South Padre Island, 2025

10 05 2025

After departing Tucson, we’ve make a rapid transit of New Mexico and west Texas with our sights set on Kerrville, TX.  Our first night is at Hacienda RV Resort and our second night is at Van Horn RV Park.  We’ve visited both of the RV parks before and have reviewed previously.  On Saturday the 29th, we arrived at Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park in Kerrville, TX.  Friends have  spent part of the winter here, and we’re meeting them before they return to Colorado.  Fairly new to the Jellystone franchise, the former Guadalupe River Resort now boasts a water park, upgraded sites, lots of family amenities and bigger price tags.  Nightly rates in March run from around $120 to over $200 for Riverfront Red Carpet sites.

Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park – Guadalupe River, Kerrville, TX

Kerrville is always a good time with breweries to explore, great restaurants and of course the delicious kolaches from Snowflake Donuts.   We also visited Bandra and had fun at the 11th Street Cowboy Bar and a great dinner at Trail Boss Steak and Grill.  After Kerrville, we’ve spent one night at Choke Canyon State Park before arriving in the south Rio Grande Valley at Harlingen.

Kolaches from Snowflake Donuts, Kerrville, TX

We’ve changed things up this year.  Instead of staying on the Island in the RV, we’ll be in a condo.  After watching the salt air rust nearly every exterior part (and even some interior items) we’ve decided the new Montana needs to stay further inland.  We’ll leave the 5th wheel in Harlingen while we go play on the island.  Our 2 bedroom/2 bath condo just steps from the Gulf beaches works out great.  It’s well located for all of our favorite places and right along one of the bike paths on South Padre.  After 3 weeks on the island and a few days back in Harlingen, we’re headed north.

Our first night is in Carrizo Springs, at the SB RV Park.  This is a nice park located just south of town, in a quiet residential area.  The park offers about 70 long pull through gravel sites, a nice outdoor pool and even some covered sites.  Most of the guests appear to be long term, as are most of the parks in the part of Texas.  From Carrizo Springs, we’re parked at Seminole Canyon State Park.  We’ve always been intrigued as we pass by on the highway, but there’s never been any cellular service for internet.  However, with our StarLink, that’s of no concern, so we opt for 2 nights here.  The park visitor center is interesting and best of all, the biking trails along the canyon provide amazing views of area near the confluence of the Rio Bravo, Pecos River and the Rio Grande.  And, if you are ever in Comstock, TX – don’t miss the delicious burgers and onion rings at The J & P Bar and Grill!

Seminole Canyon State Park

The Rio Grande at Seminole Canyon State Park

Shaman Sculpture overlooking Seminole Canyon State Park

We continue NW along the Rio Grande until it leaves us at Big Bend.  Near here we spend 1 night at the Lost Alaskan in Alpine, TX complete with a visit to our favorite restaurant in West Texas, Reata.  From Texas we cross over into New Mexico and spend 1 night in Roswell, NM at the Town & Country RV Park, and 2 nights in Santa Fe at Santa Fe Sky’s.

Town & Country RV, Roswell, NM

Snow on the Spanish Peaks, Walsenburg, CO

It’s been another great Spring Road Trip.  All in all, 118 nights in 22 parks across nearly 4500 miles of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.  Summer camping start soon with a trip to Hermosa, SD for the annual Western Region Montana Owners rally.  More from the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Spring Road Trip 2025


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Off to see an Eclipse

8 04 2024

After departing Tucson, we’re planning a relatively quick transit across New Mexico and Texas hoping for clear views in the upcoming eclipse  “Path of Totality”.  We last viewed a total eclipse in 2017 when we were in Douglas Wyoming.  This time we’ve chosen Bandera Texas as our “prime” spot, with an expected totality of just over 4 minutes.

Our first stop after departing Tucson is at Hacienda RV Resort in Las Cruces, NM.  We generally stay at the KOA in Las Cruces, but with extra travelers in our group and eclipse traffic, the park isn’t available.  However, Hacienda works just as well for a couple of nights here.  The full hookup sites are wide and specious. From Las Cruces we’ll spend one night in Van Horn at the familiar Van Horn RV park and one night at Southern Living RV Park in Ozona, TX.  Both of these parks offer bare necessities and are just fine for quick overnights.

Southern Living RV Park, Ozona, TX

We’ve visited Bandera before, but this is the first time we’ve stayed at Riverside RV Park.  The Medina River flows along the southern edge of the park and in warmer weather would provide welcoming shade and calm quiet swimming holes.  From the easy check-in to the personable park hosts, this is a very nice place.  We’re parked in site #77, a wide pull-through site that is mostly shaded by a big tree overhead. The tree is a bit messy, but provides great shade for sitting outside or around the provided picnic table.

Riverside RV Park, Bandera, TX

Riverside RV Park, Medina River, Bandera, TX

As eclipse day arrives on April 8th, so do the clouds across the Texas Hill country. However, all preparations continue with huge tripods of telescopes and camera lenses positioned towards the sky all around the campground.  Around 12:30 through partially cloudy skies, we’re able to see the “bite” out of the sun.  As totality time at 1:30 approaches, the lights flicker on, birds are quieted and an eerie hush settles over the park.  Complete darkness lasts for 4 minutes and 4 seconds in this part of Texas, and very quickly the sun starts to reappear in the now mostly cloudy skies.  Not exactly the presentation we’d hoped for, but unfortunately it seems like most of Texas and many other places across the US experienced the same cloudy conditions.

Riverside RV Park, Bandera, TX – “Totality”

While we’re here primarily for the eclipse, we have a great time exploring Bandera and the surrounding area.  During an excursion to Kerrville, we check out the new Howdy’s Bar & Chill, formerly the Wild Ass Hey Barn.  Back in Bandera, we found a new favorite eatery – the Trail Boss Steak and Grill.  Located off the main street, this new restaurant offers a wide selection of steaks, seafood and burgers, combined with a full bar and excellent, attentive staff.  A special shout-out to Conner who serviced us during both of our visits – thanks for a great job! And, of course we had to check out the famous Cowboy Bar of Bandera!

Howdy’s Bar & Chill, Kerrville, TX

The Cowboy Bar, Bandera, TX

After Bandera, we’ll spend 3 nights at one of our favorite KOA’s, the San Antonio/Alamo KOA.  The park is east of town and provides easy access to the Historic Pearl development on the grounds of the former Pearl Brewery, the downtown Riverwalk and some of the historic residential areas in between.  We once again enjoyed the Black Laboratory Brewery and tasty Mexican food at Rosarios, now in their beautiful new location.

Historic Pearl Brewery, San Antonio, TX

Rosarios San Antonio

From San Antonio we’re headed to South Padre Island after a brief stop in Harlingen.  More from SPI…


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Categories : Spring Road Trip 2024

Welcome to the Cowboy Capital of the World

20 04 2018

Frederic Remington’s Bronco Buster statue

We’re parked alongside friends in sites #111 and #113 at the Pioneer RV Park, next to the Medina River as it flows through Bandera, TX.  We’ve often driven through Bandera, but have never actually stayed here.  But, we’re here for 3 nights on our way north so we’ll have an opportunity to check out the antique stores, honky-tonk bars and cafes.

Sites in the upper section (1-70) are pull through, back-to-back shared utility sites which means you end up sharing your “patio” and front door area with another RV.  These upper terrace sites are the only ones with cable TV, and there’s nearly nothing OTA here in Bandera. On the lower terrace all sites are back-in; sites 75-88 are very near the highway and bridge but have the most back-in maneuvering space.  Sites 89-118 provide river viewing to the front and sites 121-154 provide river viewing to the rear.  End site #121 would be very private and quiet with a great rear window view toward the river.  Sites 105, 107 and 109 have good late afternoon shade.  Any sites between 103 and 138 are furthest from the highway and probably most quiet.

Pioneer RV Park, Bandera, TX Site #113

Pioneer RV Park, Bandera, TX, Site #121

With temps pushing into the 80’s, we enjoyed the convenience of walking down to the cool shade along the river with our lawn chairs.  We also appreciated the short walk into town from the RV park.  The well advertised OST (Old Spanish Trail) restaurant is within 3 blocks and the antique stores are even closer!  Just around the corner at the intersection of highway 16 and Main Street is the visitors center, well worth a stop for maps, live music schedules and other great information.

While in Bandera we checked out two other RV parks, Riverside RV less than a mile east of Pioneer.  And, Skyline Ranch RV, about 1 mile west of town along highway 16.  Riverside is laid out much like Pioneer, right along the river, closer to highway 16 and with fewer trees.  Some of the Riverside sites have concrete pads – we didn’t see any sites at Pioneer with anything besides grass or gravel.  Skyline Ranch is about 140 sites sprawling through nicely wooded meadows.  Right next door is the Wildhorse Saloon bar and grill, a nice walk-able destination for those not wanting to drive (and park) in Bandera.  Overall Skyline reminds a lot of On The River Campground in Kerrville.  Both would be great destinations – the slightly rowdy honky-tonks of Bandera or the more laid back and bigger town of Kerrville.

Riverside RV, Bandera, TX

Skyline Ranch RV Park, Bandera, TX

Skyline Ranch RV Park, Bandera, TX

We’re here in Bandera for 3 nights, then off to Del Rio – more from there…


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Choke Canyon & SeaWind RV Resort

22 03 2018

Choke Canyon State Park

From Kerrville, the lower Rio Grande Valley is about 300 miles to the southeast and much too far (for us) to travel in a single day.  Plus, we need to circumnavigate San Antonio via a route that takes us through Bandera, Hondo, Devine and Jourdanton.  In hindsight, this was the wrong routing. Turning south at Jourdanton, both highway 16 and eastbound 72 are rough bumpy examples of what too much heavy truck traffic will do to a secondary roadway.  Next time we’ll detour over to I-37 somewhere south of San Antonio and on to Three Rivers via highway 281.

With cabinet contents slightly askew, we arrive at Choke Canyon State Park, on the shores of the first of several impounds that provide water for Corpus Christi.  In a strange twist of fate, we’re assigned site #133, the same site that we occupied 7 years ago during our last visit to the park.  The site provides water and 30/50A electric.  A dump station is near the park entrance.  OTA TV from San Antonio is good and the wildlife is abundant through out the campground.  We especially enjoyed watching the deer as they made their way down to the water and the wild turkeys as they strutted through the campsite.  While the campground offers WiFi near the entrance station, we didn’t try the booster to see if it would work – and instead used the very good 4G LTE T-Mobile service.

Choke Canyon Site #133, March, 2011

Choke Canyon State Park, Three Rivers, TX

Choke Canyon State Park, Three Rivers, TX

Choke Canyon State Park, Three Rivers, TX

Over the past years, we’re heard good reviews for an RV Resort at Riviera, TX – about 2 hours SE of Choke Canyon.  Instead of fighting the seemingly relentless south winds that are blowing out of the Valley, we opt for an overnight at the SeaWind RV Resort.  SeaWind RV is on the shores of Baffin Bay, a large bay south of Corpus Christi Bay.  Here sites are laid out along the water, in 4 spacious row and around Kaufer Lake.  Many of the sites are beautifully landscaped with shrubs, flowers, cactus and palm trees.  We select site #279, a back-in site along the bay.  The full hookup site provides electric, water, and a sewer port.  The Passport America rate here (for up to 7 days) is $20 – a great value!  OTA TV is good from Corpus Christi and the campgrounds WiFi works fine.  This park is somewhat out of the way, but offers some great privacy and quiet sites.

SeaWind RV Resort, Riviera, TX

From Riviera we’ll head to Harlingen, our home for a few nights before moving out to South Padre Island.  More from there…


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