road trip in early january

[John in Santa Cruz]

living on the midleft coast, it never freezes here, so we've never winterized our trailer.

now I find myself planning a crossing from here (Santa Cruz CA) to McAllen TX via I40 to I10 in early January, taking 6-7 nights. We'll then be crossing into Mexico with a caravan of other RVs and heading down towards Yucatan.. Should I be worried about freezing on this trip? My trailer has the foam undercarriage insulation, if that matters.

[richm]

On the coast in Texas it rarely gets below freezing overnight. Once you get to Mc Allen, you shouldn't need to worry about it.

Inland in Texas it does freeze though, so best to watch the weather till you get to the Gulf Coast.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Yeah, I'm worried about Albuquerque and such. About half our planned stops are dry camping so we kinda need water for flushing and washing, and a 5g carboy of drinking water in the SUV.


Planned route is here to Lancaster CA to Kingman AZ to Gallup NM to Roswell NM to San Angelo TX to San Antonio TX to Mission TX

[MVA]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

Yeah, I'm worried about Albuquerque and such. About half our planned stops are dry camping so we kinda need water for flushing and washing, and a 5g carboy of drinking water in the SUV.


Planned route is here to Lancaster CA to Kingman AZ to Gallup NM to Roswell NM to San Angelo TX to San Antonio TX to Mission TX

If you need to overnight near Albuquerque, the Walmart in Edgewood (20 miles east of Albuquerque) is a good place. Numerous RVs most nights, close to I40, much safer.

[bborzell]

In April of 2022, we returned from a trip in our 2022 21C to visit friends in Florida. The southern route, which had been our preferred route, became plagued with wildfires and smoke so we headed north through Denver and hung a left through Wyoming and back down through Utah. Much of the Wyoming stint was through a driving blizzard with temps in the low 20s F. One night in Cheyanne the temp hit the mid teens.

We kept the heater going at night and had no freezing issues (no undercarriage foam or tank heaters). Our previous trailer, an Airstream Basecamp, had tank heaters and, though we did a fair amount of winter camping, we never turned them on.

I think that it is interesting that the vast majority of posts I read about water lines freezing seem to be about avoidance (which is understandable), not so much about cases of actual freezing disasters (maybe nobody wants to admit to failing to have winterized).

Freezing water lines is obviously a reality under the right circumstances. But, short of having a sail switch bail out at the wrong time, camping in the cold with an unfoamed trailer is not necessarily going to lead to frozen pipes in an Escape.

YMMV

[MyronL]

Ditto on "Edgewood WalMart" and..."we kept the heater on all night..." Woke up this morning surprised here in Edgewood to see the first snow of winter. Just a dusting right now, (33 degrees F out there) but, it hasn't stopped yet. Kinda nice to see. Also have no undercarriage insulation or heaters, and have never given it a second thought.

P.S. ... my Atwood heater stayed happy all night.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by MVA

If you need to overnight near Albuquerque, the Walmart in Edgewood (20 miles east of Albuquerque) is a good place. Numerous RVs most nights, close to I40, much safer.

we are staying at Elks Lodges at each of these towns I listed. some have hookups, most have dumps, a couple don't but all have secure parking for a nominal donation. My wife is an Elk, she joined the local lodge to use their swimming pool, which is a half mile from our house.

[SageRpod]

Originally Posted by MyronL

Ditto on "Edgewood WalMart" and..."we kept the heater on all night..." Woke up this morning surprised here in Edgewood to see the first snow of winter. Just a dusting right now, (33 degrees F out there) but, it hasn't stopped yet. Kinda nice to see. Also have no undercarriage insulation or heaters, and have never given it a second thought.

Ditto. Stay out of Albuquerque at all costs. Edgewood is safer. If you must stop in Albuquerque, there is a vacant lot on San Antonio between the I25 and Sand Pedro. Lots of RVs overnight there. What makes it so nice is it is less than 20 yards from Starr Brothers Brewery which has great food and beer.

When we brought our Escape back from Canada in January, we dry camped the whole way, making use of parking lots of Cabela's and Costco. We have a compost toilet so that made it way easier since we didn't have to also worry a black tank freezing as well.

Good luck, stay warm!

[John in Santa Cruz]

so if I do try and take the I10 route, where to camp for the 5-6 nights between the midleft coast and San Antonio ? There's an Elks in San Antonio with camping, but for example the one in El Paso is in a strip mall and has limited shared parking, no room for RVs.

ok, lets see.

