Trailer Travels – Our home away from home!

Rawlins KOA, Wyoming

On July 5, 2024, we left the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota and traveled to Rawlins, Wyoming, where we checked into the Rawlins KOA. This is where and how we learned there is a difference between a KOA Holiday and a KOA Journey. They should be called a KOA Trip instead of a KOA Journey because it was a trip. This KOA Journey was really low-budget and not very nice. I would have preferred to stay in a Walmart parking lot, but I don’t think Rawlins, Wyoming, has a Walmart. The highlights of the stay were eating at the Aspen House Restaurant and leaving the following day.

From Rawlins, we drove straight home. This marked the end of our summer adventure, covering eight states, 24 nights of camping, and 2923 miles of travel. We love these long trips and can’t wait for retirement and an opportunity to make them even longer.

Nights	Total Nights	Miles	Total Miles
1	263	619	25139

Comanche Park Campground, South Dakota

On July 1, 2024, we left the Badlands of South Dakota and arrived at Comanche Park Campground. We had a reservation for this campground, but we only had it until July 3rd, and we were concerned about finding another campground before the Independence holiday. Fortunately, the camp host showed us available first-come, first-served sites. We took site six and ended up staying until July 5th. This site is reasonably private, has a nice view, and minimal noise from the highway. The campground is west of Custer, South Dakota, and was a reasonably convenient base for Black Hills activities.

We wasted no time having fun in the Black Hills. We set up our campsite and immediately rode the 1880 train. The locomotive is steam-driven and made for an aesthetically pleasing way to have our first glimpses of the Black Hills. We love trains, and this one had great views and was a lot of fun. Afterward, we had a nice dinner at the nearby 1885 Steakhouse and Saloon.

On July 2nd, we enjoyed the Jewel Cave National Monument, which had exciting cave features and a fascinating history shared with us by a college student intern; she did a great job.

We also drove the Needles Highway scenic drive. This is a gorgeous drive with amazing views. On this road, there are several tunnels that are very tight for our truck. We also enjoyed the views of Sylvan Lake.

On July 3rd, we took a one-hour helicopter ride that gave us a birds-eye view of the forest, lakes, Crazy Horse, and Mount Rushmore monuments. The views were great, and the fact that we were the only two passengers enhanced them. The helicopter took off north of Custer, flew northwest, turned east, then south, and made a loop back past the famous monuments of the Black Hills.

We also went on the Iron Mountain drive and saw the Mount Rushmore memorial. The drive was very nice and had some really interesting bridges. Mount Rushmore was pretty crowded, but it was easy to find places of solitude that provided opportunities to reflect on our nation and the people who have been instrumental in its construction and well-being. It’s incredible to consider both the art and immense effort that went into creating this monument. It is like art meets major construction.

After visiting Mount Rushmore, we drove through Wind Cave National Park. The caves were closed for maintenance, and we saw almost no wildlife. However, we did see many grasslands filled with prairie dogs.

As if our day wasn’t full enough, we went to the Mammoth Site near Hot Springs, SD. The dig site was pretty interesting. The entire dig is inside a substantial warehouse-type structure that protects it and visitors from the harsh winter and summer conditions outside. The signage was instructive and interesting. This is a fascinating site worth visiting.

Hot Springs, South Dakota, was not worth the difficulty of driving due to road construction. Soaking in hot springs isn’t possible without an appointment, and the environment seems more like a hotel spa, which isn’t bad, but it’s not our thing.

On July 4th, Independence Day, we went on a tour of the Crazy Horse monument. We took the extended tour where you can go out on Crazy Horse’s arm and get close to his face. You travel from the visitors center up the mountain via van, then park and walk out on the flat area near Crazy Horse’s chin. During the tour, you walk right up to the face, touch the rock, and nearly reach the end of his right arm.

The figure is far from done. I hope to go back before my days are over and see it complete, but I may not live long enough to see that accomplishment. When done, it is supposed to look like the model we viewed at the visitor center. Like Mount Rushmore, it is pretty amazing to experience art at this scale.

We ended our day with dinner in Custer and then fireworks. We watched the fireworks from the bed of our truck and had an enjoyable evening. Afterward, we returned to Comanche Park Campground and prepared to leave the following day.

On July 5th, we left the beautiful Black Hills and headed for Rawlins, Wyoming, on our way home. We love the Black Hills and will return in the near future. We want to ride the 109-mile George S. Mickelson Trail from Deadwood to Edgemont, but that will have to wait another day.

Nights	Total Nights	Miles	Total Miles
4	262	123	24520

Badlands KOA, South Dakota

With truck troubles behind us, we left Norfolk, Nebraska, and headed to the Badlands KOA on June 29, 2024. We arrived just before their office closed, checked in, and received a brief orientation. This was our first KOA experience. We have since learned that there are several levels of KOA; this one was quite nice.

While our site had full hookups, the water and dump hookups were quite far from our trailer. Our hose barely reached the water spigot, and our dump hose had no hope. However, the KOA store sold longer dump hoses, and ours was getting pretty old, so I upgraded. I was surprised that the little on-premise store was reasonable (only $10 more than Amazon), and I bought the longer hose in a kit containing everything we needed.

We stayed for a couple of nights and enjoyed the Badlands. We drove through the entire park, hiked several trails, and were pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the place. It wasn’t bad at all. 🙂 We enjoyed the contrast between the rock formations and the green grasslands. We also enjoyed seeing the scarce wildlife. On one of our hikes, we saw mountain goats; on our drives, we occasionally saw buffalo.

On one of our hikes, we walked to the end of a dead-end canyon. At the end, there were cracks through the canyon wall. You could see a long way down on the other side through these cracks and feel the wind rushing through them. The winds were strong enough to remove hats and hold our bodies from falling over at fairly steep angles. It was fun walking around the terrain and experiencing the wind. It would be a difficult place to live and prosper.

After our two-night stay and a full day in the park, we left for Comanche Park Campground, located not too far from the Badlands and just west of Custer, South Dakota.

Nights	Total Nights	Miles	Total Miles
2	258	309	24397

Walmart Parking Lot, Nebraska

June 28, 2024, was an eventful day full of surprises and miracles. Our day began normally enough, with us leaving Manawa Lake State Park and heading northwest toward the Badlands of South Dakota. There aren’t great camping options in the Badlands, so we made reservations at the Badlands White River KOA for two nights.

While passing through Norfolk, Nebraska, on our way to the Badlands KOA, our truck developed a bad vibration and lacked power. We pulled into a gas station to try and figure out our next steps. We determined it needed serious service and learned that the local GM dealer wouldn’t even look at our truck until July 9th. We didn’t want to and couldn’t stay for nearly two weeks in Nebraska, so we looked for alternatives.

The Norfolk GM dealer pointed us to their sister company, a Dodge dealership in Columbus, Nebraska. We talked to a friendly guy there who was willing to take a look at the truck. However, Columbus was 45 minutes away, so we had to arrange to tow our vehicle. Miraculously, we were right across the street from a Walmart store. We heard that with the permission of Walmart store managers, it was possible to stay the night in their parking lots. We limped the truck and trailer across the street and received permission to leave the trailer overnight. We had never camped at a Walmart before!

We called our roadside assistance—yes, the one that failed to help us with our blowout in Arkansas—to acquire a tow truck. They were willing to tow us to the local GM dealer, where we couldn’t get service, but they wanted $511 to pull us to Columbus. Fortunately, the Dodge dealership had a towing service that only cost us $350. Strike two on our lousy roadside assistance.

The tow truck showed up, and we hauled our vehicle to Columbus. The Dodge folks determined we had a bad fuel injector and associated cable. They also learned that the repairs would be covered under warranty at the Columbus GM dealer, which they weren’t associated with. The Dodge dealership folks were so kind. They made us comfortable, helped us immediately, and even persuaded the Columbus GM dealer to take a look.

We limped down to the GM dealer, and they knew immediately that the Dodge dealership’s diagnosis was correct. They agreed to fix the truck the following morning and sent us on our way with a brand-new truck as a loaner. We drove back to our Walmart camping spot. Kudos to Walmart for providing us with a safe and comfortable place to stay!

