BB, Henri and Me

For our 2nd full year of RV'ing, we saw some beautiful country, met some wonderful new friends, put the coach into the shop for repairs several times, and put a few more miles on the motorhome. During our 2nd year, we spent time at 33 RV parks, all largely within Central and Western U.S.

Here's a summary of our 2nd year's travels. (Links take you directly to the park's web site.)

December, 2014:

Big Oak River Camp: Camp Wood, TX

This park is on SH55 between Uvalde and my home town of Camp Wood, Texas, and id located on the beautiful Nueces River.

This is a nice park for big rigs, and we pretty much had the park to ourselves during our short stay, visiting Aunt Reba and family, before we head west for our Winter home in Arizona.

Hilltop RV Park - Fort Stockston, TX

This park is one of our normal 1-night stays while heading west. Conveniently located right off of Interstate 10, the managers normally reserve the back pull-through rows for overnighters like us.

The all gravel sites can get a little dusty in the frequent West Texas winds, but a perfectly good overnight stay location.

Hacienda RV & Rally Resort - Las Cruces, NM

Another good park for big rigs, convenient to IH-10, and near old-town Mesilla NM which has some interesting history and nice restaurants.

This park has paved roads with wide, graveled pull-through sites designed for ease of big rig movement. A nice dog park was a bonus to Henri.

Winter Home - December 6, 2014 through April 6, 2015

Tombstone Territories RV Park - Huachuca City, AZ

TTRV Clubhouse at Sunset

This was the 2nd Winter spent at this great park in southeast Arizona.

Dragoon Mountains

Winters are normally mild in this part of the world, and there are plenty of "sky islands" made up of the Huachuca mountains, Whetstone mountains, Dragoon mountains, and the mule mountains to look at, as well as remarkably beautiful sunsets and (although I rarely see these), sunrises.

Morning clouds over the Whetstones

This park is near Sierra Vista, AZ which has all the typical shopping and restraints you might need, is near Ft Huachuca, Tucson, Benson and Bisbee.

Henri says "let's go!'

The park is well designed, with all pull-through, gravel sites, and paved roads.

There are excellent hiking and dog walking areas adjacent and near the park.

Bob, Tom and Helen

The park staff does a nice job of scheduling activities for their mostly Winter visitors including the ubiquitous pot lucks, but also music jams.

One of the great features of SE Arizons is the ability to take advantage of the numerous hiking trails, jeep and ATV roads and recreational opportunities existing on the public lands managed by the US Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and other federal and state agencies. Here are some photos of our Jeep rides:

International Border Fence from Montezuma's Pass

Cholla and Saguaro on the way to Tucson

Dragoon Mountains

Old Adobe Structure

One of the remarkable features of SE Arizona is the beauty of the light and clouds, particularly at sunset. Here are some typical pictures of the Arizona sky:

Sunset on the Dragoons

TTRV Clubhouse

There are numerous music jams that BB and I are fortunate to participate in. At last count, we participated in several jams; Quail Ridge in Huachuca City, San Pedro RV in Benson, and two private jams in the Sierra Vista area. Jams are great fun. Differing styles, talent levels and instruments, but everyone is there to have a good time.

Many of the folks who come from all over the U.S. to SE Arizona come because there are excellent All-Terrain-Vehicle (ATV) trails. Here are some pics of the ATV group:

Bill and Rolly in Linn's ATV

Rolly & Linn

Pooches love ATV's

Lions and Tigers and SNAKES - Oh My! One of the interesting trips BB and I made was to go to a local 'snake farm". Not particularly liking snakes, BB chose to guard the Jeep out in the yard while we went in to inspect the reptiles.

Why are they Laughing?

Rolly

Jack

If you are into snakes and other critters, this is the place!

We enjoyed our stay in SE Arizona, and look forward to going back to familiar friends and places next year. Henri agrees!

In early April, we departed TTRV to head north to Phoenix to get the annual service on the rig, then see the Grand Canyon before heading west through California into Oregon where our Son Kelly and his beautiful family live.

