The Marfa Lights

Rumor has it that you can only see the Marfa lights about 30 times during the year.  The best chances they say are in September and March.  The most likely time to see them is just after sunset and just before sunrise. That certainly wasn’t our experience as we were there in October and there was plenty of activity going on (both at the overlook and just outside the campground).

Let me start by talking about the strange stuff outside the campground in the sky towards the Chinati Mountain Range. Eva and I get up really early in the morning, which can be anywhere from 2:00 to 4:00 AM. This is just the way I have been all my life. My Mom used to say if they heard something strange downstairs in the morning, they knew it wasn’t a burglar, it was John.

Eva and I were easily out the trailer door by 4:00 AM each day in Marfa. What I didn’t expect was to see anything strange in the sky at 4:00 AM, two days in a row.  I thought, at first, perhaps it was the Marfa lights. However, this was just too high in the sky for that.  This thing moved rapidly from side to side, darted around and even changed colors.  I do have a video of it on our YouTube channel, click here to see it. You will need to expand the screen and look closely but you will see it. Perhaps there is a reasonable explanation for what I saw, but I’ve never seen anything like this before.

Now let’s forward to our first visit to the actual Marfa lights Experience. 

The Marfa outlook is just 9 miles down the road from the campground.   The parking is weird.  You need to park alongside the driveway as opposed to pulling into stalls.  This doesn’t leave a lot of room if a lot of people decide to come.

The Marfa Lights Overlook

It’s an adobe looking structure and has a pretty large viewing area as well as some binocular type viewers mounted on stands.  From what I could tell the lens were so dirty on the inside of the units, that they were pretty much inoperable.

Bring some chairs with you because there are only benches along the back wall.  I was a little worried that it would be buggy but it wasn’t.  ALSO, bring a flashlight because it will be pitch black when you leave, and that will make it difficult to navigate back to your vehicle.

There are some benches on the land beyond the viewing station if you want to go down to ground level.  Keep in mind, that area does not appear to be maintained; so, you will probably need to step over brush, and you may get stuck with burrs…ask me how I know – this is a desert environment.

We arrived there as the sun was setting.  There were perhaps 20 people in total at the overlook.  About 10 minutes after arriving we started seeing lights towards the Chinati mountain range.  First there was one, then two, then a couple more.  Then one on top of another.  It was interesting for sure.  I took quite a few videos that we can take a look at now.  My camera was in a tripod.  I think Tammy and I stayed until about 9 PM and then headed back to the campground.

On our second visit, three nights later, there was much more activity.  There were a lot of lights moving about on the horizon.  Interestingly enough something else was up in the sky about a quarter mile out from us.  No one else seemed to notice it, but it moved very strange and then quickly moved from right to left and disappeared.  Again, no idea what that was, but it was very similar to what I experienced outside the campground.

Once we felt things were tapering off, we decided to head back to camp.

I would highly recommend going to Marfa to see the lights.  It’s interesting to see something that no one has been able to explain.

For more information including videos from the overlook, click here to see those videos plus a recap of the Marfa trip including the lights on YouTube. There was a lot to pack into the videos, so they are pretty long – grab some popcorn!

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Big Bend National Park was named after a large bend in the Rio Grande river. The park protects more than 1,200 species of plants, more than 450 species of birds, 56 species of reptiles, and 75 species of mammals. We saw many roadrunners as we drove through the park as well as wild horses.

Additional Park activities include scenic drives, and programs led by park rangers, and stargazing if you are there late at night. As I mentioned we were there during the government shutdown so there were no rangers or any programs taking place.

The area has a rich cultural history, from archeological sites dating back nearly 10,000 years to more recent pioneers, ranchers, and miners. The Chisos Mountains are located in the park, and are the only mountain range in the United States to be fully contained within a national park. Geological features in the park include sea fossils and dinosaur bones.

The park is 1251 square miles. 118 miles of the Rio Grande separates Mexico from the United States, and Big Bend National Park.

In 1933, the Texas Legislature passed legislation to establish Texas Canyons State Park. Later that year, the park was redesignated as Big Bend State Park. In 1935, the United States Congress passed legislation that would enable the acquisition of the land for a national park. The State of Texas deeded the land that it had acquired to the federal government. Then on June 12, 1944, Big Bend National Park became a reality. The park opened to visitors on July 1, 1944.  It is one of the largest and one of the least visited national parks.  But there has been an increase in visits since 2024.

From Marfa there are three routes you can take to Big Bend. 

1. You can head directly south on highway 67 to Presidio, which is a border town.  We did that one day and found ourselves at the border crossing. Waze missed notifying us of an apparent turn to the road that leads to the park.
2. Or you can drive about 25 miles east to Alpine, then head south on highway 118 to the park entrance just beyond Terlingua.
3. Lastly you can drive through Alpine and on to Marathon (about 55 miles) and go south on highway 385.  You can follow that right to the entrance.

Option 3 is the one we selected so we could move through the park from east to west and then exit out by Terlingua.

I can’t stress enough how nice the highways are on the way to the park, and within the park. What you will see on the way there are the mountain ranges, and a lot of desolate land. My understanding is that the state of Texas owns much of this land.  They also continue to buy more.  They recently purchased 353,000 acres, known as the Brewster ranch. The scenery along the way is really beautiful, and Tammy is the main picture taker in route, and at the park.

It is not unusual along the way to see many folks living in their travel trailers or fifth wheels on barren fields. This is not a camping haven; it is every bit as desolate as Marfa and the surrounding area. We kept asking ourselves, who are these people? What is it about this place that they would choose to live here? What do they do for water and electricity out here? Frankly it is hard to understand how folks can survive in that environment.

Let’s talk about expectations before you go to the park.  Ask yourself these questions?

Are my tires aired up and in good shape?

