Our First Long Trip
On November 5, 2020 we headed out on our first long trip in the RV. The first stop we had planned was to Diamond Caverns RV Resort in Park City, KY. Everyone was super excited to spend a lot of time outdoors and head south to warmer weather as Indiana was prepping for the cold to set in.
As any RVer knows, and those with experience will warn you, something can go wrong at any time and you need to be flexible in your travel. We learned that right out of the gate on this trip. We stopped at a rest area just north of Lafayette, Indiana, only about 90 miles into our trip. As we were walking around the RV and truck to re-check everything, we noticed a bubble in the sidewall of one of the driverside travel trailer tires. We started making phone calls, and being that it was a Sunday, we were coming up empty handed. Having never changed an RV tire, we knew this wasn’t something we wanted to attempt on our own. We found a tire store in Lafayette that had the tires we needed, so we drove very slowly through the country roads, avoiding highways, to get the tire replaced. They replaced both tires on that side and the spare. The condition that the spare tire was in, would have done us no good, had we tried to change the tire on our own. After about an hour and a half detour for new tires, we were back on the road to our first destination. Unfortunately, this meant we would be arriving in the dark, which we try to avoid as much as possible.
We arrived at Diamond Caverns RV Resort to check in and find our site. This campground is a Thousand Trails park inside Mammoth Cave National Park. As with the other Thousand Trails parks, we were able to choose our spot. This time an employee was there to tell us what was available in the dark and helped us pull into the full hook up spot we chose. This was a pull through spot, which made parking, leveling, and hooking up much easier in the dark.
This park was beautiful and the weather was gorgeous all week. There were a few trails that went into the back of the park. Walking through the fall colors was amazing and the kids had a lot of fun finding big leaves to draw on and smaller leaves to use for leaf rubbings, as well as posing for pictures in all of the beautiful colors. They also had a blast riding on their bikes and scooters, at times with other kids who were staying at the park.
We took an afternoon to go on a cave tour at Mammoth Cave National Park. Due to COVID they were offering a very small number of trail passes. We went on the Mammoth Passage Tour. This tour was recommended for families with younger children because of its length and ease of walking through the cave space. We probably would have picked this tour even if the others were available at this time. The Mammoth Passage Tour was about one hour and fifteen minutes, we walked about ¾ of a mile and there were roughly 160 stairs to climb into and out of the cave. The tour is $11 for adults and $9 for kids. This is a ranger lead tour and we learned a lot about the history of the area, how the caves were formed, and how they were used in the past. After the tour, we went on a walk through the trail system in the National Park. The fall colors were once again stunning!
Diamond Caverns has its own gift shop with souvenirs; mostly rocks and gems that have been mined from the caves. They also offer cave tours. Their tours were more expensive than the National Park tour and the times did not work as well for our schedule.
There was a Dollar General very close to the entrance of the park for a quick grocery or supply run. There was also a Walmart about 15 miles away with a lot of other small retail shopping and chain restaurants in the same area.
As we were parked for the week, we realized a tire on the other side of the RV was growing the same type of sidewall bubble. So again we had to make some phone calls to get those replaced as well, before we could officially start our journey to the next campground.
To break up the drive between Mammoth Cave and Hot Springs National Park, we made a Harvest Host stop in Jackson, Tennessee at Samuel Bryant Distillery. What a fun and friendly little place! When we arrived they helped us get situated in our spot for the night. We were able to unhitch the truck and go pick up dinner. Mr. Bryant suggested Reggi’s BBQ in Jackson. The food was amazing! Getting BBQ while in Tennessee is definitely a must! The owners of the BBQ restaurant sent food back with us for the Bryant family. And of course, after dinner we went to sample and purchase some moonshine. The strawberry moonshine mixed with lemonade was delicious! We also purchased Monday Morning Fix Moonshine Cream and Down South Butter Pecan Cream. There were three other RV families that had pulled in behind us to park for the night. We would definitely stay with this Harvest Host again and highly recommend stopping at Samuel Bryant if you happen to be around Jackson, TN. The detour would be well worth it! www.samuelbryant.com
We made our way west towards Hot Springs National Park. We were staying at Hot Springs National Park KOA and the drive in to the campground was incredible! The open road, towering trees, blue sky and rolling hills. Gorgeous! We had a back in spot in the B-row that was an easy walk to the park, dog park, and laundry room. The laundry room at this park was nice and the least expensive we had encountered so far. Many of these laundry facilities have older top load washing machines, so the loads being washed tend to be smaller. However, I have learned that two washer loads can be combined into one load for the dryer.
This little KOA was gorgeous and quickly became a favorite. The kids enjoyed riding their bikes around the loops and playing at the playground. There was also a dog park near the playground. There was a Walmart and a Walmart Neighborhood Market both a short drive away for groceries and any supplies we needed. Normally the campground offers a shuttle service into the National Park. This among a few other amenities were closed due to COVID.
Hot Springs National Park was stunning! We walked down bathhouse row, which also has a bunch of little unique shops. The kids were able to stamp their National Park Passports. We walked some of the shorter trails and we were able to touch the water in the hot springs. The water is just that, HOT! We bought a glass bottle from the park store to fill with the hot spring water at one of the filling stations in the park. The water flows from the natural hot springs into the bathhouses. All of the bathhouses and spas were closed due to COVID, so we were not able to participate in any of those experiences. We went back to bathhouse row, hoping the Christmas lights were on for the season, unfortunately they were not, but we did find a great little shop with some tasty ice cream and some funky cotton candy flavors. We also tried SQZBX Pizza. Being from the Chicago area, pizza far from home doesn’t usually fare well, but this place was awesome!
From Hot Springs we continued south towards Texas. We stopped at another Harvest Host spot on our way to Waco, Texas. Be Happy Farms was a great stop on a family farm. Shannon and his family were very friendly and made us feel at home. The kids saw chickens, pigs, and horses and the family let us walk on the trails they have made on their land. We also purchased ground beef and a dozen fresh eggs. At one point the kids wanted to see the horses, but we were greeted and chased away by a flock of chickens. They had fun talking to the family pigs, Suzie and Cornelia.
Our next week was in Waco, Texas at Airport Park COE. As we were approaching the Thanksgiving holiday, booking campsites was becoming difficult. We hadn’t really taken that into consideration when loosely planning our trip. We probably should have made concrete reservations for Thanksgiving week. We noticed a lot of families here in Texas were using camping as a way to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday outdoors. What an awesome idea! And the weather is perfect in Texas this time of year for outdoor parties. When booking this campground, we had to move around a bit between sites so we could have full hook-ups most of the nights we were there. We thought that might be difficult. But at this point, we had gotten into a pretty good routine for (Steph) taking care of the inside things and slides and (Ryan) taking care of all the external hookups between moves.
Airport Park COE is absolutely gorgeous! It sits right on the banks of Lake Waco near the airport. The attention to detail when planning out the sites at this park was perfection. Every site, even those on the inside loop, had water views. The kids loved playing at the edge of the water and we took a ton of photos - many of which ended up being used for Christmas gifts. The only issue we ran into at this campground was the dump tank on the way out. The hook-up was set too far above ground so the hose was running up instead of down. If you have ever had to empty a stinky slinky, I’m sure you see the problem here. Hopefully they re-evaluate this problem before someone loses their $#!t on the pavement.
While in Waco we decided it was a great opportunity to visit Magnolia Market at the Silos. We are not die-hard fans like most who visit the silos, but thought we would go check out the hype and get breakfast. The cinnamon rolls and blueberry muffins from Silos Baking Co. were heavenly! The 1905 lattes from Magnolia Press Coffee Co. were fantastic, as well. We did a little Christmas shopping at the store. Some items were priced appropriately for a tourist attraction, others were very expensive. The food trucks and part of the lawn were closed due to construction on the property. We would visit again. However, we didn’t feel as if there was enough to keep busy for an entire trip to be based on that location.
We found a Torchy’s! Unfortunately, the wait for tacos was close to an hour. After a Target run for groceries and command strips, the kids were not in any shape to wait that long for tacos. So we went to In-N-Out Burger. This is a burger chain, based in California. It’s not worth the hype. We have yet to try the Texas burger chain, Whataburger.
On our drive into Airport Park we discovered Waco Mammoth National Monument. The kids and I took a trip to the national monument where we were pleasantly surprised to find some great trails and got to see preserved Columbian Mammoths. The mammoths were discovered in 1978. Professional and student scientists have spent thousands of hours excavating the fossils. Many of the remains had been transferred to Baylor University through the 1990’s. Since then the fossils have been preserved on site in their original position within the bone bed. The fossils have been protected in recent years by a climate-controlled Dig Shelter. This shelter allows for public viewing and further scientific study. The kids thought this was really cool! We even saw bones from a Saber Tooth! We found a trail on the property that had been made by a local Eagle Scout troop. The kids had fun taking turns being the leader and looking at the different plants. The kids picked up junior ranger books and got more stamps in their National Park Passports. We highly recommend visiting this little park if you are traveling in the Waco area!
We were unable to book a site for Thanksgiving night at Airport Park, so we found a spot a short drive away at Cedar Breaks Park COE. We had a back-in site along the lake. We knew when we booked the spot that it was along the lake, but we did not know that it was a huge drop off down into the rockbed at the edge of the lake. Ryan tossed the kids a ball to keep them busy as we were getting organized for the next couple of days. One kick and the kids had the ball lodged against a tree at the edge of this cliff. We noticed their fun had turned into panicking whispers. “You get the ball.” “No! You can’t go past the sign!” “Ask Dad to get it.” This turned into an important learning experience for all of us. For us, we knew to better evaluate our surroundings when arriving at a campground before sending the kids off to play. A reminder to discuss potential dangers, such as this cliff, so they know how important it is to stay away, follow the posted signage in an area, and find an adult for help when necessary. Could we have gotten the ball back? Probably. But that risk was not worth it for a $3 kick ball. Travel day fell on Thanksgiving, and we needed to get groceries. We had planned on trying to get a Thanksgiving meal from the local Cracker Barrel. That did not work out, and all of the grocery stores were closed, except for this little Mexican grocery store and restaurant. We had tacos and some unusual baked goods for Thanksgiving dinner! It rained and drizzled during our entire stay at this park. So we took advantage of the down time to get some laundry done at the local laundromat. This was our first time at a laundromat. It went well and we were able to use multiple machines so we could get in and out in the time it normally takes to wash, dry and fold one load of laundry.
From here it was just a short drive to Leander, our last stop on this adventure. We stayed at the NW Austin KOA Holiday for a week. This is a great spot for some city camping if you are looking to spend some time in the Austin area. There was a huge HEB grocery store just down the street and two major highways available just outside the campground. The campground itself was nice. The roads were well paved and all sites were level. The kids had fun riding their bikes and scooter and playing on the playground. They were in the process of closing the pool for the winter season, so Ryan, Gray and Kinz took advantage of one last late night hot tub and pool adventure in the cold. There was a clean laundry room and small general store. We took a drive over to Lago Vista into the hill country to explore the area a bit. We were amazed how quickly we went from flat roads to massive rolling hills. It was gorgeous! You could see for miles from the top of each hill and mountains of trees with tiny houses randomly planted on the sides from the bottom. We had considered booking a campsite in this area and we are certainly glad we chose not to. We were not sure our current truck and trailer would successfully make it up and down these hills. On our drive we saw a sign for Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge. After some research we discovered there were a lot of trails in this area so we went back a couple days later. We had our CamelBack packs, extra water bottles, and snacks packed for our hike. We tried to start at the visitor center, but this entire area was closed due to Covid. We backtracked a bit to another area with trailheads and exceptionally clean vault toilets. The road in and out of this spot is wide enough for maybe a car and a half. If you go, definitely follow the speed limit and signs posted in the event another vehicle is coming the other direction. We were lucky enough to be the only ones on the road both in and out. After a quick look at the maps on site, we decided to take the Cactus Rocks Trail, which was a 1.25 mile loop. Along the trail there were markers with paintings of Golden-cheeked Warblers. This bird species is the only one that nests exclusively in Texas, including in this refuge. We did not see any birds on our hike, but we did see a lot of prickly pear cactus and other interesting plants. We also saw many different types of butterflies. Our four year old will often stop a few feet into a hike and demand a snack, complain about how tired she is, need a sip of water which in reality is chugging, or claim she needs to go to the bathroom. Not once, on this hike, did she stop with some silly demand. She chose to be the leader for most of it and kept everyone moving, occasionally stopping to look at whatever happened to catch her eye. It was so fun to see her take charge and enjoy every second of our adventure on this beautiful afternoon in the Texas hill country.
At the close of our trip we decided to leave our travel trailer in the storage lot at this campground. We then booked a cabin back at the Hot Springs National Park KOA to break up the long drive back to Indiana. We were pleasantly surprised to see such a cute cabin! It was exactly the space we needed to grab some food and sleep for the night mid trip. Being a family of five, hotel rooms often do not have enough sleeping space. We will definitely consider using KOA cabins for road trips in the future.