Firefly Vegatouch Mira

About the same time I purchased the Coach Proxy device to remotely control our coach, I also purchased a Firefly Vegatouch Mira device, that does much the same thing.

They each have pros and cons; the Mira device interfaces with an actual iOS app, with a more attractive UI, whereas the Coach Proxy has a local web interface. The Mira device communicates via Bluetooth, so is local to the coach, whereas Coach Proxy uses Wi-Fi, so can be accessed remotely — but the Wi-Fi connection can be less reliable.

The features are a bit different, too, e.g. the Mira app can rearrange the home screen a little, but Coach Proxy has presets to quickly restore a state.

And Mira was from a commercial company, vs a hobbyist project for Coach Proxy.

So, having both seemed like the best of both worlds.

However, the experience with Mira wasn’t as seamless as I’d like.

But first, installation of the hardware. The hardware component is a small box, about the size of a deck of cards, with a port for the Spyder multiplex network of the coach. It just needed to be plugged in anywhere on the coach. I happened to have a spare port behind the fridge, accessible via a panel outside (you can see more pics of this area in my Spyder shades issue post). So I connected it there; the orange cable leads to the device:

Panel behind fridge

A closer look:

Vegatouch device

To enable the app, one long-presses on the coach floorplan option in the main Spyder panel (which I had previously upgraded), to reveal a secret coach models screen, which includes a button to enable the mobile app, amongst other options:

Coach settings

Once that is done, a Mobile App button appears in the settings:

Mobile app button

The Mobile App settings, before connecting the device:

Mobile app settings

After installing the Vegatouch Mira app, it installed an update:

Installing update

But the app mis-identified our coach as an Allegro Open Road?! That’s not right:

Allegro Open Road?!

Of course, with it misidentifying the coach, most of the controls were wrong, and didn’t work. I tried re-installing the config, to no avail:

Installing update

I spent several months emailing the relevant person at Firefly every week, trying to get a fix. That was very frustrating, as he repeatedly said they were working on it, with no progress. I somehow managed to get the app to show a screen to choose a different floorplan, but the code I got from Firefly to choose the right one didn’t work. I eventually asked for a refund, and nothing happened on that either.

But I kept trying. After power cycling the entire coach for another reason, I managed to get that floorplan screen to appear again, and this time the code worked; I was finally able to set it to the correct model:

Bus settings

Yay!

Though it still isn’t perfect. Several of the pages aren’t quite right, e.g. on the home screen it shows LPG, which our coach doesn’t have, and the shade master and entry door lock controls don’t work:

 

Home page

The Lights page seems to work:

Lights page

But nothing on the Climate page works — our coach doesn’t have Spyder-controlled climate, so that isn’t surprising, though the Aqua-Hot controls should work, but don’t:

Climate page

On the Cockpit Shades page, nothing works:

Shades page

And on the Coach Shades page, the master and driver side don’t work, and the passenger side is reversed (goes down when pressing up):

Shades page

The Power pages are also mostly non-functional:

Power page

Power page

Power page

Power page

So after all that time, the app is still a little useless, though slightly better than it was before. The features that do work, like the tank levels and lights, are enough to justify keeping the app and device, though I wish more of the features worked correctly. I will likely continue using Coach Proxy most of the time, but for occasions when that is offline (due to Wi-Fi issues), having Mira as an alternative could be useful.

I would not recommend Mira for other owners of 2017-era coaches; Coach Proxy works much better. On more recent coaches, it might be more satisfactory. But I hold out hope that Firefly will improve the app, and maybe eventually fix those issues.

Slow Play RV Park

We stayed at Slow Play RV Park in Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A rather un-level site, and a little more wintery than we prefer.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2022-10-24
  • Check out: 2022-10-30
  • 6 nights

Weather:

  • Mostly sunny, though some light snow on a few days
  • High temps ranging between 44-60°F, lows around 29-36°F
  • Some wind

Noise:

  • Some road noise, no train noise

Site:

  • #150, pull-through, gravel
  • Didn’t need to disconnect toad, except to try to get the coach more level; parked in front coach
  • Very un-level; sloping down from the back; couldn’t get the front high enough to be completely level
  • Narrow site: about 85 feet long by about 18 feet wide
  • Full hookups:
    • 50 amp power, very inconveniently located
    • 45 PSI water, very inconveniently located
    • Good sewer connection, very inconveniently located (3 10-foot pipes needed)
    • Filled the water tank and disconnected the water, since the temperatures were below freezing on several nights
  • Picnic table on grass; no fire pit
  • 6,320 feet elevation

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 86 Mbps down, 12-16 Mbps up, 58 ms ping
  • AT&T: 41-52 Mbps down, 10 Mbps up, 105 ms ping
  • Verizon: 13-31 Mbps down, 16 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
  • Campground Wi-Fi: not used
  • Starlink: not used

Amenities:

  • Garbage dumpster
  • No pool

Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:

Friendly, helpful staff

There’s a mix of long-term residents and short stays in this campground, but it was pretty nicely laid out overall. We had a pull-through site in one of the “buddy” rows, but since it was late in the season, it wasn’t super busy. If I did it again, I’d book one of the non-buddy pull-through sites on the outer edge. The staff were very helpful, even going so far as to call and warn us they were expecting some bad weather (up to 100mph gusty winds) the day we were supposed to arrive. We decided not to risk the weather, and they were very accommodating in letting us come a day later and gave us a refund for the lost day. We were escorted to our site and given some good instructions on navigating some of the harder turns, which made it easy to pull in. The one major downside was that there was not a level square inch to be found on the site. We tried different positions on the site and different configurations of leveling blocks to no avail and decided to live with an end-to-end tilt. In retrospect, I would have asked if we could move to a different site, but was too tired and cranky to deal with it at the time. We camped at Slow Play RV Park in a Motorhome.

The RV park map:

Map

When we arrived, it was lightly snowing, including some graupel:

Graupel

Jenn and Paladin looking out the driver window while working on leveling the coach:

Jenn and Paladin

We couldn’t get it completely level, due to the slope of the site; we ended up with two jack pads plus a plastic pad to try to get the front high enough:

Jack pads

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

The utilities were not conveniently placed:

Utilities

One morning we woke up to a light dusting of snow:

Snow

Snow

I filled the water tank and disconnected the water hose overnight, since the temperatures were below freezing most nights. However I foolishly left the hose outside (after ensuring it was empty), which broke the pressure regulator and gauge; they really don’t like being frozen, so now don’t give accurate readings, and will have to be replaced:

Pressure regulator and gauge

On the upside, our Christmas cactus is looking really happy, with lots of buds and flowers coming on:

Christmas cactus

Christmas cactus

And Paladin is happy to snuggle with his girlfriend, the heated tile floors:

Paladin

Let’s tour the RV park; here’s the entrance:

RV park entrance

RV park entrance

The office:

Office

Carved bears:

Carved bears

Amusing signs:

Signs

Swing seat:

Swing seat

Gazebo:

Gazebo

Street signs:

Street signs

Bathrooms:

Bathroom

Pet sign:

Sign

Other sites:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

So cute:

Other sites

Much of the park is long term residents:

Long term residents

Long term residents

Long term residents

Food bonus: we had dinner at a classic Denny’s diner in town:

Denny's

Denny's

Denny's

Denny's

They were rather understaffed, with one cook and one server. But the food was tasty.

Travel from Las Cruces to Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico

We drove our coach 122 miles, about three hours of driving, from Las Cruces, New Mexico to Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico.

The map route, heading northeast:

Map route

Or an interactive version from my trip planning, with potential stops marked; we only stopped at the TA and the overlook:

Heading east on I-10:

East on I-10

Recycled roadrunner artwork:

Recycled roadrunner artwork

Heading down towards Las Cruces, with socked in mountains:

Las Cruces

The Rio (not so) Grande:

Rio Grande

A fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Fuel stop

Third of a tank of diesel:

Third of a tank of diesel

Giant chile:

Giant chili

High horse:

High horse

Always nice to see Dutch Bros coffee:

Dutch Bros coffee

Space Murals:

Space Murals

Peak:

Peak

A motorhome passing us:

Motorhome

We stopped at a nice viewpoint, the San Augustin Pass Overlook, for lunch:

Viewpoint

Rather cloudy, but still a nice view:

View

But partway through lunch, the wind suddenly picked up, rocking the coach, with sleet or graupel blowing:

Wind and sleet

So we decided to get moving, to get down off the mountain.

