Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
RV Trip Planning Discussions

Go Back   iRV2 Forums > CAMPING, TRAVEL and TRIP PLANNING > Camping Locations, Plans & Trip Reports
Click Here to Login
Join iRV2 Today

Mission Statement: Supporting thoughtful exchange of knowledge, values and experience among RV enthusiasts.
Reply
  This discussion is proudly sponsored by:
Please support our sponsors and let them know you heard about their products on iRV2
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 08-21-2015, 09:50 AM   #1
Senior Member
 
andy29847's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 2,074
Summer 2015 - Go West Youse Guys

Our Summer 2015 trip included stops in the Smokys, Custer, SD, Cody, WY, Salmon, ID, and Riggins, ID. I'll start the trip report with info about where we stayed.

Smokys - Tuckaseegee RV Resort: Tuckaseegee RV Resort | Come enjoy our own little corner of the Smoky Mountains
This is our regular stop in the Smokys. The people here as so friendly...


We stayed in the Smokys for a few days then started west. First stop was near Carbondale, IL at Crab Orchard CG - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Crab-...21037234574384
This is a state owned and operated CG on a lake. It was cheap and convenient. They don't do reservations, so you might have trouble getting a spot on the weekends. We were meeting friends here, and my bud put down the tent in the picture to save my camping spot.


Next stop was Missouri, west of St Louis. We stayed at Lazy Day CG - Home - Lazy Day Campground Danville Missouri
This is a great CG in the Missouri woods, not too far from Montgomery, MO. The couple running this place were hard working and well organized. I would definitely stop here again.


We had one of our best meals of the trip in Montgomery at this place:


Our next stop was near Topeka, KS at the Prairie Band Casino & Resort - Resort, Casino, Dining, Golf, Slots, Mayetta, Topeka, Kansas City .
My wife loves the casino here (she normally wins something) and the RV park is well maintained and seldom crowded. We usually get spot 47 - right by the bath house.


From the casino, we traveled to Ogallala, NE and the Country View CG - Country View Campground
We got here early enough in the afternoon to tour Ogallala and thoroughly enjoyed our stay at this location. I first heard of Ogallala in the "Lonesome Dove" movie. My wife was excited to get a Lonesome Dove t-shirt.






Our dash across the country slowed with a 12 day stay in Custer, SD at Fort Welikit - Black Hills Campground. Honestly, I didn't like it that much. The location was good, the facilities were good, the camp host were great, but the parking was tight. Some of my feelings might be because I cracked the fender on my truck when parking my trailer.




Could have been worse. I might have hit that tree with my trailer.


From Custer, we moved to Cody, WY. and the Absaroka Bay RV park - http://www.cody-wy.com/
"The Bay, as locals called it, is an OK place to park and do touristy things. The lots are small - it's just a place to park. The camp hosts are great. The location was perfect for us. We stayed for a week.


We left Cody heading for Salmon, ID. We ran out of steam on the road and stopped at Big Timber/Grey Cliff KOA in Big Timber, MT. - Big Timber/Grey Cliff KOA | Camping in Montana | KOA Campgrounds
The CG was a very pleasant place to spend the night or even a week. They even had a Lazy River. somehow I din't get a picture of the campground, but I took one of downtown Big timber, MT.


The next day we continued our trip to Heald Haven CG near Salmon, ID - Healds Haven RV and Campground
I prefer the "Mom & Pop" campgrounds and Heald Haven is one of the best we have stayed at. It is 11 miles south of Salmon, just off Highway 93, alongside the Salmon River. We loved our 2 week stay here.






From Salmon, we continued west for a 4 day stay near Riggins, ID at Canyon Pines RV Resort - Canyon Pines RV - Idaho's Premiere RV Destination
This is another great place to stay.




I 'll share some of the things we did at our stops in upcoming post. I might even post something about the trip home. It seemed sooo long.
andy29847 is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 RV Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

iRV2.com RV Community - Are you about to start a new improvement on your RV or need some help with some maintenance? Do you need advice on what products to buy? Or maybe you can give others some advice? No matter where you fit in you'll find that iRV2 is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with other RV owners, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create an RV blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 08-21-2015, 01:41 PM   #2
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Enjoying the Western States!
Posts: 20,697
Always nice to see pics of campgrounds to get an idea of size and privacy of sites.

Looks like you had a very nice trip.
__________________
Full-timed for 16 Years . . .
Traveled 8 yr in a 2004 Newmar Dutch Star 40' Diesel
& 8 yr in a 33' Travel Supreme 5th wheel
twogypsies is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-21-2015, 02:11 PM   #3
Senior Member
 
andy29847's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 2,074
Our first stop was in the Smoky Mountains. We camped at Tuckaseegee RV Resort with our daughter and her husband to celebrate our daughter's birthday. Our activities included a show at Harrah's in Cherokee, some light hiking, some back roads riding, and some good eating.

Family selfie


Climbing the stairs to Mingo falls


Mingo Falls - note son-in-law on lower left


Tunnel on the Road to Nowhere


Eating in the Elvis room at the BBQ Wagon in Bryson City


We be Wheelin!


More Wheelin


I love shopping


Ummmm!


