After our amazing 12-night cruise around Cape Horn, South America, we’ve arrived back to Phoenix exhausted after nearly 30 hours of traveling since our disembarkation in Valparaiso, Chile. We originally had planned to depart Apache Junction on Friday. However, after the long travel day including weather delays at DFW, we opted for dinner, hot showers and sleep. But, with 4 hours of jet lag, we were up bright and early the next morning and ready to hit the road. Unfortunately the next leg of the trip will be very quick, and all the way across I-10 from Phoenix to San Antonio, TX, a total of 981 miles!
Our first night is at Stagecoach RV Ranch in Deming, NM – 329 miles completed. In Deming, the only place we’ve ever stayed is at Rock Hound State Park. However, with this quick overnight, we didn’t want to drive all the way out to Rock Hound. Stagecoach RV Ranch is a small park, about 3 miles south of town, and we hoped, far enough off of I-10 to prevent the all-night traffic noise. Indeed, the park was quiet and dark – we enjoyed our stay here. There is no fee for an overnight stay, but they asked for a $20 donation. The facilities look new, the 50A, water and dump were convenient. And, an added bonus, their WiFi ran along at about 6Mb, plenty of bandwidth for streaming a few hours of TV. All in all, a great value!
Stagecoach RV Ranch, Deming, NM
Our next night found us at the Van Horn RV Park in Van Horn, TX – 551 miles completed. We’ve been at this RV park many times, it’s about the only game in town, and there aren’t many other towns in this part of West Texas. The old park is just as run down as before. From our site at E8, the cactus garden is dry and dusty, the onsite-café is closed due to inspection violations, the pool is drained and the WiFi is intermittent at best. We did manage to find a 5Ghz signal that would run along about 11Mb, for 30 minutes or so, then it disconnected and reconnected a few seconds later.
Our next stop is at Junction, TX – 868 miles completed. We’re at the North Llano River RV park, in site 48A. We were last here in 2020, but didn’t manage to get a review in the blog. This former KOA park of about 75 sites occupies a nicely wooded area along the North Llano River. Tent sites at $25/night have the premium views, right next to the river. RV sites, from standard with full hookups at around $50 to premium sites with pergolas and grills range up to $95. Even though the park is only about a ½ mile away from I-10, the road noise isn’t a distraction. The Wifi here ran along at around 6Mb, plenty for TV streaming.
North Llano River RV Park, Junction, TX
After Junction, we continued east on I-10 until Kerrville, only about 60 miles west of San Antonio. However, wanting to avoid downtown San Antonio, we detour south through Kerrville, Bandera, Hondo and arrive at Choke Canyon State Park, on the banks of Choke Canyon Reservoir. During check-in we’re notified that they have a water main break, and there is no water in the campground. Fortunately we’re able to fill our fresh water tank at their maintenance facility and continue to our site, #114. This back-in site is located at the end of the campground loop, and very private being completely surrounded by trees. With no park WiFi, we’re relying on our T-Mobile hotspot service. Our 5G phone ran along at streamable speeds. However the 4G network was very slow when we arrived, but was working just fine by the next morning.
Choke Canyon State Park, Calliham, TX
From Choke Canyon, we’ll make the relatively short drive south to the Rio Grande Valley. We’ll be in Harlingen for 2 days before moving out to South Padre Island on April 1st. More from SPI…
Small Home - Big Yard 