Tiffin rally: campground

We attended the 50th anniversary Tiffin rally at the Sweetwater Events Center in Rock Springs, Wyoming. This post is about the campground part of the rally.

Dates:

Check in: 2022-06-13
Check out: 2022-06-18
5 nights

Weather:

Mixed sunny and rainy
High temps ranging between 70-90°F, lows around 38-60°F
Some afternoon wind

Noise:

No road noise or train noise
Negligible neighbor noise

Site:

Back in, gravel
Needed to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
Not very level
Small site: about 45 feet long by about 18 feet wide
Full hookups (unusual for a rally):

50 amp power behind the site
50 PSI water; behind the site
Acceptable sewer connection, in the corner of the site (2 10 foot hoses used)

No picnic table etc

Internet:

Not noted

Amenities:

Garbage pickup every other day

Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:

Great place for attending a rally

We’ve been to several rallies this year, and this was by far the best location. Full hookups with 50A electrical at every site?! Insanely wonderful. The sites (or stalls, really) are a bit close together but no more than any other rally-style parking we’ve seen. The whole place is graveled, which is nice, but they really need to grade it. Parts of the road were so thick that rigs were scraping their mudflaps on the way out, and other parts were so thin it went down to the dirt. But still. Full hookups at a rally! Amazing! There was a nice big area for unhooking the tow vehicle when we arrived. All the event center buildings and common areas were nicely maintained and convenient to get to. The dog park looked pretty awesome, too. We camped at Sweetwater Events Complex – RV Park in a Motorhome.

Our site:

Our site

Power hookup:

Power

Water hookup:

Water

Sewer hookup:

Sewer

Our truck and coach:

Truck and coach

One of the benefits of attending the rally was Tiffin techs stopping by to fix some minor issues. In our case, they helped with a drifting mirror, and gave advice on a window latch and ceiling fan:

Tiffin techs

We also got our coach cleaned; here’s the dirty mirror beforehand:

Dirty mirror

Dirty coach:

Dirty coach

Cleaners:

Cleaners

Clean mirror:

Clean mirror

Clean coach:

Clean coach

Of course, it rained a few days later, and it was no longer clean. Money well spent!

A couple more pics of our coach:

Our coach

Other Tiffins:

Other Tiffins

A nice pond behind the campground:

Pond

Aerial views (not taken by me):

Aerial view

An arrow pointing to our coach:

Our site

Aerial view

Our coach was the one with the open door in the foreground, near the left (to the right of the white one):

Our coach

Video

Video: timelapse of motorhome driving from Vernal, UT to Rock Springs, WY

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 111 miles from Vernal, Utah to Rock Springs, Wyoming for the 50th Anniversary Tiffin Rally, including a bunch of Tiffin motorhomes arriving.

Travel from Vernal, UT to Rock Springs, WY

We drove our coach 111 miles, about 2 hours, from Vernal, Utah to Rock Springs, Wyoming for the 50th anniversary Tiffin rally in June.

The map route, heading north:

Map route to rally

A view while heading downhill:

View

And uphill:

Highway

Big downhill:

8% downgrade

Lake

A bridge:

Bridge

After the bridge we drove over the top of a dam:

Dam

A satellite view of the entire route:

Route

The early portion had some switchbacks, which aren’t the most fun in a 40-foot coach (or 60 feet with the truck):

Route portion 1

The bridge and dam portion:

Route portion 2

A closer view of the Flaming Gorge dam:

Route portion 3

Onward:

Highway

An interesting ridge:

Hill

Highway

Paladin sitting on the back of my chair:

Paladin and David

We really liked the look of this area:

Highway

Snow barriers:

Snow barriers

Highway

Arriving at the Tiffin rally:

Tiffin rally

We unhooked the truck, and I drove it following our coach to the campground:

Tiffin rally

Dusty:

Tiffin rally

Getting parked in our site:

Tiffin rally

Window latch repair

The window next to the passenger seat in our coach got stuck, as the left-side latch pin stopped working. So I ordered a replacement latch for it. Here’s the window:

Window

The first step in replacing it was to remove the handle, attached by a couple of screws underneath:

Handle

This is the latch knob exposed underneath:

Latch

Removing the plastic cover (that just snaps off), you can see latch pins that hold the window closed and in various open positions on either side of the window; they are connected to the knob by a lightweight bit of plastic:

Latches

A closer look at the left latch pin:

Latch

Closer still, you can see the broken connection; that tiny bit of plastic coming out of the latch should be connected to the slightly wider bit of plastic leading to the knob:

Broken connection

I bought a couple of replacement latch pins from Tiffin (so I’d have a spare in case another window latch breaks in the future):

Replacement latches

I removed the broken latch:

Removed latch

A new one on top, compared to the broken one on bottom:

Latches

The replaced latch:

Replaced latch

Both latch pins and the knob:

Latches

I then replaced the cover and handle, and all finished:

Finished

Vernal / Dinosaurland KOA Holiday

We stayed at Vernal / Dinosaurland KOA Holiday in Vernal, Utah. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Dates:

Check in: 2022-06-11
Check out: 2022-06-13
2 nights

Weather:

Sunny
High temps around 96°F, lows around 61-65°F

Noise:

No road or train noise
Lots of neighbor noise the first night

Site:

#16, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
Not very level
Chock full of weeds; kinda run-down looking
Large site: about 75 feet long by about 45 feet wide
Full hookups:

50 amp power conveniently located
100 PSI water pressure (regulator required!); conveniently located
Didn’t use the sewer connection, since only there a couple of nights

Picnic table, fire pit

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 13-17 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 80 ms ping
AT&T: 7 Mbps down, 6 Mbps up, 80 ms ping
Verizon: 9 Mbps down, 10-14 Mbps up, 100 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Pool

Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:

Past its prime park, close to Dinosaur

Roads are very tight and people park all their extra vehicles all over the place, blocking the road. The layout of the park is not very well thought out. All the pull-through rows are long, with no pathways to get from one edge of the park to the next. As a consequence, we had people walking right through our site to get between the bathroom and the dog park. I’ve never seen so many rude and clueless campers. Our site was so full of weeds we couldn’t use the outdoor area. It looked like there may have been a shade tarp over the outdoor area at some point, but there’s nothing left but the posts now, which were inconveniently located so we couldn’t put out our awning. Overall, it seems like this might once have been a terrific park that’s gone to seed (literally). The nightly rate is after I exchanged $50 in KOA points; otherwise, it would have been extremely overpriced for what it is. We camped at Vernal / Dinosaurland KOA Holiday in a Motorhome.

The RV park map:

Map

Our site (I’ve previously masked out our coach and truck license plates, but am not going to bother anymore; I don’t think showing them is a significant risk):

Our site

The site is full of weeds:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

On the first night, we had several people walking through our site, which is a major faux pas in campgrounds:

Walking through site

The reason was that the bathroom block was opposite us, and inconsiderate people couldn’t be bothered walking a little further:

Bathroom

If you’re new to camping, make a note: do not walk through other people’s sites. It’s very rude.

Elsewhere, some cabins:

Cabins

An empty site:

Empty site

The office:

Office

Playground, mini-golf:

Playground, mini-golf

Video

Video: timelapse of motorhome driving from Montrose, CO to Vernal, UT

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 209 miles from Montrose, Colorado to Vernal, Utah.

(Not sure why it isn’t embedding?)

https://youtu.be/u4JHzoLDI9Y

Travel from Montrose, CO to Vernal, UT

We drove our coach 209 miles, about 4 hours, from Montrose, Colorado to Vernal, Utah.

The map route, heading north:

Map route

Leaving the Montrose KOA Journey RV park:

Leaving RV park

“Gateway to the canyons”:

Gateway to the canyons

“Tribute to agriculture”:

Tribute to agriculture

US-50 freeway:

Freeway

We were planning to stop for fuel in Grand Junction along the way, so I left the step cover open. Paladin enjoyed sitting on a step and looking out the lower window (which is typically called the “dog window”, but in our case is the “cat window”):

Paladin

Highway:

Highway

Hey hay:

Hay hey

Highway

There wasn’t a good place to stop at lunchtime, so I got up and made lunch while Jenn was driving — a nice option for a motorhome (but don’t worry, I sit down again as quickly as possible, and keep my seatbelt on when in my seat):

Driving

PB&J is quick and easy:

Lunch

Very curvy road:

Highway

Switchbacks on the map:

Map

Highway

Steep grade, sharp curves, yay:

Steep grade, sharp curves

Curve

After all that, we found a spot on side of road for a break:

Break on side of road

Rough road:

Rough road

Maybe they should have workshopped that name a bit?

Kum & Go

Oil well:

Oil well

Train:

Train

Highway

Dinosaur city limit:

Dinosaur

Dinosaurs in Dinosaur:

Dinosaurs in Dinosaur

I see what they did there:

Bedrock in Dinosaur

Welcome to Utah:

Welcome to Utah

Crossing another part of Green River again:

Green River

Vernal had more dinosaurs than Dinosaur:

Dinosaurs in Vernal

Cycle shop

Mural

Our destination, a KOA Holiday park:

KOA

KOA office

Montrose / Black Canyon NP KOA Journey

We stayed at Montrose / Black Canyon NP KOA Journey in Montrose, Colorado. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Dates:

Check in: 2022-06-05
Check out: 2022-06-11
6 nights

Weather:

Mosty sunny
High temps ranging between 83-96°F, lows around 53-60°F
Some afternoon wind

Noise:

Some road noise, no train noise
Some neighbor noise

Site:

#5, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
Not very level
Medium site: about 60 feet long by about 28 feet wide
Full hookups:

50 amp power conveniently located
I didn’t note the water pressure; conveniently located
Acceptable sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10 foot hoses used)

Picnic table

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 31-41 Mbps down, 4-8 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
AT&T: 8 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up, 75 ms ping
Verizon: 0.5-2 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 65-190 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Pool
Package pick up in office

Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:

Convenient to Black Canyon National Park

Firstly, I must give a shout-out to the wonderful lady in the front office who saved me from an error in dates. I’d accidentally booked the week before we were planning on being there. She called me up after we no-showed and asked if we were on our way. After discovering my error, she very helpfully rebooked us for the following week and didn’t even charge me the usual fee to do so. That’s what I call excellent customer service!

The park itself is your pretty standard KOA Journey. We had a nice, long pull-through with mature trees giving good shade all day. The downside to the nice, long pull-through site on the first row meant that everyone and their dog used the empty neighboring sites as a shortcut to the rest of the park. Our site was also not at all level; the automatic leveler gave up and I had to work hard to get them leveled manually. We camped at Montrose / Black Canyon Nat’l Park KOA Journey in a Motorhome.

The RV park map:

Map