We stayed at Mitchell KOA Journey in Mitchell, South Dakota. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Another KOA Journey, with an interesting (and easy to navigate) layout.

Dates:

• Check in: 2024-07-26
• Check out: 2024-07-29
• 2 nights

Weather:

• Sunny
• High temps 91-95°F, lows 71-72°F
• A bunch of wind, gusts to 32 MPH

Noise:

• Some freeway noise
• Very occasional distant train horn noise
• Some neighbor noise

Site:

• #C-19, back-in/pull-through, gravel
• Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
• A little unlevel site, high on passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
• Gravel driveway about 110 feet long by 15 feet wide
• 10 feet to neighbor on driver side
• 75 feet to dump station on passenger side
• Two picnic tables
• Fire pit
• A couple of tall trees
• Clean site

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, very conveniently located
• 40 PSI water, fairly conveniently located
• Loose sewer connection, inconveniently located (3 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• T-Mobile: 11-14 Mbps down, 12 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
• AT&T: 29-32 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 120-160 ms ping
• Verizon: 27 Mbps down, 9 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
• Starlink: not used
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpster
• Mini golf

Our review on Campground Reviews:

A nice oasis along I-90

This was a convenient place to stop along I-90 through South Dakota and to check out the Corn Palace and the Prehistoric Indian Village. There’s not much else to do in Mitchell, but this was a lovely shady place to camp to check them out. It’s reassuring/concerning that they have storm shelters scattered around the campground in case of emergency, but I’m just as glad we didn’t need them during our stay. Our site was very long and had a big grassy area on one side, but it was very close to the neighbors on the other. We camped at Mitchell KOA Journey in a Motorhome. 

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

Spacious on the passenger side, a bit too close on the driver side:

(I typically prefer more space on the driver side, since that means other campers aren’t hanging out right next to our coach. We tend not to sit outside much, so space on the passenger side isn’t as important to me.)

The utilities; a loose sewer connection, requiring three 10-foot hoses:

Other sites:

Cabin and playground:

Mini golf and playground:

Office:

Dump station:

Storm shelter (one of several); both reassuring and concerning to see:

Dog park:

Retention pond:

A windmill, which didn’t seem functional (it was very windy, but wasn’t spinning):

Entrance sign; want to buy a KOA?

We stayed at Minneapolis Northwest KOA Journey in Maple Grove, Minnesota. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Another KOA Journey, with a somewhat weird layout.

Dates:

• Check in: 2024-07-23
• Check out: 2024-07-26
• 3 nights

Weather:

• Partly cloudy
• High temps 76-83°F, lows 57-65°F
• Some wind, gusts to 18 MPH

Noise:

• Some road noise
• No train horn noise
• Helicopters going over occasionally
• A lot of neighbor noise (large family gatherings and yippy dogs)

Site:

• #30, pull-through, gravel
• Needed to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
• Rather unlevel site; needed to use extra blocks; used hydraulic leveling
• Gravel driveway about 60 feet long by 10 feet wide
• 20 feet to neighbors on both sides
• Picnic table
• Fire pit
• Tall trees nearby, but not on the site (so no shade)
• Clean site

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, fairly conveniently located
• 50 PSI water, somewhat conveniently located
• Good sewer connection, somewhat inconveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• T-Mobile: 48 Mbps down, 3-8 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
• Verizon: 17-23 Mbps down, 16 Mbps up, 56 ms ping
• AT&T: 28-39 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
• Starlink: not used
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• Pool

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Convenient to Minneapolis but needs updating

We stayed here because it was the best-looking option close enough to Minneapolis to take in a Twins game. The interior roads were a muddy, pot-holed mess our entire stay. Our site was pretty narrow and not very level. We were also lucky that the trailers parked opposite us left the morning we did, or it would have been difficult to navigate around all their vehicles when we pulled out. There’s also a weird separate powerbox for the 50A service that a staff member had to unlock for us when we pulled in, which was a new experience. We camped at Minneapolis Northwest KOA Journey in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

The utilities were somewhat unusual; our site and our driver-side neighbor shared a pedestal, with only 30 amp in the main box, and 50 amp for us on an accessory box; obviously a later retrofit:

The breaker for the 50 amp was in another box on the back of the pedestal, locked with a padlock (that they unlocked for us when guiding us to our site):

Two sewer hoses needed:

Minnesota is our last new state for the year, as we head back west. Our states map is looking mostly filled in; just missing a few northeast states, and of course Alaska and Hawaii:

From further back, showing the Sinclair Trails logo, map, QR code, URL, and social handle:

A large noisy gathering in the buddy sites across from us:

Other sites: