Travel from Oakdale, Wisconsin to Maple Grove, Minnesota

We drove our coach 198 miles, about three hours of driving, from Oakdale, Wisconsin to Maple Grove, Minnesota.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading northwest:

Route map

An interactive map:

Checklist:

Checklist

Lunch stop:

Lunch stop

Lunch stop

Lunch stop

Paladin on the dash while leaving the truck stop:

Paladin on dash

Roadworks:

Roadworks

Roadworks

Rest area:

Rest area

I-94:

I-94

Chimney:

Chimney

Minnesota Welcomes You:

Minnesota Welcomes You

Rest area:

Rest area

Crossover:

Crossover

Our destination, another KOA:

KOA

Guided to our site:

Guided to our site

Baseball: Cedar Rapids Kernels vs Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

We attended a game of the High-A minor league team Cedar Rapids Kernels, playing against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, at the Kernels’ Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Cedar Rapids Kernels

The concourse:

Concourse

Concourse

Menus:

Menus

Burger and fries:

Burger and fries

Our seats were in the front row, right behind the net:

Right behind the net

Selfie:

Selfie

Stands:

Stands

Stands

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Mascot:

Mascot

Other angles:

Another angle

Another angle

Lawn section

Another section

Spiderman:

Spiderman

Another angle

You can see where our seats were; look for Jenn with the teal hat and green shirt:

Our seats

Baseball

A run scores:

Run scores

Another run scores:

Run scores

Baseball

Pizza race:

Pizza race

3,756 attendance:

3,756 attendance

Kernels Win:

Kernels Win

Baseball: St. Louis Cardinals vs Chicago Cubs

We attended a game of St. Louis Cardinals vs Chicago Cubs, playing at the Cardinals’ ballpark, Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri.

An interactive map:

Center field entrance:

Center field entrance

The ballpark:

Ballpark

Ballpark

Team store:

Team store

Birb:

Birb

Perficient Perch:

Perficient Perch

Chicken and fries:

Chicken and fries

View from our seats:

View from our seats

View from our seats

View from our seats

Mascot and cheerleaders:

Mascot and cheerleaders

Gateway Arch:

Gateway Arch

View from our seats

View from our seats

View from our seats

View from our seats

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

View from our seats

View from our seats

Gateway Arch

Views from elsewhere:

View from elsewhere

View from elsewhere

View from elsewhere

View from elsewhere

Our seats were in the sun on a really hot day, so we moved to stand in the concourse:

View from elsewhere

Then we left early. It was just too hot, and we didn’t particularly care about either of the teams playing.

Travel from Elberfeld, Indiana to Sullivan, Missouri

We drove our coach 255 miles, about five hours of driving, from Elberfeld, Indiana to Sullivan, Missouri.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading west:

Map

An interactive map:

Water lilies:

Water lilies

Heading on to I-69 North:

Heading on to I-69 North

Pulling up a yellow stripe:

Pulling up a yellow stripe

Love’s fuel stop:

Fuel stop

87.122 gallons of diesel for $367.57; we saved $58.42 off that pump price via our fuel discount card:

87.122 gallons for $367.57

Bridge roadworks:

Roadworks

Wabash River:

Wabash River

“Welcome to Illinois”:

Welcome to Illinois

We haven’t seen a pump jack for a while:

Pump jack

More bridge roadworks:

Roadworks

Rest area:

Rest area

Crossover roadworks:

Crossover roadworks

An interestingly shaped trailer (a mobile stage):

An interestingly shaped trailer (a mobile stage)

Another rest area:

Another rest area

A sign that says “After 11 hours driving, you need 10 hours rest”; we prefer to drive only two hours, but will go up to six on interstates, and stay at least one night when “sprinting”, preferably one to two weeks:

After 11 hours driving you need 10 hours rest

Our first glimpse of the Gateway Arch:

Our first glimpse of the Gateway Arch

Gateway Arch

Gateway Arch

Gateway Arch

“Missouri Welcomes You”:

Missouri Welcomes You

Gateway Arch

Gateway Arch

Gateway Arch

Gateway Arch

Six Flags theme park, yep, with six flags out front:

Six Flags

Six Flags

Approaching our destination, Meramec State Park:

Meramec State Park

Meramec State Park

Meramec State Park

Meramec State Park

Our site:

Our site

Travel from Park City, Kentucky to Elberfeld, Indiana

We drove our coach 165 miles, about three hours of driving, from Park City, Kentucky to Elberfeld, Indiana.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading northwest:

Route map

An interactive map:

Toading up:

Toading up

I-65 South:

I-65 South

Bridge:

Bridge

Fun with zoom:

Fun with zoom

Exit to a service area:

Exit to service area

Huck’s service plaza:

Huck's service plaza

Huck's service plaza

Lunch:

Lunch

“The Journey is My Home”; that could be our motto:

The Journey is My Home

Back to our coach:

Back to our coach

I-165 North:

I-165 North

We had a fun new issue: we turned on our generator while driving, so we could run our air conditioners, it being rather hot. But when we tried to turn it off via the switch on the dash, it didn’t turn off. I also tried using the Coach Proxy web app, which also failed, and reported an error:

Coach Proxy screenshot

This has been a problem since; we’ll probably get it looked at when we go back to Red Bay in December. In the meantime, I have to open the generator compartment (once we stop, of course) and turn it off via the switch on the generator itself. A bit of a pain.

Owensboro water tower:

Owensboro water tower

Rusty twin bridges over the Ohio River:

Rusty twin bridges over Ohio River

Rusty twin bridges over Ohio River

Ohio River:

Ohio River

“More to Discover in Indiana”:

More to Discover in Indiana

I-69 North:

I-69 North

Road to the campground:

Road to campground

The GPS alleged that the road had a 10 ton weight limit, but it didn’t (I knew about that ahead of time from reviews of the campground):

GPS

Pond with water lilies:

Pond with water lilies

Entering the campground; no human interaction required:

Entering the campground

We just headed to our site:

Approaching our site

Approaching our site

Travel from Pigeon Forge, Tennessee to Park City, Kentucky

We drove our coach 227 miles, about four hours of driving, from Pigeon Forge, Tennessee to Park City, Kentucky.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading northwest:

Route map

An interactive map:

Dollywood:

Dollywood

Gocart track:

Gocart track

MagiQuest:

MagiQuest

Leaning building:

Leaning building

Crossover intersection:

Crossover intersection

I-40 West:

I-40 West

Knoxville:

Knoxville

Knoxville

Fun with zoom:

I-40 West

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

A tank or something on a truck:

Tank

Our coach:

Our coach

We went to the Iron Skillet restaurant at the truck stop for lunch:

Iron Skillet restaurant

Menu

Breakfast for lunch

Truckers chapel:

Truckers chapel

“Enter Central Time”:

Enter Central Time

Fun with zoom:

Fun with zoom

Rest area:

Rest area

Monterey:

Monterey

Livingston Highway:

Livingston Highway

Paladin asleep:

Paladin asleep

Fun with zoom:

Fun with zoom

Celina Highway:

Celina Highway

Celina:

Celina

Celina

Horses sign:

Horses

Bathroom stop at a gas station:

Bathroom stop at gas station

“Welcome to Kentucky”:

Welcome to Kentucky

A pond:

Pond

A horse and buggy sign:

Horse and buggy

Fun with zoom:

Fun with zoom

Paladin asleep:

Paladin asleep

Entering Mammoth Cave National Park:

Entering Mammoth Cave National Park

The RV park’s office is across the road from the campground, at the Diamond Caverns attraction:

Diamond Caverns

Diamond Caverns

RV office

Our coach

Paladin sat on the dash for the drive from the office to the campground:

Paladin on dash

Welcome:

Welcome

We untoaded here:

We untoaded here

Following the coach:

Following coach

Our site:

Our site

Camp Margaritaville RV Resort and Lodge

We stayed at Camp Margaritaville RV Resort and Lodge in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. (Campground Reviews listing.)

One day we’ll learn that staying at resorts is a waste of money for us, but it was not this day.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2024-06-30
  • Check out: 2024-07-07
  • 7 nights

Weather:

  • Partly cloudy, some rain
  • High temps 83-91°F, lows 64-73°F
  • Negligible wind, gusts to 12 MPH

Noise:

  • No road noise
  • No train horn noise
  • Some neighbor noise (mostly kids)
  • Nightly fireworks at nearby Dollywood

Site:

  • #84, back-in, concrete
  • Needed to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
  • Somewhat unlevel site (surprisingly for concrete; high on front and passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
  • Concrete driveway about 50 feet long by 18 feet wide
  • 25 feet to neighbors on both sides
  • Picnic table
  • Fire pit
  • A couple young trees
  • Clean site

