RV

Posts featuring the coach.

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

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

RVs

One downside of this RV park is that it is accessed via a rough one-mile dirt road:

Dirt road

Dirt road

Military planes flew over a number of times, being somewhat near an air force base:

Plane

Plane

There was lots of open space, including picnic tables:

Picnic tables

A group fire pit:

Group fire pit

And a nice creek:

Stream

Stream

Stream

Stream

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.

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

Our site, with chickens

Our site, with chickens

Our site, with chickens

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

Chickens

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

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Chicken

The RV park also has some goats:

Goats and chickens

Goats

And a few ducks down at the adjacent river:

Ducks

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

General store

Inside:

General store

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

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

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

Chickens

Chickens

Chickens

Let’s finish with a couple more pictures of our site:

Our site

Our site

A delightful park; we’ve really enjoyed having the chickens and other animals around. We’ll definitely stay here again.

Travel from Marathon to Junction, Texas

We drove our coach 269 miles, about five hours of driving, from Marathon, Texas to Junction, Texas.

The map route, heading north then east:

Map route

Firstly, a video of retracting the front driver-side slide-out:

Our coach with the slides in, and the truck hooked up, ready to leave:

Coach and truck ready to leave

Paladin went straight down the steps, so I left the step cover open:

Paladin on steps

Some fairly barren hills; compare to later pictures:

Hills

Heading north:

Heading north

Roadworks; narrow lanes are a little disconcerting in a wide coach:

Roadworks

More roadworks:

Roadworks

Joining I-10 to head east:

Heading east onto I-10

Roadrunner mural:

Roadrunner mural

“Cud you not text and drive?” There were several amusing cow-themed billboards like this:

Cud you not text and drive?

Paladin still on the steps, enjoying the view out the cat window:

Paladin on steps

We stopped at a roadside picnic area for lunch:

Picnic area

Since the step cover was open, I hopped out to stretch my legs. Here’s an old stagecoach stop:

Old structure

Our coach:

Our coach

Paladin on the back of the couch during lunch:

Paladin on back of couch

An interesting mountain:

Interesting mountain

Cutaway

We stopped again, at a parking area (there are various kinds of stopping places: a rest stop has bathrooms, a picnic area has tables but no bathrooms, and a parking area doesn’t have any amenities… which is fine for us, being self-contained):

Parking area

Our coach:

Our coach

Road Ranger fuel stop:

Road Ranger fuel stop

There was both the Road Ranger truck stop and a Love’s fairly nearby; we would normally have gone for the Love’s, but the Open Roads app indicated that Road Ranger had a much better discounted fuel price:

Open Roads app

Cutaway

A river, and a lot more greenery; we’re out of the desert now:

River

Our exit:

Our exit

Our destination, Pecan Valley RV Park and Farm, nestled behind a pecan tree farm:

Pecan Valley RV Park and Farm

Pecan Valley RV Park and Farm

Pecan Valley RV Park and Farm

Chick-in:

Chick-in

Guided to our site by the owners:

Guided to site

I started this post with a picture of our coach ready to leave; let’s end with our coach just arrived, before putting the slides out:

Our site

RV fire safety

Fire safety is an important consideration for everyone, especially RVers, with lots of combustible materials in a small space. There have been lots of stories of RVs that have burned to the ground — usually cheaper trailers with propane fridges, but any RV is at risk.

Especially since RVs typically come with just one mandated fire extinguisher, by the door (which I invert and shake once a month, to prevent the contents settling):

Fire extinguisher

If we’re in our bedroom when a fire starts, that extinguisher may not be overly useful — if we can get to that one by the door, we should probably just get out the door, unless the fire is tiny.

So a basic first step is to get a second fire extinguisher for the bedroom, which we keep in a cabinet above the bed:

Fire extinguisher

But we can do better than that. We have purchased several quick can-style fire suppressors, which not only can put out fires, they produce a foam that we can spray onto ourselves if we have to go through flames to get out:

Fire extinguisher

We have several of them all around the coach, including in a cupboard in the kitchen and under the kitchen sink:

Fire extinguisher

In the bathroom cabinet:

Fire extinguisher

And in several compartments in the basement area:

Fire extinguisher

Fire extinguisher

The coach came with a smoke detector in the cockpit area, but we felt that wasn’t enough, so we got some smart Nest Protect ones, that do both smoke and carbon monoxide detection, and talk to each other:

Smoke and carbon monoxide detector

I mounted one in the living room area, and another in the bedroom:

Smoke and carbon monoxide detector

 

Smoke and carbon monoxide detector

Plus a third in the basement, to detect any fires down there:

Smoke and carbon monoxide detector

 

Smoke and carbon monoxide detector

The Nest detectors weren’t compatible with our Wi-Fi network, so I also got a Nest Wi-Fi router to help set them up (once set up, they communicate with a private network, so they’re not dependent on Wi-Fi):

Nest WiFi router

The Nest router is installed in the internet cupboard, with an Ethernet connection to the Pepwave modem:

Nest WiFi router

Nest WiFi router

Our coach only has one entrance door. If we’re in the bedroom and a fire blocks access to that door, there is an emergency exit in the bedroom window; the red latches can be opened to swing the whole window up:

Emergency exit

It’s a fairly small emergency exit, but better than being stuck back there. To make it easier to use, I got a pole that lives next to the window:

Emergency exit

The pole can be used to hold the emergency exit open, for easier egress:

Open emergency exit

Hopefully we’ll never need to use it, but it should help if needed.

Power Watchdog dimmer shade

I mentioned in my review of the Marathon Motel & RV Park that the Power Watchdog was too bright for a dark sky park:

Power Watchdog

Here’s a nighttime pic from an earlier campground:

At night

As a temporary measure, I covered it with a bit of cardboard:

Power Watchdog

But I also ordered a better solution — a self-adhesive dimmer shade from the manufacturer:

Dimmer shade

Here it is with the shade added:

Power Watchdog with shade

At night, the light is still visible, but much less bright (this is a night mode pic, so looks brighter than in person):

Power Watchdog at night

A non-night-mode pic:

Power Watchdog at night

BlueFire diagnostic adapter

Vehicles nowadays are full of computers that control and monitor most operations. You may know about the data port that repair shops can use to diagnose issues. This port can be used by us, too.

The BlueFire data adapter connects to a different style of this port in large vehicles like trucks and motorhomes, and uses Bluetooth to communicate with an app to display this diagnostic information.

Here’s the adapter next to the case it came in:

BlueFire data adapter

Top of the adapter:

BlueFire data adapter

The connector on the bottom:

BlueFire data adapter

There are two data ports under the dash in our coach; the green one is the modern data port; I’m not sure about the gray one; might be an older port, or something else:

Data ports

Removing the cap from the port, you can see the connector pins:

Data port

The BlueFire adapter plugs in, with a twist to lock it in place; it lights up with various colors and flashing patterns for its status:

BlueFire data adapter

The other essential part is the app. It works on Apple iPads and iPhones, and Android devices. It has a dashboard that can be configured; see the BlueFire site for more examples.

Here’s a dashboard layout I used initially on my iPad Pro (I’ve actually been using the BlueFire for months, but just got around to writing about it):

iPad app

I later changed to a different layout that I got from someone online:

iPad app

I have my iPad on the dash of our coach on travel days, along with the tire pressure monitor, and my laptop with the map:

Devices

I’m still working on improving the dash layout in the app; I’ve added a couple of gauges, but there’s room for more:

iPad app

Here’s a screenshot for a more clear view:

iPad app

Sometime I’ll spend more time customizing this further, but it’s a useful tool as-is.