Travel from Lake Whitney to Dallas, Texas

We drove our coach 101 miles, a couple of hours of driving, from Lake Whitney, Texas to NIRVC in Dallas, Texas.

Here’s the map route, heading north:

Map

Driving through Whitney, Texas on a rainy day:

Whitney, Texas

Rain

A fancy courthouse in Hillsboro, Texas:

Hillsboro, Texas

Low bridge (our coach is 12’ 7”):

Low bridge

Lunch stop at a Burger King within a TA Travel Center:

Lunch stop

Lots of trucks on the rainy freeway:

Trucks

Dallas, Texas:

Dallas, Texas

Glad we were not going south; I-35E south was a parking lot:

Dallas, Texas

Arriving at NIRVC:

NIRVC

Checking in:

NIRVC

Leaving our coach:

NIRVC

We left our coach at NIRVC in Dallas for a week, to get annual servicing of the engine, generator, Aqua-Hot hydronic heating, and a bunch of other maintenance and repairs.

Meanwhile, we headed to a hotel for the night, then flew to the US Virgin Islands; stay tuned for posts about that.

Video

Video: Lake Conroe to Lake Whitney, Texas motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 196 miles from Lake Conroe to Lake Whitney, Texas. But unfortunately my dashcam stopped recording partway through, so this video is only the first part.

Travel from Lake Conroe to Lake Whitney, Texas

We drove our coach 196 miles, about four hours of driving, from Lake Conroe to Lake Whitney, Texas.

Here’s the map route, heading northwest (fun fact: the dots along the route were to change it from the recommended route, to try to stick to more major highways, since it had recently snowed):

Map route

We had a bit of rain, so of course when we brought in our slide-outs we had a stream of water pouring off the slide toppers:

Water pouring off slide-out

A GIF of the water (and if you look closely, you can see the slide moving in):

Water pouring off slide-out

Pulling out of our site:

Pulling out of site

On the (rather narrow) road out of the RV park:

Road out of RV park

A “stay alert, talk or text later” sign:

Stay alert

Paladin on the step cover:

Paladin

A 67-foot tall statue of Sam Houston, south of Huntsville, Texas, where he lived:

Sam Houston statue

We stopped at a rest area for lunch:

Rest area

Parked behind another Tiffin:

Rest area

Flooded trees:

Flooded trees

Buc-ee’s:

Buc-ee's

Paladin expressing displeasure at the rough roads:

Paladin

A big crane:

Big crane

Bumpy road:

Bumpy road

More flooded trees:

More flooded trees

Bridge in a dip:

Bridge in a dip

Horses:

Horses

Short wind turbines:

Short wind turbines

Mart, Texas:

Mart, Texas

At one point the road was so rough that the retaining bar and some internet stuff fell down:

Internet stuff fell down

City of West:

City of West

City of Whitney:

City of Whitney

Entering Lake Whitney State Park:

Lake Whitney State Park

Park HQ:

Park HQ

Campsites:

Campsites

Arriving at our site:

Our site

Video: Columbus to Lake Conroe, Texas motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 132 miles from Columbus to Lake Conroe, Texas. (We took a detour to avoid an accident that closed a portion of the freeway.)

Travel from Columbus to Lake Conroe, Texas

We drove our coach 132 miles, about three hours of driving, from Columbus to Lake Conroe, Texas.

Here’s the map route, heading east then north — the route was a bit wacky as we saw that an accident had closed a portion of the freeway we were on, so we took a detour to avoid that:

Map route

Leaving the campground:

Leaving campground

For the first part of the trip, Paladin sat on the steps, looking out the window:

Paladin on steps

Looking back across the pond towards the site we had:

Pond

A herd of deer:

Deer

Onramp to I-10:

Onramp to I-10

Passing the town of Columbus:

Passing Columbus

We stopped for fuel at a brand-new Road Ranger station:

Road Ranger

Due to roadworks, we had to drive on a frontage road for a few miles, before we found an ramp back onto I-10:

Onramp to I-10

Oil containers:

Oil containers

We still haven’t checked out the super-popular and massive Buc-ees gas station:

Buc-ees

Exit to TX-99:

Exit to TX-99

A high overpass:

Overpass

This is a toll road, but we have the “Freedom Pass” transponder in our coach via TSD Open Roads, so we should be covered — but this was the first time using it, so we’ll see!

Toll road

We saw that an accident had occurred ahead on TX-99, so we took the exit to 290 to bypass it:

Exit to 290

Exit to Sam Houston Tollway north:

Sam Houston Tollway

Another high overpass:

Overpass

A glimpse of downtown Houston in the distance:

Houston downtown in the distance

Toll lanes:

Toll lanes

Toll transponder readers; here’s hoping it works:

Toll transponder readers

A third overpass:

Overpass

Exit to FM-830:

Exit to FM-830

The entrance to our destination, Thousand Trails Lake Conroe:

Thousand Trails Lake Conroe

Back from USVI

We’re back from the US Virgin Islands. It was a super-enjoyable trip, and we were sad to leave (it didn’t help that it’s freezing overnight where we are now in Texas). We want to spend more time in the Caribbean in the future.

We now resume our regularly scheduled posts of our travels before our vacation; I’ll do some posts about USVI when we get to them in the chronological sequence.

But in the meantime, a few highlights:

Sailboat excursion

Pelican

Blue water

Fish

Turtle

Stay tuned for more in due course….

Video

Video: Lockhart, Texas to Columbus, Texas motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 87 miles from Lockhart, Texas to Columbus, Texas.

Travel from Lockhart to Columbus, Texas

We drove our coach 87 miles, about two hours of driving, from Lockhart, Texas to Columbus, Texas.

The map route, heading south then east:

Map route

Our coach and truck when heading out of the state park, pausing to take out the trash:

Coach

Leaving the state park, the day use area:

Leaving state park

Some of the trees are a little low; our antennas twanged on them:

Leaving state park

Closed swimming pool:

Closed pools

Park visitor center:

Visitor center

Road works:

Road works

We took a suburban detour in Luling, Texas due to a closed road:

Detour

This rail crossing was a little concerning in a long coach:

Rail crossing

Onramp to I-10:

Onramp

Flatonia:

Flatonia

Schulenburg, halfway to everywhere… i.e. middle of nowhere?

Schulenburg, halfway to everywhere

Our exit was exit 695, but there wasn’t an offramp when coming from the west, so we needed to go past to exit 696:

Columbus exit

… then double-back:

Onramp

… to exit 695. With a totally reassuring evacuation sign:

Exit and evacuation

Texas crossroads:

Texas crossroads

We needed to turn left across the highway:

Turn across highway

Thousand Trails entrance:

Thousand Trails entrance

A bridge:

Bridge

Check in:

Check in

Our coach:

Coach

We stopped behind a Tiffin Phaeton; always nice to see another Tiffin:

Tiffin Phaeton

Checking in at the welcome center:

Welcome center

Heading to the entrance gate:

Heading to the entrance gate

At Thousand Trails parks, one can choose any available site (if not reserved for seasonal people). We went straight to section E, the newest section with nice 50-amp pull-through sites:

Section E