A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 76 miles from Dallas, Texas to Gordonville, Texas.
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Videos, mostly dashcam timelapses.
US Virgin Islands National Park
As previously mentioned, the US Virgin Islands consists of three main islands, and a bunch of minor ones. We were staying on Saint Thomas, but another highlight of this trip was to cross off another national park, in our goal to visit all of them. The nearby island of Saint John mostly consists of the Virgin Islands National Park.
It is possible to take a passenger ferry over to the island, and walk to the park visitor center, and explore the town of Cruz Bay (where the ferry docks), but we wanted to explore more of the park, which is best done by car. So we headed to the car ferry dock.
Here’s a car ferry loading; the cars all back on, to make it easier to drive off at the other side:
The departing ferry, and another arriving:
We made it onto this ferry, the Big Red Barge:
The cars are packed rather tightly:
Arriving at Saint John:
Driving off:
Why did the chicken cross the road? They’re all over the place:
Jenn got her National Park passport stamps:
Info in the visitor center:
Visitor center gift store:
Selfie:
The visitor center was undergoing some renovations:
Virgin Islands National Park sign:
Trunk Bay is one of the most popular parts of the park; we hoped to be able to stop here, but they have very limited parking, so we skipped it:
Maho Bay is another (too) popular beach:
But we were able to find parking at Francis Bay, a less popular but still very nice beach:
We had a picnic lunch on the beach:
Parts of the beach were a little rocky, but the sand was very soft:
Underwater photos:
Jenn swimming:
Video of fish:
Looking like a merman:
Continuing on, we visited the historic windmill of the Annaberg sugar plantation:
A turtle:
Goat:
Donkeys:
Lots of steep roads:
Back to the car ferry:
A nice swim, fascinating history, and great to visit one of the more difficult to reach national parks.
Video: five Texas campgrounds timelapse
A timelapse of a few days from five different campgrounds in Texas:
- Corpus Christi KOA Journey
- Lockhart State Park
- Thousand Trails Colorado River RV Campground
- Thousand Trails Lake Conroe RV & Camping Resort
- Lake Whitney State Park
Check out the Sinclair Trails blog for reviews of each.
Video: Lake Whitney, Texas to Dallas, Texas motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 101 miles from Lake Whitney, Texas to Dallas, Texas.
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.
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.)
Thousand Trails Colorado River RV Campground
We stayed at Thousand Trails Colorado River RV Campground in Columbus, Texas. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A fairly large Thousand Trails campground, with a nice new area.
Dates:
- Check in: 2023-01-11
- Check out: 2023-01-22
- 11 nights
- We were originally going to stay a week, but we extended it to simplify our travels
Weather:
- Mostly sunny, some fog, a little drizzle
- High temps ranging between 60-80°F, lows around 36-63°F
- Some wind, up to 28 MPH gusts
Noise:
- No road noise, occasional train noise
- Occasional neighbor noise
Site:
- #E81, pull-through, gravel
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked next to coach
- Fairly level
- Medium site: about 65 feet long by about 43 feet wide
- Picnic table
- Fire pit
- Grass
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 50 PSI water, fairly conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, not very conveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 94-106 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
- AT&T: 78-102 Mbps down, 18-23 Mbps up, 32 ms ping
- Verizon: 80 Mbps down, 22 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpster
- Pool
- Various planned activities
- Package delivery to office for $5 each
Our review on Campground Reviews:
New sites are worth it
We’ve stayed at several Thousand Trails campgrounds and they usually look like they need some TLC and updating. But not this one. They’ve built a nice new area with 50A pull-through sites and paved roads, which was very appreciated and worth the $3 premium fee. Our site in this area had a nice view of the fishing pond and a good walk to the river. We camped at Colorado River RV Campground in a Motorhome.
An interactive map of the RV park; our site was to the right of the big pond:
Campground map:
Being a Thousand Trials campground, we had to drive around looking for available sites, trying to find one we liked the look of. We really lucked out with our site, with a view of a pond, and a large grassy area in front:
We had a view of a pond (partially blocked by the next site). And nice sunsets:
Another sunset:
The pond from closer:
Colorado River:
I rode my bike around the campground:
An outdoor movie area:
Pecan trees:
Mini golf:
Cabins:
Swimming pool:
Closed sites, probably reserved for seasonal guests:
Someone had some sort of ladder thing:
Pond:
Bathrooms:
Jenn riding:
Some videos of riding around the campground:
Morning fog:
Stars:
The day before we left, the neighbor left, giving us a better view of the pond for a few hours, until someone else arrived:
Sunset:
Sunset and the pond out our window (and the new neighbor):
Thousand Trails campgrounds are often run down and cramped, and this one did have older sites like that, but the section we were in was very new and nice. It’s good to see them investing in improvements.
We’d definitely stay here again.
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.
Video: Corpus Christi, Texas to Lockhart, Texas motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 217 miles from Corpus Christi, Texas to Lockhart, Texas.
Video: San Antonio, Texas to Corpus Christi, Texas motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 163 miles from San Antonio, Texas to Corpus Christi, Texas.