In passing, the US Army rocket exhibit:

US Army rocket

Rain:

Rain

Mountains:

Mountains

Passing by White Sands National Park:

White Sands National Park

An immigration checkpoint:

Immigration checkpoint

Immigration checkpoint

White Sands National Park visitor center:

White Sands National Park

A water tower:

Water tower

The world’s largest pistachio:

World's largest pistachio

World's largest pistachio

A tumbleweed on the road:

Tumbleweed

Tularosa:

Tularosa

Mountains:

Mountains

Mountains

Church

Elk crossing and view:

Elk crossing and view

Church

Snow on the ground:

Snow on the ground

Dogs on the road:

Dogs on the road

Actively snowing:

Snow

Snow

Our destination:

Our destination

The office:

Office

Amusing signs to pull forward:

Pull forward

Sometimes a golf cart guides us to our site; here, a car did that:

Car guiding us to our site

Las Cruces KOA Journey

We stayed at Las Cruces KOA Journey in Las Cruces, New Mexico. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice view with a pull-in site.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2022-10-15
  • Check out: 2022-10-24
  • 9 nights

Weather:

  • Mostly sunny
  • One day of monsoon rain and thunderstorms
  • High temps ranging between 73-83°F, lows around 45-56°F
  • A little wind, stronger on that rainy day, and the last day

Noise:

  • No road or train noise (distant freeway noise, only audible outside)

Site:

  • #28, pull-in, gravel; unusual to have a front-in site
  • Needed to disconnect toad; parked beside coach
  • Fairly level
  • Large site: about 55 feet long by about 45 feet wide
  • Full hookups (on both sides, for front-in motorhomes and back-in trailers):
    • 50 amp power, not very conveniently located
    • 45 PSI water, fairly conveniently located
    • Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
  • Picnic table on concrete pad; no fire pit
  • City and mountain view

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 6-50 Mbps down, 3-24 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
  • Verizon: 10-50 Mbps down, 5-45 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
  • AT&T: 11-24 Mbps down, 7-17 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
  • Campground Wi-Fi: 3-8 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
  • Starlink: not used

Amenities:

  • Garbage dumpster
  • Pool

Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:

Pull-in sites with a great view

We stayed in one of the “view” sites and were thrilled that they let motorhomes pull-in to enjoy the view out our windshield. We also lucked out and had the corner site (28), which was absolutely massive. The staff were all terrific, and when we needed to extend our stay by a day due to the weather at our next destination, they were very accommodating. We will definitely be staying here again when we swing through Las Cruces. We camped at Las Cruces KOA Journey in a Motorhome.

We were scheduled to depart on 2022-10-23, but there were 63 MPH wind gusts at our next destination, so we decided to delay our departure a day. They actually called us to warn us, though we keep an eye on such things. With a high profile vehicle, strong winds can be dangerous (not to mention unpleasant). Fortunately the KOA was able to let us extend our stay:

Wind gusts

The park map:

Map

Our site; unusual in that we fronted in to the site, so we could enjoy the view:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

We lucked out with a corner site, that gave us a larger-than-usual site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

View from our site:

View from our site

View from our coach:

View from our coach

View from our site

View from our coach

Griddle

View from our site

View from our site

There were utilities on both sides of the site, to accommodate motorhomes fronting in and trailers backing in:

Utilities

Our site from up the road a bit:

Our site

Our site

Other sites:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Tiffin Phaeton:

Other sites

Tiffin Allegro Bus (in a nice color):

Other sites

There are several feral cats in the area; here’s one by our truck:

Feral cat

Another feral cat under our coach:

Feral cat

Another feral cat on the slope below our site:

Feral cat

Paladin watching the feral cat:

Paladin watching feral cat

Views from the other side of the RV park:

View

View

View

View

View

View

View

Patio

Patio

Path

Pond

View

The office:

Office

Office chandelier:

Office chandelier

Playground:

Playground

The heated pool was open… though often locked:

Pool

Pool

Pool

Tent sites:

Tent sites

Camp kitchen:

Camp kitchen

A nice park.

Travel from Truth or Consequences to Las Cruces, New Mexico

We drove our coach just 72 miles, about an hour of driving, from Truth or Consequences, New Mexico to Las Cruces, New Mexico.

The map route, heading south:

Map route

Or an interactive version from my trip planning, as seen in yesterday’s post, with a potential stop marked; we didn’t actually stop, since it was a short drive:

Before we headed out, I replaced the wiper blades; pretty easy:

Wiper replacement

Our coach and truck, getting ready to toad up:

Coach and truck

Joining I-25:

I-25

View

I-25

I-25

A border patrol checkpoint on the northbound side (that we passed through a couple of times):

Border patrol checkpoint

Interesting mountains:

Mountains

A nice Las Cruces sign on an overpass:

Las Cruces sign

Rio (not so) Grande:

Rio (not so) Grande

Roadrunner artwork:

Roadrunner artwork

Las Cruces and mountains:

Las Cruces and mountains

Our destination, Las Cruces KOA Journey:

Las Cruces KOA Journey

Las Cruces KOA Journey

Palomino Campground at Caballo Lake State Park

We stayed at Palomino Campground in Caballo Lake State Park in Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico. (Campground Reviews listing.)

