Kiva RV Park and Horse Motel — Hotel in Rio Communities

We live in Albuquerque, but wanted to spend a day hiking the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge. Kiva RV Park is just a 5 minute drive from the NWR, so we stayed there on a Friday night, so we could get up bright and early for our hiking the next day. ||||The folks running the place were very friendly. Led us to our spot and made sure everything was okay for us. It's a fairly humble place...gravel roads and parking spots. No concrete to be seen. Each slot has a fairly wide planted area, but this is not patches of green lawn. They have mature native trees and shrubs that are well maintained. Plenty of big cottonwood trees provided shade. The place is clearly run on a low budget, but is well maintained and there is pride in the work here. When we visited, it appeared to be nearly full, and it felt like perhaps 50/50 mix between long-term residents and overnight (or nearly overnight) visitors. There is a large corral area for horses. We walked over to it but there were no horses there. There's a little dog park, a bathhouse and laundry. We didn't use any of those amenities, so I can't comment. I believe the laundry is listed as free. (This is not the case with the wifi, which was complex and had a fee.) I just used my hotspot from my Verizon service and because we had 4 bars, that worked just fine for streaming some Netflix that night.||||We really like the place. Lots of neighbors, but everyone was very friendly, and no late partying. A few kids. But really, it was all very pastoral and nice. We'd stay here again.||||Not all was perfect. Aside from the less-than-friendly wifi:||1) The sewer hookup is just an open pipe. No threads. A little stinky when you take the cover off. ||2) It is almost literally right next to the interstate. There's no denying those traffic noise is real. We slept with no issues, but if traffic noise doesn't act like white noise for you...you might want to look somewhere else. We're lucky; but I know this is a deal-breaker for some.||||They do offer a Good Sam discount of 10%, so with tax, we paid $34. Well worth it. ...

I've never written a review for anything, ever. But I was so impressed with the care that Bob, his wife Kammi, and other staff gave to my horses on one of the coldest nights that Bosque, NM has ever experienced, that I felt compelled to thank them here, as they wanted. I tried to tip them, they didn't want that, they wanted a review, so here goes. We checked the horses in around 8:30/9 pm and it was 7 degrees, there were no horse trough water heaters to keep the horses water from freezing. I was staying 15 minutes away in a hotel, and Bob promised me that he (or someone) would come out every two hours during the night and dump the water to replace it with fresh so that the water would not freeze. I was worried and I'll admit a little skeptical at the same time, so I went to Wal-Mart to buy some feed (yes, they had a small selection of feed, I was dumbfounded!) to wet down and feed them to make sure I knew they would ingest some water in case the water was not changed/frozen. I got back to the pen at 11 pm and guess who was there in the freezing darkness, but Bob dumping the water and his lovely bride holding a flashlight for him in her coat and p.j. pants freezing her butt off! I wanted to hug both of them! One of my horses had had $$$ surgery a few years ago and I knew if he didn't have water overnight it might set him up for another colic surgery, or worse... Horse people know how important water is to keep their horses internal system operating property. To Bob, Kammi and all the other staff that helped on that cold unforgiving night, I am truly grateful. And by the way, I love...

Park is open during COVID-19 crisis and is taking extra precautions, like cleaning showers after each use in addition to regular cleaning of bathrooms. It’s easy to get to, right off the highway-but highway noise wasn’t an issue. Do not follow your GPS to get here but do follow the directions provided on their website. Woman in the office and men in the carts were very nice. They noticed when we were parking that a branch was in our way so came right over and offered to lob it off. Speaking of branches, there are different species of mature trees that offer shade, privacy and a place for a variety of birds to gather. Spaces are level, long, wide and hookups are properly located. There is a recreation center with pool table and TV room as well as groceries and ice. There’s a poop-free fenced dog area that appeared to be raked regularly. Residents are mostly long-term or winter visitors, but sites were neat and tidy and folks were friendly (while keeping a polite six-foot distance). We didn’t use the WiFi but cellular service was excellent. We needed a minor repair and they recommended a local mobile service that did the job in a timely fashion for a reasonable price. If we pass this way again, we’ll be sure to stop by and maybe stay...