Rusty’s RV Ranch, Rodeo NM

Stay Date:  May 2007
Our Rating:  GOOD – 8
A positive exception to the cookie-cutter campground. Huge sites on the high desert with great views of the Chiricahuas. Very friendly staff, nice office and very clean laundry. Free and very strong WiFi. No Verizon cell service.  No cable TV, but lots of sky to find the satellite.  Two ponds with ducks and fish provide relief to the desert environment, but be aware this is windy country. A great place to base for visits to Cave Creek Canyon and some of the country's best birding. Make sure you're stocked up on groceries, because it's a looooong way to any town of size.  Not for everyone, but you ought to visit once for $24/night.  Rusty’s RV Ranch

Yuma KOFA Escapee RV Park, Yuma AZ

Stay Date:  April 2007
Our Rating:  REALLY UGLY – 3
We’re Escapees, and never expected to stay at a park with such a bunch of rude, unfriendly people.  On check-in, we waited while the office girl ignored us while eating her lunch.  This is one of the parks where you rent the site of an absent owner, and ours was a concrete back-in.  Hookups were good, Verizon cell and Aircard worked well.  The park has a rule that you can’t use your washer.  Cost is plus electric, which with the a/c running all of the time came to $22day.  I’d be embarrassed to say I was an Escapee if lived in this park, maybe it’s the area that makes people so rude.  Yuma is a huge snowbird location, but we avoid it; nothing but sand, rocks, and blowing dust.

Cochise Terrace RV Resort, Benson AZ

Stay Date:  February 2007
Our Rating:  GOOD – 8
Primarily a snowbird park (who’d want to be here in the summer?), this is a well organized, comfortable park.  If you’re going to stay in Benson, than this is the only place where you won’t hear the trains.  Paved roads, pea-gravel well-groomed back-in sites, not much shade.  Local ordinances require that your sewer hose NOT touch the ground.  Free cable, pay WiFi, easy shot to satellite.  Verizon cell and Aircard worked well.  Nice pool, exercise room, and clubhouse.  There’s also a “dance hall” and occasional entertainment.  Plenty of planned activities during the winter, and generally friendly folks, but as in all snowbird parks, cliques exist.  Quiet and dark at night, occasional coyotes (don’t let your pet run free), and a short drive to the Wal-Mart and dining.  No longer a bargain unless you have Passport America, and even then it’s $27/day.  Cochise Terrace RV Resort

Mission RV Park, El Paso TX

Stay Date:  January 2007
Our Rating:  BAD –5
There aren’t many choices in El Paso, otherwise we probably wouldn’t have stayed here.  At check in, the indifferent office lady ignored my request for a larger back-in site and put us into a gravel parking lot with power poles.  To add insult to injury, she put all the arrivals next to each other, leaving dozens of empty spaces in a row.  Located in an industrial area, no ambiance, no shade, no tables, lots of noise from the freeway.  Free cable TV and weak WiFi, good Verizon cell and Aircard service.  Save your $35 and stay in a Wal-Mart parking lots, or better yet, pass through El Paso and stay in Las Cruces.

Lost Alaskan RV Park, Alpine TX

Stay Date:  January 2007
Our Rating:  Good – 9
Alpine is a neat town with a number of RV parks, and the Lost Alaskan is the class of the lot.  Professional staff, nice office & store, and reasonable prices $30/night.  Level, gravel sites are adequate in size and have small shade trees and grass.  Free cable TV, but only a few channels, and free but intermittent and slow WiFi.  Good shot at satellite, and Verizon cell and Aircard worked OK.  Nice pool and facilities, and quiet and very dark at night.  In this area, all of the outdoor lighting is shielded in support of the McDonald Observatory (a must visit), and the stars are as bright as you’ll ever see.  Great view of the mountains, lots of quail, even a coyote howl at night.  Lost Alaskan RV Park

Seminole Canyon State Park and Historic Site, TX

Stay Date:  December 2006
Our Rating:  GOOD – 7
Texas has great state parks, and this is no exception.  High on the rolling hills overlooking the Rio Grande and far from any city, this park has a great museum and interesting history (did you know Seminole Indians lived out here?)  The roads and sites were good gravel/dirt and the site was level, with a 30A hookup and water.  Nice ramada to provide shade on the generally large back-in sites.  No cable, broadcast TV, Verizon cell or Aircard out here, just satellite TV.  Great hiking trails, although the ones down to the Indian caves were very steep and long.  A bit windy, but this is West Texas, get used to it.  $17/night + $5/day entrance fee if you don’t have the annual pass.  Seminole Canyon State Park and Historic Site

Greentree Village North Travel Park, San Antonio TX

Stay Date:  November 2006
Our Rating:  Good –6
This is a place with good and bad.  The good:  close to San Antonio attractions, fairly large, shady, and level pull-thru sites, with a decent monthly rate ($450 includes electric).  The bad:  don’t be fooled by the website pictures, the area that for non-permanents is not very scenic, and the speed bumps are way too large.  Some sites are under huge, humming power lines, and next door is a state highway maintenance yard that is noisy.  Lots of long-term campers, but not too trashy.  Free cable TV, WiFi for a fee, small pool.  Verizon cell and Aircard worked well.  Tough to get in and out of park because of traffic and a nearby blind curve.  Greentree Village North Travel Park