Rating:  (for an overnight)
Site Quality: Gravel pads and roads. The site (115) was plenty long enough for our RV and truck.
Type: Commercial
Access: Right off of I-70 on US 83 north of Oakley Kansas. There is a convenient gas station / truck stop right across the street from the park where we could fill up on the way in so we didn’t have to unhook to go get fuel. It was a good thing as we were down to 50 miles of fuel left along with a low fuel warning.
Staff: Due to COVID and being a small park, we didn’t need to interact with staff. We just picked up our envelope at the front door.
Amenities: Onsite restaurant, splash pool, hot tub and public fire pit. There was also onsite laundry facilities and restrooms although we didn’t use either one.
Cellular/WiFi: Verizon and AT&T were both very strong. AT&T reached 12 Mbps while Verizon was about 19 Mbps.
Restaurants: One of the places mentioned on the park website was Cap’n Jack’s Pub which is onsite. We weren’t completely sure but Cap’n Jack and his wife may be the same ones who run the RV park. It was highly rated, particularly for seafood and steaks (although they have burgers and other things) which surprised us since this park is in the middle of nowhere. We decided we’d try it not expecting much but to our surprise it lived up to the hype. Anna got a steak that was one of the best we’d had in some time. I had crab cakes and they were equally awesome. It came with a price (each meal was about $26) but both were as good as you would find in a large city. As mentioned there are also less expensive options as well. If you stop at the park or are just driving by, you have to stop here!
What we liked: Easy access to both the park and fuel right off I-70. Cap’n Jack’s Pub.
What we didn’t like: There is a good bit of road noise from I-70. There are also numerous “Kansas” thorn bushes in the grass between and around the sites.
Nearby Parks: None
Verdict: We would absolutely stay here again when travelling through. This park although basic and gravel was much better than the places we stopped in 2019 in Hays and Limon.

Park Review

Rating: 
Site Quality: Concrete pads and asphalt roads. The site (P-67) was plenty long enough for our RV and truck but it was a bit interesting. The exit went out to the park entrance and was beyond the security gate. At night, we couldn’t back up to the trailer because the drive was very narrow and made a turn which would have been difficult to navigate in the dark. Getting out of the site was much easier than it looked like it would be. The nice thing about this site is that it was one of two that are right beside the pond and twin fountains.
Type: Commercial
Access: We followed the parks directions on arriving from the south on I35 and merged onto I44 then taking the first exit to loop back to the park. It seemed like we could have exited I35 to 63’rd directly. On leaving we exited to the east and back to I35 rather than following the directions given, mostly because we really couldn’t turn right out of the park from the entrance road.
Staff: We only interacted with the gate attendant who also guided us to the site. He was friendly and helpful.
Amenities: Onsite restaurant, pool, hot tub and splash pad, mini golf, playground, clubhouse, and convenience store.
Cellular/WiFi: Verizon and AT&T were both good.
Restaurants: We didn’t eat out while staying in the park.
What we liked: We didn’t spend much time at the park but it seemed really nice and had some nice amenities although due to COVID-19 and lack of time we didn’t explore them. Several museums are in the area.
What we didn’t like: Sleightly difficult to get to the park but overall not too bad. Awkward driveway on our site.
Nearby Parks: None
Verdict: We would stay here again when travelling through.

Park Review

Rating: 
Site Quality: Concrete pads and asphalt roads throughout. Both 80′ pull-through and 50′ back-in sites are available all with 30 and 50A service and full hookups. Each site also has a charcoal grill. Sites are spacious with a nice large patio (two in fact as the long pull through sites can accommodate two smaller RV’s or one larger RV).
Type: Commercial
Access: Easy access from Interstate 35 at exit 1 on the southside of Oklahoma.
Staff: The staff was very friendly at check in but that was our only interaction with them.
Amenities: Shower facilities, Swimming pool and pool house, 1,400-square-foot indoor pavilion, 3,000-square-foot outdoor pavilion, Playground, Horseshoe pit and basketball court, Walking trail.
Cellular/WiFi: Verizon and AT&T were both good.
Restaurants: We ate at Kirby’s Steak House in the hotel at the casino for our 41’st anniversary. It was very good but also quite expensive.
What we liked: Nice clean park with paved sites and roads.
What we didn’t like: There isn’t a lot out there except for the casino. Due to COVID-19 we did not spend time there. This is probably not a good option for a long term stay.
Nearby Parks: There are some around but we didn’t explore any.
Verdict: We would stay here again, particularly for a night stay but we could also spend several days here.

