A little less than a month ago, we were sitting in Spokane, complaining about the endless heat that we had been experiencing for the previous eight weeks, and we decided enough was enough. We had a route planned from Spokane through central Oregon (Deschutes/Bend areas) to Crater Lake, where we were going to run the … Read more The Oregon Coast – Part One
We spent five glorious days at North American RV Park & Yurt Village in Coram, MT about 5 miles outside the West Glacier entrance of Glacier National Park. The RV park itself is nothing fancy. Site F8 was a pull-thru with full hookups and a decent-sized patch of grass to make Max happy. If we … Read more Five Days in Glacier NP
We stayed at Bozeman Hot Springs Campground & RV Park in Bozeman, Montana for three nights. The RV park is a 15-minute drive from Bozeman’s super cute and clean downtown. The park is right next door to Bozeman Hot Springs Spa and Fitness, and staying at the park gives you free access to the hot … Read more Bozeman Hot Springs Campground & RV Park
The most difficult part of route planning for us is when Travis has to fly somewhere for work. The business trips aren’t usually last-minute trips, so that helps, but sometimes we find ourselves in places that we wouldn’t otherwise be in. However, Billings is not one of those places (a place we wouldn’t otherwise be … Read more Route Planning and the Billings KOA
I usually do a separate post for each destination we’ve traveled to, but I felt that Badlands National Park area, Custer State Park area, and Devils Tower area could all be combined into one post about the places to stay and things to see in the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming. First up… … Read more The Badlands and the Black Hills
We are Travis and Missy, originally from a small city in Wisconsin. After living in San Diego for seven years, we decided to purchase a 2017 Airstream International Signature 27FB. We launched our full-time life on the road on January 15, 2018. Read more About Us
Questions? Comments? We’d love to hear from you! Send a message, leave a comment, or visit us on Instagram. If we’re on the road, connectivity may be an issue, so give us bit to get back to you. Read more Contact
As we drove from Spokane to the Oregon coast, we stopped at Hood Park for one night. This is an Army Corps of Engineers campground that is located on Lake Wallula. Our National Parks Interagency Access Pass gave us 50% off the $24 nightly fee, though there is a $10 reservation fee, which means we paid $22 for the one night. All sites have electric hookups and there are water spigots available throughout the campground. There are restrooms and showers, neither of which we used. There’s also a small amphitheater where they show kids movies on Saturday nights during the summer.
We stayed at North Spokane RV Campground for six nights. When we booked it, we were unsure of Travis’s work travel schedule and we wanted to be somewhere for a week near an airport in case he needed to visit a customer onsite. That didn’t end up happening, so we spent the week doing some work, doing some exploring (though the heat made it difficult), doing laundry, getting hair cuts, getting the truck’s oil changed, picking up our mail, and various other errand-type things. It was also during this week, after many, many weeks of temps in the high 80s and 90s, that we decided to alter our upcoming route through central Oregon and make our way to the coast instead. So, we also spent a full day canceling old reservations and finding and booking new ones, which was no easy task as coastal Oregon is very busy during the summer.
North Spokane RV Campground opened in 2014 and it shows. The grounds are immaculate: beautifully manicured green grass; large, level concrete pads; smooth blacktopped roads; very nice laundry, showers, and TV room; small, but clean swimming pool. There’s also a decent dog park that was the only place within the park that really had any trees for shade. The lack of shade with temps in the mid-90s was definitely a drawback, but luckily there was virtually no wind so we were able to use our awnings from sun up to sun down.
Address: 10904 N Newport Hwy, Spokane, WA 99218
Phone: (509) 315-5561
Amenities:
Full Hookups
Pull Thrus
Cable
Restrooms with Showers
Laundry
Swimming Pool
Propane Fill
Dump Station
Dog Park
Playground
TV Room
Site C1 – Level, Long and Grassy!The sites in our row were in opposite direction every other site. This meant we somewhat shared the patio area with one neighbor, but couldn’t see our other neighbor’s hookups, which is always a little gross.
It was also during this week that we made a run to Home Depot to purchase Reflectix Insulation to put in the windows in order to combat the heat. It definitely helped, and we wished we would have done it sooner!
