Another Road Trip to Texas and a New Travel Trailer!
In 2018 we took a road trip to Texas to purchase a new pop up. We just got back from another road trip to Texas except this time we came back with a new travel trailer! I’m not sure what it is about Texas but they always seem to be the only state to have what we want. I won’t lie, when I saw a dealership in Texas had the exact model we wanted and we had a free weekend, I got really giddy. A reason to take a road trip?! Yes, please. I immediately got to planning and a week later we were headed to Texas.
The dealership was in Amarillo, Texas so we had a 10.5 hour drive. There were a couple different ways we could go and after watching a video Through My Lens posted about a trip he took along Route 66, I knew exactly where our first stop would be. Tucumcari, New Mexico. Tucumcari is a small town on Route 66 and an hour and a half from Amarillo. (I’m sure we’ve all seen the movie Cars and know that Route 66 was hurt greatly when I-40 was constructed.) I’ve not spent much time on Route 66 but was really excited to learn the history of the town and find that some of the original motels are still in operation. We snagged a reservation at the Blue Swallow Motel and could not have been happier.
The Blue Swallow is one of the few remaining motor courts on Route 66. All the rooms have a garage to park your vehicle, there are chairs outside each room, bikes to use to ride around, and a common space complete with a washer and dryer. This is a hotel of my dreams. Why are these no longer a thing?
It was literally freezing outside when the sun set but I really wanted to sit in the chairs for a few minutes and take in the experience. I thought it would be good to document the moment but failed at taking the picture. Me and technology don’t always get along. My camera was upside down so you can see what it was resting on and I somehow didn’t realize I was taking the picture because I’m still looking at my watching trying to tell it to take the picture. Welcome to life with Caroline.
The rooms have rotary phones! Holy moly, dialing long distance takes FOREVER. Halfway through dialing I was struggling to remember the rest of the number. I dialed zero for an outside line and then dialed the number but I never could get the call to go through. That was a bummer but it was still fun to relive my childhood.
On our way out of town we spent some time driving around taking in the sites. Exploring new places is one of my absolute favorite things to do.
We had planned to stop at Cadillac Ranch on our way into Amarillo and even purchased a couple cans of spray paint. We spent too much time on Route 66 so we only got to see if from the highway. We had an appointment at the dealership and didn’t want to be late.
The next stop was the dealership to pick up our new travel trailer! I love the pop up and am still a little torn about moving on. I am a pretty sentimental person so I’m probably stuck on all the memories we created with the kids in the pop ups. The kids are older, one is technically an adult now, and are not as interested in exploring the world with mom and dad anymore. *tear* So I guess the travel trailer is an upgrade and a down grade.
Meet our new Winnebago Micro Minnie! I’ve never been one to name vehicles but I think we’re going with Winnie. Super original, I know.
Once we pulled out of the dealership we headed to Palo Duro Canyon State Park. Getting a reservation on a holiday weekend was a little tough but persistence paid off (or obsession)! We didn’t have much time to explore the park but it was nice being in a peaceful setting versus a parking lot off the highway.
The sites were really nice and would be gorgeous in the spring or fall when the trees are full of leaves.
One thing we forgot to bring to Texas was a level. We installed level bubbles on our pop up so we do not normally carry a level. That was definitely an oversight. Our campsite was not level, it wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t perfect, but we made do. We tried using the level on my phone but I don’t think that’s meant to level a camper. That or we don’t know what we’re doing. Front to back seemed ok but left to right was definitely off. It made sleeping a little funky but we survived. First order of business with the new trailer is to install the leveling bubbles!
The next morning we woke up to a temperature of 18 degree. What. The. Heck. These desert rats are not cut out for this. We were so thankful to be in a hard sided trailer versus the pop up in this moment so we could quickly hook up and leave.
Last time we were in Texas the highway was lined with oil fields. This time around it was lined with windmills and cows. I had no idea Texas is home to the beef capital of the world but I can see why.