Other than going into town to vote, get our mail, fill one of our propane tanks, and hike a few trails we spent most of our time visiting with family and friends. My sister Jan and her husband Chris were staying on a nearby site (they also officially live in Livingston while full time RVing) as well as friends Tammie and Peter who live nearby in the Houston area come for the week as well. Friends from Round Rock, Chad and Mary Kay also joined us late in the week for a few days. Each of us contributed to each evening meal and we ate VERY well. It was great spending time with everyone and enjoying evening campfires. We also had a great visit with friends Steve and Martha who drove in for a few hours.

The park is very nice however longer sites are very limited so book early! We stayed in site 25 in the Yaupon loop which is the longest site in the park at 74 feet. That site is our preferred one as we got satellite from our rooftop antenna and we also had a large area on our door side for larger groups to hang out. The next door site is a bit close, particularly their picnic table but in this case they were friends Tammie and Peter so that worked out well.

If site 25 is not available, site 34 should work at 69 feet particularly if we could hang over the back a few feet. Sites 8 or 14 might work at 64 feet each assuming we can hang over the back of the site far enough (8-10′). If in site 14 we probably couldn’t use the fire ring if we extended in the back as the fire ring is right behind the pad. All of these are also in the Yaupon loop.

11/6/2020: Although we have a few more new places we plan to camp this year, they will all be one night stops. Longer term spots are places we are returning to to visit family and we have already blogged about. We will post reviews of the one night stops but will likely turn off the email notifications that get sent out since I think the park reviews are mostly interesting to us. This means you probably won’t hear much more from our blog until 2021. We hope that COVID-19 will allow for a more normal travel situation but right now that isn’t looking to positive either.

Park Review

Rating: 1/2
Site Quality: Asphalt pads and roads. Our site (25 in Yaupon loop) was long enough for our rig and truck but it was the longest site in the park. There are only 3 other sites potentially long enough for us but only if we can hang over the back of the site. Each site had a picnic table, lantern hook and fire pit.
Type: State Park
Access: Easy access from US highway 59 to the east or US highway 190 to the north. There are several two lane country roads to get to the park but they were all fine for our rig.
Staff: The staff was very friendly at check in but that was our only interaction with them. We did speak to a park police officer one night and the next morning after someone tried to steal bicycles from my sisters site. He was nice enough to take a report although there was likely little he could do.
Amenities: There were Restrooms with showers but we did not use them. There were also numerous trails throughout the park.
Cellular/WiFi: Verizon and AT&T were both good.
Restaurants: We didn’t eat out while staying in the park.
What we liked: We were sad we couldn’t fit into a site along the lake shore where we could have seen the sunsets but after being there those sites got a lot of cold wind. Our loop didn’t have much wind due to the trees. From site 25 we got satellite reception from our roof mounted dish. Many other sites would likely not have had coverage. All sites we could fit are full hookup.
What we didn’t like: The front gate is not secured at night and we did have an attempted theft incident while in the park.
Nearby Parks:
Wolf Creek Park – Recommended by Kay and Darrell is on the West side of the lake and run by the Trinity River Authority. Closed November 30th to March 1’st and reservations can only be made 60 days in advance. We are told they have longer sites than the state park.
Rock’n E RV Park – Has good reviews but not on the lake, commercial
Verdict: We would stay here again although there are only about four sites we could potentially fit into. Of those site 25 in the Yaupon loop is best.

We spent several evenings walking along the beach collecting small shells and looking for other treasures but we didn’t find much more than some nice shells that Anna put into one of her flower vases. Neither of us felt the desire to go swimming since the water was still pretty churned up from Hurricane Delta and there was a lot of debris including the remains of some piers and beach huts that had been on the beach. These were often underwater during high tide and seemed to be pretty dangerous. Although COVID-19 was still a threat, we did manage to take in a few nearby places that were at least partially open.

We spent a day in Galveston driving around a bit and seeing how the city had changed since we were last there. Most things seemed very familiar although I think the Pleasure Pier was new. We also found the marina where my dad had bought a 26 foot wooden cabin cruiser almost 50 years ago! We were amazed it was still there and looked largely the same. After that we spent some time walking around the Strand District (this was the original port area from when the city was formed in the 1800’s) as well as the Post Office District. There are tons of old churches and other buildings including well (and some not so well) maintained historic Victorian homes. There are also numerous shops and restaurants in the area as well as several museums although many were closed or limited the day we were there. Next time we are in the area we’ll have to take in the Tall Ship Elissa (a three masted ship common during the heyday of the port) as well as the Ocean Star a retired oil rig from the gulf.

While on a day trip to Walmart for groceries we stopped by the Sea Center in Lake Jackson. They have several large aquariums there along with other exhibits showing various marine life that can be found in the area. Outside they also have a small lake that even had a rather large alligator in it. They have a fish hatchery there as well and they normally give tours but that was closed due to COVID-19.

Our final excursion was over to Space Center Houston which is about an hour away from the park. We remembered being there almost 30 years ago with our sons and having to walk around in the Texas summer heat. On this trip it was a bit cooler and they now have tram service around the facility so you no longer need to walk it. Unfortunately, much of the facility was shut down to visitors (in fact most employees are working from home) due to COVID-19. We got to see the Saturn V exhibit and on the day we visited they opened up the astronaut training facility for tours. It was exciting seeing both the history of our space program as well as some of the newer projects including the Boeing Starliner which our son Patrick has worked with.

Park Review

Rating: 
Site Quality: Concrete pads and roads. Our site was long enough for our rig and truck. The sites were also double wide at the road so the truck (or a toad) could be parked to the side of the RV.
Type: Commercial
Access: Easy access from the Lake Jackson / Freeport area via 288 to 332 and then left on the Bluewater highway. From Galveston you should also be able to get to the park but you have to cross the San Luis Pass bridge and pay the toll. The toll both says vehicles must be less than 10′ wide which any RV would be, but it would be a very tight fit at the booth (~3″ clearance on each side at the tires). We avoided doing that with the RV as it was tight going through it with just the truck.
Staff: The staff was very friendly and helpful. We were guided to our site.
Amenities: There were Restrooms and showers as well as laundry facilities in the office although we didn’t use them. Each site had a picnic table. There was no fire ring and campfires are not allowed. They also have 50A sites with full hookups. The park is arranged in a straight line out into the marsh area away from the gulf. You can choose from the wetland side or the canal side when you book a site. The wetland sites were not very full with campers as most preferred the canal side. The wetland side would have sunrise views and more shade on the right side of the RV while the canal side had good sunset views and direct access to the canal.
Cellular/WiFi: Verizon and AT&T were both good at about 10 Mbps. The park also had WiFi but we didn’t try to use it.
Restaurants:
Nate’s West End Seafood & Steaks – Basic steak and seafood restaurant along the gulf toward Galveston. We thought the food was ok but for the price we thought it should have been better.
Swamp Shack (Lake Jackson) – This is a cajun restaurant conveniently near Walmart, Lowes and Home Depot in Lake Jackson. Although I tend to like seafood fried in cornmeal and this had a different batter, it was really good. This is definitely a place to try in the area if you like cajun!
Little Daddy’s Gumbo Bar (Galveston) – Anna had Little Daddy’s House Special (Blackened Catfish topped with crawfish etouffee which she thought was very good. I had a large bowl of seafood gumbo which I thought was ok but nothing remarkable. We’ve had much better gumbo in Louisiana and in fact, we make better gumbo. I’d probably try another place next time we are in the area.
What we liked: Full hookups and concrete pads and roads. Restaurant on site. Access to the beach across the road.
What we didn’t like: No trees for shade although there were some palm trees that had been damaged by the hurricanes that passed nearby during the year. The sewer connection was a bit far forward so make sure you have plenty of hose available. The beaches were pretty rough. some of this was likely due to recent storms but in general I think the area near Galveston is not nearly as nice as some of the the other beaches we have stayed on.
Nearby Parks:
Beachfront RV Resort – This was another park we considered but after seeing it we were glad we passed it by. Most of the sites as well as the roads are all dirt and gravel. When we arrived in the area, the park was quite a muddy mess after hurricane Delta passed nearby. There was also a lot of stuff (a house, restaurant and a golf cart rental) all on a relatively small property.
The Breeze Hotel and RV Park – Small park with full hookups. 3 pull-thru sites are 85′ long while the rest of the sites are only 55′. The roads and sites are all concrete. This park looked interesting and could work for us if we could get one of the 85′ sites.
*Galveston Island RV Resort – Very nice looking park with lots of amenities including a Lazy River swimming pool. Concrete pads and roads. Reasonable prices and wide sites so the truck could be parked to the side of the RV. This would be our second choice for a park on the Galveston side of the toll bridge as it is further from Galveston and away from other activities like stores and restaurants.
Jamaica Beach RV Park – All pull-thru sites with concrete pads and roads. Lazy river, 2 pools and 2 hot tubs. Lots of other amenities. Unfortunately, this park has very narrow roads and spacing of sites it tight. Although we did see some big rigs in the park, the sites really aren’t long enough for us. For us, we would skip this park.
*Stella Mare RV Resort – This is another amenity rich park closer in to Galveston with concrete pads and roads. Someone along our travels recommended this park as a winter destination. It has wide sites and they should be long enough for our rig. This would be a good choice as a place to winter. Just outside Galveston, there are plenty of stores including a Walmart, many restaurants and other businesses nearby and close to the sea wall.
Verdict: We would stay here again although the places above (*) have a lot more amenities for about the same price and might be a better choice particularly as a longer term winter destination.

