OR FIRST TRIP - this is a long one!

[Tom Sauls]

After buying our RV in November and beginning plans and preparations to make our first trip in June the time finally arrived. We had slowly picked up the items we thought we would need to make it a good trip and surprisingly enough we did a pretty good job.

Our route was to be from Carson City Nevada to Palmyra (Southern above Louisville KY)Indiana via I-80. We were set to depart June 19 for a family reunion and had to be there by the 22nd. We knew the days would be long ones but had now choice due to time constraints on our departure.

Day 1: We left about 2pm on the 18th and made it as far as Wendover Nv at about 10pm. where we spent the remainder of the night in the parking lot of a city office complex. It was hot and sleep was tough, but we managed ok.

Day 2: We drove through Utah, Wyoming and stopped at a Cabela's RV park in Sidney Nebraska. It was new, nice and fit the bill for what we needed, a shower, power, dinner and sleep. This park is right near a Cabela's Superstore for anyone interested in staying there and seeing what they have to offer.

Day 3: We finished off Nebraska, touched into Iowa and ended our day in a KOA in Columbia Missouri. We again arrived in time to see the sun set, eat, shower and bed down for the night. The park was nice and a good value for us. To show what a small world it is, the people parked next to us we from a town about 15 miles south of where we live and they were patients of the dentist my wife works for.

I would recommend this park to anyone going that way.

Day 4: We left early the next morning and headed off on the final outbound leg of our journey.

We made it to the Buffalo Trace County Park campground at about 2pm. We had made reservation months prior and arranged to be place in the site next to my wife's uncle, which was a nice thing.

For anyone who will be thinking of staying there, here are my observations:

The park has it's own lake! There is a walking/jogging path around it. 1.3 miles.

The sites aren't very level... if you don't have auto-levlers be prepared to work as getting your rig leveled.

The hookups are on the wrong side of the back in sites. We came up short on our 30amp shore cord and had to use a heavy duty extension cord. We were careful to watch what we would run at any given time so it was ok.

There is no sewer hookup. They have 2 bathrooms in the park, on has a shower on doesn't. They are cleaned once a day and they do a good job. The buildings are old and in need of some care though.

The sites are all well shaded with some nice old trees.

For 18.00 a day it is an ok value in my mind.

We decided to begin our trip home a day earlier than planned since the reunion was over and it would allow us to limit how far we traveled to about 400 miles a day.

Day 1 of the Return.

We left about 8am and headed south to I-40 through Kentucky catching I-40 and Tennessee. We got to drive in a lot of rain during the day. We finally out ran it and ended our day by staying at the Tom Sawyer RV park in West Memphis Arkansas. I followed my GPS instructions which led me through a rundown area of town and left me thinking.... UH-OH bad choice... but the route lead us out of the yuckie area, over a levee and down a country type paved road to the park. I later learned that there is a bypass loop that takes you around the bad area and to the park.

This park is a nice place with sites nestled in the trees and along the Mississippi River (one of which we got). We watched barges go up and down the river. It is a nice view.

The staff works hard a keeping this place up. The restrooms are private units and are cleaned several times a day.

Trash pickup is done a minimum of 3 times a day. All you have to do is bag it and place it on your picnic table.

They have a private fishing pond too!

Once the sun goes down watch out. The mosquitoes are vicious! With the water so close you can't help it.

They are working on expanding the number of sites they have from 179 to many more. The pads are concrete and level.

This is a place I would definitely stay again.

Day 2 of the return:

We set out across Arkansas, Texas and into Oklahoma where we stayed at the Rockwell RV Park just east of Oklahoma City. We had looked on the internet for parks in the area and this one had a good website, got favorable reviews so be decided to stay there.

If I had it to do over again I would not have picked it. The sites are all gravel, they are very close together and have little to now shade. The website misleads you with pictures that indicate lots of shade and facilities that are less than indicated. The highlight is they did have a pool so my daughter got to swim.

Day 3 of the return:

We finished off Oklahoma and pushed into Santa Rosa New Mexico being taunted by thunderstorms and rain all of the way. We had chosen the Santa Rosa Kampground (KOA) for our stop there.

The staff was friendly, the price reasonable and the park clean and each site level and shaded . There is a small store and a cafe that will deliver to your site if you want to eat take out.

The pool is heated(not that it needed to be)and we enjoyed relaxing there.

Later that night we were treated to a monumental sunset, a lighting show and a good hearty rain that lasted about an hour. It was clear and sunny when we left the next day.