April 6, 2015 through April 28, 2015:

Gold Canyon RV and Golf Resort - Gold Canyon, AZ

Like many RV Parks in the Phoenix AZ area, this park is huge, and home to thousands of "winter Arizonans". While having maintenance done on your home is never a wonderful experience, this park was certainly OK for the short time we were there. We even rented a "park model" while our rig was in the shop overnight, and awaiting parts.

After Phoenix, we just had to see the Grand Canyon!

Grand Canyon Railway RV Park - Williams, AZ:

This is a nice park and convenient for a Jeep trip to see the magnificent Grand Canyon. You can also catch a train to tour the park from this location as well.

What can you say about the Grand Canyon that hasn't already been said? Absolutely stunning! BB and I left Henri snoozing and made a pre-dawn run up to the South Rim. Here are just a few shots of the Canyon:

It was Cold!

While in the Grand Canyon area, we toured the Sedona, AZ area.

After the Grand Canyon we headed quickly through California toward Oregon, Kelly, Tammy and Devon.

Bear Mountain RV Resort - Bakersfield CA. This is an OK park for an overnight stay. A little difficult to find, but OK for a big rig. From Bakersville, we spent a couple of nights at

Redding RV Park - Redding, CA. This park is difficult to get into with a 43' rig. The site is hilly, but the roads are paved. The park has very narrow sites as my awning reached the adjacent site pavementedge (10' pavement to pavement). After Redding, we arrived at one of our favorite RV parks in Oregon:

Seven Feathers RV Park - Canyonville, OR

This is one of our favorite parks! Beautifully designed, meticulously maintained and outstanding amenities. What's not to like.

From Canyonville, we moved to North Bend, Oregon where we checked into the

Mill Casino RV Park - North Bend, OR

This is a well designed park with paved roads and sites, overlooking Coos Bay. This is a very nice, in-town RV park and one we use often when visiting Kelly, Tammy and Devon.

Site Overlooks Coos Bay

The Oregon coast is stunning! While in North Bend, we always take the opportunity to see the beautiful scenery along the Cape Arago highway.

Sunset Bay

Seals

Having some issues with the coach slide, we pulled up stakes and headed for Junction City, Oregon to have the RV dealer adjust the full-wall slide.

We spent a couple of days at

Deerwood RV Park - Eugene Oregon

This is a very nice, small park, suitable for big rigs although the turning radius on some of the paved roads within the park is tight, bit "doable" if you take it slowly. We have stayed here several times. While on the outskirts of Eugene, this park gives you a very rural, private feeling.

When time for the repairs, we took the rig up to the RV dealer where we bought the coach in Junction City, OR. We stayed in the "temporary lot" of Guarantee RV while the coach was being repaired. Interestingly while we were there, we found the Excel 5th wheel we had for our 1st year of travels, being made ready for a new owner. Weird coincidence.

Home at the Guarantee RV Storage Lot

Our old 5th Wheel

With the rig repaired, we went back Seven Feathers RV Resort in Canyonville for a few days, and then back to the coast to have a longer visit with Kelly, Tammy and Devon. For this stay we made our home at the

Oceanside Beach RV Park - Charleston OR

This park is a great park adjacent to Bastendorf Beach. The owners have upgraded the park to include a nice office, food court, cabins, yurts, tenting spaces and RV spaces. We were in a back-in site which was nicely private and spacious.

While there, we were able to celebrate Mothers Day with BB and with Tammy, and Tammy's birthday!

Happy Mother's Day Tammy and BB!

Happy Birthday Tammy!

Tammy, Kelly and Devon

While there, I convinced Kelly and Devon to help me track down some electrical components in the coach basement and they happily complied. Devon also got a Halloween mask that his Dad tried on.

Kelly & Devon

We also were happy to worship with the "kids" at Gloria Dei Lutheran.

We also toured the Southwestern Oregon Community College campus, where Kelly is a staff member in the IT department.