As I write this posting, Delta is still about 3 hours away from landfall and everything has gone as forecast but we still had more piece of mind knowing we were about 90 miles further away. We only got some very minor wind gusts and so far no rain.

While out for a walk, we met our neighbors who had fled the Lake Charles area early the day before. This was the second time they had fled the area in six weeks as hurricane Laura had devastated the same area then. They told us about their barn and other structures being destroyed but luckily none of their animals were seriously injured. They were already looking at more than a year to recover from Laura. It’s sad to think what they might go back to after Delta.

Park Review

Rating: 
Site Quality: Gravel pads and roads. Our site was barely long enough for our rig and truck although they advertised 85′ pull-thrus.
Type: Commercial
Access: Easy access from Interstate 10 between Weimar and Columbus at the County Road 219 (Hatterman Ln) exit.
Staff: All staff interactions were great. The staff was very friendly and helpful with places to see and restaurant recommendations in the area.
Amenities: There were Restrooms and showers as well as laundry facilities in the office although we didn’t use them. Each site had a small fire ring and picnic table although the sites were pretty close together for a fire ring. They also have 50A sites with full hookups.
Cellular/WiFi: Verizon and AT&T were both good at about 15 Mbps. The park also had a pretty impressive looking WiFi setup and speeds were about 5 Mbps but we didn’t try to use it.
Restaurants: Los Cabos Mexican Grill (Columbus) We went here at the recommendation of park staff and we weren’t disappointed. They had decent tex-mex with huge portions at reasonable prices. The wait staff was also very attentive.
What we liked: Easy access from Interstate 10. Friendly staff and campers.
What we didn’t like: Very close to Interstate 10 and on US-90 so there was a fair amount of road noise at times. There was also a busy train track about 1000′ away which added to the noise, particularly during the day. At night, there were not as many trains. Site length was not as advertised but we made it work.
Nearby Parks: We did not investigate any nearby parks although there seem to be several commercial parks in the area.
Verdict: We would stay here again for an overnight stop if in the area again.

The best part of our stay here was enjoying good friends Tammie and Peter who came to camp with us for 4 days. We enjoyed hiking, picnicking, campfires, smores, and great conversation. Staying in a swamp bring the mosquitoes and holy cow did we have the mosquitoes! We went thru several cans of yard guard, many citronella candles, and OFF bug repellent but still had us all becoming human pin cushions. It was not at all hard leaving the mosquitoes when we left the park 3 days early to avoid Hurricane Delta. That’s right, once again we were evacuating from a hurricane. A swamp with very tall trees surrounding us was not a good place to endure rain and high winds so we finally found an RV park 90 miles west, near Weimar, that had a site available and was well away from the strong winds.

We received a cute surprise in our mail this week. One of our grandsons, Ryan, sent us a letter including ‘Flat Stanley’. He is a cut out paper boy sent to travel with us for 2 weeks, take pictures to chronicle our life and return him to our grandson for a class project. We were able to get several pictures near alligators and walking trails before we left the swamps. Next, ‘Flat Stanley’ will get to swim in the ocean with us!

Brazos Bend State Park was so lush and gorgeous so it is definitely on our “Good List”. For now, our bug bites are healing nicely and we are ready for our next adventure to the Gulf coast.

Park Review

Rating: 
Site Quality: Asphalt pads and roads. Our site was long enough for our rig and truck with plenty of room for another vehicle or to park to the side of the trailer.
Type: State Park
Access: The park is southwest of Houston and there are multiple ways to get there. All of them end up using smaller country roads at some point before you reach the park. All are mostly straight and flat and are easily passable for even the largest of rigs.
Staff: All staff interactions (check-in, nature center, and at our site) were great. The staff is very friendly and helpful.
Amenities: There were Restrooms but no showers. We didn’t use them although they appeared to be clean. Each site had a fire ring, grill and picnic table.
Cellular/WiFi: Verizon and AT&T were both very intermittent while we were there. Sometimes both worked ok but at other times we could not use any data.
Restaurants: Runway Cafe (Angleton) I was aware of this place since my flying days but had never made it there in an airplane. We had to go to Angleton to pick up our mail so we stopped by for a late lunch. The seafood here was very good, especially the shrimp and oysters. I prefer a cornmeal batter and this place used something else but it was still pretty good.
What we liked: The RV sites are spaced far apart and there are many large trees (We had to use our portable satellite dish). The sites are also very wide which is very nice but does present some challenges backing in since you don’t have a guideline on one side. Numerous hiking trails with quite a few lakes offering many places to see alligators. On three different hikes we saw over 30 alligators in total – more than we saw in 6 weeks while we visited Florida.
What we didn’t like: The park is in a swampy area south of Houston and there are tons of bugs including fire ants and mosquitos.
Nearby Parks: We did not investigate any nearby parks although there seem to be several commercial parks in the area.
Verdict: We would stay here again. Other than the bugs, it was a great park with lots of outdoor activities and plenty of space between the sites. REMEMBER to bring a lot of mosquito repellant!