Driving home we went a different way, partly because we wanted to see new areas we have not been, and because we wanted to stop in Roswell, New Mexico. I had dreams of buying alien themed souvenirs for everyone we know. Unfortunately for us and possibly fortunately for everyone who didn’t end up with aliens they didn’t want, we had a navigation issue and ended up driving around the town. And by we I mean the navigator (me) was too busy staring out the window to realize the GPS was not set correctly. We did find a Welcome to Roswell sign on the way out of town so this is our only evidence of our time there.
I’ll leave you with a few random pictures to close out this post. We’ve been to and driven by White Sands National Park before but have never seen it from this angle. Usually we are right in front of it and it’s hard to see. It was so neat to see how much white sand there really is!
And just like that, 1,400 miles later we are home with Winnie.
Oh Winnie!! What a fun new part of the family!! And, I never think to go to TX, but that state park looks gorgeous!! I especially love though that last photo with Winnie in your side mirror. So great! Oh, and that Motel??!! I want to go there and soak in the the 1950’s charm!
Thanks! After staying in that motel I am obsessed with Route 66. I’m currently scheming to figure out how I can drive it or at least a couple states worth.:)
I was reading your review of the pop-up and we are debating pop-up or small TT… We have zero experience with trailers and minimal experience camping. We’ve got two girls aged 8 and 10 and plan to do weekend, week, and multi-week trips around the USA. Off-road capability would be nice and I think we would use it if we had it (we have a land cruiser), but i’m not sure it is absolutely required… Thoughts on why you switched?
We loved our pop-up and it was perfect when our kids traveled/camped with us. Our kids are out of the house now so we decided it was time for a small TT. We go different places than when our kids were little, stay for longer because we can, and liked the idea of our own bathroom/shower (we boondock mostly). Our TT is perfect for two adults and a dog but not much more.
Pop-up pros: more spacious inside than our TT, the kids beds were bigger than TT bunks, we had a nice big wrap around table which was perfect for card games with the family, small and easy to tow, didn’t have to pay storage fees (fit in our garage), overall inexpensive both via cost and maintenance. Both our pop-up and TT were lifted and had off-road tires, but I felt more comfortable taking the pop-up through sketchier places.
Pop-up cons: overnight stops on road trips require more set up/take down than a TT (we got pretty efficient at the setup/ take down and travelled for 1 – 2 weeks at a time), have to use campground restroom, can’t leave as much stuff inside like kitchen stuff (we had tubs with camping stuff we would transport between our house the pop-up). We don’t watch TV when camping or camp where we need the A/C so not having those items were never issues with the pop-up. My one real frustration was when traveling we would occasionally want to stay someplace that required campers to be self contained, like a Walmart parking lot. It was rare but would have been nice a time or two and saved us a few dollars in campground fees.
If you haven’t already, I’d definitely take your family and go sit inside a TT and a pop-up to see how you feel space wise. Both are great options and you really cannot go wrong! Let me know if you have more questions. Happy camping!
Thanks for the thoughts!
Our biggest question on the pop-up is bath and shower. It feels like if you’re going to tow something you’d want to tow those things to make life comfortable. What are your thoughts on that? How did the kids feel? If it is short-term (1-3 nights) it’s like tent camping and use the park facilities or if off-grid, then I suppose a composting toilet or outdoor dig a hole approach. But how’d you all do with week plus camping?
I’m also wondering if it is worth going to a TT for the “security” of a hard side, particularly in bear areas (which seem to be a lot of wilderness areas when researching). Presumably it is not really an issue with proper food safety since people aren’t dying left and right, but was that ever a pain or concern with the pop-up? Seems like TT would (almost) remove that concern.
Cheers!
I think it all depends on what type of camping you like to do. I’m sure my kids would have preferred a private camper bathroom vs the alternative. For longer trips, we would alternate primitive camping and campground with showers/laundry every few days. We still do that now for longer trips so we can do laundry/fill up on water/dump.
As for security, hard sided definitely keeps you safer. With the pop up, in bear country we would keep our food in our car.
You can’t go wrong with either. We loved our pop up but I’m definitely not trading down at this point. 🤣