Is my vehicle in really good working order?

Is my vehicle full of fuel?

Do I have tools with me just in case something goes wrong, like a flat tire etc.?

Do I have supplies, like water and food, so I can survive a breakdown in some remote area?

Seriously, you are on your own out here.  There is absolutely NO cell coverage at all.  That means Triple A is not coming to help you.  So be prepared.

Tammy thought there was a road near the Rio Grande that would be a short cut to Terlingua. She was right, it was a short cut.  However, there was a warning sign about how prepared you would need to be in order to take that route.  It was a gravel and dirt road, and the ruts were deep.  A Jeep Wrangler might be fine, but probably nothing else. Even using a Wrangler on this stretch might be pushing it.

The speed limit through the park is pretty much 35 – 45 miles per hour.  So, it will take you a while to get from one place to another.  Even so, the scenery is worth the slower drive.

We rolled into the park about 9:45 AM, on October 4^th, just four days into the government shutdown.  It seemed like we were the only ones going there. Surprisingly, being four days into the shutdown the restrooms were clean at the entrance.  Except for the fact that the Park HQs building were closed, you would never have known it.

My advice is to plan for an 8-hour day or more to be safe. You will have three hours (at least) invested in the drive to the park and back, or more (If Marfa is your camping spot).  Then that will leave you plenty of time to take a route similar to ours, traveling east to west within the park.

We did not see the very east part of the park, so we will need to go back to see that. We are hoping that it is more lush than what we experienced.

From the Persimmons Gap Entrance to Chisos Basin Visitor Center it is 36 miles. I would say that the Chisos visitor center is somewhat centrally located in the park. However, this is not a 30-minute drive due to the speed limit. It is going to take you probably over an hour to get there.

When we arrived at the Chisos Basin Visitor Center, there was some confusion on which way to go. I want to caution you a bit here.  The maps are spectacularly bad from a detail perspective. Tammy got out at the Chico Basin Visitor Center and took a picture of the map on the building.  It offered more detail but wasn’t great.  We were a little confused on why they wouldn’t have maps outside the building.  Even if it was some sort of map vending machine, that would have been good.  Believe it or not, map vending machines do exist.  Regardless, the park really needs a more detailed map.

Based on the maps we looked at, had we turned left at that point we would have gone down to the RIO Grande Village Visitor Center.  Perhaps in retrospect that would have been a nice alternative for seeing the Rio Grande.  We took a right turn and headed down into the Chicos basin.

Again, you need to drive cautiously because there are some blind turns in the road. One of the nicest surprises during the drive was coming around a corner and seeing four horses standing shoulder to shoulder on the edge of the road.  At first, we thought it had to be some sort of organized horseback ride.  However, there were no saddles so these horses were wild.  Even so, they were not spooked at all by us or the car behind us.  I bet if we would have gotten out of the truck, we might have been able to get right next to them.  Deeper into the brush we spotted more horses and a donkey.

There are some very steep climbs and descents during your drive. In fact, one of the steepest descents brings you down into a valley surrounded by the mountains. It looks very much like something out of Jurassic park.

This was on the way to seeing the Rio Grande. As it turned out we found a place to have lunch right next to the river.  Keep in mind this is the furthest west we could go.  It was also close to the road that was the possible short cut, that I talked about earlier. After lunch, we checked out that road which would have been probably five miles long vs backtracking at least 20+ miles.  That road was a mess, and I knew that the Ram probably couldn’t handle the ruts etc. Realizing it was a no-go, we were forced to backtrack.

One of the natural monument structures is aptly named “Mule Ears” for its appearance.  We saw it from several different locations when driving in the park.

We eventually exited the park near Terlingua. Tammy had found a publication that talked about a ghost town there.  It was only a few miles down the road so we decided to check it out.  My advice – nothing to see here but a few ruins and a tourist trap.  Could be a great place to stop for a cold beer, but we didn’t because we have Eva.  She can be a spoiler sometimes.

Now regardless of which road you decide to take back to Marfa, you will need to stop at an immigration checkpoint. These are the nicest folks you’ll run into on the way back. They were interested in what we thought of Big Bend.  They even ignored Eva’s barking.

So back to Marfa we cruised.  Little did we know the most exciting part of our journey was just ahead.

We left Marfa on Tuesday morning, with our longest leg of the trip ahead of us. This would be to Abilene State Park.

There are several routes to Abilene. This route was east to highway 67, then north to highway 10 to Fort Stockton for fuel.  Based on timing it looked like we would be taking highway 18 north out of Fort Stockton towards Monahans; then to Abilene using highway 20 most of the way until Sweetwater.  Then some back roads to Abilene State Park.

The trip would be around 350 miles. With Eva you can bet that it will take 6.5 hours to get there.  Between Fuel and dog breaks, it all adds up.

We knew that this would be a tight trip from a time perspective, given that the Abilene State Park Office building would be closing at 4:00 p.m.  We left early enough, roughly between 8:00 to 8:30. So, I figured we would roll in there around 3:00 PM.

After our fuel stop at Fort Stockton, we got on highway 18. Shortly into that leg of the trip, I spotted Tammy’s egress window open and flapping in the wind. As soon as I saw it I said “Oh my God, your windows open”. She thought I meant her truck window. “No your bedroom windor”.

I pulled to the shoulder immediately and got into the trailer. It looked like the “Wizard of Oz” in the bedroom. The screen was off, the window was open, and it just looked like a mess. Fortunately, it was just a matter of putting the screen back on after securing the window. No harm, no foul.

After We got back on the road, we started talking about all the weird things that plagued the trip. As we started talking about the wheel sensor issue that we had on the way there, we heard a very loud boom, it sounded like a shotgun to me.  Even Eva got up to look around. I had already begun slowing as the TireMinder alert started to sound. The rear driver side trailer tire suffered a major blowout.

We got over on the shoulder of the highway as far as we could, then Tammy directed me further to the side.

I have to admit my first thought wasn’t how am I going to change the tire. I’ve changed plenty of tires, but this is only the second flat we have had on a travel trailer.  My concern was centered more around how this might keep us from getting to Abilene State Park on time. There was no way I was going to wait for AAA, if they even had a service nearby. It would be much faster to deal with it by myself.

It was surprising that I had a blowout.  I’ve never hit curbs with the tires, hit road debris, potholes etc.  These tires are just three years old with 13,000 miles on them. They are goodyear endurance, which are the only brand I have used on the trailer. This is my third set.

When the blowout took place, I was going 65 mph. As a result, I had very little damage under the trailer.  Just a little of the underbelly tape was torn.  The floor of the trailer wasn’t even exposed.

This is why I don’t fly down the highway at the posted speed limit (which was 75 here). The faster you go the potential for serious damage increases.  I did find a couple other things when I got home. We will talk about that in a minute.

Well, the first thing I did was grab my tool bag. Then I looked for my impact driver.  I couldn’t find it.  I always put it behind the back seat. Nope, not there.  I would later find it at home sitting on my Table Saw.  I won’t make that mistake again!

Well, now it was time to do things the old way. I used my sockets and loosened the lugs on the tire.  Then I took of the spare.  I was so glad that I replaced that spare last year.

I used my Safe Jack to raise the trailer and I pulled off the flat. It had been a victim of ply separation.  So, now I was paranoid about the other tires.

As I worked on removing the tire, Tammy stood at the ass end of the trailer, on the road side. She had a pink shirt on, which made her stand out. Now, hopefully the few vehicles that traveled this road would move over as a result.

As I jacked the trailer up higher for the spare, I saw a vehicle approaching. At first, I thought it might be a police vehicle. It pulled up behind the trailer and turned on its lights.  As it turned out if was a Texas DOT Emergency vehicle.

He put his lights on and helped me get the spare on.  I would say we were done in about 10 minutes after he showed up.  It was a relief to have emergency lights behind us.

So, now it was time to start out again.  I would lie if I didn’t say that I was now pretty paranoid about the other tires.  Not only that but riding without a spare is a little unnerving. We stopped a little way down the road to put a few pounds of air in the spare, then it was on to Abilene.

One thing I was not looking forward to was the road through the Midland/Odessa area.  This area was just short of a nightmare on the way to Marfa.  Between the construction, poor signage, and the overall conditions, it was not a place I wanted to re-visit.

I took note when we left there heading to Marfa, that the other side of the highway was at a complete standstill for miles.  For those reasons, I was not keen on the return trip.  However, Waze told us this was the shortest and fastest route. Surprisingly we cruised right through the entire area without so much as one delay.  Finally, a little good luck of the Irish shined upon us.

Waze then took us on a back road adventure to Abilene State Park.  We wound slowly through the countryside full of windmills.  It probably would have been faster had it routed us to Abilene, then to the park. However, the good news was that we arrived at around 3:30, so all was well.

We drove to our spot, backed in, and set up for our one-night stay.

We have stayed here one other time. This is a really nice park BUT there is absolutely no cell service.  They really need a cell tower near the park. I think it is totally unacceptable not to have cell service in a state park.  What if someone has a medical emergency?

Our iPhones showed the only calling option as SOS.  An iPhone displays “SOS” when it can’t connect to a regular cellular network.  Apparently, it can still connect to a network for emergency calls.  I don’t understand how that can work with zero cell coverage, and it’s unreasonable to rely on that in my opinion.

Eva and I made our rounds that evening mapping out a nice one-to-two-mile path to take in the morning.

Tammy warned me to watch out before we left, showing me a picture of some deer that were in our campsite earlier.  Well Eva and I never saw any deer, just some rabbits, and folks backing their trailers into place.

It ended up being a really nice cool evening and we sat outside for a while and relaxed, (Eva not so much).  We also walked our loop and Tammy wrote down some preferred sites for future stays.

I’ve mentioned many times that the Texas State Parks are fantastic, Abilene is no exception.  The sites here are all back-in but they are really nice.  Only a select few have full hook-up, but that’s ok, a dump station is available.  So, if you want to have a long stay, take your poop wagon.  Better take some books too, since there is no cell service.  I don’t think it’s going to be easy to get air TV there either.  So, if you are really looking to be modern, you may need Starlink.  However, with all the trees I’m not sure that would work very well, but I don’t have Starlink so I can’t tell you for sure. After this experience I am starting to consider it though!

The next morning Eva and I made the trek around our area of the park twice before the sun came up.  Again, we saw a few rabbits and that was all for wildlife.

Then after breakfast we put Eva in the truck, rolled the slides in, disconnected power and water, locked everything up and we were off for home.

This was a relatively short travel day at 235 miles.  The only possible problem could be highway 30 going through Dallas, which is always a bottle neck.  Surprisingly we cruised right through there at 2:30 PM without a single issue.

Finally the trip was over, but the fun was just beginning.  What was the complete fallout from the blowout plus a few other things?

1. There was a broken brake wire on the tire ahead of the blow out.  I have no idea if this was related to the blowout or just a loose connection.  I repaired that with a gel connector, just like the factory uses.
2. I found a broken skirt bracket.  These are cheap aluminum, and I’ve had three of these break for no apparent reason in the past.  I’m thinking this was just another one of those situations as it was far from the tire that failed.  In trying to source a bracket from Grand Design parts, I left a return phone number.  They called over a week later, after I had already come up with an easier, cheaper solution using a valance bracket. It cost a whopping $3.00 at Home Depot.
3. There was some rubbing off of the underbelly tape that I removed and then added a new strip.
4. Chloroplast had broken around four bolts.  This was due to the blow out.  I fixed it buy using 3”x4” pieces of plastic as large washers to go over the torn pieces.  Actually, this is something they should consider at the factory, it is so much more secure.  I covered over the plastic with belly tape.
5. Next it was on to Discount tires.  They found that the other tire on that same side had the beginnings of ply separation.  Their opinion was that the tires were defective.  They inspected the other side of the trailer and found those tires to be fine.  So, they replaced the two “defective” tires for free.
6. I found a torn D-seal on the door side of the trailer.  The tear was right next to the Schwintek rail.  Changing the D-seal is about as easy as it gets.  Remove the bottom screw and then feed the new seal in and reinstall the small screw. Obviously, this it was just time to replace this after eight years.
7. Tammy was right! We needed emergency triangles, just in case we ever get stuck on the highway again – we should have had them.  I purchased a set on Amazon, hopefully they make their way into my truck along with the impact driver.

After all of that I did my usual roof wash and inspection. Then the trailer body wash and inspection. The next day it was time to do some odds and ends stuff inside the trailer along with a very thorough cleaning. 

The dust from the trip was really impressive.  By impressive I mean disgusting.  After about three hours of work inside, I was really happy with how clean the trailer was. The truck was a disgusting dusty mess too.  I pulled the air cleaner and ordered a replacement along with a cabin air filter.  There was just too much dust and dirt to not change those.

After three days of sitting in the driveway it was time to back it into its spot under the shop.  Then I drained the water lines and flushed out the water heater.  There was quite a bit of minerals build up in the tank, so it looks like I will be doing that more often.  I had recently descaled the water heater, so maybe there was some residue.

Would I do this trip again – Absolutely!  In fact we are going to in the next year or so.  However, I would bring my impact driver…that was a big miss.  I would also now be more prepared for what the weather is like in Marfa and be more prepared for it.  I would get the reflective insulation, like reflectix, for the windows, and bring booties for Eva due to all the burrs.

I hope you guys found this series helpful and that it gives you a heads up for what you may run into if you go to Marfa or big bend. If you want to see my 44 minute recap of this part of the trip visit: https://youtu.be/fYAm-Bxj33E?si=4TYphv9A4yQPOnyK

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I might be inclined to call it the trip from Hell, but others have had it much worse than this.  However, it wasn’t one fun moment after another, that’s for sure.

Let’s talk first about the trip to Midland Odessa RV Park.   While in route to our first fuel stop in Ranger Texas, we got an alert of a tire leak.  Our TPMS TireMinder said the tire was down to ten pounds.  This required that I pull over in a very precarious spot on a merging ramp to highway 20.  I hopped out with my tire gauge, and the tire was at 80 PSI.  Once I put the sensor back on it read correctly inside the truck.  No idea why this happened but I do plan on having a conversation with the TireMinder folks about their sensors.  This isn’t the first time we have had a faulty reading.  Maybe, just maybe this was the red flag that the trip wasn’t going to be perfect.

Our first stop was the Midland Odessa RV Park.  It was once a KOA.  Here’s my advice – don’t go.  It really is, as tammy put it, “A community of full timer’s” with some available sites for travelers.  You may ask, how do you know that?  Walk around the campground for ten minutes and you will see some of the strangest things.  Abandoned RV refrigerators outside RVs, one with a broken table on top of it.  Dog fences around many, many trailers.  Garbage laying around trailers along with lots of extraneous stuff that could be picked up.  Lots of junk, real junk, laying up against trailers.

I could give you more examples, but I don’t think it necessary.  About the only good thing you could say about this campground is that maybe (given what we saw along the highway on the way there) it’s better than the other alternatives.  My opinion is to find a different route to Marfa.  The pictures below don’t reflect the overall state of the campground, but you can see a glimpse of what is acceptable.

What else can I say about that area?  Horrible confusing construction, with poor signage.  Long traffic backups, poor access to the highway from the frontage roads.  Then the worst part is the abundance of dust blowing in the air.  The air is thick with it.  If you have respiratory issues, this would be another reason to find a different route to Marfa.

Anyway, on to Marfa the next day.  It was a short ride compared to the previous day.  Less than 3 hours, stopping in Stockton, Texas for fuel. Then it was a short 95 miles to our campground, the Tumble In RV Park.

Just as a heads up, you will never be greeted or meet the owner.  Reservations are made on-line only.  You register yourself when you arrive.  Even if you have a spot reserved (marked with a traffic cone) which will be listed on a white board; you will still need to fill out a paper listing who you are, which spot you are in etc.  This is all done in a tiny orange and white 1960’s travel trailer, which sits about 100 yards inside the entrance.  Be careful, the entrance is hard to find with all the high weeds growing along the front of the campground.

The Tumble In has 22 sites of which 5 or 6 are full hook up.

The pads are gravel and are actually quite level.  Unfortunately, desert grasses with burrs outside your trailer and throughout the campground is what you and your dog will encounter.  Because of the burrs I’d say it is not particularly dog friendly but that might be the case anywhere down here. 

There’s no getting away from the burrs and if you have a dog somehow many of them will make their way into your trailer.  Even though I kicked my shoes off at the door and it didn’t help at all. I still was able to get stuck about 30 times walking in my socks inside the trailer. I probably pulled 20 or more out of Eva’s feet. She was really good about it. PLEASE, I can’t stress enough, this is a rough terrain for dogs. I also noticed a lot of tiny broken glass particles in the gravel areas around the campground.

The campground was largely unoccupied with the exception of 6 or 7 full timers.  The week we were there, we only had neighbors for two days, then we were alone again. The Tumble In is really close to town. Within walking distance is a dollar general, a hardware store, and much more. You could walk there if you want to via a trail at the rear of the campground.

The campground also has clean bathrooms, showers, and a small room for gatherings. It has a wood burning furnace, a refrigerator, a sink, utensils, a stove. This was a really nice touch and was always clean.

Here’s the part that will turn a lot of folks off. It is quiet most of the time, but trains come by somewhat regularly; usually about 5:05 am and 6:15 am and a few other times throughout the day. I heard a couple in the middle of the night also.  It will rattle your glassware since the tracks are quite close to the campground.  I grew up with trains in my backyard so it’s not an issue for me, and Tammy doesn’t get bothered by it at all.

Angels’ Mexican Restaurant is just down the street. The food is really good, but we waited 45 minutes after our order was placed. So, call ahead and order, just tell them you will eat in. It’s a small operation.

If you’re camping in a non-full hook up site, the dump station has no black tank flush water supply. In addition, a note in registration trailer requests that you don’t flush out your tank after dumping at your full hook-up site.  I’m guessing water is very expensive in this desert area.

There is very little to absolutely no shade in this campground. We found a tree in the site next to us that was unoccupied.  We put our chairs there and followed the shade as it moved around the tree.

The weather was always pleasant, perhaps mid-80’s. Don’t be fooled by that though, the sun beats down like a furnace on the trailer.

The sun is absolutely brutal there and it’s on an angle that makes your awnings useless.  By 4:00 PM the Air Conditioning would struggle to maintain a decent inside temp.  I used my heat gun in the trailer to see what the temp was on the inside of the windows. They showed 105 degrees.  I actually switched out my thermostat while we were there because it wasn’t acting correctly.  It was fine after that. It did require a quick trip to the local hardware store to buy some tiny screwdrivers. They came in handy a couple days later when the battery in the LevelMate Pro began beeping.

So, if you want to cut down on the heat inside, get some reflective insulation. Then put that on the sun facing side of your trailer windows. You will be glad you did.

I would be lying if I told you I didn’t like the Tumble In, I would go back. It’s hard not to like a place when you are one of the only campers there!  Next time I think I’d bring booties for Eva.  I would also put insulation on the windows

If you are an early riser you might see something very strange outside the campground facing south at 4:00 in the morning. I did two mornings in a row,  It was something I could not explain.  I did take a video of it, and will have it on my YouTube channel.  Tammy put it best when she said, “there’s a lot of weird stuff going on here”.

Alright, I think I’ve given you the low down on the trip to Marfa and the Tumble In RV Park.

The next post will be The Marfa Lights. Click here to see that post!

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The RV Express 66 Campground is located right off highway 44, in Marshfield Missouri.

Now what makes this campground unique is that it only has 15 sites. They are the cleanest sites you will ever camp at.

The sites range in size from 42 to 80 feet in length. All of the sites are concrete with 30A/50A full hook up. They each have a small yard area. Each site has a picnic table and grill.

The sites are level from side to side. However, you’ll need to adjust the front-to-back level due to a slight grade, which allows rainfall to drain properly from the site.

While the sites have only small section of well-manicured grass, there is plenty of lawn available at the campground to walk your pet.

Within walking distance, you’ll find a variety of nearby restaurants, a pharmacy, a hardware store, and fuel stations.

Just keep in mind that the campground is located right next to the on-ramp for Highway 44. S,o there will be some road noise. Road noise, trains, and air traffic have never bothered us when we travel. However, we understand that it may be a concern for some. It wouldn’t stop us from returning, but I know others might be more sensitive to it.

Our feeling is that we would rather camp here for quick on and off access to the highway, then to drive ten miles off the road to get a quiet campground.

During our stay, the campground had a wonderfully friendly, neighborly atmosphere. Campers were out enjoying the fresh air, with lawn chairs set up in front and behind their trailers. They were chatting with one another like old friends. It felt more like a neighborhood than a campground.

The nightly fee here is $50.00. If you pay with cash or check, a 4.4% credit card fee will be removed.  If you are a Good Sam Member or are a Veteran, you will get a 10% discount.

Now for just a second let’s compare that to “Loves Camping”. Loves will probably have the same amount of road noise, and cost about the same (in some cases more).  It will have water and electric, may or may not have sewer hookups.  If it doesn’t have a sewer hookup, it more than likely has a dump station.

For comparison, the Bloomington/Normal Loves has full hook up for $67.00 per night.

I’ll take the RV Express 66, save some money, and know I’m supporting a small business.

I just want to emphasize that sometimes the owner is what makes the difference between a good and an exceptional camping experience. If you’ve read my post about Beagle Bay RV Haven and Campground in Sarcoxie, Missouri, you’ll recall how I highlighted Kim’s amazing customer service there.

Out of all the campgrounds we’ve visited, there are three that stand out for their exceptional customer service: Beagle Bay RV Haven (mentioned above), Pilgrims Campground in Fort Atkinson, and RV Express 66.

Lynsey at RV Express 66 is one to watch—her attention to customer service and the way she runs the campground is impressive. If you get the chance, definitely stop by, stay a day or longer, support a small business, and experience the cleanest campground you have ever stayed at.

For more information, click here to check out their website.

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Since Marfa is in a desert environment, the days are hot and the evenings are cold. We expect that in the first week of October when we will be there, the temperatures will be in the low 80’s during the day and the low 50’s at night.

Our first stop on the way to Marfa will be the Midland/Odessa RV park. This is 379 miles from home, and my guess is we will spend about 7.5 hours to get there. That will give us an easy 200 miles to go on the second day.

The Midland Odessa RV Park looks like it was once a KOA. It looks to be a very nice campground. We are there for only one night in order to break up the trip. I was going to book this stop for the trip home, but it was not available. So, on the trip home we will stay at the Abilene State Park.

Our stay at Marfa will be at the Tumble-In RV Park. From what I can see in the pictures on their website, it’s very rustic. This is probably what you would expect from the desert environment. My interactions with the owner over making reservations seemed good. I must admit I am a bit curious on how the stay will go, we will be there for a week.

So, why Marfa? Well Tammy and I have watched a few shows on the Marfa Lights and always wanted to go and see them for ourselves. The Marfa Lights are visible on clear nights between Marfa and the Paisano Pass, when facing the southwest (facing the Chinati Mountains). The lights change colors, move, split apart, disappear and reappear. If you have heard that they are just car lights in the distance, that would be incorrect as they have been seen way before cars appeared in Texas. The first historical record of seeing the lights date all the way back to 1883. The following I took from Wikipedia:

“The first historical record of the Marfa lights was in 1883 when a young cowhand, Robert Reed Ellison, saw a flickering light while he was driving cattle through Paisano Pass and wondered if it was the campfire of the Apache. Other settlers told him they often saw the lights, but that when they investigated, they found no ashes or other evidence of a campsite.  Joe and Anne Humphreys next reported seeing the lights in 1885”.

It is also interesting to note that there has never been an explanation for these lights. Will we see them? You will be the first to know if we do.

There is also a viewing station 9 miles east of town on Hwy 90.

To the south of Marfa by 120 miles is Big Bend National Park. So that may very well be another stop while we are there.

I ordinarily will take my laptop with us on trips so I can edit videos while we camp. I have decided that I won’t do that this time. From what I have read the ability to even get a cellular connection is very spotty. Instead, I’ll just focus on trying to capture the most interesting moments and then get everything put together when we return. If, there is a lot to do, it may be multiple posts and videos.

So Standby for what could be an interesting trip.

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We arrived at the campground right on schedule at 2:00 P.M. I was going to have my boy Bob (son-in-law) help guide me into my spot, but he was running late. I swung it in myself and had everything set up by the time Bob arrived. All that remained was to get out Eva’s Coolaroo, her water, and the satellite dish.

In keeping with the entire trip so far, it was another really hot day. Bob and I had a beer and kicked back. It was nice to finally be somewhere for more than one night. However, my third “trouble comes in threes” incident was on the horizon.

The next morning, I went to visit Tammy at Corrine and Jeffs place and when I came home, I found that someone ran over my G2+ Satellite dish. Looked like a tire directly impacted it. That is a seven-hundred-dollar dish. It probably goes without saying that no one left a note for me or came over to fess up. I ordered a new satellite dish from Winegard for almost $800.00 with tax and shipping.

The next day, driven by morbid curiosity, I took the satellite apart. To my surprise, it hadn’t been damaged on the inside. I pushed out the dent with my hand, reconnected the dish. It worked perfectly. Then I called and cancelled my order but did place a new order for just a dome. The dome was only $65.00, much better than replacing the satellite. I did buy a new tripod because one of the legs had been crushed. Buying just one leg from Winegard was just as expensive as buying a new tripod on Amazon.

So, one would think that now my troubles were over, but they really weren’t. Later that day we began to get really horrible weather reports. The local weather guy was saying that all hell was going to break out that night. He said “These are not ordinary thunderstorms. These have winds of 60,70,80 miles per hour, real potential for tornados, and don’t even get me started talking about the lightening”. Then reports of tornados on the ground in Fort Atkinson, Rome, and Johnson Creek started coming in.

That put me into a bit of a panic, mainly because of Eva’s fear of thunder. I contemplated loading her into the truck and driving north but that storm was tracking that way too. In fact, the Harley Davidson celebration taking place north of us in Milwaukee was evacuated due to the storm. At that point I decided the best bet was to boogey on over to Jennifer and Bobs with Eva. We could campout in their quiet basement until the storm was over. I did run into some pretty torrential rain on the way to their place.

About 11:00 P.M. Eva and I went back to Cliffside Park, and I worried about what I might find. But everything was exactly as I’d left it. By then, we were both exhausted. In fact, Eva cried to get into her crate so she could sleep. That has never happened before.

The next day we got up and the campground was really wet from the rain. At that point I knew we couldn’t take any of the trails until things dried out. A few days later I tried again but the trails were in terrible shape. it’s obvious to me that there hasn’t been any trail maintenance in a long time. So, our first try at getting to the lake was foiled.

On the way back from the trail a park ranger asked us how far we went on the trails. He asked us if we had seen a tent anywhere along the trail. They had apparently found a bunch of camping supplies in the woods but no tent and no people. So that was strange, I hope he called the sheriff after our conversation.

A few days later we actually made it to the Lake via the trails, but it was pretty muddy. Later I found a tick crawling on my leg. So that made me do a real close inspection on Eva, but she was tick free.

Now, as a bit of background to the next issue, just prior to leaving our home in Texas, I tweaked my back. in fact, I thought maybe I would need to postpone going to Wisconsin but I kind of worked through it. However, it has been getting worse as the trip continued. There are certain things that really set it off. When that happens, it is almost impossible to walk for a few hours.

There came a time with a week left at Cliffside where I broke down and went to an urgent care. They gave me steroids and muscle relaxants. At least that would get me back to Texas. I hung out with Bob and Jennifer while I waited for the CVS to open and got to meet their new dog Daisy, she is soooo sweet.

The second week was much better from a trail perspective. Eva and I took many trips back to the overlook at Lake Michigan.

The second weekend came, and I met Tammy at Corrine and Jeffs house, and we all headed to the Rennaissance Faire, in Bristol. This is very close to Jeff and Corrine’s house. I would say that this is about the fourth time I have been to this Faire. If you have never been to one of these, it is worth it just to people watch. I feel about it now the same way I did when we first went – it’s huge, hot, and bizarre (or as I like to say “Interesting”). It rained before we went which added to a high humidity level as well. The food there is a little pricey but very good. It was great to hang out with the kids.

The plan after Cliffside was to go to Des Moines Iowa, then Topeka Kansas, and then on to Dodge City. That all changed with weather reports a few days before our departure. The weather in that direction was going to be horrible. The storms in Iowa were supposed to be absolutely horrible, and Kansas would be no better. Even if we could get to Dodge City, the weather there would be over 100 degrees for our stay. None of this was what I wanted to hear. There’s running from a storm, and then there’s being part of the storm. I’d much rather run from that kind of storm. So, we cancelled our reservations and made new ones going back the way we came two weeks ago.

The next few days flew by, and on Wednesday Tammy came to the trailer. We got organized for the trip home. One last dump station visit and we were on our way.

Now on the way home it was hot as well. Every day when we would pull into a campground the inside temp would be somewhere above 94 degrees. It would take a good hour to get the temp down in the trailer. Thats when I noticed that our main AC unit seemed to be acting strange. It would hit a brick wall at about 83 degrees and then cycle off for a while and then come back on. We ran both AC units to compensate. My guess was that the capacitor was weak. I confirmed this when I got home, and I replaced it.

I won’t make a detailed replacement video, because discharging the capacitor incorrectly could electrocute someone. However, there are plenty of YouTube videos on the subject.

All in all, about 2500 miles and a number of things that could have gone better, but it is always an adventure.

Next Trip will be in about 8 weeks and more than likely we will be heading to Marfa Texas. So stay tuned!

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We left the RV Express RV Park at about 7:30 A.M., mainly due to their entrance/exit location. It is about 20 feet from the main road that we need to turn on to get to highway 44. I was really concerned that if we didn’t leave early, we might get stuck trying to get out of the campground for a long time—or end up blocking traffic.

Since we left early, getting out of the campground onto the main drag was easy. What wasn’t easy was the horrible condition of the highway from Marshfield to Rolla. Long rough patches of previously patched highway in the right lane made for a horrible ride. This went on for about 40 miles. When the left lane was clear, I would use it just to escape from the crappy right lane.

After that fiasco, we fueled up and headed further up the road to my least favorite part of the trip – St Louis. The highways in St Louis, and the bypass around St Louis, is a mess. There is construction that is going on that prevented me from using the bypass. They’ve also shut down part of Highway 55 in the opposite direction. In short, I would almost rather drive anywhere else than St Lous. It has always been bad but the last two years has been horrible.

I am always happy when I am past St Louis. Then the ride becomes much less stressful and the road conditions improve. Eva and I made such good time that we actually spent time at a wayside having some lunch and relaxing prior to reaching the Double J Campground.

The Double J has been a frequent stop for us and has been on the second owner for probably three or four years. We have seen it go from a medium campground to a large campground. It is not an inexpensive campground. The staff is very nice, but there are some draw backs now. The campground roads and sites use small, round gravel, which makes walking difficult wherever it isn’t compacted. I don’t understand why they didn’t just pave the roads and sites. On top of that, for what you pay to stay there, it was disappointing to find that using the pool costs extra. Not that I would use it, but I think that is a real disadvantage for families camping there. Frankly, I have never found a campground that charges their guests to use the pool.

In addition, they have started putting some cement pads in, but they want to charge an extra $10.00 per night for that. Seems like it’s becoming an à la carte campground. They are already charging $63.00 per day so are you going to pay $73.00? Seems like it’s getting too pricey when you figure you’re going to pay to use the pool, min golf etc.

It is very clean and is a very secure campground with security gates that can only be opened with a pass that they give you at check in. If you are looking for an enormous dog park – this is the place. As I mentioned, the staff has always been great.

We arrived a bit early despite taking some time at the wayside. Arriving at the campground at 1:30 P.M. We set up and fired up both AC units because once again it was a very hot day.

The next morning, we dumped our tanks (full hook up). That is when the first problem reared its ugly head. Their sewer connection was threaded, however that part was freewheeling on the PVC pipe. It should have been glued to the pipe. This cause some back flow issue around the pipe. It wasn’t horrible, but nasty anyway. Nasty enough that I threw an old pair of shoes away. I cleaned what little mess was by the pipe and Eva and I continued on our trip.

Since trouble comes in threes, it probably shouldn’t have been a surprise when i couldn’t find my wallet when trying to fuel at Loves in Normal Illinois. There was no semi behind me, so I jumped in the travel trailer and began looking frantically for my wallet. I came up empty.

So, then I started doing some worst-case scenario planning. I knew I could make it to Elkorn Wisconsin on the fuel I had left. That would mean that Tammy would need to drive an hour to meet me and fill up the truck. I decided to pull out of the fuel lane and back into a truck spot, open the trailer and continue my search. After going through all of that, I found my wallet under the bed. I went back to the fuel lane, got my diesel and headed onto Wisconsin.

Click here to continue on our solo journey to Wisconsin.

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This 16 spot campground is a hidden gem for folks needing a stopover when traveling on hghway 44. Just take exit 100 and you are about two city blocks from the campground. There are only 7 pull-through sites. We were in site 16 which just barely fit our 35′ trailer and Ram 2500.

Let me start by saying if you hate road noise, this campground will probably not be for you. It is located right next to the entrance ramp to highway 44. Neither Tammy or I or even Eva minds road noise so this was not an issue for us. I only bring this up because I see people online often complaining about road noise at their campgrounds. We’ve stayed in places with a highway, airport, and trains combined, and it has never been a showstopper for us.

But back to this campground. The owner Lynsey is a wonderful person, and she keeps this campground immaculate. It is the cleanest campground I have ever stayed at. The sites are perfectly manicured with a picnic table and grill at each site. While the sites are not large, they are perfect for a short stay and as I mentioned, immaculate.

