6 month RV trip

[Karen_and_Guy]

Hi, We have started making plans for a 6 month RV trip. We are starting in Maryland towing a 30foot North Trail travel trailer. We will be traveling with our 3 year old golden retriever. Our 1st major stop is Mt Rushmore: then traveling on to points west, north then south then back east. We hope to hit many of the National Parks (Yellowstone, Glacier...) and many of the must see beautiful stops in the good old USA. I need advice: Should we make reservations for all stops or just major attraction spots? What roads should we avoid? Which should we take? Campgrounds to use, pet friendly spots...? Any and all advice is appreciated. Thank you

 

[VKTalley]

Hi, We have started making plans for a 6 month RV trip. We are starting in Maryland towing a 30foot North Trail travel trailer. We will be traveling with our 3 year old golden retriever. Our 1st major stop is Mt Rushmore: then traveling on to points west, north then south then back east. We hope to hit many of the National Parks (Yellowstone, Glacier...) and many of the must see beautiful stops in the good old USA. I need advice: Should we make reservations for all stops or just major attraction spots? What roads should we avoid? Which should we take? Campgrounds to use, pet friendly spots...? Any and all advice is appreciated. Thank you

We recently stayed at the Mt. Rushmore KOA. We liked the campground and it is just minutes from Mt. Rushmore. It is a pet-friendly park and handled our almost 40' Big Country without any problems. I would suggest checking ahead with them for a spot. A couple of things to look into are a KOA membership and Good Sam's membership as they give discounts on campground fees, and if you have a smart phone, we use an app call "Camp & RV - Tent Camping to RV Parks by Allstays" ($9.99 on the Apple store) to located campgrounds, fuel stops, rest areas and steep road grades. As you are in a shorter trailer, you should have no trouble with the National Parks. Enjoy your trip!!

 

[danemayer]

Hi Karen and Guy,

Sounds like you're planning a great trip. You'll definitely want to make reservations at all the national parks and major attractions as far in advance as they'll allow.

If you don't make reservations everywhere, I'd recommend you at least call ahead to ask if they expect sites to be available at the time you're planning to arrive. If there's a county or state fair, or rodeo, RV Rally, or some other special event nearby, they'll be able to tell you that they're already booked and you can plan on staying elsewhere.

I'd try to avoid the toll roads in Pennsylvania, Indiana and Illinois. Probably Ohio as well. Since you're not trying to cram everything into 2 weeks, and can take your time, you may prefer the truck routes rather than interstates, at least until you're past the Chicago area.

 

[Lynn1130]

You do not say when you are going but I assume that it is during warm weather. Yellowstone and Mt Rushmore and especially Glacier are stops you will probably want to make before the end of August and even the middle of August is safer. Winter can set in early and hard in some of those areas. There are a number of very nice RV parks in Custer. We stayed at Beaver Lake RV and found it very nice and the owners were great.

 

[happykraut]

We love Custer. Camped there 4 times now. Twice at Beaver Lake and the last two times at Broken Arrow. Next time around we'll stay at Broken Arrow again. There are so many places to see out of Custer. Mt. Rushmore(don't miss seeing it at night), the Needles Hwy, Crazy Horse, train ride out of Hill City, the Custer Park Wildlife loop. Enjoy and be safe.

 

[Karen_and_Guy]

Thanks for the advice. We have the memberships and having been making the most of them this summer. Sounds like we should make reservations. I still have a dumb phone but plan to upgrade before we head on out. My husband did buy an app for his tablet but I am not sure what it is. It cost more than $10 though.

 

[Karen_and_Guy]

You mentioned a few thing I had not thought of. Those events would book up the RV parks. We had thought to take the interstates until Illinois to get further faster. It may be better to take other routes though. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Karen_and_Guy]

Thanks, we are leaving in May and plane to be in Yellowstone the 1st or second week of June. I put Beaver Lake on my list.

 

[Karen_and_Guy]

Thank you for the site info on Custer. I might have skipped some of them.

 

[jimtoo]

If your going through South Dakota,,, don't miss the Corn Palace in Mitchel, SD and Wall Drugs (Free Ice Water) in Wall, SD. Both good places to spend a little time, like a couple hours or so each... ,,,, and a little money.

Jim M

 

[hapjack]

You should plan on going to Branson Mo.Its only 35 miles South of Springfield. We have Stayed at Branson Lakeside RV Park for last 6 years. Its a very friendly park. Jack & Carol

 

[Gizzy]

Since you will be traveling for 6 months I would suggest joining Passport America. It will pay for itself real fast. We just completed a 3 month trip out west and used it MANY times. Also use RVparkreviews to check out possible places to stay.

Since you are going to see Mt Rushmore I hope you have planned spending at least a week in the Black Hills, there is just so much to see and do there.

Also, since you seem to have plenty of time, I HIGHLY recommend using the Interstate ONLY when necessary. You will see so much more staying off the Interstate and usually stumble upon some interesting places that most people miss.

 

[kowAlski631]

In Rapid City right now. Went to Crazy Horse today - great Indian exhibits. Have gone to Mt Rushmore. Also going to Deadwood on Mon. In Montana we stayed outside Billings. Lots to see there from the Little Big Horn to Pompeys Pillar.

 

[ramjleo]

We also are planning a trip to SD. in April. Just wondering what route you will be taking across country? We live in Chester VA. south of Richmond.We think we will take RT 77 VA. through WVA. to ohio. I don't know what the road conditions are through WVA.Good luck and have a safe trip.

 

[JohnD]

We spent eight days at the Big Pine Campground about one mile west of Custer, SD (July 27 - August 3, 2013).

http://www.bigpinecampground.com/smaltolarg/photos.html

Nice park . . . great owners and the facilities are nice.

They even loaned me an extension ladder so I could go up on the roof and rewire the batwing TV antenna!

Also, if you stay one week . . . one night is free (better deal than the Good Sam's discount).

Plus, close enough to town, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Custer State Park, The Flintstone's Park (in Custer), and many other places that you don't have to spend all day driving to the scenics or when you just need to run to the store or restaurant!

We also went to Jewel Cave, Deadwood, Devil's Tower (Close Encounters Of The Third Kind), Sturgis (we were there the Tuesday before the bike rally started), Rapid City, Wall Drug, and the Badlands are a must see!

We will probably go back up there again in a couple of years!

 

[ksmith555]

I'm just starting to plan our route from Southern MD to South Dakota, we booked our campground last year and leave July 31, 2014...total of 16 days, we will be staying just south of Sturgis for the rally and then the week after to see Mt. Rushmore/Black Hills and all the other must see spots around. I found this thread and was wondering if after making the trip you had any route suggestions? Or routes to avoid? We will be hauling a 40ft toyhauler, my main concern is being able to access diesel fuel stations easily...I do have a smart phone so any app recommendations are appreciated!

 

[JohnD]

I'm just starting to plan our route from Southern MD to South Dakota, we booked our campground last year and leave July 31, 2014...total of 16 days, we will be staying just south of Sturgis for the rally and then the week after to see Mt. Rushmore/Black Hills and all the other must see spots around. I found this thread and was wondering if after making the trip you had any route suggestions? Or routes to avoid? We will be hauling a 40ft toyhauler, my main concern is being able to access diesel fuel stations easily...I do have a smart phone so any app recommendations are appreciated!

Never pass up a gas station out here in the wild, wild west!

On our way back to Colorado from South Dakota, we skipped a gas station because the line at the pumps was so long thinking that we would just stop in the next town to get gas . . . NOT!

The next town . . . and the next town . . . and the next town . . . well, not one of them had a gas station!

Here we are (see photo below) about 17 miles shy of civilization waiting for the Good Sam's Roadside Assistance program to bring us 5-gallons of gas, which just barely got us to the next gas station!

 

[Kbvols]

Never pass up a gas station out here in the wild, wild west!

On our way back to Colorado from South Dakota, we skipped a gas station because the line at the pumps was so long thinking that we would just stop in the next town to get gas . . . NOT!

The next town . . . and the next town . . . and the next town . . . well, not one of them had a gas station!

Here we are (see photo below) about 17 miles shy of civilization waiting for the Good Sam's Roadside Assistance program to bring us 5-gallons of gas, which just barely got us to the next gas station!

View attachment 30158

Oh boy...good thing is your still around to tell about it. I believe when the DW got done with me I would be missing...

 

[GOTTOYS]

You should plan on going to Branson Mo.Its only 35 miles South of Springfield. We have Stayed at Branson Lakeside RV Park for last 6 years. Its a very friendly park. Jack & Carol

Be sure to research any place you need to drive out of your way for. We've been to Branson and it just wasn't for us. Not saying it's a bad place to visit but many places like that just aren't for everybody. Many of the places we've visited were recommended by people we've met on the road. Have a great trip!..Don

 

[JohnD]

Oh boy...good thing is your still around to tell about it. I believe when the DW got done with me I would be missing...

Well . . . it was lunch time . . . so that turned out to be a great place to enjoy lunch in the trailer!