A timelapse of our stay at Spearfish KOA Holiday.
Author: David
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.
Travel from Medora, North Dakota to Spearfish, South Dakota
We drove our coach 203 miles, about 3 hours of driving, from Medora, North Dakota to Spearfish, South Dakota.
Here’s the map route (the red portion), heading south:
An interactive map, with potential stops marked:
I-94:
Bison:
US-85:
Paladin asleep in his safe space next to the passenger chair:
A sunflower field:
US-85:
A cop car decoration in Amidon:
Another sunflower field:
A cowboy riding a missile in Bowman:
Plane decoration:
We stopped at Grazers Burgers & Brews for lunch, since they had a large dirt area, big enough for our 60-foot coach and truck:
Entering South Dakota:
Up and down on US-85:
Roadworks, with a flagger sitting in a car (makes sense with 90° weather):
Paladin:
Belle Fourche:
Arriving at our destination:
Guided to our site:
Fixing black tank flush
The black tank flush on my coach stopped working. Apparently this is a common problem, if the flush nozzles get gummed up with crud or water calcification.
One of the members of my Tiffin Allegro Bus 2016-2018 Owners group on Facebook did a post about fixing theirs, which was very helpful. So I embarked on this adventure too.
The hardest thing is getting to it. I needed to remove this panel from the side of the coach:
The right side is easy enough, with a couple of brackets and screws easily accessed with the adjacent basement door open:
But the left side was tricker, with no door there, so I needed to insert a screwdriver between two panels. To protect the paint, I wrapped the screwdriver shaft with painters tape:
Then inserted the screwdriver to reach the four screws:
That done, I was able to remove the panel:
The fresh water fill hose limited how much I could move the panel:
So I disconnected that too:
My little folding work stool was very helpful for this operation:
Let’s have a look around, since I don’t get to see this stuff often. Here’s the black tank; the green circuit board is the See-Level tank sensor, and the yellow rectangle is one of the two sensors for the rear toilet (the other is above that, obscured by wires):
To the left of the black tank is the gray water tank:
Below both waste tanks is the fresh water tank; the pipe in the foreground is the overflow and vent:
Pipes and wires from the bedroom and rear bathroom:
The horizontal-ish pipes are for the central vacuum system:
On the other side of that wall, a vacuum inlet and hatch in the adjacent compartment (we don’t use this vacuum; preferring to use a cordless stick vac):
Anyway, to business. Here’s the culprit, the “No-Fuss” Flush:
I removed it from the black tank; a bit gunky:
Cleaned up somewhat:
I tested it, but it still didn’t work very well, so I drilled out the holes a bit more (on the bottom and sides):
That solved it; the holes sprayed nicely.
To re-mount, I used plumbers putty to seal it:
And re-mounted it (the water is from testing it):
Then just a matter of re-attaching the fresh water fill hose and re-mounting the coach panel.
All better now. Hopefully I won’t have to do that again any time soon, but it wasn’t particularly difficult, other than removing and re-attaching the coach panel.
Pitchfork Steak Fondue and Medora Musical
Medora is perhaps most famous for the Medora Musical, a western themed outdoor musical variety show.
An optional but related part of it is the Pitchfork Steak Fondue, where they put steaks on pitchforks and dunk them in barrels of oil, plus BBQ-style buffet.
A way-too-loud performer:
After dinner, looking down into the amphitheater:
We brought our inflatable cushions:
An actually amusing stand-up comedian:
A fun evening.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park South Unit
We also visited the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.
The South Unit is easier to get to, and thus more popular, but in our opinion not quite as interesting. Still scenic, though. This post is about the South Unit; see yesterday’s post for the North Unit.
Here’s a map:
An interactive map:
Entrance:
Info signs:
Info signs:
Display:
Gift store:
Exhibits:
Jenn and David:
Prairie dog town:
Wild horses:
Bison:
Wild horses:
Hike:
Theodore Roosevelt National Park North Unit
We visited the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.
The park is split into the North and South Units. The North Unit is a bit more remote and less popular, but in our opinion more scenic. This post is about the North Unit; see tomorrow’s post for the South Unit.
Here’s a map:
An interactive map:
The entrance:
Info signs:
The Visitor Center is just a modular building:
Heading into the park:
Bison:
A viewpoint:
Nice rustic scenery.
Medora Campground
We stayed at Medora Campground in Medora, North Dakota. (Campground Reviews listing.)
Our first visit to North Dakota; the first new state since Texas last November.
Dates:
- Check in: 2023-08-19
- Check out: 2023-08-23
- 4 nights
Weather:
- A mix of partly cloudy and rainy
- High temps ranging between 66-90°F, lows around 54-64°F
- Wind gusts up to 25 MPH gusts
Noise:
- No road noise
- Nearby train rumble, no horns
- Negligible neighbor noise
Site:
- #905, pull-through, gravel
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
- Somewhat level
- Gravel driveway about 60 feet long by about 12 feet wide
- Weedy dirt between sites about 6 feet wide
- No trees
- Picnic table and camp grill on dirt
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 50 PSI water, conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 10 Mbps down, 22-33 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
- Verizon: 74-105 Mbps down, 36-54 Mbps up, 60-105 ms ping
- AT&T: 74-81 Mbps down, 13 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
- Campground Wi-Fi: not used
- Starlink: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
- Near entrance to South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Basic campground near everything
There are two reasons to come to Medora: Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the Medora Musical. This park is pretty basic, but it is close to both and convenient to the interstate. We had a site in the “new” section of the park, and it was pretty much just dirt and weeds. It rained while we were there, so it was mud and weeds. Sites in this section are very narrow and have no shade. If you have a big rig and want 50A FHU, I think it’s probably the best bet, however. The older section looked like the trees might be a bit close for easy navigation. There’s a nice view of the hills surrounding Medora from the campground. Swarms of yellowjackets (it was late August, it happens) kept us inside, even if the weather had been less rainy. We camped at Medora Campground in a Motorhome.
Tip for Other Campers: Make the trek to the North Unit of TRNP; it’s well worth the hour’s drive.
The campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
After staying in North Dakota one night, we were able to add a new state on the states map outside our coach (it’s looking a little faded!):
The office, with dedicated check-in lanes:
Group fire pit and games:
Picnic shelter and playground:
Bathrooms:
Covered wagon accommodation:
Other sites:
#Vanlife row:
Tent sites:
Cabins:
Mobile homes:
More covered wagons:
Train in the distance:
Path:
Little Missouri River:
A nice campground, not very busy during the week. We’ll probably stay here again in the future (it’s convenient on the route between the east coast and our home base in Washington state).
Video: Devils Tower, Wyoming to Medora, North Dakota motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 226 miles from Devils Tower, Wyoming to Medora, North Dakota.