Florida To Banff AB.

[0533]

We are leaving from Jupiter Fl. on June 3 for Banff AB.

I wanted to share our proposed route in hopes of getting feedback on some of our planned stops, routes and campground choices.

If any of you have had experience in these places, along these roads I would appreciate the feedback.

Here goes: We plan on heading to Tallahassee, to Mobile, Jackson Ms. Shreveport, Tula/Oklahoma City?, Wichita, Dodge City?, Black Hills national park, Yellowstone, Deerlodge national park, Flat lake, Glacier National park, calgary, to banff national park.


Stop one: Tallahassee Fl. 401 miles Overnight

http://www.bigoakrvpark.com/

http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Florida/Apalachicola_National_Forest.html

http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Florida/Tallahassee.html#CGID828


Stop 2: Vicksburg Ms. 471 miles 2 days

http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Mississippi/Vicksburg.html#CGID7075


Stop 3: Hots Springs AR. 291 miles 3 days

http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Arkansas/Hot_Springs.html#CGID227

http://www.barteemeadow.com/camping_rv_parking.html

Stop 4: Oklahoma City 315 miles 2 days (possibly Tulsa??)

http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Oklahoma/Ardmore.html

Stop 5: Dodge City Ks. 272 miles (Possibly Wichita) 1 day

http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Kansas/Dodge_City.html

http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Kansas/

stop 6: Ogallala Ne. 322 miles 2 days

http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Nebraska/Ogallala.html

http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Nebraska/

Stop 7: Rapid City SD. 276 miles (possibly Custer SD. (Custer State park, Badlands national park) 5 days

http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/South_Dakota/Custer.html#CGID2569

/www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/South_Dakota/Rapid_City.html

http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/South_Dakota/


Stop 8: Yellowstone national park: 472 miles (the problem with this travel day is that we should have stayed in Casper Wy. instead of Custer SD.

14 days ??

http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Wyoming/

Deerlodge National Forest MT ?:

http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Montana/Butte.html

NEW TRIP: Poison MT, Flathead lake:

http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Montana/Polson.html#CGID1694

Day 9: Glacier National park: 433 miles. 14 days??

http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Montana/

Day 10: calgary AB. 231 miles 14 days including the park

Day 11: Banff national park. 75 miles

Total trip is about 3500 miles each way. The above trip is about 60 days as laid out. 2 months, plus 15 days getting back to FL. 75 days. Unless of course we decide to head all the way out to Vancouver, which would add about another 30 days. ???

Under the first plan we would be back in Fl on or about August 15th. Sept 1 head for Maine seeing family returning Oct 15th arriving Nov. 1 or something like that.

BH

[Neal&Carla]

We have stayed twice in the Hot Springs KOA. We were there in a 42' and had no problem parking. It was a nice, quiet campground. A great place to eat is Rolando's. It is across the street from the Arlington Hotel.

I would only stay at Twin Fountains if you are in OKC. The other parks are not acceptable. We live here so have viewed the others. Not a pretty sight!!! A favorite place to eat is Iron Starr Urban BBQ--36th and Shartel. It is great BBQ in a nice atmosphere with other food options. Not your typical BBQ shack or joint. Yummy!!

Have a great trip--
Neal and Carla

[0533]

Good morning Neal & Carla,

It is good to hear from you. This type of real world information is valuable stuff.

Hot Springs seemed like an interesting stop, not really out of the way for us, and has some interesting history, we have never been to Arkansas.

As for Oklahoma City, it is a toss up for us whether or not we go to Tulsa or Oklahoma City, where would you stop if it were your choice?

I posted this thread is hopes of getting this type of info from those of you who are either from these locations or have actual first hand experience.

I plan on recalculating the entire trip plan once I have all of the responses.

Besides offering valuable repair and maintenance to "POGERS", each member is a wealth of real time travel info. Sharing can make a trip planning a much more valuable experience.

Again, Thanks for jumping on and offering the advice.

[adamdegraff]

Bruce,
I would highly recommend routing yourself through Thermopolis, WY. The "Fountain of Youth" RV park is decent enough. But what makes it super special is that you are parked at what are the most amazing hot spring pools I have ever encountered. They are HUGE (think two olympic size pools with 1.5 million gallons of perfect, hot mineral water flowing in and out every day.) The water is good enough to drink! I did (close to the source) and lived to tell about it. The park is just on the north side of the Wind River Canyon. Be sure to drive through the canyon in daylight. It is amazing as well. Then you can probably go from there to Yellowstone in one day. The RV park options in Cody are nothing special. (Cody is the last decent sized city before the park.) There are some good places to eat in Cody. I cant remember the name of the place we ate, but we were taken out for dinner after a concert and it was one of our best meals of the year. If you want the name, I'll call the presenter and get it for you.