After our stay at in Charleston, OR, we moved onto another of our favorite parks in Oregon for an overnight stay, the Bend Sisters Garden RV Resort, Sisters Oregon. This is another beautiful, well-maintained park with excellent sites for RVs of all sizes, including big rigs. After one night, we headed into Idaho and Utah to find some new road.

Mountain Home RV Park - Mountain Home, ID

This is a nice park, part of the G7 collection of parks, with wide sites and concrete pads.

Ambassador RV Park - Caldwell ID

This is another of the G7 family of parks and another park well suited for big rigs. Wide sites, concrete patios and gravel sites.

We stayed here because while driving toward Utah, BB (thankfully) smelled an electrical fire! We were able to pull over into a rest area and on inspection, I found that the prongs on the shore power cable had come into contact with an electrical panel in the back of the shore power basement bin, and by the time I opened up the basement bay door, the compartment was filled with smoke. Somehow the contact with the electrical circuit had almost melted the entire shore power cable! Assuming I had basically fried the coach's electrical system, we immediately began calling around to RV shops to see if we could get it in for repairs.

Thankfully, Bish's RV Super Center in Nampa, ID, was able to get us in the next day! After running diagnostics on the coach, the only system which had been damaged had been the shore power cable itself. So, armed with a new shore power cable, and after purchasing another 50 amp surge suppressor, we were on the road again.

Thinking everything was great, we headed out again for Utah with blue skies and birds singing! We got just inside the Utah state line until I noticed the "CHECK ENGINE" light illuminated! Once again we start calling ahead for a Freightliner shop to get it fixed.

Our next stop was the Freightliner dealer in Provo, UT, where we cooled our wheels in "Camp Freightliner" (their back parking / storage lot) waiting for our turn in the technician's schedule. After a day or so, they were able to diagnose the issue, and order the part and get us back on the road again, skies not so blue, birds not singing quite so loud, late in the day, but on the road nevertheless. Our next stop was the next RV park we could find up the road:

Springville / Provo Utah KOA - - Springfield, UT

This is an older KOA, with a fair percentage of "full time" residents and in need of a little updating and maintenance.

We had promised our good friends David and Pat Johnson, whom we met originally at TTRV in Arizona, that we would join them in the high mountains of Alpine Arizona for the summer before we reported for our volunteer position in Socorro, NM. Since our repairs had put us considerably behind schedule, we elected to leave the Utah sights until next year, and headed for our next stop in

Zuni Village RV - Kingman, AZ

This is an older, in-town park which caters primarily to full-time residents, but has several spots for overnighters like us. An OK park for an overnight stay. I drove BB crazy singing the Eagles song about "standing on the corner in Kingman Arizona." I never have figured out if the lyrics are "It's a girl, my Lord, in a _________Ford." Is it "flathead" or "flatbed"?

May 22, 2015 through June 14, 2015

From Kingman, we drove over to visit the Johnson's in Alpine Arizona at the

Coronado Trail RV Park - Alpine AZ

This is a beautiful small park in the 9,000' elevation and cool pines of Eastern Arizona. The hosts Sherri and Paul are great and while the park is not specifically suited for big rigs, there are nice spots for big rigs in the park.

David and Pat are the best tour guides of Arizona we know! While we were in Alpine area, we took turns driving our Jeep or their car out into the "woods" to see the sights. This is a beautiful part of Arizona and while a recent fire has changed the look of much of the area, it's still a beautiful place.

We also met some great new friends, Jeff and Judy from Tombstone AZ, and Charlie and Pat who routinely lead ATV rides in the Sierra Vista, TTRV area.

David, Pat and BB

David and Pat Johnson

Claret Cup Cactus Blooms

Bighorn Sheep

The grave of poor Oscar Schultz has an interesting story

Charlie & Pat, Jeff & Judy, David and Pat and us on a ride

An ATV Staff Meeting (Potty stop?)