Hiking


What a view (do you see Bigfoot?)
andy29847 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-21-2015, 02:25 PM   #4
Senior Member
 
motohomo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 289
Very nice post. I like the details and pics. Looks like a great trip.
motohomo is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-21-2015, 02:30 PM   #5
Senior Member
 
vsheetz's Avatar


 
Fleetwood Owners Club
Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: SoCal
Posts: 15,749
Thanks for sharing!
__________________
Vince and Susan
2011 Tiffin Phaeton 40QTH (Cummins ISC/Freightliner)
Flat towing a modified 2005 Jeep (Rubicon Wrangler)
Previously a 2002 Fleetwood Pace Arrow 37A and a 1995 Safari Trek 2830.
vsheetz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-21-2015, 04:55 PM   #6
Senior Member
 
andy29847's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 2,074
More to come!
andy29847 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-22-2015, 05:34 AM   #7
Senior Member
 
andy29847's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 2,074
Next stop: Custer, SD and the Black Hills. We tried to do everything, but focused on riding our motorcycles and viewing wildlife.

Tight squeeze for Bertha


When my wife shops I look for things like this.


Downtown Custer Bison


Real thing


Deadwood - nothing but casinos


Street riding


More hiking


Riding in the national forest


Devil's Tower


Spearfish Canyon


More national forest riding


Firetower visit


Goodbye Custer
andy29847 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-22-2015, 05:47 AM   #8
Senior Member
 
andy29847's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 2,074
One of the driving highlights of our trip was the day we drove WY 16 over the mountains from Buffalo, WY to Cody, WY.

The mountains don't look so big from here.


Long climb on a good road.


On the top!


There were a few turns like this one coming down the grade.


Ten Sleep Canyon was gorgeous.


Almost done.


Ten Sleep Saloon


Lots of nothing between Ten Sleep and Cody.


Downtown Cody
andy29847 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-22-2015, 11:22 AM   #9
Senior Member
 
andy29847's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 2,074
The one thing we enjoyed the most in Cody was the Cowboy Music Review. The show is held nightly in the old music theater across from the Irma Motel. Dan Miller and his band do a great job entertaining the audience.

My wife and I rode Beartooth Pass, Chief Joseph's Highway, and visited Red Lodge, MT while we were in Cody.











We also spent the best part of 2 days in the Buffalo Bill Museum. You don't want to miss this museum.











We had a hail storm one afternoon! Oh hail!


We had one really big day at Yellowstone. We got there early and stayed late.












And we headed for Idaho on I-90
andy29847 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-22-2015, 11:24 AM   #10
Senior Member
 
andy29847's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 2,074
Idaho rocks!!!
andy29847 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-23-2015, 06:49 AM   #11
Senior Member
 
andy29847's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 2,074
The main reason for our trip to Idaho was to meet a group of friends for a motorcycle ride. We stayed in Salmon Idaho for 2 weeks. The first week it just my wife and I and we explored the area by truck and bike. The second week I spent with friends riding in and around the Frank Church Wilderness. Idaho has thousands of miles of good forest roads and turned out to be a mecca for the kind of riding I like to do.

Here is a view from a mountain road down on the Salmon River and Heald Haven CG. The CG is in the trees alongside the river on the mid-left of the picture.


We be Wheelin' again.


Lots of dirt roads.


Salmon River Royal Gorge


Sheep!


Little Old Lady From Pasadena


Up on top.


The Gang's all here.


There was one hard day because of weather.


Middle Fork of the Salmon River near Dagger Falls.


Yellow Pine, ID - the most remote town in ID.


Big rock mountains and endless forest.


The pool at Burgdorff Hot Springs.


Me and my buds.


A grove of really big Red Cedar trees.


Selway River


Lots of the road was through sections of the forest that had been damaged by fire.


There was some smoke in the air from fires in Washington and Oregon.


Near the end of a great six days of riding.


Link to full ride report - The Six days of Idaho: My Dad Rode the Six Days of Idaho and All I Got Was a T-shirt | Adventure Rider
andy29847 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-23-2015, 07:52 AM   #12
Moderator Emeritus
 
JMonroe's Avatar


 
Jayco Owners Club
RV Trip Wizard
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Poinciana FL
Posts: 7,783
Love the trip report. Keep it coming!
__________________
Jay and Peggy Monroe
"Can't take it with you, not leaving any behind"
2024 Jayco White Hawk 26FK
2024 GMC Sierra 2500 HD
JMonroe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-23-2015, 09:11 AM   #13
Senior Member
 
andy29847's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 2,074
My wife was the dog's babysitter while I explored the Idaho wilderness. I saw a few things I felt like she had to see too. We moved from Salmon to Riggins to do some more sightseeing.

The main channel of the Salmon River.






We took a Jet Boat ride.




It was a fun ride!


We even made a short movie of the Jet Boat ride: https://youtu.be/x6iI1Lqih7E

Then we rented a Razr and rode from McCall, ID to Yellow Pine and back.








An ATV movie too: https://youtu.be/AGpqCOBy4R4

My wife loved Yellow Pine.






We had a lot of fun!
andy29847 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-23-2015, 10:56 AM   #14
Senior Member
 
Pete1985's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Nation Wide Retired
Posts: 520
How did you cracked the fender??? Great pictures.
__________________
2013 Duramax GMC 3500 4x4 Dually DIESEL 6.6L V8 TURBO
2014 H-D Electra Glide Ultra Limited
2021 42FT Beacon
Pete1985 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply



Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
2015 Canyon Star 3914 vs 2015 Winnie Adventurer 38P Electra 225 Class A Motorhome Discussions 9 12-04-2014 07:23 PM
Summer in Georgia TLGPE Navigation, Routes & Roads 7 11-05-2014 10:24 PM
I-80 to west side of Yellowstone Park? BBQ Judge Navigation, Routes & Roads 10 05-01-2014 07:22 AM
blessed w/position for Summer at West Glacier, MT nwcountry Workkamping & Volunteering 2 07-02-2013 06:40 PM

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:45 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.