Stargazing

Coyote Keeth's RV Park

Coyote Keeth's RV Park in Clayton, NM, offers full-hookup pull-thru RV sites carrying water, sewer, and electric. Contact the park for site count, amp service, and maximum rig length, since those specifics aren't published here. Every site is a pull-thru, so nothing needs unhitching. A bathhouse with showers, walking trails, and WiFi cover the essentials. Horse pens are available for guests traveling with stock, which almost no highway park offers. Pets are welcome, with a dog park. Birding, hiking, and some of the darkest sky in the continental United States fill the property — northeastern New Mexico has almost no light pollution, and the stargazing is the reason to stay a second night. Clayton sits just off Highway 87 at mile marker seven in Union County, where the basalt flows of the Raton-Clayton Volcanic Field, the shortgrass prairie of the Kiowa National Grassland, and the Cimarron Cutoff of the Santa Fe Trail all converge. Capulin Volcano National Monument is a short drive west, and a state park and lake are nearby. Rates and availability are on the booking page. Call ahead about paddock availability and your rig's fit.

from $25/night

Bobcat Creek RV Park, LLC

18 RV Sites

Bobcat Creek RV Park in Sayre, Oklahoma, offers 18 full-hookup RV sites at the intersection of I-40 and U.S. 283, with 20, 30, and 50-amp service and rigs accepted up to 120 feet on a big-rig-friendly layout. An extra large pull-through category joins amperage-specific pull-through and back-in tiers, with a general store, on-site dining, and walking trails. Eighteen sites span back-in 30-amp, extra large pull-thru, pull-thru 30-amp, and pull-thru 50-amp categories, all carrying water, sewer, and electric with site WiFi, sized to 120 feet, with picnic tables. One hundred twenty feet is among the most generous length allowances anywhere and accommodates anything on the road with room to spare. The extra large category removes any doubt for the longest coaches. A general store, laundry, propane fills, restrooms, showers, and on-site dining handle the practical side. The park is easy on and off I-40 and handles fuel, propane, dinner, and rest in one stop. A community fire pit, playground, dog park, walking trails, and a creek fill the grounds, with swimming and productive birding. The dark western Oklahoma sky makes for genuinely good stargazing. Pets are welcome. Beckham County sits on one of the main east-west corridors through western Oklahoma, which makes this a natural stop for anyone heading toward the Texas Panhandle or continuing west to Amarillo. Route 66 runs parallel through Sayre and Elk City, with preserved stretches and the National Route 66 Museum close. Demand tracks interstate traffic rather than a season, with spring and fall the most comfortable. Reserve ahead for holiday travel periods.

from $54/night

Sandhill RV Park

Sandhill RV Park in Ira, TX, offers 21 full-hookup RV sites with 30 and 50-amp service and room for rigs up to 55 feet. Three sites are pull-through and eighteen are back-in, spaced widely enough that awnings don't overlap. Every site carries water, sewer, and electric, with free WiFi throughout and coin laundry on site. Mature trees ring the perimeter, which is not a given in this stretch of West Texas. The park takes its name from the Sandhill Crane. Scurry County falls inside Zone A, the largest and least restricted of the state's crane hunting zones, and the season draws hunters here every winter. Lake J.B. Thomas Reservoir is about fifteen minutes out for boating and fishing, and the low horizon and minimal light spill make for genuinely dark skies. Snyder is a fifteen-minute drive for groceries, fuel, and restaurants. The park works for three kinds of guest: crews staying a month or more for work in the area, travelers breaking a long haul across West Texas, and hunters in for the season. Pets are welcome. Rigs up to 55 feet fit comfortably, and the pull-through sites make late arrivals straightforward.

from $50/night