L-R: Pat, BB, Jeff, Judy, David, Charlie & Pat

We had wonderful time in Alpine with David and Pat and hated to leave, but BB and I had volunteered for a "landscape maintenance" volunteer position with the US Fish & Wildlife Service, at the Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, in Socorro, New Mexico, and our volunteer effort started on 6/15/15, so we said goodbye to our friends and headed for the high desert country of New Mexico.

June 14, 2015 through July 23, 2015

Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge - Socorro, New Mexico

"Bosque" means "woods" or "forest" in Spanish. The name arrived from the grove of Cottonwood trees along the Rio Grande River where the Apache indians were known to camp. This is an extensive wildlife preserve which is primarily for migrating waterfowl, particularly Sandhill Cranes.

The preserve, visitor center and the tour loops are well worth your time if you are in the Socorro - San Antonio NM area.

The Visitor Center

Egrets nesting at Sundown

Bosque Sculpture Garden

Beautiful Western Skies

One other item we had to get used to was Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes! There were several, and we found one coiled up just outside our rig. Not cool, especially when I take Henri out for his morning run and he loves to sniff around the fourwing saltbush.

While not an "RV Park" per say, Bosque does have a fairly extensive RV park for volunteers. Being the Summer and the "monsoon" season, we tried as best we could to acclimate to the heat and the mosquitos.

BB and I volunteered to perform "landscape maintenance" in and around the visitor center. Due to the lack of maintenance personnel in the past, and given the heavy rains that New Mexico had been experiencing in the past months, the native growth needed some significant care (care = pruning / hauling / disposing.) This was during the heat of the New Mexico Summer and it was a great exercise plan!

Before

BB gets Started

Progress

Finished

While we were working at the Bosque NWR, we met Shelly, Blake, Lydia and Grant for a long weekend in Ruidoso, NM. For our trip, we stayed at

Rainbow lake Cabins & RV Resort - Ruidoso, NM

This is an older park in town, and has a few spaces available for big rigs. They have cabins as well which worked well for us as the Hewetts stayed in the cabin near our rig.

Lydia & Grant Claim the Cabin's Loft

L-R: Lydia, Shelly, Blake and Grant Hewett

While in Socorro, we also took a weekend off from our volunteer job to take the rig over to Mayhill NM. This is a very nice park and we were fortunate to secure a site near the creek with a nice lawn at the

Deerspring RV Park - Mayhill, NM

Another side trip we took while in Socorro was to visit the Very Large Array. This is an impressive chain of huge radio antennas on the Plains of San Agustin, approximately 50 miles West of Socorro.

While at Socorro, we also took a long weekend to travel to Silver City, NM to see the sights there. In Silver City, we stayed at

Rose Valley RV Park - Silver City NM

This is a very nice park with pull-throughs well suited for big rigs.

While in Silver City, we had to look at the Chino Mine, an absolutely enormous open-pit copper mining complex.

The "Kneeling Nun" Formation

July 23, 2015 to August 2, 2015

American RV - Albuquerque, NM

After our volunteer tour in Socorro, NM, we headed back to Albuquerque, NM to schedule more repair work on the coach. This is a nice, large park, with a fair amount of long-term residents, but with a newer section ideal for transients and big rigs. Roads are paved and the newer sites have concrete pads.

August 2, 2015 to August 10, 2015

While we were in Albuquerque, we received the sad news that a family member, Wayne Southard, had passed away in San Antonio, so we packed up the rig and headed for Texas. We stopped in Fort Stockton at our normal overnight stay at the Hilltop RV Park, then drove onto Admiralty RV in San Antonio for the services.

Admiralty RV is an OK RV park, in-town, and very close to Sea World. It is an older park which seems to me to be "fraying" at the edges. Some of the premium sites offer grass yards and privacy, but the remainder of the sites, while containing concrete pads, are tight and rather uninviting.

Unfortunately on our way down to San Antonio, while driving through the "oil country" around Pecos, TX, an oil field rig through a rock into the windshield of the coach, and the crack was much too large to repair and required a new windshield. So we started the process with our insurance company and after the services, headed back to New Mexico.

Elephant Butte Lake RV Resort - Elephant Butte, NM

This resort is well adapted to big rigs and is well maintained, with paved drives and concrete pads. While here, we were able to tour Elephant Butte Lake and the surrounding area.

Can You See the Elephant Head?

While in the area we found a nice morning bakery in Truth or Consequences, NM that we visited several times.

It had interesting art on the walls, and each time I ordered anything, I felt that Pat Summit disapproved of my breakfast choice.

So now it was back to Albuquerque to have more work done on the bedroom slide of the coach, as the parts had arrived at the RV dealer in Albuquerque.

One of the unfortunate facts of living in an RV full-time, is that when your home is being repaired, you have to vacate your home, and become truly homeless, unless you consider the space within a small Jeep Wrangler a home. The RV dealer advised it could take several days to replace the slide mechanism, and re-adjust the full wall slide, so we left the RV with the Dealer and booked a stay at the Hyatt Regency Tamya Resort & Spa.

August 10 - August 14, 2015

View of the Superstition Mountains from our Room

This was a nice facility with all the nice amenities you could ask for including spas, golf, swimming, horseback riding, dining, etc.

One of the things that I did while were were here was to book a ride on a hot air balloon.

Albuquerque is known for its hot air balloon festival which draws hundreds of balloons and thousands of visitors to the city each year. We were originally scheduled to attend the festival but we chickened out due to the anticipated crowds.

BB chose not to accompany me on the ride, but talked me into it. It was a nice experience and we lifted off, drifted over Albuquerque and landed in a drainage ditch next to an elementary school, in one piece!

After the Hyatt, and still waiting on the RV windshield to be delivered to Albuquerque, we decided to spend some time in Taos, New Mexico.

August 14, 2015 to September 1, 2015

Taos Valley RV Park - Taos, NM

Taos is a beautiful area and a cool town, and is becoming one of our favorite places. It's big enough to have the amenities you need, yet small enough to retain a quaint atmosphere. The RV park is an older one, but with friendly staff, and sites suitable for big rigs. We were in an "end" site which provided some additional room and privacy on the passenger side of the coach.

The weather was delightful and we toured the Taos area and saw many of the beautiful sights.

Pull Thru Slots in Taos

Rio Grande Gorge

After Taos, we headed for Red River, New Mexico, to see some old friends who lived in Georgetown TX while our kids were in high school, and to attend the Red River Bluegrass Festival.

September 1, 2015 to October , 2015

Road Runner RV Resort - Red River, NM

This is a large RV park with gravel / grass sites, some along the river. We were in the upper area of "adult only" sites which offered a great view and was a wide and private site.

While in Red River, we contacted with Mike Owens, our friend from years past, who was also the chair of the Red River Bluegrass Festival. Mike and his wife Georgia have lived in Red River for several years now, have built a beautiful home along the edge of the Carson National Forest, and are highly involved in civic and church activities in the area.

Red River, Angel Fire and Eagle Nest is a beautiful part of New Mexico and we enjoyed riding around and enjoying the scenery and the color of the Aspens.

Goose Lake

Sometimes the Road Turns into a Creek

Aspens

Red River Ski Area

Great Sand Dunes National Park

The bluegrass festival was outstanding, with excellent bands, and held in the Red River Community House which was a great venue for this activity.

Mike Giving Instructions to the Crowd

October 1, 2015 to October 15, 2015

Wolf Creek Run Motor Coach Resort - Pagosa Springs CO

For our first foray into Colorado, we happened upon this RV park and decided to try it out for a couple of weeks. We likely would have stayed longer but this park, like many parks in Colorado, closes in preparation for Winter. This is a Class A (motorcoach) facility only, and is beautifully designed with concrete driveways, concrete pads, and a private cabana at each site. The owners, Ted and Diana are great and they host numerous activities including "Hi-Howdy Socials" and 'Spam Breakfasts!' I remembered that it had been way too long since I had fried Spam for breakfast!