Any service you could need is within a short drive of North Spokane RV Campground and some are even within walking distance. There’s an Anytime Fitness nearby that offers a daily rate of $5. Right across the street is a cute little restaurant called Frank’s Diner. It’s in an old railcar that serves food all day, but their breakfast is their claim to fame.
We were busy with work and errands most of the week, but we did find some time to explore a bit. One evening, we ventured down to Riverfront Park. Much of it seems to be under construction, which makes navigating around a bit difficult. The heat, still 90+ degrees well after dinner, caused us to cut our walk a bit short, though it looks like a nice park with quite a few activities.
Riverfront Park’s Clock Tower
We also checked out the Japanese garden in Manito Park. There are other gardens within the park, but we were under a time crunch, so we only had time to visit this one.
While we didn’t get to thoroughly explore Spokane, we probably won’t return. We weren’t very impressed with what the city had to offer. The layout is just odd, and many of the areas seem to be pretty run down. And the traffic — ugh. It would take 25-30 minutes to drive 5 or 6 miles. While there seemed to be a few breweries worth a visit, we didn’t find one restaurant that screamed “Eat here!” through any of our various search methods (Google, Yelp, etc.). No worries, though — we have a lot of cities left to explore!
We only spent one night in the Missoula area as we drove from Bozeman to Coram. We stayed at the Square Dance Center & Campground in Lolo, which is about a 25-minute drive into Missoula. The Square Dance Center is exactly what it sounds like – a place for square dancers, but they welcome non-square dancers at the onsite RV park as well. We didn’t use any of the amenities during our brief stay, so I can’t comment on those. The RV park is spread out through tall pines and sits far enough off the highway that you don’t hear traffic. The park claims to be dog friendly, and I suppose it is as dogs are allowed; however, when walking Max, the gentleman that checked us in was riding past on his bike and told us not to allow Max to pee on any trees or other sites – we were supposed to take him to the pet relief areas marked on the map. There were two problems with this: 1) Male dogs pee on everything and 2) All of the pet relief areas had sprinklers running. Essentially, we weren’t able to take Max on a proper walk. It’s for this reason that as long as we have Max, we would never stay here again. I also would not recommend staying here to anyone who has a dog.
Address: 9955 Lolo Creek Road, Lolo, MT 59847
Amenities:
Water and Electric Hookups
Dump Station and Pump Service
Pull Thru Sites
Restrooms with Shower
Cable TV
We went into downtown Missoula for dinner at the Red Bird Restaurant in the historic Florence Hotel, which is now a mixed-use building. The food was decent, but it was the Art Deco décor that we really enjoyed.
We stayed at 7th Ranch RV Camp for two nights. There’s not much in the area, but it was a good location in regards to how far we needed to travel on a certain day but still be able to get a half day of work in. The property is very nice, with all the sites being pull throughs, some having water and electric only and some having full hookups. Check in and check out are both at noon, and we got there a little early as our drive didn’t take as long as we thought it would. They gave us a little bit of a hard time, which we’ve never experienced before, but still allowed us to check in as the person who had been in site A16 before us had left. The bathrooms and laundry are clean, and if we ever found ourselves in the area again, we would stay here again.
Address: 662 Reno Creek Road, Garryowen, MT 59031
Phone: (406) 638-2438
Amenities:
Full Hookups
Pull Throughs
Tent Sites
Cabins
Playground
Bathrooms with Showers
Laundry
Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument is located less than 15 minutes from 7th Ranch. I would highly recommend a visit to this historic site, even if you’re just passing through the area. From their brochure: “Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument memorializes one of the last armed efforts of the Northern Plains Indians to preserve their ancestral way of life. Here in the valley of the Little Bighorn River on two hot June days in 1876, more than 260 soldiers and attached personnel of the U.S. Army met defeat and death at the hands of several thousand Lakota and Cheyenne warriors. Among the dead were Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and every member of his immediate command. Although the Indians won the battle, they subsequently lost the war against the military’s efforts to end their independent, nomadic way of life.”
There’s a 20-minute orientation film that plays at regular intervals in the visitor center that is definitely worth watching to learn the history that led up to the battle, what happened during battle, and what was the result of the battle. I recommend getting to the monument right as it opens, if possible, at 8am, so that you beat the crowds and are able to explore and take in the site, which is somewhat haunting, without distractions from others.
