Arizona to Minnesota w/o Reservations!

[John Dorrer]

5 hours ago, jd1923 said:

There was a little hiccup getting into the Sheyenne National Grassland. The last 3 miles were dirt and it had been raining everywhere. Given the condition it drove like a single-lane road. Then up ahead were train tracks with a hill to climb to get over them and strange thing was the dirt up at the tracks was muddy black dirt!

I was worried in getting over it and since we are running with a 2WD truck, I thought to get a little more speed leading up to it. Wow, first time towing the Oliver we fishtailed at the crest and when the truck went one way, the Oliver went the other. Since I was brought up driving in snow, I gently turned into the direction of the spin and after my heart moved up into my throat for a few seconds, all was good. Whew!

The first picture was taken the next morning going the opposite direction. It shows the mud that hit the Oliver, but look behind the Oliver to see the train tracks on the hill and the muddy section. Then look even more closely and you can see the tire skid marks made by the Oliver the evening before! Good thing on the way back it was a soft glide downhill over the tracks.

So we're driving an hour north to get to Fargo and as soon as we got on I-29N I said to Chris, "Try to find a truck wash." I was thinking the kind of place that has a tall booth and a pressure-washer, the DIY kind of wash. Turns out it wash a full-service truck wash. This is the best invention! I walked in first to see if they wouldn't mind washing our non-commercial vehicle. Then waited in line for 20 minutes with 18-wheelers fore and aft.

Not only the mud on the rear of the truck and the entire Oliver, but after 2400 miles on the road we had bug splatters all over both fronts. I paid to clean both TV and TT with an under-carriage wash. This was the absolute BEST $75 investment I've made for the Oliver! Works well in our budget vs. that $3K CGI detailing. Pics attached of Dirty Ollie and Happy Ollie! 🤣

Great idea👏👏

[jdmmtx]

The thought of leaving home without any reservations stresses me out 😅 but we'll have to take a trip like this sometime to see how it goes! Could be fun. If I keep my expectations low, all should be well haha.

[Mike and Carol]

4 minutes ago, jdmmtx said:

The thought of leaving home without any reservations stresses me out 😅 but we'll have to take a trip like this sometime to see how it goes! Could be fun. If I keep my expectations low, all should be well haha.

No reservations stresses me out too.  On our next long trip to OR and WA we have reservations going all the way to our last destination at Whidby Island north of Seattle.  Coming home to Texas is wide open, we’ll be winging it but should be okay mid to late September.  Mike

[jd1923]

3 hours ago, jdmmtx said:

The thought of leaving home without any reservations stresses me out 😅 but we'll have to take a trip like this sometime to see how it goes! Could be fun. If I keep my expectations low, all should be well haha.

Yes, it has been an amazing, yet awaking adventure! 🤣

So it's Sunday and we're in Central ND, and only 2-3 days out to Mt Rushmore SD, and I finally realized, "I'm friggin' crazy!" It's mid June and we're driving into the greatest tourist stop in the National Park system, OMG! We not only have no reservations, but been so busy in our day-to-day travels that we have no idea where to stay, or even what are the possible choices!

So first, I truly needed a strong drink to deal with this situation and promptly got on Campendium and Recreation.gov! I quickly found Horsethief Lake Campground, a primitive campsite only 15 min from Mt Rushmore. They had 3 sites open only on Thursday 6/19, so I booked one for the one night that was available!

Before getting there I figured we would boondock on the Badlands Wall and afterwards would head to Devils Tower. There is a FCFS primitive site very near there and most RV people gotta have hook-ups, but knowing so little I thought not to count on that. Then I booked 2 nights at Rueter Campground, and a nice drive through the Black Hills to get there.

This was done on Father's Day evening. In between I got calls from my step-son and later my son. After another drink, Chris made us a great grilled Walleye dinner, creamed broccoli and baked potato, nice!

It was finally time to enjoy the wonderful campsite we had booked for two nights, Beaver Creek Recreation Area just on the river from Linton North Dakota, life is good!

