Northern USA RV Trip – Our First RV Adventure
I’ve shared about our journey into RVing and how I finally said YES to RV adventures. Here, I’m sharing the details of our first RV adventure-through the Northern USA-as excerpts from my trip journal. Next month, I’ll share details of our 6-week cross-country RV trip from Maine to California (and back), then in September, I’ll share details of our Atlantic Canada RV trip. After that, I’ll also outline how we visited [almost] all 50 states with our children.
The Details of our Northern USA RV trip:
10 States Visited including:
- Illinois
- Iowa
- South Dakota
- Nebraska
- Wyoming
- Idaho
- Montana
- North Dakota
- Minnesota
- Wisconsin
National Parks/Historical Sites Visited:
- Badlands National Park
- Mt. Rushmore National Memorial
- Wind Cave National Park
- Grand Tetons National Park
- Yellowstone National Park
- Theodore Roosevelt National Park + Painted Canyon Overlook
- Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
DAY 1
Stayed in RV in friend’s driveway in central Illinois
DAY 2
Set off for our first official night of camping in IOWA (our first night that wasn’t in a driveway!)
Notable stops: Antique Archaeology in Le Clair, Iowa (from the TV show American Pickers)
Campground: Oakwood RV Park - Clear Lake, Iowa
States visited: Illinois, Iowa
This first trip was filled with such excitement but also some uncertainty. It was a bit intimidating pulling up to our first campsite and figuring out how to get everything set up. Luckily, we figured everything out without any arguments or mishaps! This first successful and enjoyable night of camping set the stage for what would become our normal at each campground. We quickly fell into a routine to:
- Get checked in (ideally before dark because it’s not easy backing into sites in the dark during quiet hours!)
- Scope out the bathrooms with the kids (to decide if we’d be using theirs or ours in the RV) while my husband took care of the outside hookups
- Return to RV and set up the inside
- Eat a snack (everyone was always hungry upon arrival!)
- Tour the campground and do some of the activities offered
- Make, eat, and clean up dinner
- Play games and read
- Lights out
I had no idea this first night how normal this routine would become and how quickly we’d all become comfortable exploring in an RV.
DAY 3
Lived liked Laura Ingalls Wilder in SOUTH DAKOTA.
Notable stops: Laura Ingalls Wilder Homestead in De Smet, South Dakota (from the book series)
Campground: RV site at Laura Ingalls Wilder Homestead – De Smet, South Dakota
States Visited: Iowa, South Dakota
Our journey through South Dakota offered miles and miles of open prairie landscape...ultimate simplicity! The highlight of our trip was our stay at the Ingalls Homestead in De Smet, South Dakota. We parked in one of their 4 RV spots and enjoyed living like Laura during our visit. They also offer camping in covered wagons!
Our family enjoyed touring the reconstructed home, driving a pony cart, making jump ropes, washing clothes the old fashioned way, making a corn cob doll, and taking a covered wagon ride out to the schoolhouse to attend class like Laura did. This ended up being one of our favorite nights of RVing, not just from this trip, but from all our trips that followed.
We had been reading the Little House series aloud as a family prior to this visit, which made for an even richer experience. I highly recommend connecting books to your adventures and bringing books to read aloud as a family as you travel. We enjoyed this so much that we made it a point to continue doing it on subsequent trips.
DAY 4
Sturgis-motorcycles everywhere in town and on the route there.
Notable stops: Badlands National Park
Campground: KOA - Badlands/White River – Interior, South Dakota
States Visited: South Dakota
We couldn’t get cell service during the last portion of the drive and the GPS took us to an empty spot in the middle of nowhere, a few miles from the campground (that we eventually found). We found a TINY grocery store, to get a few days’ food.
DAY 5
Drove to Mt. Rushmore, it rained
Notable stops: Mt. Rushmore
Campground: Beaver Lake Campground – Custer, South Dakota
States Visited: South Dakota
Since we had the dog with us and we weren’t comfortable leaving him in the RV yet, we took turns going to see Mount Rushmore National Memorial. It rained and we all got pretty wet. The carvings are much bigger than I expected.
