Hey there, internet! This blog has been slumbering for years but with the advent of our new internet connectivity solution called Starlink I finally have something to say!
I thought I would create a running list of locations where we’ve used Starlink and what our experience was like so others may benefit from our journeys. Enjoy!
Pack Creek Campground, Moab Utah
Pack Creek Campground is a sleepy RV park in central Moab that we’ve been visiting for years. They offer fair rates and full hookups and it’s conveniently located for all things Moab, especially mountain biking. The park has pleasant trees and a meandering creek in the back that often draws deer and other wildlife.
Our Starlink connection here has been very good, averaging ~100Mbps down and ~9Mbps up. It’s early April at the time of this writing so the trees are bare and we’ve experienced no obstructions.
Sinkhole Campground, Payson Arizona
Sinkhole Campground is a small national forest campground located about two hours west of Phoenix and a half hour west of Payson. This campground is perched on the Mogollon Rim at 7,500′ and easily characterized by a gorgeous flow of tall ponderosa pine that carpet the mountains in all directions.
Awesome features of this campground include access to a wide range of recreation activities including kayaking on the nearby Willow Springs Lake, hiking in and around the titular sinkhole and, most importantly, its access to an extensive mountain bilking trail system. Sites are paved, level, and generously long. The bathrooms are clean and there is potable water at the entrance.
Not so awesome features of this campground include proximity to the AZ 260 highway, which is remarkably noisy. Additionally, some of the driveways immediately abut one another in doubles, leading to startlingly intimate camping with neighbors. It isn’t obvious to me on the booking site how to identify sites like this but fortunately for us we met some great people so the intimacy wasn’t a problem.
Our Starlink connection here has averaged 85Mbps down and 5Mbps up. For some reason our dish shows a bias to pointing north, which is fortunate because site 17 points north directly into a break in the trees. Starlink does not like obstructions but the system performed beautifully here.
Santa Fe KOA Journey, Santa Fe New Mexico
The Santa Fe KOA Journey is either the best or second best KOA I’ve ever stayed at, maybe only behind the Filmore KOA Journey in Utah. The entire campground is populated with low Juniper making for a clear unobstructed view of the sky while still offering shade and that invigorating Juniper aroma. Bathrooms are clean, the staff is friendly and the full hookups are well maintained.
Santa Fe proper is mere minutes away offering access to the culture, cuisine, and ambiance of the Southwest. And as always, there’s a nice mountain biking network here. Starlink operated unobstructed, and was especially appreciated since this is a Verizon dead zone. We saw an average of 70Mbps down 13Mbps up.
Airstream MTB 