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.
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:
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:
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:
For lower areas like below the slides, and fiddly areas, I spray directly on, and use two microfiber towels to wipe on and off:
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:
The mop pole is long enough to reach all the way to the top of our coach, but collapses to a compact length:
We also used Wash Wax All on our truck:
Midway cleaning the hood:
The mop is useful for cleaning the roof, and larger areas:
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…?)
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:
The utilities were fairly convenient:
We also got around to adding the Big Bend National Park sticker to our coach, the last new park for several months:
More pictures of chickens at our site:
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):
The RV park also has some goats:
And a few ducks down at the adjacent river:
They also feed the wild deer daily; the deer are smaller than we’re used to:
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):
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:
Well, the store is staffed by chickens, but I’m not sure they count:
Inside:
The store list:
We bought some cookies, candied pecans, and a tea towel:
They also sell freshly laid eggs; we bought a couple dozen:
An RV park sign:
The “chick-in” point:
When we arrived, we received info on items for purchase etc, and a free sample of candied pecans:
Art and a garden:
The RV park was fairly sparsely populated at this time of year. Here are some other RVs and the bathroom:
Near our site was a mobile chicken coop; here it’s being opened in the morning:
Chickens emerging:
Peeking in the pop door of the coop:
Roosting bars:
Nesting boxes:
More rice treats for chickens:
Paladin watching the chickens:
A forward-and-back GIF of chickens; I love how they run:
Eating GIFs:
Let’s finish with a couple more pictures of our site:
A delightful park; we’ve really enjoyed having the chickens and other animals around. We’ll definitely stay here again.
We drove our coach 269 miles, about five hours of driving, from Marathon, Texas to Junction, Texas.
The map route, heading north then east:
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:
Paladin went straight down the steps, so I left the step cover open:
Some fairly barren hills; compare to later pictures:
Heading north:
Roadworks; narrow lanes are a little disconcerting in a wide coach:
More roadworks:
Joining I-10 to head east:
Roadrunner mural:
“Cud you not text and drive?” There were several amusing cow-themed billboards like this:
Paladin still on the steps, enjoying the view out the cat window:
We stopped at a roadside picnic area for lunch:
Since the step cover was open, I hopped out to stretch my legs. Here’s an old stagecoach stop:
Our coach:
Paladin on the back of the couch during lunch:
An interesting mountain:
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):
Our coach:
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:
A river, and a lot more greenery; we’re out of the desert now:
Our exit:
Our destination, Pecan Valley RV Park and Farm, nestled behind a pecan tree farm:
Chick-in:
Guided to our site by the owners:
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:
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):
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:
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:
We have several of them all around the coach, including in a cupboard in the kitchen and under the kitchen sink:
In the bathroom cabinet:
And in several compartments in the basement area:
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:
I mounted one in the living room area, and another in the bedroom:
Plus a third in the basement, to detect any fires down there:
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):
The Nest router is installed in the internet cupboard, with an Ethernet connection to the Pepwave modem:
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:
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:
The pole can be used to hold the emergency exit open, for easier egress:
Hopefully we’ll never need to use it, but it should help if needed.
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:
Top of the adapter:
The connector on the bottom:
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:
Removing the cap from the port, you can see the connector pins:
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:
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):
I later changed to a different layout that I got from someone online:
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:
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:
Here’s a screenshot for a more clear view:
Sometime I’ll spend more time customizing this further, but it’s a useful tool as-is.
We stayed here for a week as a base for exploring the area and absolutely loved it. The RV sites are on the basic side, but everything worked in good order. The park is a dark sky area and every night, they do a star party with multiple telescopes and lots of fun conversation about what’s visible. We also did the star party at the MacDonald Observatory, and the one in Marathon was actually better (and cheaper); there were no crowds and a personalized tour of the sky. The staff here was so helpful, going above and beyond when we had package deliveries, including one that arrived after we checked out. I cannot say enough good things about how friendly everyone was. The town of Marathon is small but has everything one needs, including restaurants, a coffee shop, and a small grocery store for the necessities. We camped at Marathon Motel and RV Park in a Motorhome.
An interactive map of the RV park:
Our site before parking:
Our site, with our truck behind:
Our site with our truck in front:
The utilities weren’t super convenient; the water was well positioned, but the sewer and electric were at the back of the site:
The Power Watchdog surge protector has a bright light; the dog face lights up white if all is well, or red if there’s an issue. But in a dark sky park, that was a bit too bright:
So I taped a bit of cardboard over it to mask that light:
A grasshopper on our windscreen Magne Shade:
The neighboring site has a bird feeder, which attracts lots of birds:
Of course, Paladin really enjoyed watching the birds:
The motel has a resident cat, Oliver, that visited our coach:
Paladin wasn’t thrilled; he hissed at the cat:
There is a train track across the road from the park, which has a few freight trains pass by each day, sounding their horn:
By the entrance:
RV check-in:
Old motel signs (established 1940):
The sign at night:
The office; friendly staff, happy to receive packages for us:
A very nice courtyard area:
We enjoy playing Pokémon, and Jenn recently got the ability to request new PokéStops (or “spinny-things”, as we call them); she added one for the courtyard:
Backside of the courtyard:
Old cart:
Water tank and windmill:
Goat artwork:
Horse artwork:
Telescope shed and domes; they do nightly star viewing here (a separate post coming about that):
Telescope domes, with our coach visible in the background:
There is an onsite cantina restaurant, but it’s currently closed due to lack of staff:
Other RVs:
Dumpsters, laundry, bathrooms, and motel rooms:
More motel rooms:
There’s an area with a deck, pond, and gardens; a little run down, but it is winter:
They have a chicken run; I enjoyed spending some time with the chickens; I sometimes miss mine:
