US Virgin Islands accommodations

While in the US Virgin Islands, we stayed at an Airbnb in the Point Pleasant Resort on Saint Thomas.

Here’s a map, with a marker for the resort where we stayed:

Jenn’s review of the Airbnb:

This was a fantastic place to stay during our trip to St. Thomas and Alan was a very gracious and responsive host. We wouldn’t hesitate to stay here again. We particularly enjoyed the gorgeous views right on the water and the easy walk to restaurants, which was just perfect after a day of sightseeing. Watching the pelicans dive for fish in the bay and the iguanas sunning themselves was wonderfully entertaining.

The Airbnb condo had a great view, above the water, and a short walk to restaurants, a swimming pool, and beaches:

Airbnb

Airbnb

Airbnb

A small but functional kitchen:

Kitchen

The bathroom:

Bathroom

A wraparound lanai:

Lanai

Lanai

Such a great view:

View

View

View

View

View

Rainbow:

Rainbow

Two or three iguanas sunned themselves in the tree below the lanai:

Iguana

Iguana

Iguanas

And it was fun to watch the pelicans diving for fish:

Pelican

They sometimes visited the tree to dry off, too:

Pelican

Pelican\

Pelican

Catamarans in the bay:

Catamarans

Catamaran

The nearby swimming pool:

Swimming pool

Swimming pool

The resort is gated, with a guard chicken:

Guard chicken

A rather steep driveway:

Steep driveway

Steep driveway

Steep driveway

Steep driveway

A nice place to stay; we’d definitely stay there again.

Travel days to US Virgin Islands

To celebrate Jenn’s big milestone birthday in February, we had a six-night vacation on the United States Virgin Islands of Saint Thomas and Saint John.

The USVI consists of three main islands (and a bunch of minor ones) in the Caribbean, east of Puerto Rico.

This post is about our travel from Dallas, Texas to Saint Thomas, USVI.

But first, after dropping off our coach at NIRVC (as in a recent blog post), we dropped off Paladin at a cat boarding place:

Cat boarding

His room:

Cat boarding

Checking out the play area:

Cat boarding

Even a fish tank to watch:

Cat boarding

Then we headed to a hotel near the airport for the night, since our flight was very early in the morning:

Hotel

Hotel

We left our truck at the hotel. The next morning, at 3 AM, we took a taxi to the Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) airport.

Here’s our plane:

Our plane

A map of our flight from DFW to CLT:

DFW to CLT

A plane selfie; we wore masks for the flights out, just in case:

David and Jenn

The plane needed to be de-iced before we could take off:

De-icing the plane

Dallas from the air:

Dallas

Dallas

Dallas

Sunrise above the clouds:

Sunrise

Charlotte, North Carolina:

Charlotte, North Carolina

Charlotte, North Carolina

Charlotte, North Carolina

A one hour connection, so we rushed to our next gate:

Charlotte, North Carolina

Rocking chairs in the terminal:

Charlotte, North Carolina

A map of our second flight, from CLT to STT:

CLT to STT

Boarding the plane:

Boarding plane

Takeoff:

Take off

Several other passengers were masked, but many were not; it’s no longer required:

Passengers

USVI:

USVI

USVI

Arrival:

Arrival

We were picked up by our rental car, and taken to their office; we booked a Jeep to handle the hilly terrain on the islands:

Rental car

Driving through downtown Saint Thomas; notice that they drive on the left side of the road on the islands, though the cars are US ones, with the steering wheel on the left; that took a bit of getting used to:

Downtown Saint Thomas

Downtown Saint Thomas

Downtown Saint Thomas

Downtown Saint Thomas

We stopped for some groceries on the way to our accommodations — and notice the chickens; there were free-range chickens all over the islands:

Groceries and chickens

Next time, a post about our accommodations.

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

Whitney, Texas

Whitney, Texas

Rain

A fancy courthouse in Hillsboro, Texas:

Hillsboro, Texas

Hillsboro, Texas

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

Lunch stop

Lunch stop

Lunch stop

Lots of trucks on the rainy freeway:

Trucks

Dallas, Texas:

Dallas, Texas

Dallas, Texas

Dallas, Texas

Dallas, Texas

Dallas, Texas

Dallas, Texas

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

Dallas, Texas

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.

