We stayed at Sutherlin/Umpqua Valley KOA Holiday in Sutherlin, Oregon. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A KOA in an old drive-in movie theater, which still shows movies on the projection screen, and provided a viewing area with chairs and fire pits. The movie sound is played out loud, and can be tuned on a radio station for people who want to watch from inside their RV (for the sites that have a view of the screen, as ours did).

Dates:

• Check in: 2025-10-17
• Check out: 2025-10-19
• 2 nights

Weather:

• Partly sunny
• High temps 62-70°F, lows 45-47°F
• Little wind, gusts to 13 MPH

Noise:

• Little road noise
• No train horn noise
• Little neighbor noise
• Movie noise in evening

Site:

• #86, pull-through, gravel
• Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
• Mostly level site; a little high on passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
• Gravel driveway about 55 feet long by 12 feet wide
• 12 feet to neighbors on both sides
• Fence between sites
• Patio table and chairs
• Bench seat
• Propane fire pit
• A tall tree
• Clean site
• Elevation 540 feet, front facing north

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, conveniently located
• 40 PSI water, conveniently located
• Loose sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• RoamLink: 40-52 Mbps down, 6 Mbps up, 140 ms ping (RoamLink uses whichever is best of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile)
• AT&T: 60-260 Mbps down, 14-16 Mbps up, 40 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
• Campground Wi-Fi: not measured
• Starlink: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• Movie screen

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

Hey look, the driver-side slide out for the first time in four months!

A nice fenced patio:

Convenient utilities:

Movie screen, viewed from our site:

Other sites:

The movies were a bit noisy, but over before quiet time, and a fun novelty. We’d be happy to stay here again.

We stayed at Portland Fairview RV Park in Fairview, Oregon. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Our second stay here; this was actually the first campground we stayed in with our coach. Not the best place, but convenient to Portland.

Dates:

• Check in: 2025-10-04
• Check out: 2025-10-08
• 4 nights

Weather:

• Sunny
• High temps 67-75°F, lows 47-53°F
• Little wind, gusts to 17 MPH

Noise:

• Significant road noise
• Occasional train noise, but no horn
• Frequent plane noise (in the flight path of PDX)
• Little neighbor noise

Site:

• #38, pull-through, concrete
• Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
• Somewhat level site; high on passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
• Concrete driveway about 45 feet long by 10 feet wide, plus 24 feet long by 12 feet wide car park
• 16 feet to neighbor on both sides
• Just grass between sites
• Picnic table
• One tall tree
• Mostly clean site
• Elevation 80 feet, front facing NE

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, conveniently located; lost power for about 15 minutes one day
• 55 PSI water, though the pressure dropped significantly when in use; conveniently located
• Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• Starlink: 50-80 Mbps down, 8-13 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
• RoamLink: 12 Mbps down, 8 Mbps up, 133 ms ping (RoamLink uses whichever is best of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile)
• AT&T: 14-55 Mbps down, 0.05-4 Mbps up, 40-90 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• Pool

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Not the best park around, but convenient

Usually, when we make our annual trip through Portland, we stay at Mt Hood, but this time we had errands to do in town, so we stayed here for a couple of days. It’s still not the best park we’ve ever stayed in, though. The site was just barely big enough for our motorhome, and we had to squeeze our tow vehicle in the space alongside, but it was pretty close to the neighboring site. The roads are still uncomfortably narrow, and weeds are popping up through the cracks in the concrete. Maintenance is still an issue, as is the road and train noise. If I want a quiet place in the woods, I’ll still return to Mt Hood, but if I need to be nearer to the city, this will have to do because for $20/night (as part of the Thousand Trails Collection), you can’t really beat the value. We camped at Portland Fairview RV Park in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

Very Portland: by the garbage dumpster was these bins, presumably for people to reuse items:

Looking towards the office and entrance:

Other sites:

Not a great park, but convenient when in the Portland area, so we’d stay here again.

We stayed at Ephrata RV Park & Campground in Ephrata, Washington. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Our last stop on our way home. Good to be back in Washington!

