Introduction: We had a wonderful travel year in 2016 ranging from Texas, New Mexico and Utah northward to Montana then back to North Carolina and all the places in-between. There was also a short stop at the VanLeigh factory for some adjustments to our trailer. It would be hard to pick just one favorite place but we really loved the Santa Fe, New Mexico area, the major parks of Utah and then for me all of Idaho and Montana…at least all that we saw. As I said…a Wonderful Year!
Did we leave room for another travel loop on the outside of this years…perhaps in the future?
Below you will find:
- a map of our travel;
- a list of our stays as well as our general impression of the parks/places; and
- miscellaneous photographs made during the year.
| Date | Stop Location | Tvl_Miles: 6593 | Rating/Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016/01/01 | Thousand Trails Colorado River RV Park, Columbus, TX | 0 | See last entry of 2015 travel log for review. |
| 2016/01/10 | Llano Grande Lake Park Resort and Country Club, Mercedes, TX | 312 |  - A very large RV and Park Model Resort catering to "Winter Texans" and long term retired residents. The North Section, where we stayed in site#202, is very modern and spacious and includes a mix of Park Model homes, Class A's, 5th Wheels and larger Travel Trailers. All north sites are concrete pads and the access roads are wide and well paved. Lots of palm trees and landscaping -- beautiful and impressive. There are about every amenity you can think of and perhaps the best and largest on-site dog park we've seen with a large pond and walking path. Most of the guests are there for the winter and return each year. Lots of Canadians winter here as well. |
| 2015/01/17 | Lagoons RV Resort, Rockport, TX | 185 |  - A busy and crowded long-term snowbird RV Resort. We had to back into our pull-through site (#301) because of the narrow streets, trees and sharp turn-in angle. We were near the office at the entrance/exit and there was almost continuous traffic in and out of the park all day. Perhaps back in the park would be better. While not great it may be one of the better ones in the area. |
| 2015/01/24 | Lake Falling Star RV Resort, Dale, TX | 160 | - A wonderful appointment only park catering to winter/long term campers. It is a small close knit park that is family owned. The owners are wonderful people. There is a liberal dog policy which allow well behaved dogs to be off lease as long as their owners are responsible. There is a beautiful small lake just below the park and places to walk. Decent WIFI and good amenities. Would definitely stay again. |
| 2016/02/24 | Junction North Llano River RV Park, Junction, TX | 188 | A small park located on the North Llano River just far enough off I-10 so the road noise is not a problem. Some of the sites are a little tight but they are level and the park is well maintained. There is a small dog park and other locations to walk a dog -- South Llano River State Park is only about 7 miles and has many miles of trails for hiking. WIFI was only OK...at times coming to a standstill. Good hook-ups. Good park for a over-nighter on I-10. |
| 2016/02/26 | Fort Stockton RV Park, Fort Stockton, TX | 193 | Another park with easy access to I-10. Gravel, level but fairly short sites, decent hook-up, good WIFI. A lot of long term pipeline workings on the east end of the park. There is a fairly good size fenced dog park but there are some very large dogs of breeds not normally allowed in parks. There are also a number of cats roaming the park freely. During late winter this site fills and empties each day from RV travelers on I-10. Decent location for a nightly travel stop. |
| 2016/02/28 | Southern Star RV Park, Van Horn, TX | 126 | A small dirt, dust, gravel RV Park just off I-10 and in the small town of Van Horn. A pipeline project this year has filled many of the park sites with workers but there are some sites reserved for travelers. The park has minimum facilities but the basics seem to all work. A small dog park but no decent place to walk a larger dog. It's an acceptable stop-over, if traveling through. Road noise wasn't bad. |
| 2016/03/01 | Boot Hill RV Resort, Alamogordo, NM | 212 | A well laid out gravel RV park in a great location for visiting White Sands. Amenities are good. Road noise from Hwy 54 can be rather loud but by the second night we had grown become accustomed to it. Not much of a place to walk a larger dog. |
| 2016/03/06 | Santa Fe Skies RV Park, Santa Fe, NM | 226 | A nice park located on top of a hill with great view of the mountains surrounding Santa Fe, NM. Sites are large, all with concrete patios, and most are pull through with enough room to easily get in and out of. Full hookups work well and the amenities are nice. Coming to the park turning off of or crossing Hwy 14 you might wonder if your going the right way because it looks like your entering a housing area. The park has a nice dog park and there is a .75 mile walking trail around the outside of the park for exercising larger dogs. |
