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.

We stayed at The Pines of Kabetogama Resort in Kabetogama, Minnesota. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Convenient to Voyageurs National Park, with a view over Kabetogama Lake. The northernmost place we have stayed.

Dates:

• Check in: 2025-08-10
• Check out: 2025-08-17
• 7 nights

Weather:

• Mix of rain and partly sunny
• High temps 70-79°F, lows 55-65°F
• Some wind, gusts to 25 MPH

Noise:

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

Site:

• #Clifftop 11, back-in, concrete (would be better as a front-in site)
• Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
• Somewhat level site; a little high in front and passenger side (people really should learn how to pour flat concrete pads!); used hydraulic leveling
• Concrete pad about 33 feet long by 11 feet wide
• Drop-off on either side of pad, and big bump up onto it; expert backing skills required!
• 35 feet to neighbor on passenger side
• 52 feet to neighbor on driver side
• Grass and short retaining wall between sites
• Picnic table
• Fire pit
• A few trees behind site
• Clean site
• Elevation 1,180 feet, front facing NE

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, conveniently located behind site
• 55 PSI water, inconveniently located behind site on passenger side
• Good sewer connection, inconveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• Starlink: 140-217 Mbps down, 17 Mbps up, 44-60 ms ping
• RoamLink: 6 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 137 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: 23 Mbps down, 0.5-1.5 Mbps up, 85 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage bins
• Waterfront & marina

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Beautiful Voyageurs basecamp

We stayed here for a week while exploring Voyageurs NP. The staff were all very friendly and helpful, escorting us to the office and back to our coach at check-in, then guiding us to our site. The road up to the clifftop sites is a little sketchy (steep and narrow), especially in a big rig, but once you’re up there, the views are lovely. We were in site 11, which we’d hoped would have a view, but unfortunately, it was blocked by the occupants of the site downhill from us. Sites 18, 10, 8, and 7 would probably have better views. The concrete pad on our site was just long enough for our 40′ motorhome, but you do need to have good aim when backing up, as there are sharp drop-offs (of several inches) on all sides of the pad. Overall, this was a nice campground and we’d be happy to stay here again. We camped at The Pines of Kabetogama Resort in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

A peep of water when the adjacent site is empty:

Other sites:

Mini bathroom:

Pedestrian path down the hill:

Office:

We received lots of packages from Amazon, fetched up the hill in our folding wagon:

Marina:

A decent campground; the road to the top of the hill was rather sketchy, but the sites were decent. If we went back, we’d choose site #18, or 10, 8, or 7. We’re not likely to visit this area again, but if we did, we’d be happy to stay here again.

We stayed at Cloquet / Duluth KOA Journey in Cloquet, Minnesota. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A one-night stop on our way, so as usual we chose a KOA. Though I don’t remember requesting the 05:30 wake-up call from the train horn.

Dates:

• Check in: 2025-08-09
• Check out: 2025-08-10
• 1 night

Weather:

• Mostly sunny
• High temp 83°F, low 64°F
• Little wind, gusts to 17 MPH

Noise:

• Some road noise
• Nearby loud train horn noise
• Some neighbor noise

Site:

• #3, pull-through, gravel
• Didn’t need to disconnect toad, and didn’t, since only one night
• Somewhat level site; high in front; used air leveling, since only one night
• Gravel driveway about 70 feet long by 9 feet wide
• 15-50 feet to neighbor on passenger side
• 12 feet to neighbor on driver side
• Picnic table
• Fire pit
• A tall tree
• Clean site
• Elevation 1090 feet, front facing south

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, somewhat conveniently located
• 65 PSI water, conveniently located
• Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• RoamLink: 62 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, 103 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: 12-30 Mbps down, 0.6 Mbps up, 70 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used
• Starlink: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage pickup from site (which is always appreciated)
• Pool

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Fine for a short stay

This was a fairly standard KOA and was fine for one night. The trains do run at random times and use their horns at nearby crossings, so this is probably not the place to come for a relaxing vacation. All of the pull-through sites are buddy sites, which is our least favorite configuration, but fine for a very short stay. The site was long enough for our 40′ motorhome and tow vehicle without having to disconnect, but was pretty narrow side-to-side. Utilities worked well, and they provide garbage pickup from the site. We camped at Cloquet / Duluth KOA Journey in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site, with a nice weeping willow:

Driver-side to driver-side buddy sites, which is the best kind of buddy; nobody living next to us. And still pretty good spacing:

Other sites; a nice patio shelter on this site:

Yurt and cabin:

A reasonable place for a one-night stop. The train horn and buddy sites could be annoying for a longer stop.

