Good Morning Meet and Greet

[Gordon Dewald]

Looking at the maps and scaling some distances off it appears that Chris's is about 1500 feet from the interstate.

[beamisl]

Hello M&G,

I noticed that too Gordon. I think it will be a good choice but want to give everyone a choice. I also appreciate the idea of having the cell service since I use a hot spot for internet. I think there will be times while all of us are driving around that we will not have cell service.

Love to have trees shading the rig and the pool, and I prefer a more rustic CG. Looking through the photos it should do nicely.

Jerry & I been to Mt Rushmore before as well as Crazy Horse. Should be a nice place to visit. Crazy Horse was still in it's early stages and I am happy to see how much they have accomplished.

Lynne

[tedgard01]

We will be happy wherever the group goes.

[guardrail53]

For those still working from you MH, would you prefer to use your internet thru a hotspot, which you pay for, or use the free WIFI or free DSl, I am confused? Phone service, is important, and having a booster, to get a signal, or use the free call services that use the free WIFI or the free DSl, makes the most sense to me!
A lot of the places we go to across the country do not have good cell service, and I ran into that a lot when trucking!

So with this said, Chris Camp says Verizon and ATT work good, (which we pay for) but everything else sucks? What does this mean? No WIFI or DSL that works? Just wondering?

I am just wondering what is the attraction to this CG? It seems to me that it is just another cookie cutter CG, that is right off the interstate, like a Jellystone, KOA, Parking lot setting type, that have the sites crammed in together, no shade, catering to the family's, that stay in the camping cabins or the Motel that they have, and cater too!
These type of CG's are the one's I will stay at for one night when traveling thru a area, but not one I would pick for a 10 day stay!
I always look for one that is off the beaten path, secluded, in the natural setting of the area! But hey, that is just me!
When I look at a CG, the first thing I do is go to the reviews, check them out, then the pic's, to see what the campsites look like, are they level, shaded, spacious!

I thought Carter Caves was a great place, for a SP, with full hookup's, very quiet, lots of shade.

Also, the Spearfish/Sturgis area CG's are set up for the bike rally type groups, mostly a camp in a field with a tent type setting!
That's why I was looking for a nice CG around the sites that we all want to go see, and Custer is the perfect central location for that!

I think camping on a creek, in a nice shaded site, with the windows open at night, listing to the water running, is my type of CG, not having to run the A/C to drown out the trucks jake braking down the off ramp, all night long!
Did that in the semi my whole life!

These are my thoughts on this, let me know if I am way off base?

And if you want me to keep looking for the perfect CG? Don't know if there is one, but I think getting off the interstate is important! Rail!

Also, we would like FHU, 50 amp, 50' back in site is ok! Mona is 38', and Bailey!

[tedgard01]

I work from my RV, but that should not be a concern in regard to the choice of the park.

We will go where the group decides.

Rail, to try to answer your question, if I only have one bar signal on my paid service, that is generally far better service than the free service that a Park has. I have a booster in my RV that enhances that one bar to a very reliable service. It can also pick up and enhance any open network that is available.

Chose a camp that provides the best experience. We fully agree that we would far rather be in the scenic park away from the hustle and bustle than in a park that is a parking lot for RV’s right next to a busy freeway.

Ted & Kathleen

[Harley1994]

Good Morning, Rail, some very good points! Maybe we should look farther into this. I'm with you on not listening to Jakes also,

[tedgard01]

Hear is something I happened to see;
http://www.custermountain.com/rvsites.htm

Custer Mountain Cabins and Campground, Custer, South Dakota 57730 - 12503 US Highway 16A, From US 16/385 & US 16A, go 2 mi E on US 16A., GPS: 43.76974, -103.55795

51 sites, 5273 ft elev, Accepts Big Rigs, 3 pull thrus, 21 full hookups, electric, 20/30/50 amp, 4 50 amp sites, tables, grill, water, dump, laundry, firewood, internet, pet friendly, playground

[tedgard01]

Another one;
http://frenchcreekrvpark.com/index.html

French Creek RV Camp, Custer, South Dakota 57730 - 144 South 4th Street, From US 16A & US 16, go W on US 16, then S on 4th St., GPS: 43.76415, -103.60082

5311 ft elev, Accepts Big Rigs, 8 pull thrus, 19 full hookups, 10 electric only sites, 20/30/50 amp, 29 50 amp sites, tables, grill, water, dump, Clubs-PA-AM, firewood, internet, cable tv, pet friendly

[guardrail53]

Thanks Ted, they both look nice, i will check them out closer on the laptop in the morning! Rail!

[tedgard01]

This one also looked interesting;
http://www.crookedcreeksd.com

Crooked Creek Resort Campground, Hill City, South Dakota 57745 - Highway 385, 2 miles S of Hill City on US 16, GPS: 43.89923, -103.59214

77 sites, 5130 ft elev, Accepts Big Rigs, 24 pull thrus, 39 full hookups, 2 electric only sites, 36 elec-water hookups, 20/30/50 amp, 29 50 amp sites, tables, grill, water, toilets, showers, dump, Clubs-GSC, laundry, firewood, internet, cable tv, pet friendly, pool, playground

[tedgard01]

Look at this one as well;
http://www.holysmokeresort.com

Holy Smoke Resort Campground, Keystone, South Dakota 57751 - 24105 U.S. 16 Alt, From Jct Hwy 40 & US 16A, go 1.5 mi N on US 16A., GPS: 43.91431, -103.43946

4842 ft elev, Accepts Big Rigs, 20 pull thrus, 21 full hookups, electric, 50 amp, 21 50 amp sites, tables, water, internet, pet friendly

[Gordon Dewald]

Where ever you decide is good for us. I think Stan should just pick one and we will go there. We are putting extra stress on Lynn trying to get consensus with a group decision.

Our criteria is a site: long enough, level, 50 amp, and we are all close. We do not need cel coverage, wifi, or to be close to town (we will be bringing our motorcycles so will be doing considerable travel).

Carter Caves was very nice. Being strung out was a pain as somebody was always walking carrying chairs and stuff to get to a function. I would have found it perfect if everyone could have been down at our end circled around so a single common area could have been established for all of our get together's.

Lets set the dates, pick an area and I will be making reservations within a couple days of the decisions.

[tedgard01]

Ron, I still like your choice;

Rafter J - Bar Ranch Campground
http://www.rafterj.com
Hill City, South Dakota 57745
At Jct of US-16, US-385, SR-244, & SR-87 , 3 mi south of town,
GPS: 43.89156, -103.59248

190 sites, 60 ft max RV length, 5222 ft elev, Accepts Big Rigs, 48 pull thrus, 150 full hookups, electric, 40 elec-water hookups, 20/30/50 amp, 80 50 amp sites, tables, grill, water, dump, Clubs-GSC, laundry, firewood, internet, cable tv, pet friendly extra rules, pool, playground


It sure looks like to me that they could have some locations that could accommodate larger than 60’... just wondering...

[beamisl]

Hello M&G,

I really don't mind doing this and I will check with these places tomorrow as my day today is pretty busy all afternoon and evening.

Give me tomorrow and I will get some answers unless one of you wants to make the calls today.

What we need to ask about:
-------------------------------------------------------

FHU's
Level
pull throughs with at least 70 ft spaces for 5 of us
30 and 50 AMP This is one of the problems I had with some of the more remote CG's
WIFI
Trees and space
Quiet
GET US ALL TOGETHER I tell them 12 rigs

Maybes:
Pool or river
view
Close to what we want to see
Keep it around the $40. price range per night

Anything anyone wants added to the above???
---------------------------------------------------------

I will start calls tomorrow morning to see what I can find and will post for you to view.

Jerry is on a golf league so we won't be able to leave until the 23rd of August and it will take us 3 days to get there and will probably stay until the 4th to avoid the holiday traffic. This is unless they start a week early and then we will leave earlier. Makes it hard to set reservation now.

The dates we were looking at were the 19th to the 29th knowing some of you were going to stay longer so you could look at other things in the area. We would be fine with going later in August and into September if that works for the rest of you.

I will check in when I get home tonight and then start on this in the morning. Lynne