Our Cross Country trip this summer

[Ira_P]

We are back from our cross-country trip, 7000 miles, give or take a little, in 23 days.

I have pictures of Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Yellowstone, and Whidbey Island at my Webshot site.
http://community.webshots.com/user/IPcamper

We started in Maryland and drove to southwest Ohio to visit my folks. We stayed 2 nights in the their driveway.

We then drove to Iowa. We stayed the night at Hunt River campground on the Cedar river and I-80. I wasn?t impressed with the place. The river was nice, but the campground was very crowded, the bathroom s were small and not well kept, the place was right next to the highway. On a scale of 1-10, I give it a 2 or 3, OK for a quick night, but just.

The next day we drove to South Dakota and stayed at Al?s Oasis. Campground was nice, and not too crowded. The staff was wonderful and the pool was nice for the kids. It was next to the highway, though. I would give it a 7 out of ten. We could stop there again

The next day we had a short drive to Hill City South Dakota and stayed at Rafter J Ranch for 2 nights. This campground was wonderful. Large open sites, far apart from the next camper. Great facilities and service. The friendliest staff I have met. I would rate this place a 9 ? 10 and we will stay there again.
  We spend part of the first day there at Mt. Rushmore and the second day at Crazy Horse. 2 days was too short to take everything in, we will have to go back
  We also started to have trouble with our Explorer. The alternator started going bad and the water pump/clutch fan was getting noisy. Fortunately, the campground has rental cars! I rented a car and drove into Rapid City and was able to find a new alternator and a new belt and ideler pulleys, but not  new water pump and fan clutch assembly.

We decided to press on and drove to Bozeman, MT. We stayed at the Bozeman KOA. It was very nice and I would rate it as a 7 ? 8, but don?t go on a Wednesday night. There is a Spa next to the campground that had a pool party and DJ going until midnight. The Sheriff department sent some one over at 10 to quite them down, but that only lasted until the deputy left. The KOA management was quite upset about it and told us that it had been a problem every Wednesday this summer.

The next day we drove to Washington. We had planned to spend the night at Wanapum State park on the Columbia river, but we we got there the wind was blowing steady at 50+ mph through the gorge. As we set up, the Sheppard pole on one side couldn't take the strain and bent. With out the tenting holding up, we decided to pack up and went to the Days Inn in Ellensburg.

After that we drove to Whidbey Island and Deception Pass State Park. We camped there for 8 nights while visiting my wife?s parents in Oak Harbor. By this time the water pump and Fan clutch were sounding like fingernails on a chalkboard, so I was able to use my father-in-law?s truck and order in a new water pump and fan clutch. Disaster avoided. I also manged to repair the Sheppard pole by carefully resetting the bend, and crimping the sides of the pole to strengthen the point it where it failed. It has held up quite well since.

After our visit in Washington, we drove to Montana and stayed at Nuggets campground in St. Regis, a very nice campground with a wonderful view and sites. We did run into a yellow jack nest and they were nasty! Otherwise it is a great place and I would rate it a 8 ? 9.

The next day we drove to Yellowstone. We entered through the west entrance and drove to Canyon Village. Note there is road construction in the park between Norris and  Madison. Long delays are common, and the road will close around the 17 of this month.
We spend 3 nights at Canyon Village and had a great campsite. We saw the Canyon and falls, Mammoth spring, Old Faithful, and the lake while we were there. We really needed a week or more to explore, but just didn?t have the time.

Now the long drive home, we left Yellowstone through the east entrance and drove southeast to Cheyenne, WY. We didn?t want to get tied up with Sturgis. We stayed at the Cheyenne KOA. It was nice, and felt crowed after yellowstone, but not too bad. I?ll rate it a 7, great for a quick stop.

We then drove to Nebraska City and Stayed at Victoria Acres. This was a very nice private campground. Although they don?t have a pool, the kids liked it. My DD (10 years old ) pronounce it as having the best bathroom yet. I?ll rate it a 7-8.

We then drove across Missouri to Springfield Ill. My DD is a history buff and wanted to see Lincoln?s home and tomb. It is well worth the stop if you are passing through the area. We stayed at the Springfield KOA. It was alright, but the site was a bit muddy. I rate it a 6.

From there we drove back to Ohio for a free night in my folk?s driveway again, and back to Maryland.

A wonderful trip, we kept the driving short to give time to setup and let the kids run around and that made the drive better.

[OC Campers]

What a fantastic trip.  Your kids will remember it always.  My kids love cross county trips.  Granted we haven't done them camping.  Only car/hotel.  I am ready to try it with the camper.  We have talked about doing the Grand Teton/Yellowstone/Jackson Hole trip soon.  The kids are not getting any younger.

Thank you for sharing your camping destinations and photos.

Jacqui

[austinado16]

Man, what a nice trip!  Good for you guys, for putting that together....and pulling it off!

Thanks for the detailed write up too.

[12stepper]

How many of those campsites did you reserve in advance?  All?  Did you ever stay at a site on the fly?  Just wondering how planned a trip like yours must be in terms of reserving ahead and then making sure you get there.

[Ira_P]

I reserved all the sites in advance. Deception Pass State Park in Washington is very popular and is always filled in July and August. Yellowstone Canon Village was 80% booked back in December 2008 for August 2009. So I reserved the major stops back in January, and then in April I reserved the stops for one night stays. I didn't want to get to the end of the day and have to hunt to find a space for the night. Also I wanted to find a place for the kids to swim and burn off energy for sitting in the car all day.

To find the campgrounds, I used Microsofts Streets and Trips program. I am not a fan of theirs and I couldn't transfer the data to my wife's garmin gps, but it was free. Sort of free, You can download the program from Microsoft and used it for free for a 60 day trial. The trial period has full functions and I set it to calculate the driving time, and had it list all campgrounds and RV parks within 30 miles of the end of day. From the list it generated I then checked websites and reviews to pick a campground.

[Jim K in PA]

Ira - thanks for sharing the pictures and the trip details.  We are heading out on a similar pilgrimage next summer with our boys.  We won't be heading all the way to the west coast, but will hit Mt. Rushmore/CrazyHorse, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and then perhaps the northern Rim of the GC.

[tlhdoc]

It sounds like a great trip.  I plan on doing a trip like that one day.  As soon as I can take enough vacation at one time to do it right.