The next day, the GM dealer called with the good news. They had repaired the truck, and we could come get it at noon. The injector was covered under warranty, and something that wasn’t was $350. Our total cost for repair and towing was $700. However, given all of the remote places we have driven, breaking down near a Walmart “campground” and having the total cost be less than $1000 and with only a 24-hour delay will be recognized as a miracle in this blog!

We were off to the Badlands a day behind schedule. Of course, after all the goodness expressed by the good people of Nebraska, we lost our $100 per night charge for our KOA. This makes the total cost of the breakdown and subsequent repair $800 and 24 hours, still much better than it could have been.

Nights	Total Nights	Miles	Total Miles
1	256	127	24088

Lake Manawa State Park, Iowa

On June 27, 2024, we left Parker Bottoms Campground and our new favorite little town, Eureka Springs, and traveled to Lake Manawa State Park in Iowa. The state park is close to or even in Council Bluffs, Iowa, just across the state border from Omaha, Nebraska.

We stayed at site 30 for one night on our way to the Badlands in South Dakota. While there, we found an RV store to replace some broken sewer hose components and traveled to the local Walmart to buy groceries.

We ended the night by cooking some nice steaks, relaxing, and preparing for departure in the morning. Our next stop was the Badlands KOA in South Dakota.

Nights	Total Nights	Miles	Total Miles
1	255	402	23961

Parker Bottoms Campground, Arkansas

On Monday, June 24, 2024, we traveled a short distance from Hickory Creek State Park to Parker Bottoms Campground (Dam Site River). Parker Bottoms is just below the Beaver Lake dam on the White River. We stayed in this location until June 27th.

On Monday night, we decided to travel to a nearby town for dinner. We ended up at Amigos in Eureka Springs. The food was excellent, and the city is really cool! We liked the food and the town so much that we just kept going back.

On Tuesday morning, we floated in our kayaks down the White River from the Bernard Access point to the Houseman Access point. After arriving at the entrance point, we realized we were missing a paddle that must have been mixed up in our son’s stuff more than an hour away. My wife drove to a local outfitters shop and paid top dollar for an otherwise inexpensive kayak paddle. Upon her return, we set off. We started by paddling up the river before the flow from the dam started at noon behind some islands in the river. At noon, the dam blew a loud horn and opened its gates to generate electricity. At first, it was easy to paddle against the current, but shortly it became impossible, and we began our float downstream. We decided to pass our entry point and continue downriver. When we exited at Houseman Access, we summoned an Uber to pick Linda up for the four-minute drive back to our truck. After a twenty minute wait a driver came and was quite upset that we had him drive twenty minutes to deliver us four minutes away. He shouldn’t have accepted our request if he didn’t want to make the $20 for the ride.

After our float, we drove to the dam site lake swimming beach near the dam of Beaver Lake, where we had swum the previous week with our family. After a refreshing and relaxing swim, we drove back to Eureka Springs. This time, we ate at the Local Flavor Cafe; it was amazing.

On Wednesday, June 26th, we kayaked up the river from the boat launch at the end of the Parker Bottoms Campground road, almost to the dam. When the horn sounded at noon, we rode the new current back to our starting point. Evidently, when we dragged our kayaks down to the river, we put a small hole in my wife’s boat. During our float we had to periodically empty her kayak.

After our kayak trip, we rode our bikes from our campground to the dam observation area and then to the Beaver Lake dive area on the north shore for a lovely afternoon swim. After our swim, we returned to Eureka Springs and ate at the Grotto Wood-Fired Grill and Wine Cave. The food was excellent. Each time we went to dinner in Eureka Springs, the food kept getting better.

We simply love Eureka Springs. After dinner, we drove to see the Christ of the Ozarks statue and the Golden Gate suspension bridge; both were fun to see.

Our campsite was lovely, and we sat in the evening and watched the fireflies. However, our neighbor really liked lights. They seemed to retire quite early, but they set lights up that remained on all night. It wasn’t great for stargazing, but it was otherwise entertaining.

We left on the morning of the 27th, but before departing, we noticed the fog on the White River. It was beautiful and a pleasant way to say goodbye to a wonderful place.

Nights	Total Nights	Miles	Total Miles
3	254	39	23559

Hickory Creek State Park, Arkansas

On June 17, 2024, we left El Dorado State Park in Kansas and traveled east to Hickory Creek State Park in Arkansas. After traveling most of the day, we were about 30 minutes from our site when we had a trailer tire blowout. Of course, it occurred in rush hour, on a major highway with a narrow sloped side, and on a turn. We called roadside assistance, who indicated they’d come in about an hour. After 30 minutes, the person coming called, and after we gave him some details, we determined he had insufficient equipment to lift our trailer. We initiated the process again with the same kind of wait. One of our sons and his family lived within an hour of our breakdown, so he came to assist and beat the others to the job. It is always lovely to have capable and willing loved ones. We got back on the road and headed to our site on the shore of Beaver Lake. We had a back-in site with electrical hookups right on the shore.

We stayed in this area for seven nights and enjoyed visiting our family. During the week, we went to a beach near the Beaver Lake dam. We swam and played with the grandchildren in warm, clear water. We also visited a museum, kayaked and snorkeled, visited our son’s and daughter-in-law’s home, attended a granddaughter’s baptism, and enjoyed many meals together. It was an excellent opportunity to combine our love for camping and the outdoors with a visit to our loved ones.

We took our son and granddaughter fishing on Beaver Lake with a guide and caught several fish. Fishing with her grandma was our granddaughter’s birthday gift from us. It was fun.

The area and campground were pleasant. The lake was so lovely and warm that we wanted a few extra days, so we moved to Parker Bottoms Campground just below the Beaver Lake dam. It was a quick move that included a stop to replace the spare tire with a new tire for the trailer.

Nights	Total Nights	Miles	Total Miles
7	251	246	23520

El Dorado State Park, Kansas

We arrived at El Dorado State Park on June 16th, 2024, and occupied site 823, a back-in site with full hookups. On this trip, we learned how important electric hookups are for running the AC full-time to cool the trailer and deal with humidity. We can run the AC for a couple of hours on battery and for considerably longer on a generator, but electric hookups make it carefree.

We were only at this location for one night and wanted to make the most of our time. We biked at our first stop, so here we decided to kayak. We took our kayaks up a stream that slowly flows into the reservoir. Here, we launched our boats and paddled downstream through what felt like a jungle of foliage. We quickly arrived at an open water area that was the lake’s beginning. The wind was pretty strong, so we did a 180-degree turn and went back upstream.

We paddled beyond where we put in and continued upstream. It was a very enjoyable trip. It was quiet and peaceful and exercised our minds and bodies. After quite a while, we ran into a family enjoying the stream, so we decided to turn around and end our journey.

After returning to our site, we found a turtle near the creak and enjoyed watching it and the fireflies as darkness ended our day. Our next stop is Hickory Creek State Park in Arkansas, where we plan to stay for a week, visit family, and relax after this quick trek across several states.

Nights	Total Nights	Miles	Total Miles
1	244	213	23274

C2T Ranch and Campground, Kansas

On June 15th, we left Cherry Creek State Park in Colorado and headed east to C2T Ranch and Campground in Kansas. We found this site on HipCamp and enjoyed it.

We always considered Kansas flat and without geological character, but this ranch has a beautiful cliff face and a stream flowing at its base. We picked a site near the creak among the trees on the edge of the grasslands. It was pretty steep, and heavy brush went down to the creek. We found more convenient places to get close to the water.

During our stay, we walked the length of the campground, met some people from Kansas who come here regularly, enjoyed viewing the ranch animals, and even found a rope swing to play on.

Nights	Total Nights	Miles	Total Miles
1	243	342	23061

Cherry Creek State Park, Colorado

We left our home on June 12, 2024, for a 25-night outing with three main goals:

Attend a professional two-day conference in Denver, Colorado.
Spend a week with family near Springdale, Arkansas.
Enjoy an adventure on our two-week journey home.

Our first destination was Cherry Creek State Park near Denver, Colorado. We settled into our campsite in the Cottonwood Grove Loop, which provided ample space and easy access to the conference hotel in downtown Denver.

During our free time, we went grocery shopping, bought a few parts for the trailer, and rode our new bicycles around the reservoir. The ride was phenomenal. The trail is nearly all paved and winds through woods, grasslands, and offers stunning views of the lake.

Nights	Total Nights	Miles	Total Miles
3	242	503	22719