Atop Last Stand Hill is a memorial dedicated to the 7th Cavalry. From this vantage point, you can see where ‘Custer’s Last Stand’ took place as there is a headstone marking the spot where he perished.
Adjacent to Last Stand Hill is the fantastic Indian Memorial.
After visiting Last Stand Hill and the Indian Memorial, walk along the quarter-mile Deep Ravine Trail to really get a sense of what took place on this site. Throughout the battlefield, there are white headstones marking where U.S. Army personnel died and there are red headstones marking where Indian warriors died.
After the trail, visit Custer National Cemetery, which is an onsite veterans cemetery.
If you still have time or interest at this point, drive the 4.5-mile road to the Reno-Benteen Battlefield, which was the first stage of the Battle of Bighorn. There are cell phone audio stops along the way that provide information as to what occurred at each location.
We spent four nights at the campground at the Arrowwood Resort and Conference Center at Cedar Shores. The campground sits on the Missouri River in the small town of Oacoma, which is across the river from the larger city of Chamberlain. The 44 sites are all full hookup with cable, with a picnic table and fire ring at each. The best sites along the river were taken by what appeared to be seasonal campers, which is what most of the campground seemed to be. Those staying at the campground have access to the neighboring resort’s amenities, including the pool and fitness center, though six cardio machines don’t make for a ‘fitness center’ — but it was better than nothing. Our site (#36) was the most unlevel site we’ve ever had. Besides the 1.5″-2″ lip to get on the concrete pad, the site had a huge incline from front to back, and wasn’t close to being level from side to side either — definitely one of the more challenging sites to get in to.
Address: 1500 Shoreline Drive, Oacoma, SD 57365
Phone: (605) 734-5273
Amenities:
Full Hookups
Pull Throughs
Cable TV
Picnic Table and Fire Ring
Bathrooms
Laundry
Playground
Basketball Court
Our very unlevel site. We put as many levelers as would fit under the fully retracted jack and then we extended the jack as high as it would go and we were just barely level.
There really isn’t a lot to see and do in the area, but we made the best of the time we spent there even though it seemed to rain almost nonstop.
A definite must see is the Dignity of Earth and Sky Statue at the I-90 Lewis & Clark Info Center in Chamberlain. Besides being a rest stop, there’s also a little museum dedicated to the time Lewis & Clark spent in the area. The 50-foot statue was erected in 2016 and bares a plaque with words from the sculptor, Dale Claude Lamphere, that reads, “Standing at a crossroads, Dignity echoes the interaction of earth, sky, and people. She brings to light the beauty and promise of the indigenous peoples and cultures that still thrive on this land. My intent is to have the sculpture stand as an enduring symbol of our shared belief that all here are sacred, and in a sacred place.” It’s location along I-90 makes it a perfect pitstop if driving east to west or west to east across South Dakota.
We also visited the Akta Lakota Museum and Cultural Center, which is a nice little (free) museum that is a tribute to the Lakota Sioux people. It’s small, but informative, and gives a good glimpse into the lifestyle, both past and present, of the Lakota people. The museum can be found in Chamberlain as well.
This display referenced the close bond between a warrior and his horse, which made the difference between success in the hunt or life and death in battle. The warrior shown here is modeled after “Wind in His Hair” from Dances with Wolves. The actor wore this outfit in the film.
The last sites to see in Chamberlain are the South Dakota Hall of Fame and the adjacent South Dakota’s Veterans Park. Over 700 of South Dakota’s best and brightest have been inducted in one of 15 different categories. Notable inductees include: Tom Brokaw, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and George McGovern. Both facilities are also located right off I-90, and though we didn’t stop, the Veterans Park looks like a fantastic memorial complete with a handful of military vehicles and planes as well as a picnic area.
Conclusion: The Chamberlain/Oacoma area is more of a drive by situation, but if you’re looking for a place to stop for a night, you’ll find a few things to do to occupy your time. You’ll also find gas stations, a small grocery store, a car wash, and other such services that a traveler might need.
Lake Mitchell Campground is a city-run campground on Lake Mitchell in Mitchell, South Dakota. Many of the sites are pretty shallow and difficult to get in to, so I’d recommend perusing the satellite view on Google Maps to figure out what works best. While there were full hookups at our site (site 30), the water hookup was too far back for our hose to reach. We only stayed two nights, so we just filled our water cans a couple of times and filled the fresh water tank. We didn’t utilize any of the amenities, so I can’t comment on their quality.
