2022 campgrounds

Another interesting summary of 2022 — the places we stayed during the year. A much longer post than 2021, which you might also want to revisit.

For each location, I’ll include a link to the corresponding blog post, so you can click through to see a lot more information, and a picture of our site. Enjoy!

You can also see all of the campground-related blog posts via the campsite category, with the earliest posts at the top, or the latest posts at the top.

Black Rock RV Village in Salome, Arizona:

Xscapers Bash at Lake Havasu Rodeo grounds in Arizona:

Leaf Verde RV Resort in Buckeye, Arizona:

Catalina Spa and RV Resort in Desert Hot Springs, California:

Orangeland RV Park in Orange, California:

Ocean Mesa RV Resort near Santa Barbara, California:

Lakeview campground in the Rancho Jurupa Regional Park in California:

Thousand Trails Palm Springs RV Resort in Palm Desert, California:

Buckeye Desert Backyard in Buckeye, Arizona:

Picacho/Tucson NW KOA Journey in Picacho, Arizona:

FMCA “Sunsets + Saguaros” annual convention in Tucson, Arizona; pre-convention site:

FMCA site:

Thousand Trails Verde Valley RV & Camping Resort in Cottonwood, Arizona:

Grand Canyon Railway RV Park in Williams, Arizona:

Lake Mead RV Village in Boulder City, Nevada:

Young’s RV Park in Caliente, Nevada:

The Riverside Ranch in Hatch, Utah:

Thousand Lakes RV Park in Torrey, Utah:

Green River KOA Journey in Green River, Utah:

Monument Valley KOA Journey in Monument Valley, Utah:

Ancient Cedars Mesa Verde RV Park in Mancos, Colorado:

Montrose / Black Canyon NP KOA Journey in Montrose, Colorado:

Vernal / Dinosaurland KOA Holiday in Vernal, Utah:

Tiffin rally at the Sweetwater Events Center in Rock Springs, Wyoming:

Mountain Valley RV Resort in Heber City, Utah:

Village of Trees RV Resort in Declo, Idaho:

Ambassador RV Resort in Caldwell, Idaho:

Fish House Inn & RV Park in Dayville, Oregon:

Thousand Trails Bend-Sunriver RV Campground in Bend, Oregon:

Gill’s Landing RV Park in Lebanon, Oregon:

LL Stub Stewart State Park in Buxton, Oregon:

Mt Hood RV & Camping Resort in Welches, Oregon:

Alder Lake Park Rocky Point Campground in Eatonville, Washington:

Mom’s house near Shelton, Washington:

Concrete / Grandy Creek KOA Holiday in Concrete, Washington:

Brookhollow RV Park in Kelso, Washington:

Plymouth Park Campground in Plymouth, Washington:

Gilmore West Campground in Farragut State Park in Athol, Idaho:

McGregor Lakes RV in Marion, Montana:

Moose Creek RV Resort and B&B in West Glacier, Montana:

Jim & Mary’s RV Park in Missoula, Montana:

Osens RV Park in Livingston, Montana:

Buffalo KOA Journey in Buffalo, Wyoming:

El Rancho Village RV Park & Cabins in Wheatland, Wyoming:

St Vrain State Park in Longmont, Colorado:

Cheyenne Mountain State Park in Colorado Springs, Colorado:

Alamosa KOA Journey in Alamosa, Colorado:

Taos Valley RV Park in Taos, New Mexico:

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta:

Palomino Campground in Caballo Lake State Park in Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico:

Las Cruces KOA Journey in Las Cruces, New Mexico:

Slow Play RV Park in Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico:

Carlsbad KOA Holiday in Carlsbad, New Mexico:

Loma Paloma RV Park in Presidio, Texas:

Marathon Motel & RV Park in Marathon, Texas:

Pecan Valley RV Park in Junction, Texas:

Hidden Valley RV Park in San Antonio, Texas:

Corpus Christi KOA Journey in Corpus Christi, Texas:

Our site

Video

Video: 2022 motorhome travel timelapses

See a summary of driving our Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome throughout 2022!

This combines all of the motorhome travel timelapses for 2022 into one video, at 20x the speed of the original timelapse videos.

2022 travel days

I thought it’d be interesting and useful to include a summary of travel days. Here are links to blog posts, and a sample picture of the view of each, so you can see how the landscape changed as we travelled in our coach.

You can see all of the travel-related blog posts via the travel category, with the earliest posts at the top, or the latest posts at the top.

Travel to Lake Havasu City, Arizona:

To Buckeye, Arizona:

To Desert Hot Springs, California:

To Orange, California:

To Santa Barbara, California:

To Jurupa Valley, California:

To Palm Desert, California:

To Buckeye, Arizona:

To Picacho, Arizona:

To Tucson, Arizona:

To Cottonwood, Arizona:

To Williams, Arizona:

To Lake Mead, Boulder City, Nevada:

To Caliente, Nevada:

To Hatch, Utah:

To Torrey, Utah:

To Green River, Utah:

To Monument Valley, Utah:

To Mancos, Colorado:

To Montrose, Colorado:

To Vernal, Utah:

To Rock Springs, Wyoming:

To Eatonville, Washington:

To Shelton, Washington:

To Concrete, Washington:

To Kelso, Washington:

To Plymouth, Washington:

To Athol, Idaho:

To Marion, Montana:

To West Glacier, Montana:

To Missoula, Montana:

To Livingston, Montana:

To Buffalo, Wyoming:

To Wheatland, Wyoming:

To Longmont, Colorado:

To Colorado Springs, Colorado:

To Alamosa, Colorado:

To Taos, New Mexico:

To Albuquerque, New Mexico:

To Truth or Consequences, New Mexico:

To Las Cruces, New Mexico:

To Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico:

To Carlsbad, New Mexico:

To Presidio, Texas:

To Marathon, Texas:

To Junction, Texas:

To San Antonio, Texas:

To Corpus Christi, Texas:

VIAIR tire inflation compressor

Another essential gadget I’ve had for quite some time is the VIAIR 450P air compressor, to inflate the tires on our coach.

I already had a tire inflator that plugged into a 110V outlet, which I’ve previously used for truck tires and other tires. But it can’t quite handle the maximum 130 PSI of the coach tires, plus is very noisy. (I inflate the front tires to 120 PSI.)

The VIAIR unit is much quieter, and automatically shuts off when not actively inflating.

Unlike the old one, this one connects to a 12V source like a car battery. I hook it up to the truck’s battery; the truck needs to be running while in use, to avoid draining the battery.

I keep it in the back of our truck, so we’ll be able to use it while driving the truck around if needed.

It comes in a handy bag, and includes two long coiled hoses, so I can leave the compressor by the truck, and reach all of the coach tires:

VIAIR tire inflator

Here it is in use; it’s easy to inflate by pulling the trigger, and release to read the gauge to check the static pressure:

VIAIR tire inflator

An essential tool.

Video

Video: 2021 motorhome travel timelapses

I’ll soon be publishing a video showing all of our motorhome driving timelapses in 2022, so I thought I’d first publish one for 2021, to be complete. Or as complete as possible; I didn’t get a dashcam until about a month after we got the coach.

This video is 20x the speed of the original timelapse videos.

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.

Video

Video: Junction, Texas to San Antonio, Texas motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 135 miles from Junction, Texas to San Antonio, Texas.

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

Wash Wax All waterless cleaner

Like any vehicle, a motorhome can get dirty over time from road grime, dust, rain, etc. In the past year or so of owning our coach, we have paid to get it professionally cleaned by a team of people three times — at the Xscapers Bash in January 2022, at NIRVC in March, and at the Tiffin Rally in July. In between those times (and often within days of paying hundreds for a wash & wax), it has been somewhat dirty, which didn’t make us entirely happy.

It’s tricky to get a large RV cleaned — one can pay a lot of money to get a team to come to it and clean it onsite, or one can take it to a truck wash (and worry that they might ruin the paint and/or protective coat), or wash by hand in a campground. But most campgrounds don’t allow washing of RVs, due to the massive amount of water needed.

Also, while carwashes for our truck are easier to find, they can sometimes be tricky, too, when in out-of-the-way places. With our fondness of exploring dirt roads, it can be a mud-ball for a while, too.

I’ve heard for a while of another option, that doesn’t use water, so can be done in any campsite. That system is called Wash Wax All from Aero Cosmetics, and I finally purchased their kit.

It really does work very well; it’s amazing how much better it looks with relatively little effort — a few hours to clean the coach and truck. So from now on, we’ll keep our coach and truck much more clean.

The kit comes in a couple of boxes, including a long box for the mop handle:

Wash Wax Mop Kit

The Wash Wax All kit comes with a bag of goodies, including the wash liquid, spray bottle, heavy-duty cleaner, mop pole and double-sided head, scrub brush, and multiple microfiber mop pads and microfiber towels:

Wash Wax All kit

The mop is a clever design, with a heavy-duty extendable pole and a double-sided head that angles flexibly. The system works by spraying the liquid onto one side of the mop, wiping it onto a small section of the coach (a few feet at a time), then flipping the mop over and wiping it off before it dries — no water needed:

Mop

For lower areas like below the slides, and fiddly areas, I spray directly on, and use two microfiber towels to wipe on and off:

Spray

The wet towel gets pretty dirty, but they can be easily tossed in the washing machine and dryer (without fabric softener) to restore them to like new:

Microfiber towels

The mop pole is long enough to reach all the way to the top of our coach, but collapses to a compact length:

Clean RV

We also used Wash Wax All on our truck:

Truck

Midway cleaning the hood:

Truck

The mop is useful for cleaning the roof, and larger areas:

Truck

Both the coach and truck look so much nicer when clean! I just wish I had purchased the kit sooner. Highly recommended!

(And no, they didn’t sponsor me; I don’t have any sponsorships for this blog. Maybe one day…?)

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.

Sinclair Trails

The travels of David and Jennifer Sinclair, full-timing in their Tiffin Allegro Bus 40SP motorhome.

RV

2022 campgrounds

Video: 2022 motorhome travel timelapses

2022 travel days

VIAIR tire inflation compressor

Video: 2021 motorhome travel timelapses

Hidden Valley RV Park

Video: Junction, Texas to San Antonio, Texas motorhome travel timelapse

Travel from Junction to San Antonio, Texas

Wash Wax All waterless cleaner

Pecan Valley RV Park