Pavillon along the River

Site #11

Back Deck at the Office

Pagosa springs is a beautiful area with lots of places to go and see in the area. We'll likely spend a lot of time in the future exploring Colorado. We left Pagosa Springs on 10/15/15 and headed back to Albuquerque to have our RV windshield replaced finally.

Here are some pics of the beauty in the Pagosa Springs area that we saw while there:

Creed CO

Henri Says - "Lets go over There!"

Now, we should return to the windshield saga. We originally asked for the new windshield to be shipped from the factory in Iowa to a glass company in Albuquerque to be installed.

The windshield on our coach is a one-piece windshield, and is basically the size of the side of a small barn.

The first time the windshield was shipped from Iowa to Albuquerque, it arrived in more than one piece; it arrived in hundreds of pieces! So they shipped it back and ordered another windshield. The second windshield arrived, but again, not in one piece. So they shipped it back again and ordered another. You can imagine the delay each time the glass arrived broken, was sent back and a new one shipped. That's why we cooled our heels in Red River and then in Pagosa Springs during the delays.

However, the third time was the charm, as they changed shippers (duh!) and the 3rd windshield arrived at the glass shop in Albuquerque in one piece.

October 15, 2015 to October 18, 2015

In Albuquerque we stayed at the

High Desert RV Park - Albuquerque NM,

which is right off I-40 and near the American RV park we have used in the past.

We moved the coach to the glass installer's shop, and took a day ride in the Jeep while the work was being done, then picked up the coach, went back to High Desert, and made plans for heading to Texas for the holidays.

This is a decent park with gravel roads and sites and is perfectly acceptable for overnight stays.

October 18, 2015 to December 26, 2015

After Albuquerque, we made an overnight stop in Lamesa TX on our way to Kerrville at the

La Vedera RV Park - Lamesa TX

This park is a decent overnight stop and one with sites suitable for big rigs. You go into the convenience store in the front and sign up for the park. Then you go find a spot that you like. Pretty informal.

From Lamesa, we headed for Kerrville, TX where we will spend the part of the 2015 holiday season and visit family and friends in the Austin / San Antonio / Bastrop area. In Kerrville, we stayed at the

Buckhorn Lake RV Resort - Kerrville TX.

This is a beautiful facility, and one of the best big-rig parks we have found. This facility is well designed, suitable for any size of rig and complete with pools, whirlpool, workout rooms, and plenty of activities. The site hosts numerous "RV Rallys" so there are normally lots of groups coming and going. The facility also has a section of "casitas", brick-and-stick homes with an RV pad as well for those who want a combination of both.

After Kerrville, we moved over to

Bastrop State Park - Bastrop, TX

to be closer to Shelly, Blake, Lydia and Grant Hewett. The 2011 Bastrop Complex Fire is still visible in the area, as it will likely be visible for decades. However after 4 years, there are an amazing number of volunteer Loblolly Pines growing in the burned forest, and the TPWD has planted over 1 million Loblolly Pine seedlings. Eventually, the park will be whole once again.

During this stay we were placed in the Copperas Creek Campground, originally in site #78. This site was very difficult to exit due to trees and restrictions, so we moved to site #74 which worked great for our big rig and permitted a simple exit.

The fire came into the Copperas Creek Campground, but (according to one of the Rangers) had been cleaned of undergrowth before the 2011 fire, so the fire didn't destroy all the mature Pines in the campground. We actually enjoyed this campground more than the Piney Hill Campground which, although having pull-through sites suitable for big rigs, is less visually damaged from the 2011 fire. We also met some great camp hosts, Curt and Karen. These folks are from Wisconsin and will join us for a month or so in Tombstone Territories, our next major stop for the remainder of the Winter.

CCC Pavilion Built in 1930's

December 26, 2015 to December 31, 2015

To finish out this great year, BB, Henri and Me moved over to Fredericksburg, TX and stayed at a nice, in-town RV park..

Fredericksburg RV Park - Fredericksburg, TX

which has nice pull-through gravel sites and is convenient to all the shopping available in this Hill Country town.

We'll visit family and friends one more time during the remainder of the year before heading West for Arizona in the New Year.