We stayed at Oakdale KOA Journey in Oakdale, Wisconsin. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A pretty typical KOA Journey, with easy access near the freeway.

Dates:

• Check in: 2024-07-22
• Check out: 2024-07-21
• 1 night

Weather:

• Partly cloudy
• High temp 82°F, low 64°F
• Negligible wind, gusts to 7 MPH

Noise:

• Nearby freeway noise
• Occasional train horn noise
• Negligible neighbor noise

Site:

• #8, pull-through, gravel
• Didn’t need to disconnect toad, and didn’t since just overnight
• Fairly level site; used air leveling since just overnight
• Gravel driveway about 67 feet long by 9 feet wide
• 15 feet to neighbors on both sides
• Picnic table
• Fire pit
• Tall trees near site
• Clean site

Utilities:

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

Internet (in usage priority order):

• T-Mobile: 16-51 Mbps down, 6-9 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
• AT&T: 127-167 Mbps down, 7-13 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
• Verizon: 10 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 99 ms ping
• Starlink: not used
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage pickup from site
• Pool

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Great place to stop off I-90

We stayed one night on our way along I-90, and this campground was perfect. It has nice, clean, level sites, a convenient location, and is easy to get in and out of. Even though it’s close to the interstate, it was surprisingly quiet. The staff were all very friendly and helpful. We’d definitely stay here again when our travels take us this way. We camped at Oakdale KOA Journey in a Motorhome.

Campground map (and a pack of playing cards gifted on check-in):

An interactive map:

Our site:

Other sites:

Wisconsin cheesehead:

We stayed at Riverview Ridge Campground in Cascade, Iowa. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A good base for visiting the Field of Dreams movie site.

Dates:

• Check in: 2024-07-18
• Check out: 2024-07-22
• 4 nights

Weather:

• Mostly cloudy
• High temps 76-80°F, lows 56-62°F
• Negligible wind, gusts to 9 MPH

Noise:

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

Site:

• #39, back-in, grass
• Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
• Fairly level site; high on passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
• Grass driveway about 70 feet long by 8 feet wide
• 28 feet to neighbors on both sides
• Picnic table
• Fire pit
• No trees
• Mostly clean site

Utilities:

• 50 & 30 amp power, conveniently located
• 40 PSI water, conveniently located
• Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
• When we arrived, the 50 amp power didn’t work, so we used 30 amp overnight, and got it fixed the next morning

Internet (in usage priority order):

• T-Mobile: 60-70 Mbps down, 11-19 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
• AT&T: 64 Mbps down, 7 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
• Verizon: 1 Mbps down, 5-9 Mbps up, 50-120 ms ping
• Starlink: not used
• Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• River tubing etc

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Picture postcard Iowa

Close your eyes and picture “Iowa” based on what you know from popular media, and this campground is pretty much what you’d see. Rolling fields of corn, a meandering river, close to a cute little town, it was all very picturesque. The campground is a good size and sits along the North Fork Maquoketa River, and they offer various rentals to enjoy the river if that’s your thing. Our site was a very long back-in up a slope but was reasonably flat at the top. The 50A connection wasn’t working when we got there, but as soon as we alerted them to the issue, someone came out to fix it, and we had no further problems during our stay. We camped at Riverview Ridge Campground in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: The Field of Dreams Movie Site is everything we’d hoped it would be. I highly recommend going on one of the “Ghost Game” days during the summer; it made the whole thing even more special. We also drove to Cedar Rapids to see a Kernels (high-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins) game, which was also good fun….

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

When I plugged in the electrical Watchdog smart surge protector, it reported an error:

The app explained the error:

It was late, so we used the 30 amp socket overnight, then I went to the office to report it in the morning, and the owner came by minutes later to fix the electrical panel. It was more complex than expected, but he patched together a fix, so we were able to use the 50 amp socket:

Cornfields next to the campground:

Unusually, parallel parking sites:

Other sites:

Clubhouse:

Fire pit:

Steep road to the river:

People enjoying floating in the river:

A nice campground. We’d be happy to stay here again.

We stayed at Springfield KOA Journey in Rochester, Illinois. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice quiet KOA, a bit off the beaten path.

Dates:

• Check in: 2024-07-16
• Check out: 2024-07-18
• 2 nights

Weather:

• Mostly cloudy, some rain
• High temps 78-84°F, lows 59-71°F
• Negligible wind, gusts to 15 MPH

Noise:

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

Site:

• #43, pull-through, gravel
• Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
• Fairly level site, a little high on the passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
• Gravel driveway about 70 feet long by 9 feet wide
• 18 feet to neighbors on both sides
• Picnic table
• Fire pit
• No 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):

• Verizon: 12-19 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
• AT&T: 3-8 Mbps down, 0.8 Mbps up, 110 ms ping
• T-Mobile: 22-35 Mbps down, 0.03-0.5 Mbps up, 80-800 ms ping, unreliable
• Starlink: not used
• Campground Wi-Fi: not currently available

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters
• Pool
• Mini golf

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Nice KOA tucked away

Most KOA Journeys are right off the main road/highway/interstate and are pretty noisy because of this. On the other hand, the Springfield KOA Journey is tucked away in the country (over the river and through the woods…literally) and was absolutely quiet and lovely. Our site was nice and long, so we didn’t need to disconnect our tow vehicle, even though we did so we could check out the Abraham Lincoln Home NHS in Springfield. We camped at Springfield KOA Journey in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

Utilities:

Other sites:

Office:

Playground:

The mini golf seems to be undergoing repairs, or something:

Swimming pool:

We’d be happy to stay here again.

We stayed at Meramec State Park in Sullivan, Missouri. (Campground Reviews listing.)

An hour out of St. Louis, with a very long road to the campground, and bad cell reception.

Dates:

• Check in: 2024-07-13
• Check out: 2024-07-16
• 3 nights
• We were originally going to stay 4 nights, but left a day early as the cell coverage was very bad

Weather:

• Partly cloudy, some overnight rain
• High temps 90-96°F, lows 71-76°F
• Some wind, gusts to 24 MPH

Noise:

• No road noise
• No train horn noise
• Lots of neighbor noise on weekend, fairly quiet during the week

Site:

• #2, back-in, asphalt
• Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
• Unlevel site, high on passenger side and front; used hydraulic leveling
• Asphalt driveway about 70 feet long by 12 feet wide
• 40 feet to neighbors on both sides
• Picnic table
• Fire pit
• Tall trees
• Somewhat clean site; some small trash

Utilities:

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

Internet (in usage priority order):

• Verizon: 18 Mbps down, 0.5 Mbps up, 60 ms ping (okay the first couple of days, then got unreliable)
• T-Mobile: 4-13 Mbps down, 0.01-0.3 Mbps up, 60-700 ms ping (unreliable)
• AT&T: negligible service
• Starlink: not used, too many trees to see the sky
• Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

• Garbage dumpsters

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Beautiful state park, busy on weekends

This is a beautiful park with lots of trees and green spaces. The two major downsides for us were 1) the access road inside the park was long and twisty and uncomfortable for a big rig to navigate, and 2) the cell coverage was spotty at best, and we work remotely. None of the 3 major carriers got decent speeds, and all the trees made Starlink impossible. Our site was flat, and the hookups were decent, so that was fine. Be prepared for the campground to be party central on the weekend. We camped at Meramec State Park in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

An interactive map:

Our site:

Entrance:

Deer:

Other sites:

We wouldn’t mind staying here again, but the lack of decent cell reception is problematic for us.