A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 198 miles from Oakdale, Wisconsin to Maple Grove, Minnesota.
RV
Posts featuring the coach.
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:
An interactive map:
Checklist:
Lunch stop:
Paladin on the dash while leaving the truck stop:
Roadworks:
Rest area:
I-94:
Chimney:
Minnesota Welcomes You:
Rest area:
Crossover:
Our destination, another KOA:
Guided to our site:
Third anniversary of buying our motorhome
Today marks the three year anniversary of purchasing our 2017 Tiffin Allegro Bus 40SP motorhome!
Check out the one year anniversary post for a tour of what the coach was like when we bought it, and the two year anniversary post for some more exterior photos.
To mark this anniversary, here’s an updated tour of the interior; much has changed since we bought it. Check out the links to related blog posts.
Entry steps, with a “Home Sweet Home” sign, internet devices, dash cover, and carpet:
The driver area, with a table over the steering wheel, potted plants, a barrier cushion underneath, and a new GPS:
Cat tower, litter box and waste receptacle, cat carrier, and boxes for Paladin to sleep in (even with many other options, sometimes one can’t beat an Amazon carton with crinkly paper!):
Custom desk with a pull-out surface and monitor on a televator:
Theater seating and custom side tables:
Dining table and chairs, and Paladin with his food and water fountain, and another nest:
Kitchen / galley area, with convection microwave, double sinks, automatic paper towel dispenser, coffee stuff, drawer dishwasher, pull-out countertop, etc:
Another view, showing the induction cooktop:
Fridge/freezer and wooden map with stickers and pins:
Half bath, with hanging broom and mop:
Bed, Spyder panel, and photographic artwork:
TV, air cleaner, and yes, another cat bed:
Bathroom sink; I replaced the faucets in both bathrooms, and all three soap dispensers, too:
Shower, with liquid dispensers etc, replaced rain head, towel rail outside the shower, and toilet:
Washer and dryer:
Looking from the back to the front (with the upgraded Spyder control panel and thermostat visible):
Looking from the front to the back:
An overview of the living area:
I hope you enjoyed this tour of our home. It’s compact, but spacious for an RV that travels around the country. Follow along on our travels!
Oakdale KOA Journey
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:
Video: Cascade, Iowa to Oakdale, Wisconsin motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 186 miles from Cascade, Iowa to Oakdale, Wisconsin.
Travel from Cascade, Iowa to Oakdale, Wisconsin
We drove our coach 186 miles, about three hours of driving, from Cascade, Iowa to Oakdale, Wisconsin.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading north:
An interactive map:
1873 building in Cascade:
Curve tightens:
Interesting bridge:
Bull Durham:
Shiny:
Dubuque bridge:
Wisconsin Welcomes You:
We lay Paladin’s tower on its side on the bed while traveling; he sat inside the box:
Barn:
Fun with zoom:
Mount Horeb:
Trolls:
Jet, tank, helicopter:
Paint testing:
Overpass artwork:
Interesting rocks:
Mouse standing on cheese:
Our destination, a KOA Journey:
Riverview Ridge Campground
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.
Video: Rochester, Illinois to Cascade, Iowa motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 250 miles from Rochester, Illinois to Cascade, Iowa.
Travel from Rochester, Illinois to Cascade, Iowa
We drove our coach 250 miles, about five hours of driving, from Rochester, Illinois to Cascade, Iowa.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading north:
An interactive map:
Peoria:
A weird trailer:
Roadworks:
A helicopter dusting corn:
Paladin in his dash bed on the freeway; very unusual for him, though he’s been getting more comfortable staying there for a few minutes before jumping down:
Flooded road:
Welcome to Iowa:
Paladin asleep:
Iowa 80 truck stop, the world’s largest truck stop:
A very Iowa fun with zoom:
Barn:
Wapsipinicon River:
Oxford Junction:
Corn:
Onslow:
We had to do a long detour due to a closed road:
Cascade:
RV tank cleaning
An RV maintenance item that is good to do every year or so: getting the black and gray waste tanks professionally cleaned out. They pump high pressure water into the tanks, manipulating the sprayer to blast off all of the surfaces within the tanks. That reduces smells, and makes the level sensors work better. We did this in while in Red Bay.