Again, this is a place I would stay again.


Day 3 of the return:

We initially had planned on stopping in Flagstaff AZ at the end of the day but.......

When we looked at the map we found that our 400 mile rule would put us in the middle of nowhere between Las Vegas and home at the end of Day 4. Nothing we could find on the map appealed to us. We changed plans and pushed our distance to over 600 miles to Las Vegas NV. Our plan was to spend 2 days there to make up for the long day and to maximize our vacation time.

In Las Vegas we utilized my military benefit and stayed at the Desert Eagle Family Camp at Nellis AFB


I have been to Nellis many times and didn't even know they had an RV park until I was reading the Military Camping Website.

This park is NICE.... $18.00 per day for full hook ups, the pads are level concrete, they have a small park, laundry and showers. It is very well maintained and security is typically military. You have to show ID to a guard to enter the area the park is located in.

The down side to my choice here is the temperature when we arrived was 106 and predicted to go up the next day too...

Our site didn't have any shade trees and was beat on by the sun all day long. Our single A/C struggled to cool the coach, but it was livable. I will take a lot of reflective window coverings next time!

We explored the area and toured Hoover Dam and I took my family for their first trip to the Strip at night. All in all it was a great but hot (110 degree) day.

Day 5 of the return.

We headed out of Nellis about 8am and headed up US 95 toward Carson City. The drive was a typical drive through the desert. Not much to see but sage brush and mountains.

We arrived home about 4pm and our trip was sadly over. It felt good to be home again though.

We traveled 4580 miles, averaged 7.81 MPG for the entire trip, spent ALLOT on fuel ( The funny thing is the most expensive price for gas was at our last stop before getting home).

Our trip was amazing, the coach ran well and everything functioned properly.

The remainder of our trips for the summer will be much shorter in distance and duration, but for oour introduction into RV'ing was FANTASTIC!

[Tom Sauls]

After buying our RV in November and beginning plans and preparations to make our first trip in June the time finally arrived. We had slowly picked up the items we thought we would need to make it a good trip and surprisingly enough we did a pretty good job.

Our route was to be from Carson City Nevada to Palmyra (Southern above Louisville KY)Indiana via I-80. We were set to depart June 19 for a family reunion and had to be there by the 22nd. We knew the days would be long ones but had now choice due to time constraints on our departure.

Day 1: We left about 2pm on the 18th and made it as far as Wendover Nv at about 10pm. where we spent the remainder of the night in the parking lot of a city office complex. It was hot and sleep was tough, but we managed ok.

Day 2: We drove through Utah, Wyoming and stopped at a Cabela's RV park in Sidney Nebraska. It was new, nice and fit the bill for what we needed, a shower, power, dinner and sleep. This park is right near a Cabela's Superstore for anyone interested in staying there and seeing what they have to offer.

Day 3: We finished off Nebraska, touched into Iowa and ended our day in a KOA in Columbia Missouri. We again arrived in time to see the sun set, eat, shower and bed down for the night. The park was nice and a good value for us. To show what a small world it is, the people parked next to us we from a town about 15 miles south of where we live and they were patients of the dentist my wife works for.

I would recommend this park to anyone going that way.

Day 4: We left early the next morning and headed off on the final outbound leg of our journey.

We made it to the Buffalo Trace County Park campground at about 2pm. We had made reservation months prior and arranged to be place in the site next to my wife's uncle, which was a nice thing.

For anyone who will be thinking of staying there, here are my observations:

The park has it's own lake! There is a walking/jogging path around it. 1.3 miles.

The sites aren't very level... if you don't have auto-levlers be prepared to work as getting your rig leveled.

The hookups are on the wrong side of the back in sites. We came up short on our 30amp shore cord and had to use a heavy duty extension cord. We were careful to watch what we would run at any given time so it was ok.

There is no sewer hookup. They have 2 bathrooms in the park, on has a shower on doesn't. They are cleaned once a day and they do a good job. The buildings are old and in need of some care though.

The sites are all well shaded with some nice old trees.

For 18.00 a day it is an ok value in my mind.

We decided to begin our trip home a day earlier than planned since the reunion was over and it would allow us to limit how far we traveled to about 400 miles a day.

Day 1 of the Return.

We left about 8am and headed south to I-40 through Kentucky catching I-40 and Tennessee. We got to drive in a lot of rain during the day. We finally out ran it and ended our day by staying at the Tom Sawyer RV park in West Memphis Arkansas. I followed my GPS instructions which led me through a rundown area of town and left me thinking.... UH-OH bad choice... but the route lead us out of the yuckie area, over a levee and down a country type paved road to the park. I later learned that there is a bypass loop that takes you around the bad area and to the park.

This park is a nice place with sites nestled in the trees and along the Mississippi River (one of which we got). We watched barges go up and down the river. It is a nice view.

The staff works hard a keeping this place up. The restrooms are private units and are cleaned several times a day.

Trash pickup is done a minimum of 3 times a day. All you have to do is bag it and place it on your picnic table.

They have a private fishing pond too!

Once the sun goes down watch out. The mosquitoes are vicious! With the water so close you can't help it.

They are working on expanding the number of sites they have from 179 to many more. The pads are concrete and level.

This is a place I would definitely stay again.

Day 2 of the return:

We set out across Arkansas, Texas and into Oklahoma where we stayed at the Rockwell RV Park just east of Oklahoma City. We had looked on the internet for parks in the area and this one had a good website, got favorable reviews so be decided to stay there.

If I had it to do over again I would not have picked it. The sites are all gravel, they are very close together and have little to now shade. The website misleads you with pictures that indicate lots of shade and facilities that are less than indicated. The highlight is they did have a pool so my daughter got to swim.

Day 3 of the return:

We finished off Oklahoma and pushed into Santa Rosa New Mexico being taunted by thunderstorms and rain all of the way. We had chosen the Santa Rosa Kampground (KOA) for our stop there.

The staff was friendly, the price reasonable and the park clean and each site level and shaded . There is a small store and a cafe that will deliver to your site if you want to eat take out.

The pool is heated(not that it needed to be)and we enjoyed relaxing there.

Later that night we were treated to a monumental sunset, a lighting show and a good hearty rain that lasted about an hour. It was clear and sunny when we left the next day.

Again, this is a place I would stay again.


Day 3 of the return:

We initially had planned on stopping in Flagstaff AZ at the end of the day but.......

When we looked at the map we found that our 400 mile rule would put us in the middle of nowhere between Las Vegas and home at the end of Day 4. Nothing we could find on the map appealed to us. We changed plans and pushed our distance to over 600 miles to Las Vegas NV. Our plan was to spend 2 days there to make up for the long day and to maximize our vacation time.

In Las Vegas we utilized my military benefit and stayed at the Desert Eagle Family Camp at Nellis AFB


I have been to Nellis many times and didn't even know they had an RV park until I was reading the Military Camping Website.

This park is NICE.... $18.00 per day for full hook ups, the pads are level concrete, they have a small park, laundry and showers. It is very well maintained and security is typically military. You have to show ID to a guard to enter the area the park is located in.

The down side to my choice here is the temperature when we arrived was 106 and predicted to go up the next day too...

Our site didn't have any shade trees and was beat on by the sun all day long. Our single A/C struggled to cool the coach, but it was livable. I will take a lot of reflective window coverings next time!

We explored the area and toured Hoover Dam and I took my family for their first trip to the Strip at night. All in all it was a great but hot (110 degree) day.

Day 5 of the return.

We headed out of Nellis about 8am and headed up US 95 toward Carson City. The drive was a typical drive through the desert. Not much to see but sage brush and mountains.

We arrived home about 4pm and our trip was sadly over. It felt good to be home again though.

We traveled 4580 miles, averaged 7.81 MPG for the entire trip, spent ALLOT on fuel ( The funny thing is the most expensive price for gas was at our last stop before getting home).

Our trip was amazing, the coach ran well and everything functioned properly.

The remainder of our trips for the summer will be much shorter in distance and duration, but for oour introduction into RV'ing was FANTASTIC!

[Skip- Kerrville, TX]

Hi Tom,

Welcome to iRV2. You will find many resources here, and you just might make a friend or two as well.

Sounds like you had a fantastic first trip! What a great way to experience the RV lifestyle.

If interested, why not pop in to the iRV2 Chatters chat room. We are there just about every evening starting around 8:30pm eastern. It is a fun group and many of us have met several times in various places around the country.

[MonacoMama]

Tom,
I am so glad you had such a great trip! I hope you were able to take all sorts of pictures. you may want to take the time and also put all your campground comments in as reviews in the Campground reviews area.
BTW-You did a great job describing each one!!

RVing will only get better from here on out...Enjoy!