While staying at the Legion Lake Campground in Custer State Park, we wandered across the road to the Legion Lake Lodge and the Dockside Grill for dinner, followed by a stroll along the lakeside.
A view of our coach from the lake parking lot:
Lake and lodge:
Turtle:
Gift store:
Dockside Grill:
A stroll along the lakeside:
A nice lake.
We stayed at Legion Lake Campground in Custer State Park, South Dakota. (Campground Reviews listing.)
Custer State Park is perhaps our all-time favorite state park. We enjoyed staying in the park, though the lack of water and sewer was inconvenient. Especially since we hadn’t noticed that it didn’t have water, and only arrived with a half-full tank.
We do have a water bladder to fetch water, and a tote to dump waste, but coped without using them, since only three nights. The lack of a dump station in the campground would be very inconvenient for a longer stay, though.
Dates:
Weather:
Noise:
Site:
Utilities:
Internet (in usage priority order):
Amenities:
Our review on Campground Reviews:
In the middle of everything
Custer State Park is one of our favorite places. The scenery, wildlife, and general ambiance are magical, and staying inside the park makes it even more special. All the sites are electric-only, and that’s okay as it’s the hookup we rely on most (especially when it’s warm). There is a water spigot by the bathrooms if you need to fill up, but the nearest dump station inside the park is in a different campground halfway across the park. The site was a bit unlevel, but not so much that our hydraulic levelers couldn’t cope. A nice view of the lake across the road and a tree-filled hillside behind our site made for a picturesque stay. We camped at Custer State Park – Legion Lake Campground in a Motorhome.
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
Only an electrical hookup:
Our coach from across the road:
Elevation 5,010 feet:
Paladin was most fascinated by a taunty chipmunk that hung out around our site:
Entrance sign:
Path to the lake area:
Other sites:
(We wondered how they got the left-hand trailer into that position.)
Bathroom:
Info sign:
We are currently planning to visit this area again next year. But we’ll probably stay outside the park, so we can have full hookups, and explore other areas.
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 313 miles from Mitchell, South Dakota 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:
An interactive map:
Heading west of I-90:
Rest area stop:
Sunflower field:
The Dignity of Earth and Sky sculpture:
A Tiffin Allegro Red motorhome passing us:
Lunch stop at Hutch’s Cafe:
Menu:
Back to our coach:
Entering Mountain Time Zone:
Passing Badlands National Park:
Another rest area:
Paladin sat in his dash bed for a while:
Firehouse Brewery & Winery had several fire trucks along the freeway:
Paladin asleep on the floor:
Busts:
Entering Custer State Park, our favorite state park:
Curvy road:
Whatever we do, don’t turn onto Needles Highway with our coach! Very narrow and short tunnels:
Legion Lake campground entrance:
Our site, with a glimpse of the lake in the background:
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.
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:
Sculpture:
The “Archeodome” covers an archeological dig site:
Interesting stuff.
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:
Inside continues the corn theme:
Sheets for coloring:
The arena was set up with swag for sale, with more corn art around the walls:
We bought some interesting popcorn:
An interesting place.
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:
Weather:
Noise:
Site:
Utilities:
Internet (in usage priority order):
Amenities:
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:
An interactive map:
Our site:
Spacious on the passenger side, a bit too close on the driver side:
(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:
Other sites:
Cabin and playground:
Mini golf and playground:
Office:
Dump station:
Storm shelter (one of several); both reassuring and concerning to see:
Dog park:
Retention pond:
A windmill, which didn’t seem functional (it was very windy, but wasn’t spinning):
Entrance sign; want to buy a KOA?
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 307 miles 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:
An interactive map:
Roadworks:
Minnesota’s largest candy store:
LeSueur water tower:
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:
Saint Peter:
Happy Chef Restaurant:
Paladin on the driver chair during a rest stop:
A van towing a trailer:
Since 1906:
Ship:
Train and wind turbine:
Cows:
Welcome to South Dakota:
Roadworks, with everyone on one side of the freeway:
Fuel stop:
Winnebago’s all-electric prototype eRV2:
Paladin on the dash:
Our destination:
