Mount Rushmore- North & South Dakota - June 7-10
Good Morning. The coffee is made and it is a cool morning at the Mount Rushmore KOA campground in South Dakota. We left Saskatoon on June 7 and made our way south on highway 6 then picking up 35 at Weyburn. Our Boarder Crossing was at Fortuna where we picked up 385 and down into Williston North Dakota. It was a great sunny day and saw the grasslands of southern Saskatchewan. Traffic was light and I doubt we saw more than 6 cars on the road all day. The boarder crossing at Fortuna was easy as we were the only vehicle there. The Customs Officer asked us the usual questions and had a look through our RV. He opened a few cupboards and wanted me to open the truck boxes. We had left all the fresh fruit, meat and diary products in Saskatoon as it is always unclear what to take. With our passports stamped we made our way to the Buffalo Trails Campground in Williston ND. We arrived about 5 PM and checked in .. $23/night minus $2.50 for my Good Sam Discount. Settled in and even got my Satellite TV to work. Off to the Wal-Mart Superstore which was just down the road.
Great evening and got up to a late start the next morning.
Sunday- June 8 was a LONG day. We went from Williston ND to Mount Rushmore. Traffic was light but it was very windy. On the Edmonton-Saskatoon Leg it was FLAT and had a 20 knot tail wind. Conditions were perfect and got about 13.5 miles/gallon. I was really pleased with this as fuel is expensive and the Class A Motorholmes are probably getting between 2-4 mpg. The rolling hills and strong winds dropped my gas mileage to about 9 MPG. The scenery was spectacular with interesting rock formations. Lots of Buttes and crossed the Badlands working our way down to South Dakota on 385. Weather is a mixture of Sun- Rain- and wind. Went through Bell Fourche and on to Interstate 90. It is now about 6:30 and the GPS wanted to take me to Rapid City and over to Mount Rushmore but we wanted to stay on 385.. More scenic. BAD Decision as we SLOWLY made our way through Deadwood and the Black Hills arriving at our KOA Campground about 8:30. I was exhausted, the truck was low on fuel and was glad I made a reservation for a nice spot.. OR so I thought !!!!! There are 100's of campgrounds in this area but there are a few very large ones. I made an on-line reservation for $43/night at the Mount Rushmore KOA campground. The Palmer Gulch campground also calls itself the Mount Rushomre KOA campground which is misleading and $60/night !!! I was too tired to drive to the other one we had a reservation at as it would mean re-fuelling and a 30 minute drive. So our 3 night here are $180 plus a $40 cancellation fee at the other campground making it about $70/night for camping !!! We went into Keystone, a little town next to Mount Rushmore and saw many nice hotels for $39.50/night with breakfast included!!! Oh well I still like our RV
Yesterday we went to the Carzy Horse Monument, Mount Rushmore, Keystone and the Needles highway. Today was are off to Sturgis and Deadwood and will do a little shopping in preparation for our final leg to Fremont Nebraska. We will be there Thursday for about one month. In two week we will be back in Comox !!!! Wednesday night we will stay in the Wacky West Campgound in Vallentine as we travel on Highway 20 down to Fremont.
Good Morning. The coffee is made and it is a cool morning at the Mount Rushmore KOA campground in South Dakota. We left Saskatoon on June 7 and made our way south on highway 6 then picking up 35 at Weyburn. Our Boarder Crossing was at Fortuna where we picked up 385 and down into Williston North Dakota. It was a great sunny day and saw the grasslands of southern Saskatchewan. Traffic was light and I doubt we saw more than 6 cars on the road all day. The boarder crossing at Fortuna was easy as we were the only vehicle there. The Customs Officer asked us the usual questions and had a look through our RV. He opened a few cupboards and wanted me to open the truck boxes. We had left all the fresh fruit, meat and diary products in Saskatoon as it is always unclear what to take. With our passports stamped we made our way to the Buffalo Trails Campground in Williston ND. We arrived about 5 PM and checked in .. $23/night minus $2.50 for my Good Sam Discount. Settled in and even got my Satellite TV to work. Off to the Wal-Mart Superstore which was just down the road.
Great evening and got up to a late start the next morning.
Sunday- June 8 was a LONG day. We went from Williston ND to Mount Rushmore. Traffic was light but it was very windy. On the Edmonton-Saskatoon Leg it was FLAT and had a 20 knot tail wind. Conditions were perfect and got about 13.5 miles/gallon. I was really pleased with this as fuel is expensive and the Class A Motorholmes are probably getting between 2-4 mpg. The rolling hills and strong winds dropped my gas mileage to about 9 MPG. The scenery was spectacular with interesting rock formations. Lots of Buttes and crossed the Badlands working our way down to South Dakota on 385. Weather is a mixture of Sun- Rain- and wind. Went through Bell Fourche and on to Interstate 90. It is now about 6:30 and the GPS wanted to take me to Rapid City and over to Mount Rushmore but we wanted to stay on 385.. More scenic. BAD Decision as we SLOWLY made our way through Deadwood and the Black Hills arriving at our KOA Campground about 8:30. I was exhausted, the truck was low on fuel and was glad I made a reservation for a nice spot.. OR so I thought !!!!! There are 100's of campgrounds in this area but there are a few very large ones. I made an on-line reservation for $43/night at the Mount Rushmore KOA campground. The Palmer Gulch campground also calls itself the Mount Rushomre KOA campground which is misleading and $60/night !!! I was too tired to drive to the other one we had a reservation at as it would mean re-fuelling and a 30 minute drive. So our 3 night here are $180 plus a $40 cancellation fee at the other campground making it about $70/night for camping !!! We went into Keystone, a little town next to Mount Rushmore and saw many nice hotels for $39.50/night with breakfast included!!! Oh well I still like our RV
Yesterday we went to the Carzy Horse Monument, Mount Rushmore, Keystone and the Needles highway. Today was are off to Sturgis and Deadwood and will do a little shopping in preparation for our final leg to Fremont Nebraska. We will be there Thursday for about one month. In two week we will be back in Comox !!!! Wednesday night we will stay in the Wacky West Campgound in Vallentine as we travel on Highway 20 down to Fremont.
Dakota Pictures
1 comment:
I like your pictures of Dakota. You sohuld post them on a new travel site I found - baraaza.com.
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