We do enjoy state parks, and lake views. Our specific site only had a glimpse of the lake, but still nice.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2022-10-09
  • Check out: 2022-10-15
  • 6 nights

Weather:

  • Mostly sunny
  • High temps ranging between 67-77°F, lows around 49-53°F
  • No significant wind

Noise:

  • No road or train noise

Site:

  • #2, pull through, gravel
  • Needed to disconnect toad; parked beside coach
  • Fairly level
  • Smallish site: about 45 feet long by about 40 feet wide
  • Full hookups:
    • 50 amp power, conveniently located
    • 50 PSI water, conveniently located
    • Good sewer connections, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
  • Picnic table on concrete with shelter; no fire pit
  • Partial lake view

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 12-25 Mbps down, 18-26 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
  • AT&T: 90 Mbps down, 7 Mbps up, 72 ms ping
  • Verizon: no service
  • Starlink: not used
  • Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

  • Garbage dumpster
  • No pool

Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:

Picturesque and pleasant park

We stayed at Palomino, Site 2, and thoroughly enjoyed it. We were met by the camp hosts who helped get us centered on the site and chatted for a bit. The site was level and pretty big, with plenty of room outside of the picnic shelter to get settled in. The only downside to the setup in Palomino is that all the sites are backward, so you can’t enjoy the view of the lake if you have a motorhome. If you have a fiver with a rear window or a toy hauler with a “back deck” you’d get much more enjoyment of the view. The picnic shelters are also backward on the site, so you have to walk around the wall to get to the table. Weird, but not dealbreaker stuff by any means. We camped at Caballo Lake State Park in a Motorhome.

The park map online is not great, but does highlight our site:

Map

Here’s an interactive map — tip, site 4 would be the best view of the lake (site 3, not shown above, is the camp host):

Our site:

Our site

Our site

A glimpse of the lake:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

There were a number of birds in the area, and some liked to nibble dead bugs off our mirrors, which Paladin found super fascinating:

Paladin and bird

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

A lake view from the edge of the campground:

Lake view

Lake view

Other sites:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

The camp host site, briefly vacant during changing of the host:

Other sites

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

Dump station:

Dump station

Cacti:

Cacti

Cacti

Cacti

Cacti

We got out our bikes to take a ride down to the lake and around the campsites:

Bikes

Me on my bike:

David on bike

Boat ramp:

Boat ramp

Another campground; this one has power and water, but not sewer:

Other campground

Other campground

Other campground

A video of the bike ride route:

Some sunsets:

Sunset

Sunset

Sunset

Travel from Albuquerque to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico

We drove our coach 176 miles, about 3 hours of driving, from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.

The map route, heading south:

Map route

The Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta finished on a Sunday morning, and we were scheduled to leave the following day, but I noticed that our next site was available on Sunday, so we decided to grab that and leave a day early:

Departing fiesta

A view of the mountains by Albuquerque:

Mountains

Freeways:

Freeways

Downtown Albuquerque:

Downtown Albuquerque

Heading south on I-25:

I-25

Mountains

Wide load of the side of the road:

Wide load

It wasn’t a particularly long drive, but we had an early start to the day for the fiesta, so we stopped at both of the rest areas on the route; here’s the first:

Rest area

Interesting collection of elevated picnic shelters:

Rest area

Rest area

Onward:

Mountains

Mountains

Mountains

The second rest area:

Rest area

Rest area

Paladin asleep:

Paladin

I-25:

I-25

Truth or Consequences:

Truth And Consequences

Paladin climbed on the back of Jenn’s chair while she was driving:

Paladin and Jenn

Paladin and Jenn

Paladin and Jenn

Back in a more normal place:

Paladin

I-25

Interesting clouds:

Interesting clouds

Mountains

Mountains

Mountains

A glimpse of Caballo Lake:

Mountains and Caballo Lake

Our destination, Caballo Lake State Park:

Caballo Lake State Park

Caballo Lake State Park

Caballo Lake State Park

Caballo Lake State Park

Palomino Campground, one of a few in the state park, but the only one with full hookups, which we really needed after dry camping at the fiesta:

Palomino Campground

Palomino Campground

Our site:

Our site

Our coach approaching our site:

Our coach