The lake is somewhat small and is narrow so you can see all of the activity on the lake as well as on the opposite shore. Although there are several parks around the lake (Potters Creek is the only other COE park open to the public and it was right across the lake from Cranes Mill). The rest of the shore is mostly populated with very large and beautiful homes. The lake is nestled between some of the small rolling hills on the south eastern end of the Texas Hill Country.

While driving around the lake one day we ran over something that punctured a tire. We plugged the hole and aired it back up but knew we needed to get it replaced for safety. We went to the nearby town of Bulverde where there just happened to be a Discount Tire. When we last bought tires we got them from another Discount Tire store and had bought certificates (their road hazard program) so they replaced the year old tire for free, we just had to buy a certificate to cover the new tire. There was also a Super Walmart there that was great. The infrastructure in Bulverde seems to be built up for expected explosive growth but that growth hasn’t caught up to the stores yet. Both Walmart and Discount Tire were not very busy so they were great places to shop about 15 miles from the park.

Park Review

Rating: 
Site Quality: Asphalt pads and roads. Our site was long enough for our rig and truck with plenty of room for another vehicle. The pads were extra wide leaving a nice walkway alongside the trailer. On top of that, there was a crushed granite walkway leading to a concrete pad for the picnic table and then surrounding the picnic table. Unfortunately, the granite area had not been maintained. Many were completely overgrown while ours was about 50%. To make matters worse, it wasn’t just grass and weeds but was full of stickers. We see other people complain about stickers in grassy areas around parks and tend to discount that – we are in nature after all. But this was an improved area that was a part of the camp site and it was a bit disappointing.
Type: COE
Access: On the southwest side of Canyon Lake. Decent access from all directions via smaller farm to market roads.
Staff: We arrived at 10 minutes until 3:00 PM. Check-in time is officially 3:00 PM but nowhere we have been in 2-1/2 years rigidly enforced the check-in time. We quickly learned that this place does. We were told we would need to back up or figure out how to turn around and wait for 10 minutes before we could check in. That close to the time, I might have thought they would check us in and then tell us to pull forward and wait until 3:00 to go to our site, but no. So we backed up, waited 5 minutes before being waived forward! This was not an issue of the staff, they were very nice, but rather of the ranger who enforces that rigidly and punishes them if they break the rule. In the future, DO NOT ARRIVE BEFORE CHECK-IN TIME.
Amenities: There were Restrooms with showers but we didn’t use them although they appeared to be clean. Other reviews were critical of the cleanliness. Each site had a fire ring, grill and covered picnic table.
Cellular/WiFi: Verizon and AT&T were both pretty good. My phone had 4 bars on Verizon and data speed was about 16 Mbps.
Restaurants: Bare Bull BBQ near the park served up heaping portions of BBQ and sides and was some of the best Texas BBQ we had in some time. We met up with friends Armando and Sherry at Milagro’s Hill Country Tex Mex in Wimberley about 30 minutes from the park. This is a nice, family run, restaurant serving up great Tex Mex just south of Wimberley. Wimberly is a quaint Hill Country gem with lots of shops and restaurants and is a great day trip destination when in the area.
What we liked: The RV sites are spaced pretty far apart and pretty much all of them have a good view of the lake. The sites are also very wide. Friends recommended site 15 and that was likely one of the best sites with a full view of the lake and sunsets outside the left side of the RV. Unfortunately, the door side on RV’s is the right side so it would have faced away from the lake but otherwise it was a good site. Site 15 is also a handicap site so if you’re not handicapped you could get bumped out of it if necessary for someone who is. Site 17 or site 20 (lots of shade) would be great for us if they are long enough. We stayed on site 25 which wasn’t bad but the view of the lake was obstructed by an unmaintained area of weeds and short mesquite trees.
What we didn’t like: The rigid check in time was a bit absurd considering it would have been about 2:55 if we had been allowed to go ahead and check-in and closer to 3:00 by the time we arrived at our site. Lack of maintenance (stickers) in the crushed granite area in our site. It looked like they had sprayed weeds coming up in the asphalt to protect it but left campers to pull the weeds or deal with the stickers. It had been a long while since the grassy areas had been mowed, including the area around our fire ring – it probably hadn’t been mowed since spring. A few days before we left a crew showed up and mowed and weedeated the area and it was much nicer after that. They didn’t do anything for the crushed granite area though.
Nearby Parks: Potters Creek is another COE park on the North side of the lake and we drove through it one day to take a look. We actually liked it a bit better than Cranes Mill. It has the same – no earlier than 3:00 PM arrival policy as Cranes Mill. For some reason Loops 1 and 2 (about half the total campsites in the park) are closed and the gate attendant told us it would likely stay that way. We don’t know why as these looked to be some very nice sites. Loop 4 is really the only one we could fit into. Of those sites 72, 74, 76, 77 and 80 would probably be the best with good views of the lake and some shade. The sites on the inside of the loop could work as well if the prime spots weren’t available particularly sites 70 or 79. We also drove through the Lazy L&L Campground which is below the lake along the Guadalupe river. Depending on the length of the site, just about any of the Full Hookup sites would be good although all are away from the river. The water/electric sites (108-133) are right on the river but do not have sewer. During the summer this park is likely full of tubers and younger folks but this could be a good place in the fall or winter. Get to the park on using River Road from the West end. Coming from the East would likely be difficult to navigate with a big rig.
Verdict: We would consider staying here again although we might look for a shady spot in Potters Mill or even try Lazy L&L for something a bit different.

