Jerry – Page 31 – Keep Up With The Joneses

Winter Camping – Lessons Learned

January 3, 2019 Jerry Comments 11 comments

When we bought our RV we had an option to add an additional Arctic package that we opted not to get. Without the package our RV was already rated to be able to survive 0°F temperatures without a problem and we really didn’t think we’d be staying in weather that cold anyway. Also, with the package we would have had two floor vents for the additional furnace capacity and we really didn’t like the idea of floor vents since without it all the vents were above the floor in cabinetry. On the other hand, the package also included additional insulation for the water pipes which might have been good to have.

As full time RVers with relatives in Colorado our thoughts about never going to really cold places in the winter was maybe a bit short sighted. In our first winter we decided to go to Colorado for Christmas and as luck would have it, the warm weather the area was enjoying before Christmas was forecast to change. In fact, we decided to stay in Capulin, NM and there was already snow on the ground when we arrived about a week before Christmas. Low temperatures were already in the mid-teens and low 20’s and this provided a good opportunity for us to figure out how to survive cold weather in our RV. We had been in freezing temperatures at night before but daytime temperatures had been above freezing. Now we had several days of temperatures below freezing.

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Lafayette KOA Holiday

December 1, 2018 Jerry Comments 1 comment

Starting with this post we are changing the order of our campsite posts and will be putting the rating and other information about the park at the end of the post and the hopefully more interesting text at the top. Let us know what you think about this change…

Although we typically only look at KOA parks for overnight stays, we stayed at the Lafayette KOA for one night on the way to New Orleans and for nine nights on our return trip so we could plan our next few months of travels. We also needed to get caught up on some other things we had been putting off like maintenance items in our RV which was a challenge with all the rain. KOA parks tend to have a lot of family friendly activities that we don’t usually take advantage of and you pay for those amenities so they tend to be expensive. On the other hand, KOAs are often easy to access from major highways. This makes them quite convenient for short stays.

The Lafayette KOA (actually in Scott, LA rather than Lafayette) was a nice park built around a pond. It had many amenities for families as well as a new area in the back of the park which was much nicer than some of the other areas within the park. We stayed both times in the newer area.

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Escapees Rainbow’s End

November 7, 2018 Jerry Comments 2 comments

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Location: Livingston, Texas
Site Quality: Asphalt roads with gravel pads. There are both pull thru and back in spots. More than half are 50A with the remaining being 30A. Each site has a picnic table.
Type: Commercial
Access:  From Livingston go South on 146 about 8 miles to the park. The turn on to 146 is a bit tight.
Staff:  All staff we met was friendly and will go out of their way to help.
Amenities: Full hookups, swimming pool, laundry (2), bath house and restrooms (2). There is also a dump station and dog park on site.
Cellular/WiFi:  AT&T and Verizon 4 bars even without amplification. We got about 6 Mbps on AT&T and Verizon although I was getting 21 Mbps on my cell phone. The data from the Mobley and MiFi was a bit intermittent even when connecting directly to them.
What we liked: This is where our mail service is located so getting mail was convenient. Lots of daily activities including movies. Pull thru sites were long and roomy. Lots of full timers here – some with really nice trucks!
What we didn’t like: Not the prettiest of settings although there are a lot of trees around the edges. For a weekly rate with 50A and a premium site the price was only about $27 per day so that made up for it.

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Cedar Breaks COE

October 30, 2018 Jerry Comments 2 comments

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Location: Georgetown, Texas
Site Quality: Asphalt roads and pads. Each site has a covered picnic table, grill and fire ring.
Type: COE
Access:  From Interstate 35 in Georgetown take either Highway 29 or Williams Dr. West to DB Woods Rd. Go South from Williams Dr. or North from Highway 29 to Cedar Breaks Rd. then go West into the park.
Staff:  We had good experience with the park attendants which was a relief since there was an encounter with a park attendant that went viral on Youtube just after we booked the reservation. The person involved is no longer associated with the park.
Amenities: Water and Electric only, bath house and restrooms.
Cellular/WiFi:  AT&T and Verizon 4 bars even without amplification. We got about 8 Mbps on AT&T and 8.5 Mbps Mbps on Verizon.
What we liked: Pretty, well kept park surrounded by lots of cedar trees, with lots of space between most sites which helped with privacy.
What we didn’t like: No sewer hookups. Cedar trees drop sap in the spring but unlike pine sap cedar sap can be washed off.
Nearby Parks: Jim Hogg COE – A nice alternative to Cedar Breaks if not just a bit farther to Round Rock where our doctors and friends are. Might be a good choice for the April/May visit as we could probably get a site that isn’t below cedar trees that drop sap. Good sites for us: Lower loop (50A sites) – 2, 4, 6, 12, 17, 22, 26, 28, 30, 34, 36, 40, 42, 44, 47; also sites 66 and 76 might be ok. Upper loop (30A sites) – 88, 89, 94, 97, 106, 116, 118, 126, and 142. Sites 105, 127 and 129 also might be ok. The top loop sites should only be selected as a last resort.

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Palestine RV Park

October 18, 2018 Jerry Comments 0 Comment

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Location: Palestine, Texas
Site Quality: Asphalt roads through the park with gravel pads. Each site has a picnic table.
Type: Commercial
Access:  Take loop 256 to the South of Palestine then take Crockett Rd. (Hwy 287) South to County Road 147 then go East to the entrance to the park. CO147 is small with some low hanging trees but they were above our rig. Within the park the road was narrow but fine for our 41′ rig with caution.
Staff:  Angela is both the owner and park attendant. She was very helpful and friendly offering to even help us set up. She has put things around the park to make it homey.
Amenities: Full hookups, bath house, laundry and restrooms.
Cellular/WiFi:  AT&T and Verizon 4 bars even without amplification. We got about 7 Mbps on AT&T and 21 Mbps on Verizon. My phone had lower data rates at about 6 Mbps. The park appeared to have WiFi but it was not advertised and it did not appear to be operational.
What we liked: Surrounded by lots of trees, very nice area. Good opportunities for walking on the nearby country roads.
What we didn’t like: We did hear train whistles from a track about a mile away but it wasn’t too bad. After that one time we never heard one again. There had been a lot of rain and the sites had a lot of sand that was easily tracked into the rig.