Travel from Mitchell to Custer, South Dakota

We drove our coach 313 miles, about five hours of driving, from Mitchell, South Dakota to Custer, South Dakota.

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

Route map

An interactive map:

Heading west of I-90:

I-90 West

Rest area stop:

Rest area

Sunflower field:

Sunflowers

The Dignity of Earth and Sky sculpture:

Sculpture

A Tiffin Allegro Red motorhome passing us:

Tiffin Allegro Red motorhome

Lunch stop at Hutch’s Cafe:

Hutch's Cafe

Menu:

Hutch's Cafe

Back to our coach:

Back to our coach

Entering Mountain Time Zone:

Entering Mountain Time Zone

Passing Badlands National Park:

Badlands National Park

Another rest area:

Rest area

Paladin sat in his dash bed for a while:

Paladin sat in his dash bed for a while

Firehouse Brewery & Winery had several fire trucks along the freeway:

Firehouse Brewery & Winery had several fire trucks along the freeway

Paladin asleep on the floor:

Paladin asleep on the floor

Busts:

Busts

Entering Custer State Park, our favorite state park:

Custer State Park

Curvy road:

Curvy road

Whatever we do, don’t turn onto Needles Highway with our coach! Very narrow and short tunnels:

Needles Highway intersection

Legion Lake campground entrance:

Campground entrance

Our site, with a glimpse of the lake in the background:

Our site

RV podcast: RV Miles Podcast

I thought I’d do occasional posts about podcasts, YouTube channels, etc that I enjoy.

First up: RV Miles Podcast.

The RV Miles Podcast is hosted by Abby and Jason Epperson, and has over 300 episodes, each typically about an hour long, with varied topics related to the RV industry. A fun segment is Fresh Tank / Black Tank, where the two hosts each talk about something that makes them happy and something that they don’t like.

I’ve listened to the podcast for years, and recommend it to all RVers. Listen via your preferred podcast app. (For iOS, I highly recommend Overcast.)

If you prefer a visual medium, they also have a YouTube edition of the podcast.

Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village National Historic Landmark

We visited the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village in Mitchell, South Dakota, which includes a museum and a covered archeological dig site.

Exhibits in the museum:

Exhibits

Sculpture:

Sculpture

The “Archeodome” covers an archeological dig site:

Archeodome

Interesting stuff.

Mitchell Corn Palace

We stopped by the World’s Only Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota (Wikipedia info). It’s a multi-use arena decorated in corn and other grains, with the decorations changing each year:

Corn Palace

Inside continues the corn theme:

Corn Palace

Sheets for coloring:

Corn Palace

The arena was set up with swag for sale, with more corn art around the walls:

Corn Palace

We bought some interesting popcorn:

Popcorn

An interesting place.

Mitchell KOA Journey

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

Another KOA Journey, with an interesting (and easy to navigate) layout.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-07-26
Check out: 2024-07-29
2 nights

Weather:

Sunny
High temps 91-95°F, lows 71-72°F
A bunch of wind, gusts to 32 MPH

Noise:

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

Site:

#C-19, pull-through, gravel
Didn’t need to disconnect toad, parked behind coach
A little unlevel site, high on passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
Gravel driveway about 110 feet long by 15 feet wide
10 feet to neighbor on driver side
75 feet to dump station on passenger side
Two picnic tables
Fire pit
A couple of tall trees
Clean site

Utilities:

50 amp power, very conveniently located
40 PSI water, fairly conveniently located
Loose sewer connection, inconveniently located (3 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 11-14 Mbps down, 12 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
AT&T: 29-32 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 120-160 ms ping
Verizon: 27 Mbps down, 9 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpster
Mini golf

Our review on Campground Reviews:

A nice oasis along I-90

This was a convenient place to stop along I-90 through South Dakota and to check out the Corn Palace and the Prehistoric Indian Village. There’s not much else to do in Mitchell, but this was a lovely shady place to camp to check them out. It’s reassuring/concerning that they have storm shelters scattered around the campground in case of emergency, but I’m just as glad we didn’t need them during our stay. Our site was very long and had a big grassy area on one side, but it was very close to the neighbors on the other. We camped at Mitchell KOA Journey in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Spacious on the passenger side, a bit too close on the driver side:

Our site

(I typically prefer more space on the driver side, since that means other campers aren’t hanging out right next to our coach. We tend not to sit outside much, so space on the passenger side isn’t as important to me.)

The utilities; a loose sewer connection, requiring three 10-foot hoses:

Utilities

Other sites:

Other sites

Cabin and playground:

Cabin and playground

Mini golf and playground:

Mini golf and playground

Office:

Office

Dump station:

Dump station

Storm shelter (one of several); both reassuring and concerning to see:

Storm shelter (one of several)

Dog park:

Dog park

Retention pond:

Pond

A windmill, which didn’t seem functional (it was very windy, but wasn’t spinning):

Windmill

Entrance sign; want to buy a KOA?

Entrance sign

Video

Video: Maple Grove, Minnesota to Mitchell, South Dakota motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 307 miles from Maple Grove, Minnesota to Mitchell, South Dakota.

Travel from Maple Grove, Minnesota to Mitchell, South Dakota

We drove our coach 307 miles, about five hours of driving, from Maple Grove, Minnesota to Mitchell, South Dakota.

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

Route map

An interactive map:

Roadworks:

Roadworks

Minnesota’s largest candy store:

Minnesota's largest candy store

LeSueur water tower:

LeSueur

When a place catches our interest, I’ll often look it up on Wikipedia (in this case, LeSueur), and read out interesting factoids to Jenn:

LeSueur

Saint Peter:

Saint Peter

Happy Chef Restaurant:

Happy Chef Restaurant

Paladin on the driver chair during a rest stop:

Paladin

A van towing a trailer:

Van towing a trailer

Since 1906:

Since 1906

Ship:

Ship

Train and wind turbine:

Train and wind turbine

Cows:

Cows

Welcome to South Dakota:

Welcome to South Dakota

Roadworks, with everyone on one side of the freeway:

Roadworks

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Winnebago’s all-electric prototype eRV2:

eRV2

Paladin on the dash:

Paladin on the dash

Our destination:

Our destination

RV headlight polishing

The headlights on our coach were getting rather foggy, which reduces their effectiveness and just looks ugly:

Headlight

So while in Red Bay we got them polished:

Polishing headlight

Headlight

Much nicer!

Mall of America

We visited the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area.

According to Wikipedia, it is the largest mall in the United States, the largest in the Western Hemisphere, and the twelfth largest shopping mall in the world.

Mall

We had dinner at Shake Shack (first time we’ve seen one since we visited New York years ago):

Shake Shack

Mall

In addition to being a huge mall, the center is filled with an amusement park:

Amusement park

Minnesot-ah!:

Minnesot-ah!

Mall

Amusement park

It’s an impressive mall… but still just a mall.

Baseball: Minnesota Twins vs Philadelphia Phillies

We attended a baseball game between the Minnesota Twins and the Philadelphia Phillies, playing at the Twin’s ballpark,Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Jenn’s game summary:

A perfect day for a ballgame, but super annoying dudes behind and next to us. Twins starter Okert left early in the first inning—no idea why, which was odd so early in the game. Twins scored first with a solo home run in the 2nd, but the Phillies answered back and led for most of the game. Tied going into the bottom of the 9th, and the Twins came through with a walk-off single from Max Kepler. A walk-off win is always fun at home. A nice ballpark, and we had good seats behind home plate.

Target Field entrance:

Target Field entrance