We arrived at Johnson Creek RV Resort in mid-March for a planned one month stay before returning to the Austin area for our semi-annual doctor visits. We had been looking forward to getting there because of the beauty of the Texas Hill Country in the spring, opportunities for lots of activities and events, wineries, outdoor areas and a lot of good restaurants but soon realized everything was closing. Just before we arrived we had seen the first of empty store shelves due to the COVID-19 pandemic and we were starting to see some craziness around RV Parks and closures. We quickly assessed the situation and felt that we would be safer sheltering-in-place as a longer term resident. We found the area to be wonderful for a long stay. It had a good hospital along with a nearby Walmart so we updated our reservation extending our stay. We ultimately spent six months here, the longest we have stayed anywhere since we started this adventure.

Although we found the same empty store shelves here off and on and all of the activities in the area cancelled or closed we still found many things to do. The RV park is several miles from town and very peaceful as it is situated along Johnson Creek which joins the Guadalupe River in the heart of Ingram. There are quite a few miniature horses here and our site was backed up to their pasture (which also doubles as a working pecan farm) so we were able to watch their daily activities and learn a bit about their personalities. Some have very dominant personalities and they keep the other horses in line. Five of the females were expecting and eventually had their babies, with only 3 surviving. We have enjoyed watching them play and grow from the size of a large dog to the size of their mothers as their personalities also developed.

The hill country surrounding the park offered lots of beautiful scenery for us to explore and get some needed exercise. We did pretty well with that until the temperatures started reaching 100 degrees! The evenings were often nice just before sunset, especially if they were watering the pecan grove which helped lower the temperatures a few degrees. During August the Neowise comet was visible and we got a few decent pictures of it without a telescope or even a powerful telephoto lens.

We have enjoyed our shelter-in-place here in the hill country making lots of day trips, great visits with friends that came to camp with us, make needed updates and repairs on the trailer, made a quick much needed trip to see the grandkids, and made several new friends. We wish we would have taken more pictures with friends and outings and will have to return when the area is back to normal and bursting with all the fun festivals, markets, rodeos, county fairs, wineries, etc. etc. Jerry has really enjoyed the down time to write a lot of RV (home) automation software for our trailer (future posts coming on all his updates). However, we are cautiously hitting the road again!

Kerrville Area

Kerrville is a nice size Texas town – small enough to be friendly but large enough to have a variety of stores, parks and restaurants. Due to COVID-19, we often got take-out rather than eating-in most of the time although we had some opportunities to do both at times. Most of the pictures below are at the Ridge Marketplace where we went several times. In addition to having good food they also had a store as well as a nursery where you could purchase a variety of plants. It’s a very nice place to go when friends came to visit! We wish we would have taken more pictures with all of them!

Ingram

Johnson Creek RV Park is between Mountain Home and Ingram on Johnson Highway. Ingram is home to Stonehenge II, a replica of the famous Stonehenge in the UK. Stonehenge II was built with concrete by two hill country artists originally on their private property but moved and expanded at the location of the Hill Country Arts Foundation in Ingram. There is also an outdoor Theater and a Visual Arts Center on site but they were closed due to COVID-19.