Replaced carbon monoxide detector

RVs all come with a carbon monoxide detector, sometimes called a propane detector. Our coach is all-electric, so doesn’t have any propane on board, but such a detector is still useful.

These detectors are usually rated for 60 months from sale, which is five years. Our 2017 Tiffin Allegro Bus 40SP is six years old, so it wasn’t surprising that the detector in our bedroom recently started to give an end-of-life beep and light flash… at 2 in the morning, of course.

So it was time to replace it.

I ordered another model from Amazon, not doing a very good job of checking for suitability; I hadn’t noticed that the original unit is flush mounted, so a surface mount wouldn’t work (especially being a little smaller, so wouldn’t cover the hole in the wall).

So then I did what I probably should have done, and ordered a replacement of the same model as original from the Tiffin Parts Store, part number 5060082.

Here’s the old carbon monoxide detector:

Old carbon monoxide detector

Unscrewed from the wall:

Unscrewed from wall

It has the manufacture date stamped on the back:

Manufacture date

The new detector from Tiffin:

New detector

It was manufactured in November:

New detector

Some tools to replace it; I got out both the wire caps and heat shrink connectors:

New detector and tools

I decided to use the heat shrink connectors; here they are connected and crimped:

Wires connected

And using the heat gun to shrink them:

Heat gun

All done:

Replaced detector

The light was blinking when I first connected it, which confused me as not one of the listed statuses, but it was just a startup sequence; after a few minutes it was a steady green. I pressed the button to test it, and all was well. Done!

Lake Whitney State Park

We stayed at Lake Whitney State Park in Whitney, Texas. (Campground Reviews listing.)

We enjoy stake parks, and this was another nice one.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2023-02-03
  • Check out: 2023-02-08
  • 5 nights

Weather:

  • Some sunny days, a little drizzle
  • High temps ranging between 52-70°F, lows around 31-52°F
  • Some wind, up to 26 MPH gusts

Noise:

  • No road noise or train noise
  • No neighbor noise

Site:

  • #17, pull-through, asphalt
  • Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked beind coach
  • Fairly level
  • Large site: about 80 feet long by about 80 feet wide
  • Picnic table
  • Fire pit
  • Grass & trees

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, inconveniently located
  • 70 PSI water, inconveniently located
  • Loose sewer connection, inconveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 12-28 Mbps down, 8 Mbps up, 1,000 ms ping
  • AT&T: 4 Mbps down, 0.5 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
  • Verizon: 38-48 Mbps down, 6 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
  • Starlink: not used
  • Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

  • Garbage dumpster

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Peaceful state park

We stayed for five nights in the horseshoe full hookup campground and really liked it. We were originally going to stay longer but adjusted our travel plans to avoid the ice storm that blew through the area in February. Stupid storm, I would have loved to stay here longer. Our site was a decent size pull-through with plenty of room for our 40′ motorhome and tow vehicle. The width of the site was incredibly large with a fire ring and concrete picnic table all nestled under mature trees with a view across a large grassland area. We camped at Lake Whitney State Park in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: About an hour’s drive to Waco to visit the Dr Pepper Museum and Waco Mammoth National Monument, both worth the trip.

An interactive map of the park:

The map; our site was in the Horseshoe Camping Loop in the lower-right corner of this map:

Map

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

The utilities were not very conveniently located, at the front of site:

Utilities

The sewer was unthreaded, but someone had helpfully left a bungee there, which I used to secure the pipe:

Bungee

A look at the utilities from the rear; the power cord was pretty much fully unwound:

Utilities

Unwound power reel; unusual to need the full length of the cord:

Power reel

Camp hosts cleaning the neighboring site:

Cleaning site

Other sites:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

I flew my drone to capture some aerial shots of our coach, site, the park, and the lake:

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

Aerial

We’d be happy to stay here again.