South of Junction, Texas is the South Llano River State Park. We’ve got a Texas State Parks pass… so when driving around town, we decided to check it out:
Info sign:
The visitor center:
An electric & water-only campground (a bit too small for us, though we might have fit in some sites):
A major feature of the park is a wildlife refuge, including a turkey roosting area, where wild turkeys roost in the pecan trees overnight:
We didn’t see any turkeys, though did see one of the small deer:
At a river access point, an interesting idea: a box of trash bags:
The Pecan Valley RV Park is about 8 miles (12 minutes) west of Junction, Texas, the nearest city.
I thought that it might be interesting to post about towns we explore, in addition to travel days, RV parks, and attractions (please do let me know if this is actually interesting!).
So here are a selection of photos of Junction from a few visits there:
The Post Office:
The grocery store:
Grocery store:
A roadside attraction, the Deer Horn Tree, made of hundreds of deer antlers, in front of a processing shop:
We stayed for a week and wish it had been longer. This park (and I do mean park) was so tranquil and relaxing but also convenient on/off the Interstate and close to town for groceries, etc. When we pulled in, we were met by the owners, who guided us to our site. All the sites look out over a large grassy area and are nicely spaced, so there’s a good feeling of openness. We also had a good view of one of the chicken coops and really enjoyed watching the hens throughout our stay (and giving them treats). There is a nice farm store by the main chicken coop and goat pen where you can buy goodies and swag, plus the owners or camp hosts will bring farm-fresh eggs to you on request ($5/doz). You can also wander down to the river for swimming, fishing, or just relaxing with the resident ducks. We will definitely stay here again when we pass through the area. We camped at Pecan Valley RV Park in a Motorhome.
An interactive map of the RV park; our spot was to the right of the “Space #18” marker:
This RV park is delightful in part due to its free-range chickens — not so great if you’re afraid of the tiny raptors, but we enjoy them, and miss them from our former homestead. Here are several chickens at our site:
The utilities were fairly convenient:
We also got around to adding the Big Bend National Park sticker to our coach, the last new park for several months:
More pictures of chickens at our site:
We gave them some leftover rice as a treat (the owners invite people to give treats); here’s a video of chickens eating the rice:
And a slow-mo video of chickens eating rice:
They liked to hang out on our mat (yes, I had to clean off a little poop when we left; not a big deal):
The RV park also has some goats:
And a few ducks down at the adjacent river:
They also feed the wild deer daily; the deer are smaller than we’re used to:
And there are squirrels living in the trees; here’s a video of lots of them scampering:
They have a raised bed garden near the river (currently dormant, being winter):
And an unstaffed “general store” where people can go in and choose items to buy, purchasing by writing the selected items on a pad of paper:
Well, the store is staffed by chickens, but I’m not sure they count:
Inside:
The store list:
We bought some cookies, candied pecans, and a tea towel:
They also sell freshly laid eggs; we bought a couple dozen:
An RV park sign:
The “chick-in” point:
When we arrived, we received info on items for purchase etc, and a free sample of candied pecans:
Art and a garden:
The RV park was fairly sparsely populated at this time of year. Here are some other RVs and the bathroom:
Near our site was a mobile chicken coop; here it’s being opened in the morning:
Chickens emerging:
Peeking in the pop door of the coop:
Roosting bars:
Nesting boxes:
More rice treats for chickens:
Paladin watching the chickens:
A forward-and-back GIF of chickens; I love how they run:
Eating GIFs:
Let’s finish with a couple more pictures of our site:
A delightful park; we’ve really enjoyed having the chickens and other animals around. We’ll definitely stay here again.
We drove our coach 269 miles, about five hours of driving, from Marathon, Texas to Junction, Texas.
The map route, heading north then east:
Firstly, a video of retracting the front driver-side slide-out:
Our coach with the slides in, and the truck hooked up, ready to leave:
Paladin went straight down the steps, so I left the step cover open:
Some fairly barren hills; compare to later pictures:
Heading north:
Roadworks; narrow lanes are a little disconcerting in a wide coach:
More roadworks:
Joining I-10 to head east:
Roadrunner mural:
“Cud you not text and drive?” There were several amusing cow-themed billboards like this:
Paladin still on the steps, enjoying the view out the cat window:
We stopped at a roadside picnic area for lunch:
Since the step cover was open, I hopped out to stretch my legs. Here’s an old stagecoach stop:
Our coach:
Paladin on the back of the couch during lunch:
An interesting mountain:
We stopped again, at a parking area (there are various kinds of stopping places: a rest stop has bathrooms, a picnic area has tables but no bathrooms, and a parking area doesn’t have any amenities… which is fine for us, being self-contained):
Our coach:
Road Ranger fuel stop:
There was both the Road Ranger truck stop and a Love’s fairly nearby; we would normally have gone for the Love’s, but the Open Roads app indicated that Road Ranger had a much better discounted fuel price:
A river, and a lot more greenery; we’re out of the desert now:
Our exit:
Our destination, Pecan Valley RV Park and Farm, nestled behind a pecan tree farm:
Chick-in:
Guided to our site by the owners:
I started this post with a picture of our coach ready to leave; let’s end with our coach just arrived, before putting the slides out:
Fire safety is an important consideration for everyone, especially RVers, with lots of combustible materials in a small space. There have been lots of stories of RVs that have burned to the ground — usually cheaper trailers with propane fridges, but any RV is at risk.
Especially since RVs typically come with just one mandated fire extinguisher, by the door (which I invert and shake once a month, to prevent the contents settling):
If we’re in our bedroom when a fire starts, that extinguisher may not be overly useful — if we can get to that one by the door, we should probably just get out the door, unless the fire is tiny.
So a basic first step is to get a second fire extinguisher for the bedroom, which we keep in a cabinet above the bed:
But we can do better than that. We have purchased several quick can-style fire suppressors, which not only can put out fires, they produce a foam that we can spray onto ourselves if we have to go through flames to get out:
We have several of them all around the coach, including in a cupboard in the kitchen and under the kitchen sink:
In the bathroom cabinet:
And in several compartments in the basement area:
The coach came with a smoke detector in the cockpit area, but we felt that wasn’t enough, so we got some smart Nest Protect ones, that do both smoke and carbon monoxide detection, and talk to each other:
I mounted one in the living room area, and another in the bedroom:
Plus a third in the basement, to detect any fires down there:
The Nest detectors weren’t compatible with our Wi-Fi network, so I also got a Nest Wi-Fi router to help set them up (once set up, they communicate with a private network, so they’re not dependent on Wi-Fi):
The Nest router is installed in the internet cupboard, with an Ethernet connection to the Pepwave modem:
Our coach only has one entrance door. If we’re in the bedroom and a fire blocks access to that door, there is an emergency exit in the bedroom window; the red latches can be opened to swing the whole window up:
It’s a fairly small emergency exit, but better than being stuck back there. To make it easier to use, I got a pole that lives next to the window:
The pole can be used to hold the emergency exit open, for easier egress:
Hopefully we’ll never need to use it, but it should help if needed.
We spent a day visiting Big Bend National Park in Texas, our last national park for the year, and our last new one until we visit Death Valley in March.
An interactive map of our route:
Entrance sign:
Persimmon Gap Visitor Center near the northern entrance:
We asked the ranger about picnic spots; he told us about a secret picnic spot that isn’t normally mentioned, since they don’t maintain it; a couple of shelters, but just one table. So we had a picnic lunch there:
Hazy mountains and views:
Panther Junction Visitor Center, which includes a post office:
You know I enjoy relief maps:
Gift store:
There’s even a gas station, very unusual for a national park:
In addition to the little star party at our RV park, we also attended a larger star party at McDonald Observatory in the mountains north of Fort Davis, Texas.
It was a little cloudy, and the moon was about halfway, neither of which made for ideal viewing, but it was fine for viewing bright objects like the moon and planets.
The evening started with an introduction and constellation tour in an outdoor amphitheater:
Then everyone lined up to view selected targets via some telescopes, including the moon, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn:
We then headed to the visitor center, and looked at their exhibits:
And of course the gift store (though shockingly didn’t buy anything):
Back outside:
A different experience than the campground star party; not as personal, more waiting, but more clear views through the telescopes. I’m glad we did both.