DAY 6
Notable stops: Wind Cave National Park, Black Hills National Forest
Campground: River’s Edge RV and Cabins Resort – Evansville, Wyoming
States Visited: South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming
On our way out of South Dakota, the kids and my husband toured the caves at Wind Cave National Park while I hung out in the RV with the dog and wrote. The kids had fun seeing something completely new to them and I enjoyed my quiet time alone in the RV.
A stop in NEBRASKA wasn’t on our initial itinerary. But as we looked at the map and thought about our future travels, we decided that since we were so close to Nebraska, we would take the slightly longer route so we could make a quick stop there. We knew we weren’t likely to be this close to Nebraska in the near future and since we have a goal to visit all 50 states with our kids, we worked it into our route.
This short trip through Nebraska took us to Crawford and included a stop at a tiny Tourist Information Booth complete with a bright orange train car that the kids enjoyed climbing on. We ate lunch in our RV nearby and enjoyed this short visit before moving on to Wyoming.
DAY 7
Attended mass at a church right next to our campground.
Notable stops: Grand Tetons National Park, Yellowstone National Park
Campground: KOA – Dubois/ Wind River – Dubois, Wyoming
States Visited: Wyoming
There wasn’t much to see or do as we crossed WYOMING. We arrived in Yellowstone National Park, surprised to see how big it really is (it was so MUCH bigger than I expected). We took our time wandering different roads (I wasn’t a fan of the narrow, winding, no shoulder roads alongside large cliffs, especially in an RV.)
From hot springs, to waterfalls, to rivers, valleys, cliffs, bears, deer, and so much more, there was something to take in in every direction as we worked our way through the park.
DAY 8
Notable stops: Yellowstone National Park, Continental Divide
Campground: Red Rock Campground – Island Park, Idaho
States Visited: Wyoming, Idaho
We ventured west to IDAHO for our stay this evening. As we ventured off the beaten path, we were welcomed by cows lining the roads that lead to our campground.
DAY 9
Notable stops: Yellowstone National Park, Old Faithful Geyser
Campground: KOA – Billings – Billings, Montana
States Visited: Idaho, Montana
We spent a good portion of the day visiting more of Yellowstone, including seeing Old Faithful Geyser. It rained most of the day, and the kids fell asleep in the RV, so we enjoyed the quiet, foggy views as we worked our way out of the park up toward Montana. I just remember thinking about how green everything was in Yellowstone, then how yellow and golden Montana was.
DAY 10
Did karaoke at the campground.
Campground: Red Trail Campground – Medora, North Dakota
States Visited: Montana, North Dakota
Our journey across the Northern Midwest states took us to our next state and stop-NORTH DAKOTA!
DAY 11
Notable stops: Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Painted Canyon overlook
Campground: Jamestown Campground – Jamestown, North Dakota
States Visited: North Dakota
In North Dakota, we visited Theodore Roosevelt National Park-there were tons of prairie dogs. We stopped at the Painted Canyon Overlook as we headed out of the park. This unexpected view took my breath away. It looked like a backdrop on a movie set. For me, it rivals the Grand Canyon in beauty and awe, maybe partly because there was only one other couple there with us, so we had the whole view to ourselves.
The popular national parks are beautiful, but the lesser-known stops are 110% worth a visit.
DAY 12
Went tubing and boating on a lake with family.
Notable stops: Itasca State Park - Mississippi River Headwaters, in Minnesota
Campground: Stayed with friends at their cabin – Longville, Minnesota
States Visited: North Dakota, Minnesota
We met family at Itasca State Park in MINNESOTA and walked in the headwaters of the mighty Mississippi. We then spent the day and night with family and got to see the cabin they’ve been vacationing to for many, many years. It was fun to incorporate in visits with friends and family as we passed through their necks of the woods.
DAY 13
Campground next to a casino, but with a gorgeous view of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.