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: 25-55 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up, 65 ms ping
  • AT&T: 90 Mbps down, 9 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
  • Verizon: 15-24 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
  • Starlink: not used
  • Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

  • Garbage pickup from site
  • Pools
  • Restaurant (in theory with to-site delivery, but that didn’t work when we tried it)

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Nice resort near Great Smoky Mountain NP

We’re not “resort” people, but this one was nice. It was the nicest-looking resort close to the entrance to Great Smoky Mountain National Park and far enough off the main road, so it was reasonably quiet. The sites are all concrete pads, so you’d expect them to be level, which ours was not. Weird, but not a problem. We were down in “the valley,” which is the farthest you can get to the resort amenities, but that probably contributed to it being quieter. Our site was spotless, and all the utilities worked well. I loved being able to go up to the restaurant for coconut shrimp and a margarita (super spendy, but a bonus nonetheless). We camped at Camp Margaritaville RV Resort and Lodge in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Griddle:

Griddle

Utilities:

Utilities

Our site and others:

Our site and others

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Bathhouse:

Bathhouse

Lodge:

Lodge

Restaurant dinner menu:

Restaurant menu

Restaurant menu

Fancy fried green tomatoes:

Fancy fried green tomatoes

Burger and coconut shrimp, plus margaritas:

Burger etc

Lodge:

Lodge

Lodge

Foyer:

Foyer

Breakfast buffet:

Breakfast buffet

Breakfast buffet

Breakfast buffet

Pool area:

Pool area

Pool area

Pool area

A nice resort, and we do appreciate an on-site restaurant, but we’re not really into other resort facilities. We probably won’t stay here again.

Travel from College Park, Maryland to Beaver, West Virginia

We drove our coach 314 miles, about five hours of driving, from College Park, Maryland to Beaver, West Virginia. The beginning of our westward migration, heading towards our home base in Washington state.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading west:

Route

An interactive map:

Toading up:

Toading up

I-495:

I-495

Church

I-495

Welcome to Virginia:

Welcome to Virginia

Paladin in his high place:

Paladin in his high place

I-64:

I-64

I-66:

I-66

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Fuel stop

Tiffin Phaeton motorhome:

Tiffin Phaeton motorhome

Apples on water tower:

Apples on water tower

We were going to park and have lunch at the fuel stop, but there wasn’t any parking that would work for us, so we continued on. There wasn’t any room at the next rest area either:

Rest area

So I made lunch on the road:

Lunch

A later rest area:

Rest area

Rest area

I-64:

I-64

I-64

I-64

Welcome to West Virginia:

Welcome to West Virginia

Of course, we had to play John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” while entering the state:

Take Me Home, Country Roads

Rest area:

Rest area

Rest area

I-64 hill:

I-64 hill

I-64

7% grade:

7% grade

Sandstone Mountain elevation 2,765 feet:

Sandstone Mountain elevation 2765 feet

Little Beaver State Park:

Little Beaver State Park

Narrow sloping curve:

Narrow sloping curve

Little Beaver State Park

Narrow entrance:

Narrow entrance

Lake:

Lake overflow

Lake

Very narrow road to campground:

Narrow road to campground

Narrow curvy road

Campground office:

Check-in office

Guided to our site:

Guided to our site

Baseball: Washington Nationals vs Miami Marlins

The second baseball game we attended while in the DC area was the Miami Marlins playing at the Washington Nationals stadium, Nationals Park:

Nationals Park

We got there shortly before the gates opened:

Entrance

Baseball art:

Baseball art

Team store:

Team store

More art:

Mural

An art

Display

Cutwater Spirits:

Cutwater Spirits

We got some tasty beverages in interesting containers:

Cutwater Spirits

Fritos tacos:

Fritos tacos

Mascots:

Mascot

Mascot

Mascot

View of the ballpark from our seats:

Ballpark

Ballpark

Ballpark

Mascot:

Mascot

WSH:

WSH

WSH

Cheerleaders:

Cheerleaders

Selfie:

Selfie

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

See You Tater:

See You Tater

Tater tots with mac & cheese and pulled pork:

Tater tots with mac & cheese and pulled pork

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Mascots:

Mascots

Cart:

Cart

Dippin’ Dots for dessert:

Dippin' Dots for dessert

Baseball

Baseball

Nats win:

Nats win

Baseball

Baseball