Address: 2601 N. Main Street, Mitchell, SD 57301
Phone: (605) 995-8450
Amenities:
Full Hookups
Pull-Thru Sites
Restrooms with Showers
Laundry
Picnic Table and Fire Ring
Tent Sites
Lake Access
Camp Host
Site 30 had two concrete pads, both with hookups, so the trailer could have been parked on either one. Unfortunately, this meant we had to choose between opening our door right into our neighbor or having a sewer hookup in the middle of our site. We chose the sewer hookup.The view of Lake Mitchell from the tent sites was very nice.Unfortunately, the lake is having an algae issue that seems to be a longterm problem.
There’s not a whole lot to do in Mitchell, except visit the Corn Palace. They were removing last years designs while we there, so the Corn Palace was minus some corn.
If we ever drive through this part of South Dakota again, we’ll probably avoid Mitchell altogether, as the campground was just okay and there’s not much to see or do.
Big Sioux Recreation Area in Brandon, South Dakota is part of the State Park system and lies on the banks of the Big Sioux River. South Dakota’s largest city, Sioux Falls, is a short drive. The campground is very basic but well kept. The sites are large and as there weren’t a lot of people staying there, it was a pretty quiet five days. The showers in the bathrooms are pretty decent, with good water pressure and hot water, although it takes a bit to warm up. The sites are electric only, but there’s a dump station and water fill as you enter/exit the campground. My only complaint is the amount of ants — they crawled everywhere, including all over the trailer; although they never made it inside as far as we can tell. The nightly rate is $21, but there is also a daily park entrance fee of $6 and a reservation fee for nonresidents of $8. As we had purchased a South Dakota parks pass at the last place we stayed, Hartford Beach State Park, and are South Dakota residents, we only paid the $21/night fee.
Address: 410 West Park Street, Brandon, SD 57005
Phone Number: (605) 582-7243
Amenities:
Electric Hookup
Dump Station
Water Fill
Picnic Table and Fire Ring
Bathrooms with Showers
Firewood
Campground Host
Tent Sites
Playground
Site 13EThe mature, green trees made for a peaceful setting.
The park itself has trails for hiking, biking, horse riding and snowshoeing. There’s also disc golf, two canoe launches, a playground and archery.
We hiked the Valley of the Giants Trail, which is supposed to be 1.5-mile hike, but we took a wrong turn at a fork in the path and had to backtrack a bit. Some of the state’s largest trees reside along this trail.
The suspension bridge seen in the header photo is at the beginning of the Prairie Vista Trail and crosses the Big Sioux River to provide access to the Horse Trail Trailhead and Archery Range.
While in the area, of course we had to visit Falls Park in Sioux Falls. The area surrounding the park is not so great, but the park itself is beautiful. We visited on an overcast, sprinkle-filled day, so the full beauty of the park is hard to determine from the pictures. The park is 123 acres and home to some of the city’s first buildings. The Queen Bee Mill used to operate here along the banks of the Big Sioux River, but all that remains now are ruins from the original 7-story building that was the victim of a fire. The 1908-built hydroelectric plant now functions as the Falls Overlook Cafe, where we had a fantastically delicious lunch. There’s also a visitor center and gift shop with a 50-foot viewing tower that is free to access.
The Falls of Sioux FallsThe Visitor Center, Gift Shop and Viewing TowerThe Falls Overlook Cafe — Great view with equally great food!
We went to downtown Sioux Falls for dinner one rainy, gloomy night. The downtown area is VERY nice — clean and well kept with great shops and restaurants. We ate at Crawfords Bar & Grill, where the food was delicious, the cocktails on point, and the decor a blend of rustic and vintage. Due to the rain, we went for a very short, post-dinner walk and were able to enjoy a few of the more than 50 sculptures that are part of the Sioux Falls SculptureWalk. If the weather had been better while we were in the area (and we were able to work less), we definitely would have spent more time downtown.