• night 1: Elks 2379 in Santa Clarita, 320 miles, 5 hours
• night 2: Elks 2729 in Phoenix, AZ, 407 miles, 6 hours
• night 3: Elks 1119 in Las Cruces, NM, 389 miles, 5:45 hours
• night 4: (Walmart NOT) ? in Fort Stockton, TX, 285 miles, 4:10 hours
• night 5-6: Elks 216 in San Antonio TX, 300 miles, 4:15 hours

edit: Walmart in Fort Stockton recently banned RVs. there's a few truckstops and such, we'll just have to wing it.
.... hmmm, that might work out, but a couple long days.

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

ok, thats down to two 'somewheres'.

If you're looking to dry camp... parking lot boondocking, because all you're interested in is parking overnight, I suggest:
https://ioverlander.com/

[SageRpod]

If you can make it a little further than Las Cruces, Franklin Mountains State Park outside of El Paso is pretty nice desert camping. Very quiet and dark at night.

[Rossue]

We have never had a problem doing an enroute night (https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=21...wing%20morning.) at a local church parking lot. Some are great!

[Chama]

John, glad to see you are considering the I-10 route instead of I-40. That is a good decision. We have towed on that I-10 route many times and have stopped over at Ft. Stockton many times. Having not found a better alternative, we have stayed at Ft. Stockton RV Park multiple times and also at Hillside RV park. Neither is anything to write home about but both are basically OK and feel safe. I will follow this thread to see if anyone can suggest a better alternative for overnight stop at Ft. Stockton.

[Ian and Sue]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

living on the midleft coast, it never freezes here, so we've never winterized our trailer.

now I find myself planning a crossing from here (Santa Cruz CA) to McAllen TX via I40 to I10 in early January, taking 6-7 nights. We'll then be crossing into Mexico with a caravan of other RVs and heading down towards Yucatan.. Should I be worried about freezing on this trip? My trailer has the foam undercarriage insulation, if that matters.

Being inland in the mountains top right coast we often run into freezing temps this time of year(it snowed last night)...we sometimes need to use our camper for Thanksgiving(American) either here or at the kids houses. What I would do is get a gallon of the potable antifreeze and dump it into your tank with your flushing and dishwashing water, bring a 5 gal for drinking and dish rinsing water and you should be all set...the only thing is showering as you may not want to shower with the antifreeze. Most of the places you are going it "should" not get too cold and the diluted antifreeze and your heater will be fine. The other way to do it is buy the antifreeze and watch the weather...if it is going to be below say 25 degrees dump the antifreeze in...if not the you don't need to worry about it. you can unscrew the plug on the bottom of the tank to drain it when you are sure of above 25 degree temps. Safe travels!

[SageRpod]

Originally Posted by Chama

John, glad to see you are considering the I-10 route instead of I-40. That is a good decision. We have towed on that I-10 route many times and have stopped over at Ft. Stockton many times. Having not found a better alternative, we have stayed at Ft. Stockton RV Park multiple times and also at Hillside RV park. Neither is anything to write home about but both are basically OK and feel safe. I will follow this thread to see if anyone can suggest a better alternative for overnight stop at Ft. Stockton.

Even on a nice, sunny day, I40 between Albuquerque NM and Kingman AZ is awful. The road is in a really degraded state plus add the potential of an El Nino winter and it would be a No Go for me. Chama is spot on; I10 is a better choice.

[Vermilye]

If you decide on a RV park in Fort Stockton, like Chama, I have stayed in the Fort Stockton RV Park (Not the Fort Stockton Resort RV Park), in fact I was there just a couple of days ago. They have an on site restaurant that does breakfast & dinner. Breakfast was good, dinner not all that exciting (basic fried food). Fort Stockton Stop

[John in Santa Cruz]

that iOverlander site suggests you can park in the Ford Stockton courthouse parking lot and won't be harrassed, just leave in the morning. I think we'll just wing it.

[Tosh]

I suggest Balmorhea as an alternative to Ft Stockton. There is a state park

https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/balmorhea that I visited in late December (no camper at that time) a few years back. in the RV area there was one class A, and a lot of empty spots.



There are also several private RV parks in the area. It's only a few minutes off of I-10. Much nicer than Ft Stockton IMO

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Tosh

I suggest Balmorhea as an alternative to Ft Stockton. There is a state park

https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/balmorhea that I visited in late December (no camper at that time) a few years back. in the RV area there was one class A, and a lot of empty spots.



There are also several private RV parks in the area. It's only a few minutes off of I-10. Much nicer than Ft Stockton IMO

Balmorhea is closed for renovations... anyways, we're just overnighting, will be getting in late and leaving early

[SageRpod]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

Balmorhea is closed for renovations... anyways, we're just overnighting, will be getting in late and leaving early

Arg! Just noticed this last night as well. We'll be spending Thanksgiving camping at Speegleville outside of Waco and thought Balmorhea would be a good spot to spend the night on the way back. Now looking at sites around San Angelo, TX.