Kayaking on the Guadalupe

For Mother’s Day, Anna wanted to get an inflatable kayak so we found one for a reasonable price and size that we could carry in the RV. The pictures below are from our maiden voyage on the Guadalupe river just west of Ingram. We spent a couple of hours that day paddling up and down the river and enjoying all the beautiful scenery and properties along the shore.

Fredericksburg / Luckenbach

We made several day trips to Fredericksburg, about an hour away from our park. The first time was with our good friends Tammie and Peter to pick blackberries. Even though they were already very picked over, we got enough for Anna to make a yummy blackberry cobbler! On another visit we made a reservation, met all the COVID-19 requirements, and spent the day at the Admiral Nimitz museum which is the National Museum of the Pacific War. The museum is packed with interesting facts about Admiral Nimitz and the time period and is a must see if you are ever in the area! From Fredericksburg, going to Luckenbach is just a short 20 minute drive away. We went there for a quick bite outside and to look around at all the memorabilia. There isn’t really a lot there but it was fun to visit this famous Texas attraction. One hidden highlight was a wall with patches from law enforcement agencies from all over the country.

Blanco

We took another day trip to Blanco about an hour and a half away to go to the Hill Country Lavender Farm. During the season, you can go through their grounds and pick lavender right from the plants. They also have a small store on site where you can purchase other items made with lavender. After we left the farm we drove back through Blanco taking in the sights along the Blanco river and also the old county courthouse.

Comfort

We took a trip over to Comfort with friends Mary Kay and Chad who came to visit and camp with us for a few days. The Treue der Union Monument (Loyalty to the Union) there was dedicated on August 10, 1866 to commemorate the German-Texans who died at the 1862 Nueces massacre. Thirty-four were killed for refusing to sign loyalty oaths to the Confederacy. With the exception of those drowned in the Rio Grande, the remains of the deceased are buried at the site of the monument. The next stop was a downtown area with shops and restaurants. Chad and I relaxed in the shade while the women shopped. While waiting, a group of probably 20 Ferrari’s showed up as well, out for a drive before stopping for lunch at a pizza place down the street.