Dates:

• Check in: 2025-09-03
• Check out: 2025-09-04
• 1 night

Weather:

• Sunny
• High temp 100°F, low 68°F
• Little wind, gusts to 10 MPH

Noise:

• Some highway noise
• Occasional train horn noise (including overnight)
• Little neighbor noise

Site:

• #P23, pull-through, gravel
• Didn’t need to disconnect toad, and didn’t, since only one night
• Somewhat level site; a little high in the front; used air leveling, since only one night
• Gravel driveway about 60 feet long by 10 feet wide
• 10 feet to neighbors on both sides
• Picnic table
• Tall trees
• Clean site
• Elevation 1,240 feet, front facing SW

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, conveniently located
• 60 PSI water, conveniently located
• Didn’t connect sewer until departure; good sewer connection, inconveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• Starlink: 111-240 Mbps down, 9 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
• RoamLink: 8-13 Mbps down, 1-3 Mbps up, 270 ms ping (RoamLink uses whichever is best of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile)
• AT&T: 3 Mbps down, 0.25 Mbps up, 85-235 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• Pool

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Convenient stop off I-90

We stayed for one night on our way through Washington, and it was just fine for that. I don’t think I’d stay any longer, though, between the narrow site and the aroma of cow manure. The internal roads and sites are gravel, making it difficult to distinguish between the site and road edges, and if we were parked within the boundaries of our site. We camped at Ephrata RV Park & Campground in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

Other sites:

A tight site, but a fine place for a brief stay. We’d be happy to stay here again.

We stayed at Jim & Mary’s RV Park in Missoula, Montana. (Campground Reviews listing.)

This is our fourth stay here; our first time with a trailer on our Yellowstone trip, and in our coach the following year and the year after. It’s a convenient stop on our way home, and a very pretty park.

Dates:

• Check in: 2025-09-01
• Check out: 2025-09-02
• 2 nights

Weather:

• Sunny
• High temp 92°F, low 60-62°F
• Little wind, gusts to 10 MPH

Noise:

• Some road noise
• Nearby train horn noise
• No significant neighbor noise

Site:

• #A2, pull-through, gravel
• Didn’t need to disconnect toad, and didn’t, since only two nights
• Somewhat unlevel site; high in the rear, though might have been more level if parked towards the back; used air leveling, since only two nights
• Gravel driveway about 72 feet long by 15 feet wide
• 20 feet to neighbors on both sides
• Picnic table
• One big tree
• Clean site

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, a little inconveniently located
• 60 PSI water, a little inconveniently located
• Good sewer connection, a conveniently located (1.5 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• Starlink: 56-118 Mbps down, , 50 ms ping
• RoamLink: 6-7 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 200 ms ping (RoamLink uses whichever is best of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile)
• AT&T: 55-100 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 110 ms ping
• Campground Wi-Fi: 10-14 Mbps down, 2-10 Mbps up, 13 ms ping

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• Gardens

See our previous review on Campground Reviews.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

Utilities:

View of the office and entrance from our site:

Other sites:

See our previous visits for more photos. We still like this RV park, and will likely stay here yet again in the future.

We stayed at Buffalo KOA Journey in Buffalo, Wyoming. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Our third stay here, as it’s a convenient stop on the way home. See our first and second visits for more photos.

This time, we only stayed one night, so opted for one of the convenient (and cheaper) pull-through sites nearer the front of the campground.

Dates:

• Check in: 2025-08-23
• Check out: 2025-08-24
• 1 night

Weather:

• Sunny
• High temp 79°F, low 51°F
• Some wind, gusts to 18 MPH

Noise:

• Some road noise
• No train horn noise
• Little neighbor noise

Site:

• #60, back-in/pull-through, gravel
• Didn’t need to disconnect toad, and didn’t, since only one night
• Somewhat level site; used air leveling, since only one night
• Gravel driveway about 70 feet long by 9 feet wide
• 14 feet to neighbors on both sides
• Picnic table
• Fire pit
• A few tall trees
• Clean site
• Elevation 4,280 feet, front facing south

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, conveniently located
• Didn’t connect to water, but conveniently located
• Didn’t connect to sewer, but conveniently located

Internet (in usage priority order):

• RoamLink: 8 Mbps down, 8 Mbps up, 145 ms ping (the RoamLink service picks the best network)
• AT&T: 8-28 Mbps down, 0.5 Mbps up, 145-275 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
• Starlink: not used
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• Pool

See our previous review on Campground Reviews.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

Paw pen patio site (being worked on):

Other sites:

Cabins:

We’d be happy to stay here again.