Edited June 17 by jd1923
Added pics

[Geronimo John]

On 6/2/2025 at 8:55 AM, bugeyedriver said:

I may have a final destination in mind, (this year - Whitehorse YT) and meander a long a winding pathway, simply in the general direction, without detailed planning. 

Suggest getting a copy of the Alaska Mile Post.  

No worries as there are boondocking sites EVERYWHERE in Canada and a bit less so in AK

GJ

[John Dorrer]

8 hours ago, jd1923 said:

Yes, it has been an amazing, yet awaking adventure! 🤣

So it's Sunday and we're in Central ND, and only 2-3 days out to Mt Rushmore SD, and I finally realized, "I'm friggin' crazy!" It's mid June and we're driving into the greatest tourist stop in the National Park system, OMG! We not only have no reservations, but been so busy in our day-to-day travels that we have no idea where to stay, or even what are the possible choices!

So first, I truly needed a strong drink to deal with this situation and promptly got on Campendium and Recreation.gov! I quickly found Horsethief Lake Campground, a primitive campsite only 15 min from Mt Rushmore. They had 3 sites open only on Thursday 6/19, so I booked one for the one night that was available!

Before getting there I figured we would boondock on the Badlands Wall and afterwards would head to Devils Tower. There is a FCFS primitive site very near there and most RV people gotta have hook-ups, but knowing so little I thought not to count on that. Then I booked 2 nights at Rueter Campground, and a nice drive through the Black Hills to get there.

This was done on Father's Day evening. In between I got calls from my step-son and later my son. After another drink, Chris made us a great grilled Walleye dinner, creamed broccoli and baked potato, nice!

It was finally time to enjoy the wonderful campsite we had booked for two nights, Beaver Creek Recreation Area just on the river from Linton North Dakota, life is good!

When we visited Devil's Tower, we got a site at the National Park Campground, very convenient.

[topgun2]

1 hour ago, John Dorrer said:

When we visited Devil's Tower, we got a site at the National Park Campground, very convenient.

Yep - like walking distance.

Bill

[jd1923]

2 hours ago, John Dorrer said:

When we visited Devil's Tower, we got a site at the National Park Campground, very convenient.

I'm not seeing this on Campendium or Recreation.gov. The one I see at Devil's Tower is Belle Fourche, the FCFS campgrounds I referred to:

[jd1923]

Leaving Beaver Creek Rec Area we had to stop at Scheer's Meats in Linton North Dakota. The place looked promising the day before but they were closed.

If I remember correctly, Kara help us. We picked one huge T-bone to split, 2 lbs of hamburger meat (had a burger for lunch today and it was great)! And bacon, liver sausage and jerky and we could not believe it all for $52! Great meats and service and if we lived nearby, definitely would be regulars!

Then we headed to Pierre SD, a town I've wanted to visit. Nice clean small city. We stayed right in town at Griffin Park on the Missouri River. Chose it for the pickleball courts a short walk away. Great river view, beautiful soft lawn, although the RV spots were just a gravel lot. We needed the electrical cause the heat wave had started.

We enjoy short hikes when traveling, but Chris and I have played tennis since the 70s, together since the 90s and for us 2 hours of pickleball is good exercise, gets the endorphins up and we feel better all evening (and at our age, some aches the next day of course). This was the 5th time we played n our trip. We played in Lincoln Nebraska, Mason City Iowa, Lakeville Minnesota, and both Fargo and Pierre in the Dakotas!

We also shopped food in as many places always in small family-owned shops. In another post after @Patriot mentioned getting a fridge-freezer for our TV, I was like, no I don't want to do that. But he was right which is often the case! If we had a second freezer we would have spent another $100 at Scheer's Meats for sure. An upgrade should be coming a a time TBD...

[jd1923]

A week has gone by and we're stayed at so many great places in SD and WY!

Badlands NP: liked the ease of entering from the east, exiting west after seeing the sights right at Wall SD. It's so stark, its topography is certainly out-of-place!

