Posts featuring the coach.
With our visit to Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota, we have now visited all 52 of the National Parks in the contiguous US and the US Virgin Islands! Quite an achievement.
The only remaining parks are in Hawaii, Alaska, and American Samoa. Those ones are harder, but we’ll get to them in due course.
Here are the stickers on the side of our coach:
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:
Weather:
Noise:
Site:
Utilities:
Internet (in usage priority order):
Amenities:
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.
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 143 miles from Cloquet to Kabetogama, Minnesota.
We drove our coach 143 miles, about three hours of driving, from Cloquet to Kabetogama, Minnesota.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading north:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
Paladin on the dash while leaving the campground:
A gas station designed by Frank Lloyd Wright:
Saunas for sale:
Route 33 North:
UFO and aliens:
Route 53 North:
“Dirty Dreams”:
Rest area:
Towards Route 37 West:
Route 53 North:
“Welcome to Orr”:
Lake Kabetogama:
Arriving at the Pines of Kabetogama Resort:
Dusty:
A steep single-lane road up the hill:
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:
Weather:
Noise:
Site:
Utilities:
Internet (in usage priority order):
Amenities:
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.
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 235 miles from Hancock, Michigan to Cloquet, Minnesota.
We drove our coach 235 miles, about five hours of driving, from Hancock, Michigan to Cloquet, Minnesota.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading west:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
Our coach leaving our site:
A campsite with tents, a boat, and a portable sauna; must be Finnish:
Drawbridge:
Roadworks:
45 South:
Enter Central Time Zone:
Ski Capital of the Midwest:
Rest area:
Wisconsin Welcomes You:
Highway:
Bad River:
Industry:
An interesting building in Ashland, Wisconsin:
Faceplanted Paladin:
Bridge over Saint Louis River:
Minnesota Welcomes You:
Train overpass:
Fuel stop:
Guided to our site:
We stayed at Hancock City Park in Hancock, Michigan. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A nice waterfront(ish) site in a city park in the UP.
Dates:
Weather:
Noise:
Site:
Utilities:
Internet (in usage priority order):
Amenities:
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Great basecamp for UP adventures
We stayed here for a week to explore Isle Royale NP and the UP and would happily stay here again; there’s just so much to do in the area. Our site was a back-in with a view over Portage Lake, and it was nice to watch the boats going out. This site had 50A electric, but no other utilities. Potable water and a dump station were conveniently near the exit. The site was spacious, which was nice, even if it did invite people to take a shortcut through it from the walking path. We camped at Hancock City Park in a Motorhome.
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
Been a while since we used the griddle… and haven’t used it since:
No water or sewer at our site, so I filled the water bladder at the dump station:
Pumping water from the bladder into the coach:
And pumping the black and gray tanks into the tote in the truck:
Dumping from the tote:
There was a path to the beach next to our site:
The beach:
We dipped our toes in Lake Superior:
Ranger III going by; the boat to Isle Royale (but we took a float plane instead, much faster):
A sailboat:
We tried Culver’s for the first time; perhaps overly friendly staff, but tasty food:
We would have preferred site 48; nicely tucked away, with no neighbors, and water view on the passenger side:
Site 53 would also be good; obviously set up as a front-in site (despite being mostly occupied by trailers awkwardly fronting in most of the time):
Other sites:
Tent site:
Check in office:
Playground:
Boat parking area:
Boat launch:
We’d be happy to stay here again (preferably in site 48 or 53, but site 55 was next best).
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 261 miles from Kewaunee, Wisconsin to Hancock, Michigan.
We drove our coach 261 miles, about five hours of driving, from Kewaunee, Wisconsin to Hancock, Michigan.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading north, from Lake Michigan to Lake Superior:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
Giant grandfather clock in Kewaunee, Wisconsin:
Interesting building:
I-43 North:
Bridge over Fox River:
Rail crossing:
Fuel stop:
Fun with zoom:
“Welcome to Pure Michigan”:
Roadside park:
“Enter Eastern Time Zone” — for the last time (for now):
Our first glimpse of Lake Superior:
Houghton, a cute college town:
Bridge over the Keweenaw Waterway:
City of Hancock:
Hancock City Park campground:
Our site:
