Fort Stockton, TX

Site:

Hilltop RV Park, Fort STockton TX

Site: 31

Wifi: Verizon - 5 down, 3 up, ATT - 7 down, 1 up, Sprint - 85 down, 2 up

Cost: $400 for two weeks

Noise: Normal highway noises

Theres something to say that being the best around doesn't mean you’re great. I really wanted to like Hilltop RV Park. Here’s the pros and cons:

Awesome:

• Sunset views

• Near town but feels like the country

• Easy to access

• Friendly neighbors and hosts

• Full bathrooms

• Beautiful pool

• The internet at night

• $2 washer and $2 laundry, open 24/7

• Great water pressure and actual showerheads in the showers

Not so awesome:

• Lots of highway noise at night

• The air slightly smells of sulfur

• The internet during the day

• The water in the bathrooms is slightly tinged yellow

Easily fixable but nothing has happened:

• The bathrooms have no soap or way to dry your hands. You’ve got four bathrooms, and NONE of them have this!

• The bathrooms do not have any gendered signs outside them, but in one of the bathrooms above the toilet is a sign saying that the bathroom is for women only. I’m fine with gendered bathrooms or not, but if you’re going to have them, have signs outside. 

• Not all showers have towel hooks. I had to pull over the shower stool to have someplace to put my towel

• The bathrooms have small plug in heaters. That’s fine, but they don't ever seem to be on, and when we had snow they were off, making for a cold toilet experience. 

• The mail is delivered to the owner’s house. The packages and mail just sits in the mailbox or porch, and anyone can grab your stuff. Didnt feel secure.

Sisko hikes up the mountain

City:

Fort Stockton, TX

We arrived in Fort Stockton, and the three gas station workers we talked to all said the best thing to do in Fort Stockton was to leave. Not a good start. Their only movie theatre had closed, and the best restaurant to go to was McDonalds. Their high value tourism spot is the Oldest House in Fort Stockton. Not the Oldest House in Texas… the Oldest House in FORT STOCKTON. Needless to say, we didnt explore much. 

Restaurant:

Big Bend National Park Restaurant

Since there was nothing to do in Fort Stockton, we went down the two hours to Big Bend National Park. Most tourism spots have expensive on site restaurants and crappy food, since your options were limited. We ate at the restaurant down at the basin, and were surprised by the decent prices! We were even more shocked at how good the food was. If it wasnt two hours away, we would absolutely go again. 

Kerrville, TX

Site:

By the River RV Park, Kerrville TX

Site: 29

Wifi: Verizon - 2 down, 1.1 up, ATT - 60 down, 20 up

Cost: $400/month

Noise: OMG so many ducks

By the River RV Park is an ideal location for those who love being outdoors, and those who have dogs. It’s a great spot to be, with amazing AT&T speeds for the rest of us who need to be connected. Of all the places we have stayed, this is the best of both worlds. The spots are literally steps from a large stream, and there are birds galore. The park has two sets of fulltimers (from what we could tell): a pair of large, white ducks that were very vocal, and a bonded pair of black and white ducks. Every day I would see them hanging out right outside our RV, having the time of their lives. Despite there not being leaves on the trees, we had a bit of shade. There is a large island connected to the RV park with a few tent campsites. It’s perfect for people to unleash their dogs and let them run around and have fun. And almost everyone here has dogs. We were here a month and never had any bad encounters with them - they were all very well behaved. The bathrooms are a bit of a walk away on top of the hill, so if you have any mobility issues you’ll want to make sure you’re self contained. The park also hosts events like pottery night, poker, waffle breakfast and a potluck. The laundry room is only open when the office is, so be sure to get your wash started by 3pm! There was also a line for laundry on weekends so taking care of it during the week will help ensure you can get it done when you’d like. The camp hosts were friendly and helpful, and overall we really enjoyed our stay. 

Kojii on a hike

City:

Kerrville, TX

Kerrville is a town in the middle of growing to be a bigger town. 10 years from now, Kerrville will be a bustling city. The only thing it is waiting for is for its people to be more consistent. A lot of businesses are closing, with new businesses going into their spots. There is a lot of real estate available in the area, and the people seem to like where they are. Only an hour and a half from SAT so there is a proximity to the dream of living in the country while still enjoying amenities of city life.

Ron finally finds his hat

Restaurant:

The Lakehouse

The Lakehouse Restaurant looks like a cabin inside, and has fantastic (and well priced) hometown cooking. We went twice, and our server both times (Hey Nicolette!) was both attentive and friendly. The food was flavorful and felt like down south cooking. The only thing that was missing was a deck for us to enjoy the food on while looking at their riverside view.

San Marcos, TX

Site:

Pecan Park, San Marcos TX

Site: 115

Wifi: Verizon - 4 down, 8 up, ATT - 15 down, 5 up

Cost: $450/month

Noise: Minimal, occasional flights overhead

Pecan Park is perfect for those that want to feel like they are in the country while still being a stone’s throw away from city amenities. They’re off a main highway, next to a beautiful stream with lots of trees and grass. It’s a fairly picture-esque setting. The ladies in the office were very friendly, as were our site neighbors. The only problems we had were that for some reason, at around 2pm every day, all of our wifi options would absolutely tank. And it was a night and day difference. During the morning we could stream and in the afternoon we were lucky to have speeds to send emails. The campground wifi was like most campground wifi - unreliable at best. We would still very much recommend staying, especially if you’re fine just downloading your shows in the morning to watch at night. 

Tyler thinks his stupid walk will ruin the photo. HA! Jokes on you!

City:

San Marcos, TX

San Marcos is a sprawling college town right off of some major highways. They have big box stores, a ton of hiking trails, and a very cute downtown with an oddly high amount of ice cream stores (not that I’m complaining, I’m pro ice cream). Overall, it was one of the better towns we’ve stayed in. The constant traffic on the main road is obnoxious, but other than normal town problems, we really enjoyed our stay

Restaurant:

Otoko

This restaurant is actually in Austin, but since we didnt eat out in San Marcos I’m counting this one. :) Our friend Tyler actually flew out to join us for this experience, and Otoko didnt disappoint. It was a revelatory experience in sushi for us all. It’s an incredibly intimate group experience. There are only a few spots each night, and the chef prepares everything in front of you. It was really expensive, but also really worth it. Some places you go to eat, this is one of those places you go to experience.

Canyon Lake, TX

Site:

Potters Creek Park, Canyon Lake TX

Site: 99

Wifi: Verizon - 21 down, 15 up, ATT - 20 down, 18 up

Cost: $20/night

Noise: None, just nature

Potters Creek Park is the definition of “middle of nowhere”. If you’re looking for some off the grid, on the lake relaxation, then this is your place. The RV sites were fairly spacious, with picnic table and awning. Our neighbors were friendly and on the first night they invited us to relax at their fire pit and we swapped stories of our lives on the road. The bathroom was small, but the showers had hot water and even when the campground was full there was no wait. Cell reception was spotty at best, but when you hit a good patch the speeds were fairly good. Not gaming streaming, but we could watch Netflix without too much worry. 

Ron fulfills his dream of petting penguins at the San Antonio SeaWorld

City

Canyon Lake, TX

We drove around for quite a while on the motorcycle and I’m still not exactly sure where Canyon Lake is. We stopped through a few small towns that seemed like they were only a mile or so long, with mostly mom and pop shops. While we didnt find too much to do outside of tubing (not in the winter!) and walking the dam, the small towns we stopped in had everything we need to a comfortable stay in Potters Creek Park. 

Restaurant:

We searched Google while walking the dam for something to eat after the hike. This led us to Jay & Diane’s Horseshoe Grill. They claim to have the best burgers around, and they really might be right! It’s a very small kitchen, almost like a food truck, with outdoor seating. Everything is ala carte, which works perfectly for picky eaters like me. The meat was flavorful and the sides were equally delicious. Very recommended.

