Category: Backroads Across America
-
Backroads Across America: A Destination Called Home
Our lap around the United States took us to 25 states in 61 days, covering 9,833 miles. We spent 58 nights in RV parks, state campgrounds and one federal camp. We stayed three nights in motels when the weather was just too much. The average cost of our RV stays was $39. We paid…
-
Backroads Across America: Rafter J Delivers
The Rafter J-Bar Ranch, pictured above, is one of our favorite campgrounds. In the Black Hills of South Dakota, it offers wide-open spaces, every amenity a family could want (except most sites do not offer TV service), in a setting that rivals the best state parks. Custer and his army stayed here in 1874 and…
-
Backroads Across America: Surprise! Here’s Yellowstone!
“It has to be one of the best RV parks ever! We have been staying there every summer for years.” My ears were tuned in as I sipped a glass of wine a couple of days ago at our RV home near Little Bighorn Battlefield in southwestern Montana. I overheard a full-time RVer tell a neighbor about…
-
Backroads Across America: Big Sky Country
Today we wound our way out of the Black Hills of South Dakota, snuck through a corner of Wyoming and arrived in Montana – Big Sky Country. The gently rolling hills of Montana’s eastern plains seem to stretch on forever…and so does the sky above them. It seems like spring has been late arriving in…
-
Backroads Across America: Black Hills Give It Up
The drive to Mount Rushmore National Memorial gives visitors several frames for one of the world’s most spectacular engineering achievements. When you steer along Iron Mountain Road, go counterclockwise if you want the four presidents in your windshield. A quick detour: Can you name the four presidents? (Answer below) The 17-mile road was designed…
-
Backroads Across America: Hunting Buffalo
Custer State Park in South Dakota is home to a herd of approximately 1,300 buffalo. These magnificent animals can be seen roaming freely throughout the grasslands. The best way to view them is from the safety of your vehicle while driving the 18 mile Wildlife Loop Road…which is what we did today. Park grasslands can…
-
Backroads Across America: Wall-to-Wall Wildlife
From prairie dogs to a rattlesnake, the wildlife was out today during our roadside stops in Badlands National Park as we drove toward the Black Hills in South Dakota. Then, a brief visit to Wall Drugs brought Sue up close to another kind of wild guy. The town of Wall, South Dakota, on I-90,…
-
Backroads Across America: Good Times in the Badlands
Badlands National Park appears rather suddenly among the grasslands of South Dakota. These seemingly harsh lands are the result of millions of years of earth’s ever-changing climate. This is a landscape of extremes. We arrived yesterday to clear blue skies and warm temperatures, the first we’ve had in two and a half weeks. Pulling into…
-
Backroads Across America: Yeah, South Dakota!
To be honest, Tuesday’s drive, 320 miles across the fairly flat farmlands of northern Iowa, was uneventful. We were not tempted to pull off and explore. The two Misses rivers on either side of Iowa were beautiful, though. As we left North Sioux City in southeastern South Dakota this morning, the landscape quickly became…
carryoncouple 