| 2016/03/10 | USA RV Park, Gallup, NM | 195 | No grass here only fine red pea gravel...which isn't all bad...it keeps the dust down. Easy pull-thru sites that share common connections so your driver side will be very close to another RV but you have more room on the other side which shares a common area. A dog park and some trails behind the park for walking a dog. It's a handy place to stop and convenient to some local sights. RV PARK REVIEWS |
| 2016/03/16 | Gouldings Monument Valley RV Park, Oljato-Monument Valley, UT | 221 | A visually striking and busy park with history and fairly tight/close sites. A few pull thru sites may be more like back out sites, as we had to do. Did I mention the dust...red powder dust. Great location for visiting great area sights. No dog park and not much of a place to walk a dog. RV PARK REVIEWS |
| 2016/03/23 | Zion West RV Park, Leeds, UT | 278 | First this park is in the great location of Leeds, UT, a small town just north of St. George and Hurricane, UT. It's very quiet and has a good location for walking a dog so Maggie was happy. Electric, water and sewer connections were good and while there was free WIFI it was very slow and mostly unusable. It's also a weak area for Verizon Wireless reception. There's paved roads with fine gravel sites that are mostly level. It's of a shared back-to-back utility design and the spacing between rigs is tight. Odd spaced trees also mean you have to watch your slide position. Even so we enjoyed our stay (Site 6). RV PARK REVIEWS |
| 2016/05/08 | Wagons West RV Park, Fillmore, UT | 145 |  A small, very basic, 55 site park located in Fillmore, UT...the first state capital of Utah. The park was undergoing some upgrades while we were there and it was raining making for mud, they needed more gravel. However, the park does have some very long sites with fairly good space between them. It wasn't crowded while we were there so it was a quiet experience. However we might use again, but only for a stopover on I-15 when traveling. RV PARK REVIEWS |
| 2016/05/10 | Golden Spike RV Park, Brigham City, Utah | 197 | A small, well designed beautiful all pull thru park with about half concrete sites and the rest well packed gravel. The sites are wide enough to accommodate all slide-outs. The park is exceptionally maintained with lush green grass and some nice shade trees. Our site was long enough to easily fit our 5th Wheel and truck. While there is no fenced in dog area there are very good green areas for dogs. The surrounding area of Brigham City is beautiful . Would definitely stay here again. Reservations are a must as they fill up most days.RV PARK REVIEWS |
| 2016/05/15 | Snake River RV Park & Campground, Idaho Falls, ID | 159 | From the office design his park may have been a KOA park at one time. There are long gravel sites with plenty of space for slide-outs. The sites are of the back-to-back design with hook-up between. Amenities are about standard. There is a small dedicated dog park and there is space enough to walk larger dogs. The WIFI is about standard, not great but not terrible. The park is far enough off I-15 to be fairly quite. Idaho Falls is a nice city and a good base to explore from. Would use again if passing thru. RV PARK REVIEWS |
| 2016/05/22 | Redrock RV and Camping Park, Island Park, Idaho | 95 | An absolutely beautiful small RV Park located about 20 miles from West Yellowstone and very near Henry Lake. The sites are nice and the park is well managed and maintain plus you have wonderful views of nearby mountains. It's one of those parks where you feel relaxed and recharged at. Note: One negative is that their WIFI is very slow, but they are hoping to soon have a faster solution. Also, Verizon Cellular was very weak, so, for us it was like we'd been cut-off from our "electric addictions." Still in balance I'd give this park a Green ball and return anytime. RV PARK REVIEWS |
| 2016/06/05 | Indian Creek Campground, Deer Lodge, Montana | 224 | A small well laid out and maintained RV Park located just off I-90 behind a small truck stop. I know that all sounds like negatives but it actually isn't. There's very little noise from the interstate or the truck stop. The sites are nicely spaced with good hook-ups. WIFI is available but I can't testify as to it's speed. Would definitely stay here again. We enjoyed seeing some of the local area. RV PARK REVIEWS |
| 2016/06/15 | Olsen RV Park, Livingston, Montana | 148 | A wonderful maintain and managed RV Park located just north of beautiful Paradise Valley about 50 miles from the Yellowstone North Entrance. Most of the sites provide plenty of room for slide outs and are easy to get into and out of. There is a nice dog park and places to walk a dog. Livingston itself is a wonderful little town to explore. Their is WIFI and Cable TV but I can't testify as to how well they work. We would definitely stay here again. RV PARK REVIEWS |
| 2016/06/29 | Spring Creek Campground & Trout Ranch, Big Timber, Montana | 38 | This is a lovely well maintained campground along the Boulder River in Montana. There are only a few full hook-up sites but there are two small trout lakes and fishing allowed in the river. We stayed here a relaxing month in one of the full hookup sites.RV PARK REVIEWS |
