Travel from Custer, South Dakota to Buffalo, Wyoming

We drove our coach 186 miles, about three hours of driving, from Custer, South Dakota to Buffalo, Wyoming.

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

Route map

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Custer:

Custer

Bighorn Sheep Crossing:

Bighorn Sheep Crossing

6% grade:

6% grade

Welcome to Wyoming:

Welcome to Wyoming

Fun with zoom:

Fun with zoom

Ordering sandwiches for lunch at Heidi’s deli inside Coffee Cup Fuel Stop in Moorcroft:

Ordering lunch at Coffee Cup Fuel Stop

Back to our coach:

Back to our coach

Our step wasn’t working (an ongoing issue):

Our step wasn't working

Lunch:

Lunch

A Starlink dish on the roof of a trailer… hopefully well-secured, but not very aerodynamic:

Starlink dish, not very aerodynamic

Narrow roadworks:

Narrow roadworks

Buffalo:

Buffalo

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Filling DEF:

Filling DEF

Arriving at Buffalo KOA:

Arriving at Buffalo KOA

Our site:

Our site

Custer’s Gulch RV Park

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:

Map

An interactive map:

Our (very long) site:

Our site

Other sites:

Other sites

Pond:

Pond

We’d be happy to stay here again.

Travel from Mitchell to Custer, South Dakota

We drove our coach 324 miles, about five hours of driving, from Mitchell to Custer, South Dakota.

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

Map

Here’s another variation of the map showing time zones (Mountain and Central) and elevations for the whole year, with a circle showing the highest elevation of this trip; a lot of climbing at the end of the trip, though not as much as ones coming up soon:

Elevations

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Wind turbines and corn fields:

Wind turbines and corn fields

Dignity of Earth and Sky sculpture at a rest area:

Dignity of Earth and Sky

The aforementioned rest area:

Rest area

Crossing Missouri River:

Crossing Missouri River

Fun with zoom:

Fun with zoom

Sunflowers:

Sunflowers

There seems to be a Beetle crawling up that silo:

There seems to be a Beetle crawling up that silo

Paladin reaching out to touch my foot:

Paladin reaching out to touch my foot

Fun with zoom:

Fun with zoom

Entering Mountain Time Zone:

Entering Mountain Time Zone

Stagecoach art:

Stagecoach art

Rest area:

Rest area

Narrow roadworks:

Narrow roadworks

Passing Badlands:

Passing Badlands

More roadworks:

More roadworks

Exit:

Exit

Buffalo sculpture:

Buffalo sculpture

Interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

Arriving at our campground:

Arriving at campground

Spending a month exploring New Zealand

A heads-up: we will be visiting my family and exploring New Zealand for 30 days from November 7th to December 7th.

Blog posts will continue while away, since the posts are a couple of months behind real-time. Though I may not cross-post to Facebook during this time, since that has to be done manually, so if you read the posts via Facebook, you’ll need to visit the Sinclair Trails website directly if you don’t want to miss my thrilling content.

We’ll continue the RV lifestyle in NZ: we are renting a campervan and driving around the country. Here’s our route, starting in Auckland, and finishing in Christchurch (the southern loop is in a clockwise direction):

New Zealand route

Not sure yet if I’ll have blog posts about our NZ adventure; no doubt I’ll take lots of photos, so I probably will. Stay tuned!

Mitchell KOA Journey

We stayed at Mitchell KOA Journey in Mitchell, South Dakota. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A convenient stop on our journey west. Our second stay here (see that post for more pictures). It was for sale last time, now under new management, with some welcome improvements.

Dates:

Check in: 2025-08-18
Check out: 2025-08-19
1 night

Weather:

Sunny
High temp 87°F, low 69°F
Negligible wind, gusts to 7 MPH

Noise:

Some freeway noise
Very occasional distant train horn noise
Little neighbor noise

Site:

#C-15, 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 10 feet wide
10 feet to neighbors on both sides
Picnic table
Fire pit
No trees
Clean site
Elevation 1,310 feet, front facing NE

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
55 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, inconveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed); two sewer ports

Internet (in usage priority order):

RoamLink: 10-19 Mbps down, 16-19 Mbps up, 103 ms ping (the RoamLink service picks the best network)
AT&T: 26 Mbps down, 0.2 Mbps up, 105 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage pickup from site
Mini golf
Local frozen pizza available

See our previous review on Campground Reviews.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site; very narrow, but fine for one night:

Our site

Some frozen pizza options mentioned on the check-in counter; we love not having to cook on a travel day, so picked up a “Mac n’ Cheese Louise” pizza:

Pizza options

Pizza

Pre-cooking:

Pizza

It was interesting and tasty, and most welcome on a long travel day.

Our second stay here, and we’d be happy to stay again.

Travel from Maple Grove, Minnesota to Mitchell, South Dakota

We drove our coach 350 miles, about six hours of driving, from Maple Grove, Minnesota to Mitchell, South Dakota.

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

Map

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Joining I-94 East:

Joining I-94 East

Spotting our coach on traffic cams:

Spotting our coach on traffic cams

I-35W South:

I-35W South

Barge:

Barge

“The Corn is High; Drivers Shouldn’t Be”:

The Corn is High; Drivers Shouldn't Be

Rest area:

Rest area

Spotting our coach on traffic cams again:

Spotting our coach on traffic cams

Owatonna Degner Regional Airport:

Owatonna Degner Regional Airport

“SPAM Museum; Where Hawaiians go on vacation”:

SPAM Museum

I-90 West:

I-90 West

Three cherry pickers working on a power line:

Three cherry pickers working on a power line

Rest area:

Rest area

A wide line on I-90 marking where eastward and westward construction of the freeway met in 1978:

A wide line on I-90 marking where eastward and westward construction met in 1978

Interesting building:

Interesting building

Wall Drug in 355 miles:

Wall Drug in 355 miles

Welcome to South Dakota:

Welcome to South Dakota

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Fun with zoom:

Fun with zoom

Bull and horse sculptures:

Bull and horse sculptures

Wide load:

Wide load

Exit:

Exit

Arriving at a KOA:

Arriving at a KOA

Guided to our site:

Guided to our site

Minneapolis Northwest KOA Journey

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:

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:

Our site

Other sites; we were over there last time:

Other sites

Dog park and more sites:

Dog park

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

Travel from Kabetogama to Maple Grove, Minnesota

We drove our coach 283 miles, about five hours of driving, from Kabetogama to Maple Grove, Minnesota.

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

Map

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Following the coach down the steep road in the campground:

Following the coach down the road

Probably should have a flag on that:

Probably should have a flag on that

Route 53 South:

Route 53 South

Rest area:

Rest area

Paddler statue:

Paddler

I-35 South:

I-35 South

Flat tire:

Flat tire

Wyoming, Minnesota:

Wyomning, Minnesota

Rest area:

Rest area

Exit to route 610:

Exit to route 610

I-94 West:

I-94 West

Crossover intersection:

Crossover intersection

Arriving at a KOA:

Arriving at a KOA

Guided to our site:

Guided to our site

The Pines of Kabetogama Resort

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:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

A peep of water when the adjacent site is empty:

A peep of water

Other sites:

Other sites

Mini bathroom:

Mini bathroom

Pedestrian path down the hill:

Pedestrian path down the hill

Office:

Office

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

Packages in a wagon

Marina:

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.