Hartford Beach State Park is located on Big Stone Lake in Corona, South Dakota. There are two campgrounds, West Campground and East Campground, within the park, and we stayed in the larger East Campground. East Campground has 57 sites, all with electric hookup. As you drive into the campground, there’s a dump station with water fill. The sites are spacious with plenty of green space. We had a tree line along one side as well as the back of our site (33E), making it feel pretty private. Sites 62E, 61E, 59E and 57E are very spread out with a lot of room between them and the even numbered sites from 66E to 76E have a peak view of the lake. Although we didn’t use them, the bathrooms and showers are nice. All South Dakota State Park “Prime” Campgrounds are $21/night, plus a $6 daily park entrance license fee. The annual park license costs $30, which is the route we took, seeing as we’ll be staying at a few more SD State Parks in the upcoming weeks. If reservations are made online, there is a $7.70 reservation fee for non-residents (all phone reservations are $2), so a weekend for a non-resident can get a little pricey.
We had a nice tree line both along one side and along the back of site 33E.Looking from front to back of site 33E.
The park’s amenities include a boat ramp, beach, fish cleaning station, fishing pole checkout, disc golf course, playground, picnic shelters and hiking trails.
Many campers were there to take advantage of fishing on the lake.The disc golf course was both beautiful and challenging.Hole 3 had a nice view of the lake. Equipment is available at the park entrance station.
If we’re ever in the area again, we’ll definitely revisit Hartford Beach State Park!
Bunker Hills Campground is within Bunker Hills Regional Park in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. We stayed here a little short of a week so that we could visit a customer in the neighboring city of Anoka. The park had a really great feeling about it — the light always seemed magical, we ran into deer and turkey on a regular basis, and it has a really great trail system. The campground itself has restrooms with showers, which were pretty decent, even if there’s no temperature control and the water pressure could be a tad bit better. The sites are large and private with picnic tables and fire rings. There are three loops — one with 30 amp/water hookups (where we stayed), one with 50 amp/water hookups, and one with more 50 amp sites, tent sites and a couple of cabins. There is also a visitor’s center right as you enter the campground with a dump station nearby.
The park the campground is located in also has a lot to offer: A nice, paved trail system; golf course with restaurant (good food); playgrounds; picnic pavilions; restrooms; horse stables; archery range; disc golf course; and water park, which didn’t open until the day we left.
The nightly rate is $28, which is reasonable, but there was an $8 reservation fee as well as a daily access fee of $6 (or $30 for an annual pass), so if you aren’t staying long, it might not be very cost effective.
Address: 13101 County Parkway B, Coon Rapids, MN 55433
Phone: (763) 324-3330
Amenities:
Electric and Water Hookups
Visitor Center
Campground Hosts
Restrooms with Showers
Dump Station
Playground
Dumpster with Recycling
Group Campsites
Tent Sites
Cabins
Magical light!We loved the trails and took advantage of them to walk Max and to get some running in.Again with that light!Bunker Lake – The boardwalk (in the header photo) crosses the lake as part of the great trail system.
We decided to stay at the Minneapolis Southwest KOA on somewhat short notice. We had previously been staying at Minneopa State Park in Mankato, but were going to have to move from our site with electric hookup to a site without electric, as there were no electric sites available for the weekend. It was very hot and we were unsure of the park’s rules regarding generator use, so as we had to hitch up to move anyway, we decided we’d just move to a different park with hookups.
Both Travis and I felt the KOA had a creepy vibe — we’re just not sure why. The clientele was less than desirable, but that’s often the case on weekends at campgrounds like this. Whatever the reason was, we were happy to have full hookups.
We didn’t utilize any of the amenities except for filling our propane, so I can’t really comment on those. I can say that our spot was pretty tight, barely fitting our 28′ Airstream and Ford F-150. The ‘streets’ were even tighter and maneuvering within the campground was a little difficult, especially for big rigs.
Address: 3315 W. 166th Street, Jordan, MN 55352
Phone: (952) 492-6440
Amenities:
Full Hookups
Pull Throughs
Store
Indoor Pool
Restrooms with Showers
Laundry
Playground
Basketball, Volleyball, Horseshoes
Cabins
Propane Fill
Dog Park
Mini Golf
The streets were snug, especially when people parked their tow vehicles along the side.We probably had abut a foot to spare at the end of our pull-through.It was nice to have a little grass area out the door so we didn’t have to walk anywhere to let Max out before bed.