Notable stops: Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Wisconsin
Campground: Legendary Waters Campground – Bayfield, Wisconsin
States Visited: Minnesota, Wisconsin
On to WISCONSIN! We had wood delivered to our campsite then had a campfire after dinner while looking out onto the water. The sunset this night might have been my favorite of the trip.
DAY 14
Visited friends on Lake Tomahawk, Wisconsin.
Notable stops: Friends property – Lake Tomahawk, Wisconsin
Campground: Stayed with friends at lake house – Lake Tomahawk, Wisconsin
States Visited: Wisconsin
We spent the day tubing with friends on Lake Tomahawk in Wisconsin at their home away from home. We enjoyed dinner with them then had a campfire to wrap up another fun day in the sunshine and great outdoors.
Day 15
Visited friends on Lake Delavan, Wisconsin
Notable stops: Quick stop in Ft. Atkinson to visit a friend, Lake Delavan, Wisconsin
Campground: Stayed at friend’s lake condo – Lake Delavan, Wisconsin
States Visited: Wisconsin
Living in Illinois we have lots of friends who vacation to Wisconsin. We were fortunate that they were there when we passed through, so we got to see them in their favorite vacation spots. We spent another day on a lake boating and tubing then sharing a big meal and watching the sun set.
DAY 16
Not quite ready to go home...
Notable stops: Union, Chicago (stayed at campground)
Campground: KOA – Union, Chicago
States Visited: Wisconsin, Illinois
At the last minute, we added an extra day to our trip in ILLINOIS because we just weren’t ready to go home.
We stayed at a campground about 45 minutes from our house. It rained, but we didn’t care. It turned out to be a relaxing last day of our trip, taking the opportunity to lounge and enjoy listening to the rain at night. We were also able to enjoy a few activities at the campground the following day before we headed home.
DAY 17
Returned home
Notable stops: Home – Illinois
Campground: none (home)
States Visited: Illinois
We had to come home due to commitments scheduled for the next day, otherwise, we just might have kept going! We had such a positive experience on this first trip, and we settled into a comfortable routine, which made it hard to return to “non-RV life.”
Everyone in the family got along fairly well. We learned a lot. We spent time with friends and extended family that we rarely get to see. We ate too many smores. And we saw sites that we would not have otherwise visited.
Our adventurous rescue pup joined us for this (and all our future trips) and we enjoyed having him with us on our adventures. He was a perfect travel companion! After all our RV trips, has been to 43 states in the US and 4 provinces in Canada with us!
Reflections on our first RV adventure
If you’ve dreamt about taking an RV trip, I highly recommend exploring what it might look like for your family. Read articles, discuss the idea with everyone in your family, talk to friends who have done it. There are so many resources and rabbit holes to head down, which will help you become educated to make the best decision for your family.
I’m not going to lie...amidst the mostly good memories, there were challenging times. Just like at home, kids get tired, the dog needs to go out (again), dinner needs to be made and cleaned up (we rarely eat out because two of my children have life-threatening food allergies), laundry needs to be done (thank goodness for nice campground facilities) and beds need to be made (then unmade, then made again, and again, and again.).
Setting off on an RV adventure doesn’t eliminate life’s responsibilities, but somehow, they don’t seem quite as daunting when you’re filled with gratitude for the day’s adventures and you are excited about what’s ahead on the journey.
Our trips have given us the opportunity to see the country, immerse our children in nature, and spend quality time exploring and learning as a family. We have so many memories from this trip and are thankful we took the leap to make it happen.
Have questions about RVing with your family? Send me a note and I’ll answer them! Also, a few resources we relied on during our travels include:
- National Geographic Guide to the National Parks of the United States book - we used this book while planning our trip and also as a guide throughout our trip
- Good Sam – We used their trip planner to review campgrounds and choose which ones we would stay at.
- KOA – We were members and stayed at KOAs whenever possible, and accumulated points to earn some free stays as we continued our travels.
- Camping World – We purchased supplies for our trips here.
Cheers to many future RV adventures!
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