See a summary of driving our Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome throughout 2022!
This combines all of the motorhome travel timelapses for 2022 into one video, at 20x the speed of the original timelapse videos.
2022 travel days
I thought it’d be interesting and useful to include a summary of travel days. Here are links to blog posts, and a sample picture of the view of each, so you can see how the landscape changed as we travelled in our coach.
You can see all of the travel-related blog posts via the travel category, with the earliest posts at the top, or the latest posts at the top.
Travel to Lake Havasu City, Arizona:
To Desert Hot Springs, California:
To Lake Mead, Boulder City, Nevada:
To Colorado Springs, Colorado:
To Truth or Consequences, New Mexico:
2022 travel route
Happy New Year! 🎉
As we begin 2023, let’s look back at our coach travel in 2022. You may also want to check out the 2021 travel summary.
For another perspective on our travels, check out the Coach Timelapses playlist on the YouTube channel, which will enable you to watch all or some subset of the driving timelapses. Kinda interesting seeing how my editing style has evolved (minimally) — the first several videos didn’t even have a soundtrack.
We bought our 2017 Tiffin Allegro Bus 40SP diesel pusher motorhome on September 2, 2021, and other than a few times when we’ve been out of it during servicing appointments, we’ve lived in it full-time since then.
When we bought the coach, it only had 5,161 miles on it. In 2021 we drove it about 2,300 miles. In 2022 we drove another 8,772 miles, so have driven it 11,072 miles on our adventures so far, for a grand total of 16,233 on the odometer.
One of our goals is to visit every state. In 2022 we stayed in 5 new states: Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, joining Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, California, and Arizona in 2021, for a total of 12. We actually went to all 12 in 2022, revisiting states we’d been to before. As we head back to our Pacific Northwest domicile each year, we’ll see a lot more of those states. Still lots more yet to visit!
Here’s a map of our coach travels and stays in 2022, via the excellent RV Life Trip Wizard website, using a variation of their maps that more clearly shows the state borders and color-coded time zones (did you know that a portion of Oregon is in the Mountain time zone?). The route starts south of Phoenix, Arizona, heads west to the California coast, back to Arizona, then heading north, doing a big serpentine loop though the states in a generally clockwise direction, ultimately ending the year in coastal Texas:
Another variation of the map, with more detail:
And finally, the route map with the travel in 2021 also displayed in different colors; our Yellowstone trip in brown, our 2021 coach travel in green, and our 2022 travel in blue:
Fascinating!
VIAIR tire inflation compressor
Another essential gadget I’ve had for quite some time is the VIAIR 450P air compressor, to inflate the tires on our coach.
I already had a tire inflator that plugged into a 110V outlet, which I’ve previously used for truck tires and other tires. But it can’t quite handle the maximum 130 PSI of the coach tires, plus is very noisy. (I inflate the front tires to 120 PSI.)
The VIAIR unit is much quieter, and automatically shuts off when not actively inflating.
Unlike the old one, this one connects to a 12V source like a car battery. I hook it up to the truck’s battery; the truck needs to be running while in use, to avoid draining the battery.
I keep it in the back of our truck, so we’ll be able to use it while driving the truck around if needed.
It comes in a handy bag, and includes two long coiled hoses, so I can leave the compressor by the truck, and reach all of the coach tires:
Here it is in use; it’s easy to inflate by pulling the trigger, and release to read the gauge to check the static pressure:
An essential tool.
Video: 2021 motorhome travel timelapses
I’ll soon be publishing a video showing all of our motorhome driving timelapses in 2022, so I thought I’d first publish one for 2021, to be complete. Or as complete as possible; I didn’t get a dashcam until about a month after we got the coach.
This video is 20x the speed of the original timelapse videos.
Grackles
We first saw grackle birds in Mexico, but they are quite common in Texas, too. In San Antonio, we encountered an area that was totally inundated with them. They are kinda cute, and make a very interesting noise, a bit like R2-D2… but this was a bit much.
San Antonio River Walk
We explored the main downtown part of the San Antonio River Walk.
But first, lunch at Margaritaville near the river:
A statue of Saint Anthony:
The river, with a glimpse of the Tower of the Americas:
The river walk:
We had a second lunch at a riverside Mexican restaurant:
They took some photos of us, gave this one free, and offered to sell others, but they weren’t great pics:
We decided to take a river boat tour, which was an interesting and entertaining experience:
A theater, with seating on one side and the stage across the river:
A nice downtown area.
The Alamo
We visited The Alamo while in San Antonio. It is a site of great significance in the history of Texas. It started as a mission in 1718, and is best known for the 1836 Battle of the Alamo.
Here’s a GIF of a series of relief maps, showing how it grew and changed over the years:
The courtyard in front of the Alamo church:
Statues:
The Alamo:
We took a guided tour, which was great to learn lots about the history:
We each had a device with an earpiece, so the guide could more easily talk to us:
Drawing of the mission:
A statue of a guy who lived in that house, and who defended the Alamo:
Monument:
James Butler Bonham and James Bowie:
Burke Trammel and David Crockett:
A cannon:
Heading inside the The Alamo church:
The church is just one part of the mission:
As part of a guided tour, we got to go into a room that isn’t open to the general public:
Army markings:
Exit:
Gift shop:
Back of The Alamo:
Courtyard:
Cannons:
Exhibits:
Decorations:
Reenactor:
Gift shop:
Statues:
Model:
Long barracks:
A last look at The Alamo:
San Antonio Zoo Lights
We visited San Antonio Zoo for their holiday lights.
We arrived before dark, so there were still some animals awake:
A carousel:
We had some dinner:
Then wandered around some more:
Some holiday lights coming on as the sun set:
A band:
Artwork:
It was a fairly small zoo, not particularly impressive. Notable for opening the first cageless exhibits in the US. Though it looks like much of it hasn’t been updated recently.
San Antonio Missions National Historical Park
We explored the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park.
We rode our bikes between the four missions, starting at Mission Concepcion in the north. Here’s the approximate route on an interactive map (we diverted from this a little; see the actual route in the video at the end):
Mission Concepcion:
Relief map:
This is still a functional church:
Riding on the river path:
Our next stop, Mission San Jose:
River:
Mission San Juan:
An art installation — Árbol de la Vida: Memorias y Voces de la Tierra:
Mission Espada:
Heading back along the river walk path:
Back at our truck:
Mission Concepcion:
A video of our riding route: