometer/hygrometer units to our coach.

To see the current and historical temperature and humidity outside, I added a sensor unit under a slide-out, attached via Command Strips:

Thermometer

I also wanted to monitor the temperature in the wet bay; it has a heater to prevent it getting too cold, since having our plumbing freeze up would be bad, but I wanted to keep an eye on it, just in case:

Wet bay sensor

Those sensors don’t have displays, but for inside I wanted units that not only have sensors, but also display the current values. So I got a couple of units with e-ink displays; here’s the one in the living room, below the smoke detector:

Living room sensor

And the one in the bedroom, between the smoke detector and thermostat (the big temperature on the thermostat is the set level):

Bedroom thermometer

All of these sensors feed data into the Govee Home app, which can show the current values on its home page (along with ugly seasonal graphics):

App

The same screen after the holiday season:

Govee Home screenshot

Tapping on one of the thermometers shows historical data, so I can see how the temperature and humidity have changed over time:

App

Fun fact: that higher humidity was when we were on the coast at Corpus Christi, and the lower humidity was inland at Lockhart; makes quite a difference. And yes, the temperature inside can vary greatly throughout the day; we tend not to run the AC or heaters except for uncomfortably hot or cold weather, preferring to open windows for fresh air when feasible. (Not a cost thing, since we typically don’t pay for electricity at campsites, but it’s quieter, and fresh air is nice.)

The two most frequently asked questions

In the various Tiffin motorhome online communities to which I belong, there are two questions that get asked pretty much weekly.

The first is: what is this unmarked red switch to the left of the driver seat?

Switches

Obviously it is the self destruct button. Or is it the passenger ejection seat switch?

No, seriously, the answer is that it is the switch for the mirror heaters. The side mirrors of the coach are heated, to clear them in cold weather. Something that we’ve never needed, since we try to stick with warm weather as much as possible.

Here’s a peek at the heater, from when I replaced the mirror glass on the driver-side mirror:

Mirror

The second most frequently asked question is: what is this little thing on the ceiling?

Sensor

Is it a microphone to spy on you?

No, the answer is: it is a temperature sensor for a thermostat. There are three of them inside the coach, which are each connected to a thermostat. That enables the thermostats to be positioned inside cupboards or on walls, but still sense the temperature in their respective regions.

The wet bay also has a sensor, but it is a bit different — a copper probe connected to the temperature dial, used to control the heating of the wet bay (frozen pipes would be bad):

Wet bay

Hopefully this helps some people who had wondered about those.

Improved tow bar pins

One of the essential components of towing our truck behind our motorhome is the air-powered brake controller, which presses on the brake pedal in the truck when the brake is applied in the coach, using its air braking system. The brake controller is secured to the truck via a D-pin, seen on the right of this picture:

Brake controller

When hooking up for a recent travel day, I noticed that the pin was missing; it must have not been secured and dropped out somewhere. I made do with a zip tie for that trip, and ordered a replacement from the manufacturer. While there, I saw that they had improved pins for the tow bar, too, so I also ordered that:

Tow bar pins and brake controller pins

So now I have a spare brake controller pin, in case I lose it again. And the new tow bar pins are much easier to use. Here’s one of the pins that came with the tow bar; it just has a metal ring that has the locking linchpin attached; it can be difficult to pull out the tow bar pin when disconnecting, if the truck is at an angle:

Old tow bar pin

In use:

Truck connection

Compare to the new tow bar pin; it has the same tethered linchpin, but the big red handle makes it much easier to pull out:

New tow bar pin

In use:

New tow bar pin

A huge improvement, highly recommended.

Video

Video: Lockhart, Texas to Columbus, Texas motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 87 miles from Lockhart, Texas to Columbus, Texas.

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

Micro-Air EasyTouchRV smart thermostats

Our motorhome was produced in 2017, during a time when Tiffin was slowly updating the technology. So it has a mixture of analog switches for some things (like cockpit shades), smart network-based controls using the Spyder multiplex wiring system, and non-integrated controls like the power management and heating/cooling.

Our coach has three rooftop AC units, plus AquaHot hydronic heating. More modern coaches integrate these into the Spyder touch panels, but in this vintage they are independently controlled via three thermostats like this one in the bedroom:

Old thermostat

(Note that that Spyder touch panel at the bottom isn’t original; I upgraded it from a much inferior panel that came with the coach.)

While these thermostats were fine, they weren’t as convenient as they could be. (Shock, having to get off our butts to adjust them!)

I’ve been wanting to upgrade them, like I did with the Spyder panel, and I recently got around to that. I purchased one Micro-Air EasyTouchRV thermostat panel, the model compatible with our ACs (352C):

EasyTouchRV

Here’s the old thermostat:

Old thermostat

I pulled off the cover to unmount it via the two screws:

Removed cover

Pulling it away from the wall, I reached the three connectors for the wires:

Wires

The new panel comes with mount points that are screwed into the wall:

Mount points

Hooking up the new unit was simply a matter of unplugging the old one and plugging in the new one (being careful to not let the wires drop inside the wall; there wasn’t a lot of slack).

Here’s the new unit mounted:

New unit

Much nicer:

New unit

Not only does it have a nicer display, it can be controlled remotely via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth via an app:

App

When using both cool and heat, one can set it to Away mode to have upper and lower limits, to keep the temperature within that range:

App

The upper and lower limits on the display:

New unit

I was satisfied with that experience, so I ordered two more units for the other thermostats:

More new units

The front and middle AC units are controlled by thermostats in a cupboard above the passenger chair (they have remote room sensors towards the front and middle on the ceiling, so being enclosed in a cupboard doesn’t affect their performance):

Front and mid thermostats

A closer look at the old front and middle thermostats:

Front and mid thermostats

With the covers removed:

Front and mid thermostats

Like with the bedroom one, easy enough to swap the plugs:

Wires

The new unit:

New unit

Here’s a look at the mount points for the new unit; they come with a spacer that is broken off once screwed into place:

Mount points

The mount points before breaking the connector:

Mount points

The wood is thick enough to hold the screw, but I still used the cap on the other side, to avoid wires rubbing on the protruding screw:

Cap

The new units installed:

New units

So much nicer! Highly recommended.

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