| 2016/07/29 | Greybull KOA, Greybull, Wyoming | 172 | A very well designed and maintained, small KOA park. It's also a little expensive with limited areas to walk a dog unless you walk along the Greybull sidewalks as we did. Still I'll give it a green ball and would stay there again. RV PARK REVIEWS |
| 2016/08/02 | River's Edge RV and Cabin Resort, Casper, Wyoming | 209 | This is a very utilitarian RV Park that is all gravel with few or no trees. The river is located a little ways below the park and doesn't offer great views or ambiance. Still it's very serviceable for overnight stays. RV PARK REVIEWS |
| 2016/08/05 | Cheyenne KOA, Cheyenne, Wyoming | 183 | A nice sizable RV park and campground that offers good sized sites and grass areas for walking dogs. The real stand out is the tent camping sites. Still a good stop-over place. RV PARK REVIEWS |
| 2016/08/07 | Sleepy Sunflower RV Park, Ogallala, Nebraska | 162 | The park is well run and maintained but it's an older campground and the sites are a little too close together for some of the bigger rigs. RV PARK REVIEWS |
| 2016/08/10 | Kearney RV & Camping | 147 | This park is a good park for short or over-night stops or if you have business or pleasure in the area. It well maintained but is mostly just the basics. But there are cement pads. RV PARK REVIEWS |
| 2016/08/14 | Pine Grove RV Park, Lincoln, NB | 149 | A well designed park that is also well kept. Great green spaces and areas for walking dogs. There have been some complaints about the owner but we've never had a bad experience.RV PARK REVIEWS |
| 2016/08/21 | Eagle Ridge RV Park, Eagleville, MO | 205 | A small private owned park that was a nice find. We had site #1 under large shade trees near the pool. Lots of green areas for walking dogs but not much else local to do. Great owners. RV PARK REVIEWS |
| 2016/08/23 | Evening Star Camping Resort, Topeka, IL | 305 | This was a campground unlike any we've see before. All around the edge are long-term perm sites and in the center are an array of loosely organized camp/rv sites of which only a few are full-hookups. We had to pull out into a field and turn around to get facing right in our assigned spot which wouldn't have been large enough if the campground had been full. Nope not again. RV PARK REVIEWS |
| 2016/08/25 | Columbus Woods N Waters Campground, Columbus, IN | 266 | Another campground that only had a few full hook-up sites all back-in. Our site was next to the office and we our auto-leveling wouldn't level in that spot. There were limited areas to walk a dog and the bugs from the small pond on site would eat you alive. Probably would stay here again but I gave it a yellow ball. RV PARK REVIEWS |
| 2016/08/28 | Cave Country RV Campground, Cave City, KY | 151 | A well designed, well maintained and managed RV Park with all pull through full hook-up sites. A nice dog park and other walking areas make it very dog friendly. There are lots of trains that pass nearby and the water pressure is a little low, but still a very nice park. RV PARK REVIEWS |
| 2016/09/06 | Green Acres RV Park, Savannah, TN | 256 | A nice small RV Park with lots of green space for those with dogs. Good amenities and a friendly staff. I did notice this time a slight pulp mill smell which I wasn't aware of on our previous visit to this park in 2015. RV PARK REVIEWS |
| 2016/09/7 | Vanleigh Service Center, 144 2nd St, Belmont, MS | 49 | Having a few fixes updates made to our Vilano 5th Wheel. Hook-ups at service center. |
| 2016/09/09 | Green Acres RV Park, Savannah, TN | 49 | See entry above for info on this RV Resort. |
| 2016/09/11 | Anchor Down RV Resort, Danridge, TN | 365 | There's a clear difference between a RV campground, a RV park and a RV resort. Anchor Down is definitely a family RV resort with level concrete stamped sites, available unique fireplace sites...many with a view of the beautiful Douglas Lake and the Great Smokey Mts in the distance, Golf Cart rental, and a nice pool overlooking the lake. As expected the price was a little higher but our arrival fell at a good place in our travels and gave us a chance to mentally recharge. We stayed in Site #11. RV PARK REVIEWS |
| 2016/09/25 | Wytheville KOA, Wytheville, VA | 166 | To access this KOA you have to drive back through a community of homes which is a little strange but when you arrive you find a nicely laided out RV Park with decent size sites. The park is partly wooded with lots of trails that make walking a larger dog a pleasure. It was a busy park with lots of over-nighters off I-81/I-77. Would certainly stay again. RV PARK REVIEWS |
| 2016/10/09 | Cross Winds Family Campground, Linwood, NC | 155 | A nice family owned campground which is located at a very convenient place for us. We use this campground to take care of our annual doctor visits and Maggie's Vet visit. There is room for walking a dog and some nice wooded sites. The only down side is that they seem to be a little expensive. RV PARK REVIEWS |
| 2016/10/26 | Charlotte/Fort Mill KOA, Fort Mill, SC | 63 | An older KOA campground located conveniently in Fort Mill, SC, very close to southern Charlotte. Again it's a case of location over cost. We use this park for family/holiday visits each year. RV PARK REVIEWS |
| 2016/12/22 | Ocean Lakes Family Campground, Myrtle Beach, SC | 239 | See 2017 Travel Log for a review of this park. |