We stayed at Custer’s Gulch RV Park in Custer, South Dakota. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Last time in the area we stayed inside Custer State Park, in a campground without water or sewer hookups. This time we decided to stay a little outside the park, primarily so we could have full hookups. A nice, convenient campground.

Dates:

• Check in: 2025-08-19
• Check out: 2025-08-23
• 4 nights

Weather:

• Sunny, a little rain
• High temps 68-88°F, lows 52-65°F
• Some wind, gusts to 21 MPH

Noise:

• No road noise
• No train horn noise
• Little neighbor noise

Site:

• #50, back-in, gravel
• Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
• Somewhat level site; a little high on passenger side and front; used hydraulic leveling
• Gravel driveway about 90 feet long by 12 feet wide
• 26 feet to neighbor on passenger side
• 30 feet to neighbor on driver side
• Just grass between sites
• Picnic table
• Fire pit
• One tall tree towards the front of the site
• Clean site
• Elevation 5,240 feet, front facing NW

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, conveniently located; breaker was unreliable, cutting out a couple of times
• 60 PSI water, conveniently located
• Good sewer connection, fairly conveniently located (1.5 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• Starlink: 180-230 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
• RoamLink: 24 Mbps down, 0.3 Mbps up, 170-1,500 ms ping (the RoamLink service picks the best network)
• AT&T: 8-32 Mbps down, 0.05-0.2 Mbps up, 113-140 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Beautiful campground nestled in the Black Hills

We’ve visited the Black Hills several times, and this campground is now my new favorite place to stay in the area. It’s conveniently located near all the best things to do in the area, and the only way to get closer to Custer State Park is to stay within the park. However, none of the campgrounds in the state park have full hook-ups, so Custer’s Gulch clearly wins in that regard. We had a large back-in site that was tucked up against a hill and had a nice view of the other side of the gulch. Although the campground is situated off the main highway, it’s far enough away that we didn’t hear any road noise. All utilities worked well, and the site was in good condition. We will definitely stay here again when we visit the Black Hills in the future. We camped at Custer’s Gulch RV Park in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our (very long) site:

Other sites:

Pond:

We’d be happy to stay here again.

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

A KOA on the way. Been here before; last time we had full hookups, but the site was so short that we had to untoad; this time, we didn’t have a sewer hookup, but the site was plenty long enough; for a one-night stay, the latter is usually preferred.

Dates:

• Check in: 2025-08-17
• Check out: 2025-08-18
• 1 night

Weather:

• Partly sunny, thunderstorm overnight
• High temp 77°F, low 70°F
• Some wind, gusts to 26 MPH, but sheltered by trees

Noise:

• Some road noise
• No train horn noise
• Little neighbor noise

Site:

• #58, pull-through, gravel
• Didn’t need to disconnect toad, and didn’t, since only one night
• Somewhat level site; used air leveling, since only one night
• Gravel driveway about 80 feet long by 8 feet wide
• 20 feet to neighbor on passenger side
• 5-14 feet to neighbor on driver side
• Picnic table
• Fire pit
• No trees
• Clean site
• Elevation 950 feet, front facing NE

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, somewhat conveniently located (and in a locked compartment on the back of the neighbor’s 30 amp pedestal)
• Didn’t hook up to water, conveniently located
• No sewer

Internet (in usage priority order):

• RoamLink: 12-23 Mbps down, 10-13 Mbps up, 270-340 ms ping (the RoamLink service picks the best network, so I’m not sure which one it used, other than not AT&T)
• AT&T: 275-333 Mbps down, 3-7 Mbps up, 60 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
• Starlink: not used
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• Pool

See our previous review on Campground Reviews.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site; a buddy site (passenger sides facing), which we normally dislike, but don’t really care when only a one night stop:

Other sites; we were over there last time:

Dog park and more sites:

Fine for a one night stop. Wouldn’t want to stay here longer.