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Category: 2025

Abilene, TX

Abilene, TX

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Park Review – Whistle Stop RV Resort

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Location: Abilene, TX
Type: Commercial Park
Check-in/Check-out times: ?/11:00
Site Quality / Amenities: Roads and pads are gravel. Each site has a concrete patio and a picnic table. Additional amenities include a dog run, playground, horseshoe pits, pickle ball and volleyball areas. There is also a pavilion, a clubhouse and a saltwater swimming pool. Facilities include restrooms, showers and laundry facilities.
Access: The park is along East Stamford St. (Basically the service road for I-20) which can be accessed from exit 286C on I-20 whether you are going west or east bound. East Stamford is one way so you have to go east to Ambler Ave. if you want to continue west bound when leaving the park.
Staff: The staff were very friendly and the check in packet included a thank you note which was a nice touch.
Cellular/WiFi: There was free WiFi and cable TV but we didn’t use them. I also didn’t check cellular since this was a short stay but it should have been good since we were along I-20. Starlink was great as there were no obstacles to get in the way.
Restaurants: There is a Twisted Root hamburger restaurant along with several other places nearby on Judge Ely Blvd. near Abilene Christian University. The Shed Market at 7925 Buffalo Gap Rd. was a bit further away but had very good Texas BBQ.
Nearby parks: We didn’t look at any other parks nearby.
What we liked: The park was easy to navigate and the sites were well laid out and it was a bonus to find good restaurants nearby.
What we didn’t like: There are only a few small trees around the park so it could be quite hot here during the summer.
Verdict: This is a good park for a short stay in Abilene.

Galveston, TX

Galveston, TX

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Although we spent three months on Galveston Island between December 2023 and February 2024 we unfortunately didn’t get to see a lot of the “touristy” attractions there. Instead, we spent a lot of time preparing for travel during 2024 including settling on (and ordering) new furniture, looking at interior decorating changes and updating things like one of our vent fans, bathroom faucets and replacing our water heater in the middle of a wind storm with wind gusts to 65 mph. We also spent a fair amount of time planning our route for 2024 and booking many of the stops along the way – more to come as we travel to the north west this summer including a month near Glacier National Park.

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Wolfforth (Lubbock), TX

Wolfforth (Lubbock), TX

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Park Review – Mesa Verde RV Park

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Location:  Wolfforth, TX
Type: Commercial Park
Check-in/Check-out times: 1:00PM/12:00PM
Site Quality / Amenities: Gravel pads and asphalt roads. Cable TV is also available. The sites have no additional amenities. There is a pool, exercise room, rest rooms, showers and laundry room available on site.
Access: From US 62/82 west of Lubbock take the FM 179 Wolfforth exit when heading west or the frontage road exit just before the FM 193/82nd street exit when heading east. Note that the park’s website showing the 82nd street exit is incorrect.
Staff: The lady who runs the park is nice if not a bit rough. Unlike our other Lubbock favorite, The Retreat RV Resort, Mesa Verde allow you to book month long stays well in advance.
Cellular/WiFi: WiFi was available but we did not use it. Verizon was 5G and decently fast at 22MB upload and 36MB download. AT&T was slower at 6MB upload and 15Mb download.
Restaurants: Hot and Jucy Cajun Seafood – Was not good despite high reviews. Teddy Jacks Hub City Grill – Good burgers and a variety of other bar type food. La Diosa – Good place for Tapas and wine. The Farmhouse – Great place for breakfast, good food and very reasonable prices. Uncle Julio’s – Mexican that was just OK but somewhat expensive. Abuelo’s Mexican – Chain restaurant that we used to consider to be expensive but now seems reasonable. One of our favorites in Lubbock. They could turn down both the music and their plate warmer. Evie Mae’s BBQ – Very good place for BBQ and not far from the park. Be careful of limited hours and large crowds though. The Shack BBQ – Another really good BBQ joint worth the small drive.
Nearby parks: See The Retreat RV Resort post for another good RV park in the area as well as reviews of other nearby parks.
What we liked: Convenient to our doctors and to the south west side of Lubbock where some of the newer and more upscale restaurants and stores exist. Park is well maintained and seems to have good standards for the people staying in the park.
What we didn’t like: Some road noise from the nearby highway. Just a basic park with few frills. It’s basically a gravel parking lot but the sites are wide so there is a bit of extra room.
Verdict: In most cases we’d say this was a good place for an overnight to a couple of nights. Since we now come to Lubbock for doctor appointments and need to book 2 to 4 weeks each time and since this park is conveniently located we will likely come here again for these longer stays. Sites 66-71 are best but 12-15 might work and even 16-20 might be OK if they are long enough. The latter sites are closer to the highway though and might be noisier.

Brazos Valley RV Park, Caldwell, TX

Brazos Valley RV Park, Caldwell, TX

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One of the criteria we had when looking for places to stay this winter in Texas was that they needed to be close to shopping, particularly Walmart, and medical services so that we could get COVID vaccinations when available or other medical care if needed. We found it difficult to get into a State Park for more than a few days at a time and in particular weekends were pretty much fully booked. We found Brazos Valley and it offered a small Walmart and a Brookshire’s grocery in nearby Caldwell as well as Walmart Supercenters, restaurants and numerous other stores in nearby Bryan and College Station. We thought surely we could find enough things to do in the area to stay busy for a month so we booked our stay without knowing quite what to expect. To our surprise we really liked the park and the area.

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