Park Review

Rating: 
Site Quality: Concrete pads and roads. Our site was long enough for our rig with the truck parked in front of it. For the first five months, we were at #74 which had an extra wide driveway so another vehicle could park beside our truck if needed. Site #74 had lots of shade which was great in the Texas heat but it also prevented us from getting satellite from our rooftop dish. This forced us to buy a portable dish and tripod to get satellite. We had tried the park’s cable but the signal quality was bad and the channels were minimal. During our stay, they updated the cable and we understand it was much better although we didn’t try the updates. Not all sites had the extra parking area and we had to move to site #79 for the last month, which is one of the sites that didn’t. It still had plenty of room for our truck and RV. The best sites are in the southern part of the park (more shade) and the prime sites are on the east side bordering the horse pasture.
Type: Commercial
Access: Just west of Ingram and Kerrville. The best way to get to the park while avoiding driving through town is to take FM 479 south from I 10 to Junction Highway then turn left (eastbound). The park is about 2.3 miles on the right.
Staff: The staff were excellent throughout our stay. They allowed us to extend our stay two different times, moving other reservations around so we could keep the same site for all but the final month. When a circuit breaker for our site and two adjacent ones tripped the maintenance guy came right out and reset it. Within 15 minutes, the owner showed up and he replaced the breaker so we wouldn’t have any more problems.
Amenities: There were restrooms with showers and laundry facilities but we didn’t use them. There was also the creek, a pool and playground as well as a community building although all gatherings, activities and rallies were cancelled due to COVID-19.
Cellular/WiFi: Verizon (12 Mbps) and AT&T (26 Mbps) were both good. They park had WiFi but we did not use it. The signal at our site was pretty weak.
Restaurants:
Bills BBQ (Ingram) – Very good basic BBQ joint.
Billy Gene’s (Kerrville) – Good American food along the Guadalupe river.
Bridget’s Basket (Hunt) – Farm to Market restaurant with good options. We ate here for breakfast twice and both times had good food although it is a bit pricey.
Broken Stone Pizza (Kerrville) – Good thin crust pizza along with salad options.
Buzzie’s BBQ (Kerrville) – This place had a lot of fanfare but we found it to not be as good as Bills BBQ and quite a bit more expensive.
Cafe at the Ridge (Kerrville) – One of our favorite places in the area. Very good food in a wonderful setting. The outdoor tables are in a nice garden area. They also have a store and nursery (plants).
Camp Verde General Store (Camp Verde) – Historical fort and post office in a remote area south of Kerrville with a nice restaurant and store.
Cowboy Steakhouse (Kerrville) – Family run steakhouse with good appetizers, steaks and seafood.
Hunter House Cafe (Ingram) – Small restaurant associated with the Hunter House Inn. Good Texas diner food.
Isaac’s Restaurant (Junction) – We came here at the suggestion of someone in the park. The food was just OK but we didn’t find it to be anything special.
Liberty Kitchen (Ingram) – Good “gourmet” burgers.
Mamacita’s (Kerrville) – Very good small mexican food chain. Can be a bit pricey but overall worth it if you can eat in the restaurant. We tried takeout but it didn’t fare too well due to the distance from the park.
Pasta Bella (Fredericksburg) – Good italian restaurant.
Taqueria Jalisco (Ingram) – This place is a bit of a mixed bag. We really liked their beef fajitas and got them for takeout many times although they didn’t have beef fajitas on their menu. Since they weren’t on the menu we got slightly different things each time we ordered them. In the end their Guadalajara plate is the closest thing on the menu. We ate in the restaurant once and did not have a good experience – slow service although not at all busy.
The Hunt Store (Hunt) – We got hamburgers there, they were a bit overcooked but were good. This place had been favorably reviewed by one of the Texas magazines but I believe it changed owners just before we went there. Due to COVID, I think it may have changed again before we left.
The Lakehouse (Kerrville) – This was one of our favorite places for seafood (catfish and clams) while we were in the area. We ate in the restaurant once or twice and were happy but most times we got take out due to COVID.
What we liked: Lots of shade under the pecan trees. The owners of the park keep quite a few miniature horses on site which were fun to feed and watch. There was a deer feeder behind our row and we had numerous Axis deer to watch almost every night and sometimes during the day. Johnson Creek flows along the back side of the park and offered nice views, a cool place to swim or wade and also other places to see deer, ducks and to listen to frogs in the evening.
What we didn’t like: The pecan trees dropped a lot of pecans, sticks and sap. The only good thing was that the sap washed off easily with just soap and water. Throughout the park were many pipeline workers staying long term. They will likely be in the area throughout 2020. From what other long term campers said, the owners were allowing a lot of the park rules to be ignored – putting 2 trailers in many sites, packing in overflow sites in the parking lots, but mostly not keeping sites picked up and clean. That wasn’t a huge issue for us but in the last month when we had to move to another site the guy next to us had a very loud diesel truck. He had to leave anytime between 5:00 – 6:30 every morning and would often leave his loud truck idling for 5 minutes or more. Also, the exercise room was unusable with equipment that was not working and needed repair. We probably would have given the park 5 stars if not for these issues.
Nearby Parks: While we were in Ingram some friends, Chad and Mary Kay, came to visit for a weekend and they stayed at the nearby Buckhorn Lake Resort along I-10. We had considered staying at this park before and were curious about it. When we visited them there we found it was in many ways even prettier than Johnson Creek and it had more amenities including 2 pools, an adult only area and more options for get togethers. The best sites were in the adult only section and along the creek that runs through the park. The member area for permanent residents looked especially nice. There were some negatives however that might prevent us from staying there in the future. First, as expected, there was some minor road noise from the Interstate nearby although it wasn’t too bad particularly from the adult section. Second, Verizon service was poor to non-existent. Even when it was working data typically seemed to be at 3G speeds.

White Sands is truly magical sight to see with endless rolling white dunes with a backdrop of the San Andres Mountains to the west. This is our second visit in 2 years and February was a better time to visit because of smaller crowds and the weather was sunny but cool which allowed us to hike further into the rolling dunes. Also, the sand was so cold to the touch and to walk on! We read that the dunes move 15 feet per year with the winds off the mountains blowing the gypsum. A couple of the pictures below show the dunes trying to take over the road that the park rangers have to plow daily to keep it passable and in a few areas it was very narrow for two cars to pass.

After visiting White Sands we drove into Alamogordo. Located here is Holloman Air Force Base and is the site of the testing range where the first atomic bomb was exploded in 1945. Also, this is part of the Chihuahuan Desert, sits at 4336′ elevation and is one of the larger cities in NM. It really is a barren desert city with the beautiful Sacramento Mountains bordering on the east, and so different from the White Sands only 20 miles away. After eating lunch we had to go the the famous McGinn’s PistachioLand and see the World’s Largest Pistachio! After spending lots of time tasting ALL the different flavored pistachios inside the store we could not agree on a favorite so we had to buy 3 different packages; dark chocolate, red chili, and sriracha honey roasted. YUM!

Another fun and memorable day. Thanks for visiting our site and enjoy the pictures!