Lynsey is there at different times during the day, but don’t worry, she will give you info on your spot in advance. She places a cone at your site, and you just pull up to the cone. Then connect your power and water. It is a full hook up site so if you need to dump your tanks, you are all set.

There is plenty of fast food within walking distance from the campground, so that is a benefit if you have been on the road all day. Lynsey will give you a key code to enter the building to access the showers and laundry facilities.

I highly recommend this campground if you’re traveling on highway 44 and looking for a really nice place to stop. I really can’t say enough nice things about this place.

The next morning Eva and I got out of the campground at about 7:30 and headed to our next stop. This would be our regular stopping off point before getting to Wisconsin: The Double J campground in Chatham, Illinois.

Click here to follow along to stop number 4 on our journey north.

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Again, this was a very hot day for travel. We left Tyler state park pretty early and got a jump on the day. Pulling out of the site at Tyler had some challenges. Even though that site can accommodate a long trailer, it has a tight turn to exit the site. This is where having Tammy along is a big help, but Eva and I managed to exit the site without issue.

It was probably close to a six-hour travel day for us. By the time we arrived at the KOA, I am pretty sure the inside of the trailer was like an oven.

Now, first let me say, I really like this KOA. It reminds me of what KOA’s were all like back in the 80’s. It’s a medium-sized KOA campground that now falls into their “Holiday” category, though in my opinion it would be better listed as a “Journey”. This campground has been through at least three owners in the last 12 years. It is in need of some TLC, BUT it is still a really decent place to stop for the night or longer.

It is about 10 miles west of highway 69 in Oklahoma on Highway 40 (exit 255). The road to the campground stretches about a mile with bumps and ruts along the way, so brace yourself.

You will get road noise from highway 40 but most of the time it seems pretty quiet.

This KOA at one time had a pretty decent little restaurant inside the main building. That discontinued later and for a time there was no food being served. Now they offer pizza and wings and will drop them off at your site. Of course, if you have a dog, you may want to just go pick your order up at the office. Eva doesn’t appreciate anyone knocking on the trailer door. The food is excellent.

As you can see from the pictures the sites are a nice size and there is plenty of grass. The sites are for the most part pretty level.

I didn’t disconnect the truck for our stay, because this was just a one nighter for us. Eva and I went for quite a few walks around the campground, and it was surprisingly empty that night. The next stop on our journey would be a campground I have never stayed at but it looked really interesting, so I booked it.

Click here to move on to stop number 3 on our journey north.

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For the next five months, Eva and I got a lot done on the travel trailer. We replaced all the wheel bearings and races, replaced a bad power converter, and fixed the mysterious leaking bathroom sink. We also resealed many areas of the exterior of the trailer, and the roof.

Well, July crept up on us pretty fast. Now it was time to head up north in the trailer to pick up Tammy. This was the first time in many years that I would travel alone with a travel trailer. The last time was about in the late 1990s. I would tow our trailer to the Wisconsin Dells on a long holiday weekend. I would go up a day early, set it up, and then go to work the next day back in Madison. That evening we would all hop in the Van and head to the dells. No set up required!

Well, now it would be a much longer jaunt as Eva and I travel first to Tyler State Park. We do this to avoid the July 4th fireworks, then continue on to Wisconsin. We would be stopping in Oklahoma, Missouri, and Illinois along the way.

On July 2nd, we headed out to Tyler State Park. This may be my favorite state park in Texas. In a word – it was a very hot day. The ride was uneventful, and Eva was great. Eva has had a pretty spoiled life. All of our other shepherds had to live with our work life so they spent time alone. Eva has had us around 24/7 with the exception of that four day period when our granddaughter was born in February. Then she was boarded, and I was worried about how she would handle it. She was fine although I noticed she hadn’t eaten all of the food I left for her.

Tyler State Park has a brand-new administration office and it’s a behemoth of a building. You now drive much further into the park to reach it. The signage is not great so you may be tempted to go through their drive through window on the right side of the building but don’t do that. Instead, go to the left as you enter the driveway and park in one of the RV spots and go in.

I have no idea why they aren’t using the drive through window for registration. Anyway, the process is easy enough. We drove to the big pine campground into site BP304. I hit the sweet spot immediately and used my new leveling blocks to raise the passenger side of the trailer by 3”. I bought these because I realized it would be a much easier task with Eva, then me spending time building a ramp out of leveling blocks while she sits in the truck waiting for me to finish.

Once I leveled the trailer, I hooked up the electricity and chained Eva to the picnic table. With power on, I extended the slides, hooked up the water, and turned on both AC units—the inside temperature had reached 95 degrees. Then I moved Eva’s lead to the frame of the trailer and she flopped down under the shade of the trailer. It was extremely hot now! the temperature was 94 but the real feel was 109 according to the local weather guy. By the time I finished setting up, I was soaked.

Meanwhile back at home in Nevada Texas, one inch of rain was falling with heavy thunderstorms and two power outages. I was so glad I left a day early. After a few trips to take items from the truck, I was ready to call it a day. I had no desire to go out except for Eva’s potty breaks.

We would stay at Tyler from the 2nd and depart on the 7th. Every day at Tyler was a hot and humid mess. Eva and I would take our walks very early in the morning and once noon came around it was pretty much back into the trailer.

On July 4th, we could hear the fireworks in the distance, but they didn’t last long, and Eva seemed to take it in stride.

We ended up doing a really long trail on July 6th. That was a mistake because it ended up being about 8 miles (guessing) and I didn’t take water. I thought it was a short trail, never going to make that mistake again.

The next stop on the Journey is Lake Eufaula/Checotah KOA. It’s about a five-hour drive from Tyler.

If you would like to see our videos from Tyler click here.

Click here to continue on in the trip to the Lake Eufaula KOA.

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