RV Spending - November 2019

We finally had a month where I didn’t want to crawl in a hole and die whenever I looked at our spending. This month was way better on our pocketbooks, partially because we didnt have any major RV issues and partly because we spend longer at each place. In fact, the next two spots we are going we are spending a month at each to see what the perfect amount of time is for us (that, and it’s hella cold everywhere else).

Food

We didn’t really go out that much to eat, compared to previous months. There were not as many options for dining aside from fast food in the smaller towns we stayed in. However, we did discover our new love for Chicken Express.

Groceries: $945

Eating Out: $276

Gas

Going to fewer places means less gas needed. We did, however, spend a lot more time exploring the towns so we filled up the bike quite a bit. 40+ mpg on that thing is absolutely amazing.

Gas: 312

Entertainment

Heading down toward a more metropolitan town meant more options for things to see and do. This month was extremely expensive as we paid for a few once-in-a-lifetime experiences (coming soon: fishbirds!). We paid for an animal encounter at SeaWorld, as well as prix fixe menu for us and our friend Tyler for when he comes down next month. While it may be expensive, I’d much rather have our money go to experiences than have to spend it on new tires.

Entertainment: $1,151

RV Repairs

None! Nada! Nothing!

RV Repairs: $0

RV Parks

We had previously paid for our stays at the US Army Corps of Engineer Parks, so this month was much cheaper due to Past Jakki having taken care of the cost already.

RV Parks: $220

Propane

We ended up cutting it close in Comanche with the propane and ran out of propane for our grill as well as pretty close to empty in the RV. Luckily small town deals paid off, and we filled up both the RV and gas grill container for less than the half fill we had gotten the previous month.

Propane: $38

Grand total for November: $2942

RV Spending - October 2019

I’m ready to write an article called “Why You Definitely Should(n’t) Live In An RV”, as I shiver from it being 30 degrees outside in Texas and our heater is suddenly broken. Every time we get one thing fixed, another breaks. Most of October was spent with a tinge of disappointment. We didnt really like the towns we visited and we were once again stuck somewhere while we were getting things repaired. We also had our most expensive repair to date. As we travel through Texas like the pretend snowbirds we are, we will be slowing down to lower gas and campground costs so that, God willing, we can bring back up our savings.

Food

We were pretty upset by how lousy October was being to us, and we took it out on our wallets with restaurants and groceries. When we hibernate next month that number should go down.

Groceries: $579

Eating Out: $620

Gas

While we had fewer trips, we went further on each trip. We also were bored in the towns we went to, and traveled up to two hours each way to larger towns for things to do.

Gas: $265

Entertainment

Albuquerque had an awesome zoo that we went to on a half priced weekend, and we saw a movie at Alamo Drafthouse (Joker) as well as went to MeowWolf. With the influx of video games coming out soon, we will probably spend less on entertainment as we nerd out.

Entertainment: $126

RV Repairs

We went to Hal Burns in Santa Fe for repairs. We replaced our front brake pads, calipers, and rotors. We also got our bearings repacked. We were originally quoted $3k for this service by the repair guy in Denver, and were pleasantly surprised when it was just over half of that. This also includes the registration for the motorcycle.

RV Repairs: $2,380

RV Parks

We were lucky enough to stay in the parking lot for free while we were waiting for our repairs in Santa Fe, but because of the uncertainty of when we would get fixed, we were stuck with expensive same day KOAs. Most of November we prepaid back in September as they are state parks, so next month will be cheaper. This month we stayed at an RV park 24 days, with an average of $37/site.

RV Parks: $749

Propane

As we had hookups almost the entire time, most of our propane usage was for the stove. Our electric heater only works over 50 degrees, so the nights it got really cold we used propane heaters instead.

Propane: $57

Grand total for October: $4,776