We stayed at Milton KOA Holiday in Milton, Wisconsin. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Another KOA on the way.

Dates:

• Check in: 2025-07-30
• Check out: 2025-08-01
• 2 nights

Weather:

• Rainy, partly cloudy
• High temp 74°F, lows 54-58°F
• Some wind, gusts to 19 MPH

Noise:

• Distant freeway noise
• No train horn noise
• Some neighbor noise

Site:

• #187, pull-through, dirt
• Didn’t need to disconnect toad, and didn’t, since only a couple of nights
• Very unlevel site; used air leveling, since only a couple of nights, and we could tell the jacks wouldn’t have been able to cope
• Dirt driveway about 70 feet long by 11 feet wide
• 18 feet to neighbors on both sides
• Picnic table
• Fire pit
• Tall trees
• Mostly clean site
• Elevation 840 feet, front facing SW

Utilities:

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

Internet (in usage priority order):

• Starlink: 60-90 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
• AT&T: 450 Mbps down, 6-8 Mbps up, 48 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
• RoamLink: 6-12 Mbps down, 0.2-1 Mbps up, 900 ms ping (the RoamLink service picks the best network, so I’m not sure which one it used, other than not AT&T)
• Campground Wi-Fi: 6 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 70 ms ping

Amenities:

• Garbage pickup from site (twice daily)
• Pool

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Large park, big rigs beware

We were only going to stay one night, but we needed to change our plans at the last minute, and they were very helpful in accommodating us for two nights without requiring a site change. Most of the park seems to be long-term/annual/seasonal sites, and the ones set aside for “transients” were horribly sloped. We were barely able to find enough flat ground to level our motorhome. We saw several other rigs (fivers and trailers) have difficulty getting out of their sites and leave gouge marks in the steep angle of their driveways. The relatively long and circuitous route out of the campground was a little concerning, as I wasn’t sure if we were driving on a road or a culvert; there was significant damage to the surface from previous flooding. The staff were great, and they offered a lot of things to do, but for a short stay in a big rig, I’d look elsewhere. We camped at Milton KOA Holiday in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

A very sloped site; you can see the front cap almost touching the ground:

You can see the angle of the truck, too:

Utilities; mostly convenient, except sewer:

Quite a gradient to the truck:

A woman walking a cat on a leash:

A neighbor scraping the bottom of their coach when exiting their site:

(When we left, we used the “raise all four” air leveling option to maximize our clearance, but we still may have scraped a little.)

Other sites:

We probably wouldn’t stay here again, due to the nasty slope of many of the sites, and tight roads in the campground.

We stayed at the HWH Service Center in Moscow, Iowa.

The manufacturer of our hydraulic slide system; we hoped they would be able to repair our broken slide for us. They conveniently have several first-come-first-served sites with electrical hookups.

Dates:

• Check in: 2025-07-29
• Check out: 2025-07-30
• 1 night

Weather:

• Partly cloudy, thunderstorms overnight, rainy
• High temp 91°F, low 67°F
• Some wind, gusts to 29 MPH

Noise:

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

Site:

• Back-in, gravel
• Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
• Somewhat level site; used air leveling
• Gravel parking space about 40 feet long by 15 feet wide
• No trees
• Clean site
• Elevation 720 feet, front facing west

Utilities:

• 50 amp power, conveniently located
• No water or sewer
• Potable water and dump station apparently available (though I didn’t find them)

Internet (in usage priority order):

• RoamLink: 12 Mbps down, 10 Mbps up, 130 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: 210 Mbps down, 34-43 Mbps up, 45 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
• Starlink: not used
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• Hydraulic repair service

An interactive map:

Our site:

We had hoped that they would be able to fix our broken slide (as they are the manufacturer of the mechanism), but they determined that they’d have to drop the fuel tank to reach the leaking piston, which they weren’t comfortable doing. But they did happen to have a few of the pistons (that they were about to ship out), and were willing to sell us one. So we have the part. Now we just need to get someone to install it. We have an appointment with the Oregon Motorcoach Center shortly; hopefully they’ll manage it.

Update: They did, and by going through the back of the battery compartment.