Honestly, I was a little disappointed, not our favorite place in SW SD. Those who love this place, please do not get upset with me, but I believe if the same range of barren hills was somewhere in the middle of Arizona, it would not make the Top-10 list. It's just were it is located that is freakish! I posted pics in Where's Ollie? and I saw an Ollie threads so will skip those here.

We boondocked the wall at Buffalo Gap National Grassland. It was pretty cool. Good that they have changed the rules that you must disperse camp at designated sites. Must have been a zoo prior to that. Still not everybody abides by rules!

Somebody towing a 5th-wheel, tandem-towing another trailer with a SxS, came in after 11PM and camped right below us on our designated site. Who are these ________ who arrive at campsites after dark? Then he had the gall to run a friggin' generator all night long! I used to have a temper and too bad I'd get in trouble if firing a warning shot!

We left late by noon, since it was going to be in the 90s that day and and it was somewhat cool in the wind on the ridge. Headed to Wall Drug, got in and out quickly. Here are the important pics. Their cake donuts are truly great! They only got us for a half dozen, no t-shirts or other nonsense, and two free water!

[jd1923]

LOVED the Black Hills! I must learn what makes the stone black. Need to make another trip here to get deeper into the hills. Rapid City though is certainly a tourist-trap but Mt. Rushmore makes it all worth it. What a wonderful celebration of America! Chris and I have wanted to come here all of our lives.

We had a great FS site booked just 10 minutes away, but it got into the 90s and needed electric to run the A/C. While eating donuts in our truck at Wall, I made a same-day reservation at Holy Smoke Resort just north of Keystone. It all worked out.

We waited 'til after 5PM due to the heat and then hiked the Presidential Trail. We really wanted to see the night ceremonies but during June they start late at 9PM. So we went to dinner at the Powder House Lodge and returned just before nine. It was great, Bison Filet for Chris and Bison Stew for me, yum!

Both the daylight and nighttime visits to Mt. Rushmore were something we will always remember. They ended with a salute to our Veterans, who were called on stage and the rest of us were clapping loudly, for a long, long time. Yes, thank you to our Vets! 😂

[Geronimo John]

Did you drop Ollie and drive up into Needles?  It's AMAZING!

GJ

[John Dorrer]

26 minutes ago, jd1923 said:

LOVED the Black Hills! I must learn what makes the stone black. Need to make another trip here to get deeper into the hills. Rapid City though is certainly a tourist-trap but Mt. Rushmore makes it all worth it. What a wonderful celebration of America! Chris and I have wanted to come here all of our lives.

We had a great FS site booked just 10 minutes away, but it got into the 90s and needed electric to run the A/C. While eating donuts in our truck at Wall, I made a same-day reservation at Holy Smoke Resort just north of Keystone. It all worked out.

We waited 'til after 5PM due to the heat and then hiked the Presidential Trail. We really wanted to see the night ceremonies but during June they start late at 9PM. So we went to dinner at the Powder House Lodge and returned just before nine. It was great, Bison Filet for Chris and Bison Stew for me, yum!

Both the daylight and nighttime visits to Mt. Rushmore were something we will always remember. They ended with a salute to our Veterans, who were called on stage and the rest of us were clapping loudly, for a long, long time. Yes, thank you to our Vets! 😂

Wish we had done a night visit, but our stop was an in transit stop, and then onto the real tourist trap at Crazy Horse 🙃

[John Dorrer]

6 minutes ago, Geronimo John said:

Did you drop Ollie and drive up into Needles?  It's AMAZING!

GJ

👍

[jd1923]

48 minutes ago, Geronimo John said:

Did you drop Ollie and drive up into Needles?  It's AMAZING! GJ

Nope, maybe next time. We’re budgeted on time!

In Caspar WY (correct spelling) today and soon to Colorado to meet up with Oliver friends this Wednesday!

GJ, you will be very happy to know I’ll be at Alcan, Grand Junction CO in just two days. I will observe their operation, expect nothing but the best and will report here…