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Old 04-25-2003, 08:39 PM   #1
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Seeking suggestions

This July 4th we are going to Yellowstone with the Burro! Yay!

Looking for campground suggestions for overnight stops between Schaumburg, IL. (30 miles west of Chicago) and East Yellowstone MT. Going out over the northern route thru North Dakota and Montana ( pretty scarce camping as I can find) in a fast way ( 3 days) and returning probably the southern way the slow way ( maybe 5 days) via Wyoming and South Dakota.

I have some sketchy plans at present.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.



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Old 04-27-2003, 09:39 AM   #2
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Pete ... I'll give more details on suggested campgrounds later ... but I trust you either already have ... or are going to make reservations at Yellowstone.

Going in July, your chance of getting one of the first-come-first-serve campsites is almost impossible.

Reserve a campsite through Yellowstone National Park Lodges. Call: 307-344-7311



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Old 04-27-2003, 10:17 AM   #3
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We usually:

Night 1 -- Highland Ridge Corp of Engineer Campground, just off i-94 near Eau Galle, Wisconsin, just east of Minneapolis. Might be too soon for you (only 316 miles from Schaumberg), but could work if you leave after work.

Night 2 -- Eggerts Landing Corp of Engineer Campground, north of I-94 near Valley City, ND. (Eau Galle to Valley City mileage 380 mi)

Night 3 -- We've stayed at Lake Elmo State Park, just north of Billings, Montana. Also at Billings KOA. (Eau Galle to Billings mileage 550)

Night 4 -- into Yellowstone. Technically, you are not supposed to pull a trailer into the NE entrance to Yellowstone, on RT 212. So you have to go 212 to 310 to 72/120 into Cody and into Yellowstone ... just under 200 miles. Or, even longer, go over to Bozeman and drop down 89 into Mammoth Hot Springs. This really depends where you get your Yellowstone camping reservations.

Knowing you are going around a National Holiday ... I'd try to book as many reservations as you could ... even at the Army Corps of Engineers campgrounds (some of which require multi-night stays on holiday weekends, so if you are traveling on a weekend, wouldn't work.)

You can book various national forest and COE campgrounds on <a href="http://www.reserveusa.com/index.jsp%5b/url" target="_blank">]http://www.reserveusa.com/index.jsp</a>

Having said all this ... there is something to be said, particularly when you are on a tight time frame ... to just book a series of KOA's, 500 to 600 miles apart. KOA's are always clean, usually have swimming pools for the kids (as well as your tired body). http://www.koakampgrounds.com/ And they are easily to cancel that a national forest or COE campground reservation. Also usually right off the expressway whereas some of the national forest and COE campgrounds might be 15 miles off the road (or further).



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Old 04-27-2003, 10:29 AM   #4
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Leaving Yellowstone ... we've stay at the Cheyenne KOA, on I-80.

As you noticed, there really aren't many public state parks or COE campgrounds when you're blasting home on I-80.

We've stayed at:

In NE (Nebraska) ...

Igallala -- Meyer's Camper Court. Nice pool

North Platte -- KOA

Kerney -- Clyde and Vi's Nice pool



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Old 04-27-2003, 04:10 PM   #5
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Yes Charles, its kinda sparce out that way.

We plan top shoot out there on the northern route.
We have reservations for the West Yellowstone KOA for about 4 or 5 days.
Then we meander back for a week's time. I figured we'd stay in Spearfish for a couple of days cause we like it there.
Then it will be catch as catch can from Rapid city to home.
I guess I'll get to know them Walmarts eh?



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Old 04-28-2003, 05:38 AM   #6
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>>Walmarts

Pete ... I didn't mention Walmart or Flying J's (all of which we've used in various runs to the west) ... because you are talking July.

Once you are out of the mountains, it can get pretty hot and steamy at night, even in North Dakota.

Unless you are one of the rich-generator-owning-guys, your wife might veto a Walmart overnight!



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Old 04-28-2003, 07:53 PM   #7
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Hmmmm
Good thinking Charles. She wouldn't like that for sure.
I think I will go the KOA route.



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Old 04-29-2003, 06:40 AM   #8
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That time of year, Pete, all the commercial campgrounds fill up early, partcularly along I-80. So plan on stopping early, or making reservations, spaced out for your personal "comfort" level of day's driving.

When we're making a cross country run, in the heat and humidity of July and August, I prefer to have "hard" reservations ... which allows us to run hard, recover from mishaps (say I accidently leave Pam at a rest stop), and still have a place to stay, even if we arrive at our overnight destination after dark.



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Old 04-29-2003, 10:23 AM   #9
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How far typical drive in one day?

So how far do people usually drive each day on a cross-country multi-day trip? (a questions perhaps better posted on another thread)

Personally, I can't imagine driving more than 350 miles in one day. I do all the driving, so I'm sure that has a major impact, but I imagine there are several couples where one does all the driving. We also don't like to drive at night.

Without pulling a trailer, I'll rarely do more than 500 per day. But I find that pulling the trailer I go slower, plus I am much more vigilent, so it is overall much more tiring.

When pulling the trailer we like to take a break about every 100 miles, plus I don't like to go more than 150 miles without topping off the tank (1999 Toyota 4Runner v6). With a strong head wind I find my cruising range can be reduced to about 190 miles, although under good tail wind conditions we can easily exceed 240 miles. Our gas guage often reads a quarter tank too high with the Casita loading down the back of the 4runner, so we don't trust it.

Audrey



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Old 04-29-2003, 12:24 PM   #10
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how farin a day

it is not distance so much as time for me . 10 hours with lots of pit stops is comfortable for me .



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