A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 232 miles from Hot Springs, South Dakota to Ogallala, Nebraska.
Author: David
Travel from Hot Springs, South Dakota to Ogallala, Nebraska
We drove our coach 232 miles, about 4 hours of driving, from Hot Springs, South Dakota to Ogallala, Nebraska.
Here’s the map route, heading southeast:
An interactive map, with potential stops:
A rabbit watched me pack up:
A stream of water from slide topper as we brought in the slides, from the rain we had during our stay:
Leaving the campground:
Hot Springs:
US-385:
A bridge over a river:
Rail crossing:
Entering Nebraska:
A seemingly endless long straight highway:
Zoomed view:
Another rail crossing:
A lunch stop; we took up several parking spots in the back of the parking lot:
Hay trailer:
So many fields of corn:
US-385 highway disappearing into the distance:
We paused for a bathroom break in an empty weigh station lane:
Another zoomed perspective:
Jail and Courthouse Rocks:
Paladin asleep:
Broadwater:
Silo:
My gosh, it’s Oshkosh (but not the famous one):
Long coal train:
Oh look, more corn. So much corn:
Another hay trailer:
Not your ordinary town!
Welcome to Ogallala:
We were going to fuel here, but most of the lanes were closed, with a huge line, so we bailed:
Our destinaton:
Guided to our site:
Replacing fuse for solar controller
Our coach came with one solar panel on the roof, and we had a couple more 190W panels added shortly after purchasing it.
Early last year I noticed that the solar controller was not receiving a charge, showing the moon icon during the day, and no amps coming in. I got NIRVC to look into that at my next service appointment, and they fixed it by replacing the fuse.
Recently, when the campground we were at had a power cut, I noticed that the problem had recurred:
I removed the panel and found the fuse:
The fuse had indeed blown again:
I didn’t have any mini fuses, so I bought an assortment from Amazon:
Since it had blown twice, I figured that the increased capacity of the two extra panels was the cause, and decided to upgrade the fuse from 25 amps to 30 amps, since that is what the controller is rated at. I have no idea if that was the appropriate choice; if anyone has any guidance, let me know:
The solar controller is now working, with the sun icon and showing 11.6 amps coming in (on a somewhat cloudy day):
The controller re-mounted:
Good to have that working, especially with a week without hookups at the Balloon Fiesta coming up.
Video: Iron Mountain Road timelapse
A timelapse of driving along Iron Mountain Road in South Dakota.
Iron Mountain Road
Another very scenic and curvy road is Iron Mountain Road, that connects the Mount Rushmore area and Custer State Park.
An interactive map:
Bison:
There are three narrow tunnels on this road:
One-way road:
Another tunnel:
Pigtail loop road:
Low narrow tunnel:
The third tunnel:
This tunnel has a view of Mount Rushmore:
Pigtail loop road:
One-way roads:
Mount Rushmore view:
A fun drive.
Video: Custer State Park timelapse
A timelapse of driving through Custer State Park in South Dakota, one of our all-time favorite parks.
Custer State Park
Perhaps our all-time favorite state park (so far) is Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
A map:
Tunnel:
We had lunch at Sylvan Lake, then did an impromptu hike around the lake:
Sylvan Lake:
GIF of a hidden waterfall behind the lake:
Another tunnel:
Bison Center:
Wildlife Station Visitor Center:
Bison:
Pronghorn:
Prairie dog:
Visitor Center:
“Bison Poo” snack:
The Needles Eye:
Cathedral Spires Trail hike:
Legion Lake Trail hike:
A most excellent park.
Wind Cave National Park
We visited Wind Cave National Park a few times. Unfortunately the caves themselves were closed because the elevator was out of order, so we weren’t able see them, but the surface was still enjoyable, with bison, hikes, and more.
Map:
Entrance sign:
Bison:
Visitor center:
Cave map:
Bison:
Loop road:
We went for a hike on Rankin Ridge Trail:
Lookout tower:
A bison strolling along next to the road:
One-lane bridge:
We’ll have to visit again to see the caves!
Hidden Lake Campground and Resort
We stayed at Hidden Lake Campground and Resort in Hot Springs, South Dakota. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A campground with a nice mini lake (a large pond, really).
Dates:
- Check in: 2023-09-17
- Check out: 2023-09-24
- 7 nights
Weather:
- Mostly sunny, some drizzle
- High temps ranging between 60-83°F, lows around 50-59°F
- Negligible wind most days, gusts up to 33 MPH one day
Noise:
- Occasional road noise
- No train noise
- Negligible neighbor noise
Site:
- #9, pull-through, gravel
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
- Fairly level
- Gravel driveway about 83 feet long by about 10 feet wide
- Grass on passenger side about 10 feet wide
- Grass between driver side and next site about 30 feet wide
- No trees on these sites, some on other sites
- Picnic table, fire pit
- Not very clean site; several small bits of trash
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, inconveniently located at the rear of the site
- 57 PSI water, inconveniently located at the rear of the site
- Good sewer connection, somewhat conveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 97-107 Mbps down, 21 Mbps up, 55 ms ping
- AT&T: 130 Mbps down, 16-25 Mbps up, 47-81 ms ping
- Verizon: 17-22 Mbps down, 10 Mbps up, 37 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: none (an “unplugged” campground)
Amenities:
- Lake with swimming and board rental
- Garbage bins
- Package delivery to office
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Lovely pond, close to Wind Cave NP
This is a nice family-run park in the southern Black Hills and is close to everything you’d want to do there. The town of Hot Springs is cute and has everything you could want; just be sure to heed the detour advice the campground sends you, and don’t try to drive your rig down the main street. There is a bit of a hill to get up to the campground, with a sharp turn at the top. It’s not a big deal, but be careful of oncoming traffic.
We had a pull-through site, which was long enough for our rig and tow vehicle but pretty narrow. The “missing” site between us and the next one on the driver’s side was useful as there is still a power pedestal that we had to hook up to after a town-wide power cut did something to ours. I would’ve liked one of the back-in sites, but they’re too short for a 40′ motorhome. We camped at Hidden Lake Campground and Resort in a Motorhome.
The campground map:
An intereactive map:
Our site:
The power and water were at the rear of the site, rather inconvenient:
There were wild rabbits that liked to hang out around our site:
And some wild turkeys in the campground:
After visiting the Wind Cave National Park, 15 minutes north of the campground, we added its sticker to our coach:
The town had a power cut; it took us a while to notice; we just noticed when it was getting warm, and our ACs weren’t coming on (most other stuff runs fine on batteries):
Unfortunately, our solar system was not working either — but good thing we noticed now, since we’ll be without hookups for 10 days soon, when we attend the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. So I’ll fix it before then (and yes, I’ll have a blog post about that soon):
When the power came back on several hours later, my Power Watchdog reported that the power pedestal had a fault, under voltage on line 2 (only 44 volts):
Fortunately, there was a spare power pedestal next to our site, where there used to be a site, but now has trees (presumably because it was super narrow). So I plugged in to that one:
The office:
They have several signs around the campground with lists of rules; really welcoming and friendly:
The lake:
Craft available for hire (really should be included for guests; I think these remained unused):
Path around lake:
Cabins:
Games:
Landscaping:
Other sites:
A nice enough campground, despite the power issues and somewhat unfriendly signs. We’d stay here again.
Video: Badlands to Hot Springs, South Dakota motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 132 miles from Badlands, South Dakota to Hot Springs, South Dakota. With a fun picture-in-picture of the view from our truck being towed behind our coach.