A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 127 miles from Spearfish, South Dakota to Badlands, South Dakota.
Month: November 2023
Travel from Spearfish to Badlands, South Dakota
We drove our coach 127 miles, about 2 hours of driving, from Spearfish, South Dakota to Badlands, South Dakota.
Here’s the map route, heading southeast:
An interactive map:
Leaving our site, in a cloud of dust from the gravel:
Leaving the campground:
Heading east on I-90:
Rapid City exit:
A fuel stop at Flying J; we don’t get a discount there, and have to go in to pay, but it was more convenient to our route:
Almost 82 gallons of diesel, a bit over half a tank:
We parked our coach, with the generator running so the ACs would keep it cool, and went in to have lunch:
At the Country Market restaurant in the Flying J:
Menu:
Breakfast for lunch; a little underdone:, but tasty enough:
We had a choice between continuing on I-90, or going on SD-44; we opted for the highway, since we generally prefer them to freeways:
A sea of sad sunflowers, done blooming and going to seed:
Entering Badlands National Park:
Roadworks; driving on gravel isn’t particularly enjoyable in our coach, so we kinda regretted our choice to come this way (we knew that there was roadworks, but didn’t expect a lack of paving):
A prairie dog town (one visible by the fence):
An old cabin and pond:
Interior, SD, population 94:
White River:
Our destination:
Guided to our site:
On his recommendation, we untoaded (unhooked our truck from our coach) before reaching the site, then followed separately:
Parking in our site:
Fixing bathroom vent lid motor
The lift motor housing broke on the vent in our rear bathroom, so I replaced it.
Here’s the vent, with the decorative wooden cover open:
The broken housing:
I ordered a new motor from Amazon (cheaper than from the Tiffin parts store, though availability may be spotty):
Removing the old motor:
Above that, the lift mechanism, which had become detached (causing the breakage):
The motor just plugs in to a couple of connectors:
The new motor and housing in place, after re-mounting the lift mechanism:
All better:
An easy fix, and as a bonus, it’s quieter now when opening and closing the vent.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial
Mount Rushmore National Memorial is one of the most famous monuments in the country, though with some problematic history.
George Washington, First President of the United States:
Thomas Jefferson, Third President of the United States:
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States:
Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States:
Exhibit Hall:
Profile View:
Crazy Horse Memorial
A massive monument in South Dakota is the Crazy Horse Memorial, a mountain-sized monument to an American Indian war leader named Crazy Horse. The monument was started by one guy in 1948, and is far from completion. Official website.
The Welcome Center:
A model of the planned finished product:
Compare the model to the current state:
Progress pictures:
The artists studio:
Progress pictures:
Model:
Another look at the current state:
Jewel Cave National Monument
We did a ranger-guided tour of Jewel Cave National Monument in South Dakota.
Jenn getting her park passport stamp:
A map of the explored portions of the cave; it’s massive:
Exhibits:
Gift store:
Elevators to head down into the cave:
The jewels of Jewel Cave:
Lots of stairs:
Cave bacon:
Lots and lots of stairs:
Everyone needed to walk through a White Nose Syndrome mat when exiting:
Black Hills area
While staying in Spearfish, South Dakota, and later while staying in Hot Springs, South Dakota, we visited several of the nearby scenic byways and towns in the Black Hills area, including Spearfish, Belle Fourche, Deadwood, Custer, and Hot Springs, amongst others. This post is a collection of some interesting pictures from this region. (Several big attractions of this area, including Crazy Horse Memorial, Mount Rushmore National Monument, Custer State Park, Iron Mountain Road, and Wind Cave National Park, will be covered in separate posts.)
We really enjoyed the Black Hills area, and could see ourselves buying property here one day. Though we still have lots more of the country to see, so you never know!
Here’s an interactive map of the Black Hills area; part of it is in Wyoming, but the majority is in South Dakota:
Roughlock Falls Road, south of Spearfish:
Spearfish Canyon Highway:
Some mountain goats licking something on the road:
Another day, still there:
Custer:
Lunch at the Purple Pie Place:
Keystone:
Deadwood:
Hill City:
Dinner in Lead:
Dinner in Rapid City:
Belle Fourche:
Belle Fourche claims to be the geographic center of the US, when including Alaska and Hawaii:
Hot Springs:
Video: Spearfish KOA Holiday timelapse
A timelapse of our stay at Spearfish KOA Holiday.
Spearfish / Black Hills KOA Holiday
We stayed at Spearfish / Black Hills KOA Holiday in Spearfish, South Dakota. (Campground Reviews listing.)
Another new state, our first visit to South Dakota. A nice campground.
Dates:
- Check in: 2023-08-23
- Check out: 2023-09-03
- 11 nights
Weather:
- Partly cloudy
- High temps ranging between 81-91°F, lows around 57-67°F
- Negligible wind most of the time, gusts up to 30 MPH towards the end
Noise:
- Nearby freeway road noise
- No train noise
- Negligible neighbor noise
Site:
- #69, pull-through, gravel
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
- A little unlevel
- Gravel driveway about 92 feet long by about 10 feet wide
- Grass between sites about 25 feet wide
- A couple of big trees
- Picnic table and fire pit on grass
- Some trash on the site
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, very conveniently located
- 20 PSI water, very conveniently located
- Loose sewer connection, very conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Campground Wi-Fi: 60-85 Mbps down, 25-30 ms up, 13 ms ping
- AT&T: 30-40 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 75 ms ping
- Verizon: 6-10 Mbps down, 6 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
- T-Mobile: 20 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 80 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
Amenities:
- Heated pool
- Garbage pickup from site
- Package delivery to office
- Ice cream social
- Nature path
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Convenient to all the Black Hills has to offer
Friendly, helpful staff. They gave us so much information at check-in that we were more than set for touring the area. We were guided to our site, where they gave us more information about the campground and amenities. They have trash pickup from the site, which is always a nice bonus. Our site had a nice, wide grassy area and trees for shade. I really liked the picket fences to block the view of the hookups; it’s a nice touch. The site was a little unlevel, and there was constant noise from the interstate, but those were only minor annoyances, and we’d stay here again. We camped at Spearfish / Black Hills KOA Holiday in a Motorhome.
Tip for Other Campers: Farmhouse Bistro is nearby and has excellent BLTs, but don’t try walking there on the nature path–there’s no bridge over the creek.
The campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site, #69, and our neighbor, #68, are two of the nicest in the park; the others in this row are also nice and long, but have narrower grass areas (18 feet vs 25 feet). More space between rigs is better:
Utilities:
Adding the South Dakota sticker to our coach:
Entrance:
Office:
Playground:
Dump station:
Swimming pool:
Dog park:
Tent sites:
Cabins:
Other sites:
A path to a nature trail in a corner of the campground:
Our walk was interrupted (several times) by some runners:
We had a tasty lunch at the nearby Farmhouse Bistro:
Tasty BLT and fries:
A nice RV park, other than the road noise (but that wasn’t too bad inside).
Video: Medora, North Dakota to Spearfish, South Dakota motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 203 miles from Medora, North Dakota to Spearfish, South Dakota.