Galveston Island RV Park, Galveston, TX

Great RV park at the far west end of the island. It is very quiet at this end of the island, but the downside is that it is 30 minutes into the main beach and restaurant area. We did not mind the daily commute as it gave an opportunity to enjoy the great beach houses. The park has a nice layout and the roads are easy to navigate. Most of the spots are back in with one row of spots as pull through. We stayed in a pull through and it was ~50' long with enough room to park our Jeep to the side of the coach. The pads at each site are concrete and flat for easy leveling. All of the sites come with a picnic table and charcoal BBQ. The park has good clean showers, bathrooms and laundry at the main building, which also has a small convenience store. The pool was nice and they also have a lazy river. The wifi worked decent most of the time. Expect to check email and look at low content web sites, but at least it worked. The palm trees are very young, so there were no problems connecting our satellite. We rate this park a high 4 out of 5 and will likely stay here again when we come back to Galveston.

San Antonio, TX

After spending 5 months in one place it's been an experience to remember how to pack up the rig and move it down the road in a timely manner.  :)  Texas is so big that poor Gary has been driving for long periods of time to get anywhere.  After 7.5 hours of driving from Terlingua, TX we arrived in San Antonio.  Talk about a night and day difference!  We went from a town where the population is 58 to the 7th largest city in America.  Whew! 
We of course did The Alamo and rented audio guides.  I learned a lot which made it even more near and dear to my heart.  :)  Fun fact: The soldiers were not defending The Alamo, they were defending the city of San Antonio which was just across the river.  Yes, the same river that now plays host to the famous Riverwalk. 
Speaking of, the Riverwalk is indeed a very special and beautiful place.  It is natural but also has man made off shoots that were made for the World's Fair in the 60's.  Many of the locals will tell you not to eat along there because it's mediocre food for tourist prices but I was willing to pay a few dollars extra for the ambiance and I was not disappointed.  :)  Plus, my steak was pretty dang good! 
We also did a day of exploring the suburbs (which were beautiful and quiet) and going to an old brewery that the city has done a fantastic job of turning into restaurants and boutiques.  SO fun! 
To round out our adventure, we spent a day at Sea World.  I never tire of seeing the Orcas and the Belugas.  :)  Such majesty in the water. 

San Antonio KOA, San Antonio, TX

Very nice amenities at this park. They have a small store at the main office, good laundry room, clean showers and restrooms, a nice pool, a pond with a gazebo and a bike rental shop. The location is very convenient off the main highways, but is in a rougher part of town. They have a full time security detail and it is completely fenced, so no worries about safety when within the campground. The sites are narrow, very narrow. Our slides were within a couple of feet of our neighbors popout. The water was good and the wifi worked (!!!). As with most KOAs, the price is on the high side of the scale, but you can expect to have a quality park. The sites are gravel and flat and most have a picnic table. The park has many trees, which provide great shade for most of the sites. We rate this park a 4 out of 5 and will gladly stay here again when our travels bring us back to San Antonio.

Big Bend National Park

Big Bend National Park

Our first real stop of the 2018 adventure was in Terlingua, which is the nearest town to Big Bend NP. I will start off by saying west Texas is rough. Flat, dry and windy are the better adjectives. The town of Terlingua has 58 residents, yes, 58. We spent 4 days here exploring Big Bend, which has its own beauty below the dry and windy and landscapes. We went to the Santa Elena canyons to see the Rio Grande, which is not very grande any more. The canyon is cool and we enjoyed the short hike into the canyon along the river bank. I threw a rock into Mexico. Our second day was spent doing the big hike in the park to the top of Emory Peak. The hike was fantastic with the mix of desert and high mountain forest and the views at the top were ridiculous. I am still in trouble for the scrambling required to get to the very top of the peak. Our last day was sightseeing in other areas of the park that were more of the same. The highlight of the trip was our last night where we drove a few miles of the road into the desert for some Milky Way star gazing. Big Bend is the darkest and largest dark area of the US. The view of the stars was truly breathtaking. We waited an extra hour to break our dark camp because the views were so incredible. I would highly recommend finding a dark spot somewhere and spending 30 minutes enjoying a bottle of wine while your night vision opens up to the point that you can finally see the Milky Way. I doubt we will visit the area again for anything other than the star gazing, but I am glad we crossed it off the NP list. Fun fact about Big Bend is that the park was officially established on D-Day. Fun fact about Terlingua is that it is an old mercury mining town. They pulled over 100K vials of mercury from the mines before being shut down in the 40's.

BJ's RV Park, Terlingua, TX

This is west Texas, so don't expect anything other than flat, windy and dry. The sites are fine for big rigs with enough room for a tow vehicle to be parked to the side. Most sites have a picnic table. The roads and sites are gravel, so there will be a little dust, but that is the norm for this part of the country. There is a trailer that is both the checkin office and the reasonable showers and bathrooms. The wifi works well enough to check email and do some web browsing. Cell phone coverage through Verizon in the park is spotty and very weak. Based upon the other RV parks we saw from the road in this area, this is your best option when in Terlingua. We rate the park a 3 out of 5 due primarily to the low nightly cost relative to the amenities. If our travel brings us back into this area in the future, we will most likely stay here again.

Las Cruces KOA, Las Cruces, NM

We stopped for a single night at the Las Cruces KOA on our way to Big Bend. The staff was great during check in and when we asked to extend our stay due to some unexpected mechanical issues. The sites are small, but they were long enough for us to fit our 43' coach into with the Jeep still attached. The KOA has a reasonable bathroom and shower area that was both larger and cleaner than expected. The roads and sites are gravel, so dust can be a problem. We had no issues leveling our coach and met several great people that were our neighbors. The wifi worked reasonably well, which is always a plus at any RV park. We rate this part a 4 out of 5 and will most likely stay here again when either passing through or visiting the area for a longer stay.