El Rancho Village RV Park & Cabins

We stayed at El Rancho Village RV Park & Cabins in Wheatland, Wyoming. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A basic RV park next to a freeway.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2022-09-20
  • Check out: 2022-09-22
  • 2 nights

Weather:

  • Overcast, drizzle, thunderstorm
  • High temps ranging between 67-85°F, lows around 49-55°F
  • Some wind

Noise:

  • Significant road noise; no train noise
  • No neighbor noise

Site:

  • #21, pull through, gravel
  • Didn’t need to disconnect toad, and didn’t bother
  • Not particularly level
  • Large site: about 100 feet long by about 45 feet wide
  • Full hookups:
    • 50 amp power, conveniently located
    • 30 PSI water, conveniently located
    • Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
  • No picnic table or fire pit

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 64-75 Mbps down, 15-26 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
  • AT&T: 45-56 Mbps down, 2-4 Mbps up, 65 ms ping
  • Verizon: 30-40 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
  • Campground Wi-Fi: unknown
  • Starlink: not used

Amenities:

  • Dumpsters
  • No pool

Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:

Convenient stop off I-25

This was a decent place to stop on our way through Wyoming. Met by a friendly manager who checked us in. It feels like they’re still getting settled in at the office, but it’s very low-tech, with a manual form to fill out and hand-entered credit card details. Our site wasn’t particularly level, but we managed to beat the leveling system into submission eventually. Utilities all worked as expected. I really think they missed a prime opportunity, though, because all the sites face towards the interstate instead of the distant mountains. Expect road noise from the interstate. We camped at El Rancho Village RV Park & Cabins in a Motorhome. 

They didn’t have an RV park map, so here’s an interactive map, though they’ve made a few improvements since this satellite image:

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

As usual on arrival, I used our outdoor shower and collapsable bucket to prepare to clean our windscreen:

Windscreen cleaning

Office and cabins:

Office and cabins

Cute cabins:

Cabins

Cabins

Very basic playground and shelter:

Playground and shelter

Bathrooms with nice murals:

Bathrooms

Other sites:

Other sites

A friendly dog, I think belonging to the owner:

Owners dog

Stormy clouds:

Stormy clouds

Lightning:

Lightning

This park is right next to the I-25 freeway:

Right next to freeway

A decoration:

Decoration

Travel from Buffalo to Wheatland, Wyoming

We drove our coach 205 miles, about 3 hour of driving, from Buffalo, Wyoming to Wheatland, Wyoming.

The map route, heading south:

Map route

Leaving the KOA:

Leaving the KOA

We stopped by the office to pick up some mail:

Stopped by the office to get mail

By office

Wild pronghorn antelope roam the fields, apparently a nuisance:

Wild pronghorn antelope

I-25:

I-25

I-25

Wild pronghorn antelope:

Wild pronghorn antelope

We stopped at a truck parking area for lunch:

Parking area

Parking area

Paladin enjoying my seat:

Paladin

Interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

Interesting rocks

Interesting rocks

I-25

Casper:

Casper

Bridge construction:

Bridge construction

I-25

Refinery:

Refinery

Jackalope sculpture:

Jackalope sculpture

Roadworks:

Roadworks

Rather concerning: a fiver passed us with a broken awning arm swinging; fortunately it didn’t hit us:

Fiver with awning arm swinging

Narrow bridge:

Narrow bridge

North Platte River:

North Platte River

The aforementioned fiver on the side of the road; I guess they noticed the awning arm:

Fiver

An older Tiffin Allegro Bus:

Tiffin Allegro Bus

Interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

Part of Glendo Reservoir, looking rather low:

Glendo Reservoir

More roadworks:

Roadworks

Nice hills:

Nice hills

Our destination, El Rancho Village:

El Rancho Village

El Rancho Village

Coach changes after a year

A month ago I celebrated the one year anniversary of buying our coach, and mentioned that I’d do an update on it. Here ya go — some pictures of the what our coach looks like now, after a year of modifications.

Here’s the 2017 Tiffin Allegro Bus 40SP floorplan, edited to show our options and modifications:

2017 40SP floorplan with our mods

The outside is much the same, but we now have Sinclair Trails stickers on the side of the slide-out, along with a map showing the states we’ve visited, plus the Magne-Shades on the windscreen and side windows:

Our coach

Looking down a bit, another addition visible there is a foldable wagon, and an extra step:

Our coach

On the other side of the coach, we have National Park stickers for parks we’ve visited on the slide-out:

National Park stickers

Heading inside, the cockpit area has a few changes:

Cockpit

For example, the steering wheel table and plants (the boxes contain our keys etc, to avoid Paladin knocking them off the table):

Steering wheel table

Speaking of the boy, he enjoys his boxes on the dash, and sitting on the carpeted dash cover:

Paladin

Above the entry door is now a small cupboard full of internet devices, with the door removed:

Internet cupboard

We added hooks for hats and bike helmets:

Hooks for hats and bike helmets

On the passenger side, in front of the lift TV is a top-entry cat litter box and waste bin, plus IKEA drawers and cupboards, where there was originally a couch, and later a desk:

Cat litter; IKEA drawers and cupboards

Here’s the main TV active (with Jenn’s video game), and the smaller TV over the windscreen (showing a baseball game):

TVs

Opposite that is new theater seating and cabinets, where there was originally an L-shaped couch, and later recliner chairs:

Theater seating and cabinets

Here’s a view of the living area:

Living room

The dining table and chairs are unchanged, though we have Paladin’s food, water, bed, and a scratcher on the cabinet behind the table, and alcohol storage in the rightmost cupboard below:

Dining table and chairs

Next to the fridge is a framed wooden map and sticker board that we recently added:

Fridge

The kitchen / galley area has modifications like the towel rail, and a drying rack over one of the sinks:

Kitchen

A closer look at the kitchen counter:

Kitchen counter

The two sinks, with a drying rack and bottle rack on the right-hand one:

Sinks

In the sinks are handy strainers, better than the stock ones:

Sink strainers

Continuing back, the half bath:

Half bath

The thermostat and Spyder control panel in the bedroom; upgrading this control panel was a huge improvement:

Controls

In the bedroom, we’ve added hooks for actively worn clothes:

Bedroom

Another cat bed, plus gaming headphones and controllers, a projection clock, and device chargers:

Cat bed and electronics

In the media cupboard, Jenn’s PS5 etc:

PS5 etc

The bed is much the same, just different covers:

Bedroom

The bathroom:

Bathroom

The sink area has necklace hooks and under-cabinet lights:

Bathroom sink

The shower has extra hooks and dispensers, and we added towel rods next to the shower:

Shower

A look at the living area from by the half bath:

Living area

 And a similar view with the slides in — somewhat smaller:

Slides in

Still enough room to get by the couch, though:

Slides in

The bedroom with slides in; can’t really get past the bed without difficulty; we pile the steering wheel table, air cleaner, etc on it for travel:

Slides in

 Heading outside, the basement cooler is the same; we have it unplugged, and just use it to store spare beverages:

Basement cooler

The next basement compartment has houseware supplies, plus a box with the Starlink dish:

Basement storage

The next compartment has my tools:

Basement storage

A small one next to it has bottled water and less-commonly used camping supplies:

Basement storage

Continuing back, next is the air and hydraulic compartment:

Air and hydraulic compartment

The last compartment on the passenger side has chassis batteries and stuff; the only change there is the addition of a tire pressure monitor repeater, to enable sensors on the truck to reach the display in the front of the coach:

Chassis compartment

In the back, the engine compartment, unchanged other than replaced filters etc:

Engine compartment

The DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid) compartment; I do have a DEF simulator as insurance against a somewhat common failure:

DEF compartment

The electrical compartment, home to a Power Watchdog smart surge protector when traveling (and a cloth I use to wipe the cord while winding it):

Electrical compartment

The wet bay has the water hose and sewer stuff; here’s what it looks like when in use:

Wet bay

And when packed up:

Wet bay

Next is the Aqua-Hot system, unchanged other than topping up the boiler antifreeze fluid:

Aqua-Hot system

The other side of the basement storage contains the water filters and hoses, plus the Blackstone griddle:

Basement storage

With the griddle and filters in use, you can see less-commonly used stuff behind:

Basement storage

The next storage, which also goes all the way across, contains the fold-up wagon, jack pads, etc:

Basement storage

The battery compartment:

Battery compartment

We did upgrade the batteries to AGMs:

Battery compartment

At the front of the driver side are fuses and such; I hope not to have to access this compartment often:

Fuses etc

In front of the coach is the generator:

Generator

There have of course been lots of other changes, like getting ebikes, a pop-up gazebo, and other stuff. And a couple of extra solar panels on the roof:

Bikes, gazebo, solar

I hope you’ve enjoyed this update. No doubt we’ll continue making improvements to our coach as we continue our adventures.

Buffalo KOA Journey

We stayed at Buffalo KOA Journey in Buffalo, Wyoming. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice RV park.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2022-09-17
  • Check out: 2022-09-20
  • 3 nights

Weather:

  • Sunny
  • High temps ranging between 68-84°F, lows around 45-57°F
  • Negligible wind

Noise:

  • Distant road noise; no train noise
  • Large group in neighboring site for first couple of nights

Site:

  • #75, pull through, gravel
  • Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
  • Fairly level
  • Medium site: about 65 feet long by about 30 feet wide
  • Full hookups:
    • 50 amp power, conveniently located
    • 60 PSI water, conveniently located
    • Good sewer connection, not very inconveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)
  • Picnic table on cement; fire pit on gravel, grass and rock landscaping, small trees

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • AT&T: 10 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 95 ms ping
  • Campground Wi-Fi: 12-23 Mbps down, 2-5 Mbps up, 8-28 ms ping
  • T-Mobile: 6 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 130 ms ping
  • Verizon: 50 Mbps down, 7 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
  • Starlink: not used

Amenities:

  • Dumpsters
  • Closed pool
  • Creekside path
  • Mail delivery at office

Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:

A River Runs Through It

We were in the newer section, which is absolutely awesome with the river running around the edge. The sites were very tidy and well cared for, and the staff were all extremely helpful. We will definitely stay again when we next pass through the area. We camped at Buffalo KOA Journey in a Motorhome.

The RV park map:

Map

The Clear Creek section of the park, where we were, is very new, and quite nice. Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

A long sewer hose was needed:

Long sewer hose needed

A path to the creek:

Path

Looking back at our site and others from the path:

Other sites

Group fire pit:

Group fire pit

Clear Creek; it is indeed very clear:

Creek

Creek

Creek

Creek

Bridge:

Bridge

Dog park:

Dog park

Decorations:

Decorations

Creek-front tent site:

Tent site

Confluence of creeks:

Confluence of creaks

Other RVs:

Other RVs

Other RVs

Travel from Livingston, Montana to Buffalo, Wyoming

We drove our coach 282 miles, about 5 hour of driving, from Livingston, Montana to Buffalo, Wyoming.

The map route, heading east then south:

Map route

We seem to have a slow leak in the rear outer driver-side tire on our coach (it loses about 3 PSI on a drive). So I topped it up before departure (spoiler: we got it fixed on a later trip):

Topping up RV tire

Leaving the campground:

Leaving campground

Getting onto I-90:

Getting onto I-90

Snow fences:

Snow fences

Newmar Ventana motorhome:

Newmar Ventana motorhome

Classic car:

Old car

We had originally planned to sprint through this area, on our way south, and were going to stop at this Harvest Host for a night:

Possible Harvest Host

Yellowstone River:

Yellowstone River

A Vanleigh Vilano fiver:

Vanleigh Vilano fiver

Downhill:

Downhill

Oil refinery:

Oil refinery

Oil refinery

A fuel stop; we had hoped to get the tire fixed, but of course being a weekend their service department was closed (and they may not have been willing to work on a motorhome anyway):

Fuel stop

We did weigh our coach and truck on a CAT Scale; a good thing to do occasionally:

CAT Scale

A Super-C fueling up next to us:

Super-C

After fueling, we parked with the big rigs (there were several empty spaces, so we weren’t taking a space from a hard-working trucker):

Parked

And went into the diner for lunch:

Diner

Diner food

Wind turbine blades:

Wind turbine blades

Yellowstone River:

Yellowstone River

I-90:

I-90

I-90

I-90

Leaving Montana:

Leaving Montana

Entering Wyoming:

Wyoming

We quite like the look of this area:

Wyoming views

Wyoming views

Sheridan bridge:

Sheridan bridge

Sheridan bridge

Sheridan College Golden Dome sports complex:

Sheridan Collage Golden Dome sports complex

More Wyoming views:

Wyoming views

Wyoming views

Wyoming views

Wyoming views

Wyoming views

Wyoming views

Wyoming views

Wyoming views

Wyoming views

Wyoming views

Buffalo exit:

Buffalo exit

Our destination, the Buffalo KOA Journey:

KOA

KOA

Osens RV Park

We stayed at Osens RV Park in Livingston, Montana. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Another short stay. A nice basic RV park.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2022-09-14
  • Check out: 2022-09-17
  • 3 nights

Weather:

  • A little rainy, some lightning in the area
  • High temps ranging between 69-74°F, lows around 42-48°F
  • A little wind

Noise:

  • Some road noise; nearby train noise
  • Quiet neighbors, except one motorhome that ran their engine way too long

Site:

  • #B5, pull through, gravel
  • Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
  • Fairly level
  • Medium site: about 65 feet long by about 30 feet wide
  • Full hookups:
    • 50 amp power, fairly conveniently located
    • 65 PSI water, conveniently located
    • Good sewer connection, rather inconveniently located (3 10-foot pipes needed)
  • Picnic table on grass

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 40-60 Mbps down, 8 Mbps up, 65 ms ping
  • AT&T: 30 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up, 125 ms ping
  • Verizon: 1 Mbps down, 12 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
  • Starlink: not used
  • Campground Wi-Fi: limited, not used

Amenities:

  • Dumpsters
  • No pool

Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:

Cute park in a cute town

This was a nice spot to stay on our way through Montana. Check-in was quick and efficient, with super-friendly and helpful staff. We were escorted to our site, which is always a nice touch. The site was level and clean. The only downside is the sketchy road from the highway into the park. We camped at Osens RV Park & Campground in a Motorhome.

The RV park map:

Map

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

A rather inconvient sewer location; I had to break out a third 10-foot sewer hose (though to be fair, if we had parked the truck in front of the coach, it wouldn’t have been so bad):

Inconvient sewer location

The entrance:

Entrance

Entrance garden:

Enter

Office:

Office

Decorations:

Decorations

Playground:

Playground

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

Rain barrels and recycling:

Rain barrels

A chicken (probably flew over the fence from a neighboring property):

Chicken

Little library:

Library

An interesting truck and Vanleigh fiver next to us (Vanleigh is a related brand to Tiffin, created by Bob Tiffin’s son Van and grandson Leigh):

Truck and Vanleigh fiver

IMG 5805

Truck

Vanleigh fiver

More RVs:

Other RVs

Other RVs

Other RVs

Other RVs

Other RVs

Other RVs

Other RVs

Other RVs

This new neighbor was annoying; they left their engine running for ages on arrival, and again when departing the next morning. It isn’t necessary to leave it going:

Other RVs

A new neighbor, with a dog with a ramp:

Other RVs

Flushing the black tank:

Flushing black tank

Slides in, ready to go:

Our site

Travel from Missoula to Livingston, Montana

We drove our coach 237 miles, about 4 hour of driving, from Missoula, Montana to Livingston, Montana.

The map route for this leg, heading south:

Map route

Leaving the RV park:

Leaving the RV park

Fuel up behind another motorhome:

Fuel up

Lots of roadworks on this journey, as they were rebuilding pretty much all of the bridges, one side at a time:

Roadworks

More roadworks:

More roadworks

Snack delivery:

Snack delivery

Smoky trees:

Smoky trees

Smoky roadworks:

Smoky roadworks

Interesting building and roadworks:

Interesting building and roadworks

Rest stop:

Rest stop

Quite a nice-looking building:

Quite a nice-looking building

Lunch:

Lunch

Paladin in a box:

Paladin in a box

More roadworks:

More roadworks

More roadworks

More roadworks

More roadworks

Paladin on the theater seating:

Paladin on theater seating

Paladin on theater seating

Oversize load:

Large load

Continental Divide, elevation 6393:

Continental Divide, elevation 6393

Another rest stop:

Rest stop

We had the hazard blinkers on going up a hill; the cameras change to show 4-up in this mode:

Cameras

Smoky:

Smoky

Yet more roadworks:

More roadworks

A rather narrow and bumpy road leading to the destination:

Narrow road

The RV park entrance:

Entrance

Enter:

Enter

Office:

Office

Guided to our site:

Guided to site