Also, you may already know this, but the drive from the east into Yellowstone is kind of harry. Big, long uphill (up mountain) drive. Lots of twists and turns. You might want to be fresh and ready for that leg, so maybe revise what I said above about going from Thermop (as the locals call it) to Yellowstone. There are places along the road to pull over and dry camp. There is a Walmart in Cody. (Which was a nicer parking area than the park that we stayed in Cody.)

Sounds like an awesome trip. In all of our 50,000 mile tour, our stop in Thermopolis was our favorite. Don't miss it!

Best,

Adam

[0533]

Hello Adam,

You and your family, of all Pogers must see so many places.

Hot Springs sound inviting, especially after a long drive. I could use some of the Fountain of Youth "Thermopolis" it is.

I will make every effort to share my experiences and images along the way.

We really love out of the way places, small diners, interesting specialty local foods etc.

All of it is good and added together makes for great fun.

[Jerry Winchester]

Bruce,

I would echo Neal and Carla's suggestion about OKC. I have stayed at the Magnolia RV Park in Vicksburg and it is okay. Nothing special.

I don't know of a decent place in Tulsa. We are staying in Hill City on our trip thru SD at the Rafter J Bar.

We have only stayed at Fishing Bridge at Yellowstone. It was adequate, but not suitable for a 45'er.

We are also staying at the North American RV park at Glacier. Loc gave it the fat beagle thumbs up.

[0533]

Bruce,

Jerry: I would echo Neal and Carla's suggestion about OKC. I have stayed at the Magnolia RV Park in Vicksburg and it is okay. Nothing special.

Pam is interested in Civil war anything, we have not been to Vicksburg and plan on stopping. Sounds like a Walmart is as good a choice as anything here



Jerry: I don't know of a decent place in Tulsa. We are staying in Hill City on our trip thru SD at the Rafter J Bar.

Custer has what sounds like Broken Arrow is a nice RV park, we will try this one I think, have you been to this region before?


Jerry: We have only stayed at Fishing Bridge at Yellowstone. It was adequate, but not suitable for a 45'er.

How about Lewis Lake Campground , or Slough Creek Campground, both get 5 stars in RVparksreviews??




Jerry: We are also staying at the North American RV park at Glacier. Loc gave it the fat beagle thumbs up.

Where is North American in the Park?? I have taken a look at Apgar Campground in West Glacier and Glacier Meadows RV Park in east Glacier, both 4 plus stars, can't find the other.

When are you heading to these regions??

[0533]

Road conditions are very important to us, found an interesting website

http://www.highwayconditions.com/united_states.htm, if you dig deep into this site, take Mississippi you can take a look at the actual traffic and road conditions, good resource. http://www.mstraffic.com/, Montana has a good one as well: http://www.highwayconditions.com/mt.htm, I will be adding this site to my favorites.

PS> Update all of your wireless devices, Aircards, Routers, Cellphones all of it for the latest versions of software, it might add some features and in some cases speed and connectivity improvements.

[Coloradobus]

Bruce,

If you need a spot off of I-25 or I-70, we have 50 amp and water at our house, altho, Bluevost will be here June 22th, and the Neffs just left.

As for South Dakota, all Poggers who went to Spearfish last fall will agree that Elkhorn Ridge RV Park was a great spot and centrally located for touring, Devil's Tower, Custar State Park, and Mount Rushmore, and Deadwood, Leads area.

West Glacier KOA as bus friiendly for us in 2002. Also, Jellystone RV Park in Missoula was OK for one night.

In Banff, we stayed at Tunnel Mountain Campground above Banff. If has weak power, with water in one area, and drycamping in the rest. Be sure to see Banff Springs hotel, Bow Falls, Mt Norquay gondola ride, and Lake Louise and have lunch at the Chateau, (its cheaper than diinner), and head west on the Trans Canada to see where the Canadian Pacific built two spiral train tunnels. Near there is a dirt road to Takakah Falls flowing off of Daly Glacier. Have fun.

[Jerry Winchester]

Bruce we are leaving June 3rd.

We reserved a private guide for Vicksburg and it was way cool. $35 for the old guy to ride around all morning and show us all the sights and tell all the stories. It was the best tour we ever took.

The North American is in Coram.

http://www.rvparkreviews.com/regions/Montana/Coram.html

I tried some of the dry camping options for Yellowstone but all the slots for a 45'er were taken so we have an alternate plan. I think most of the guys stay in West Yellowstone at the Grizzley. If you are going to stay in the park and need a full hookup, Fishing Bridge is the only spot.

[0533]

Hello Jim and Chris,


Colorado Bus Wrote: If you need a spot off of I-25 or I-70, we have 50 amp and water at our house, altho, Bluevost will be here June 22th, and the Neffs just left.

I think you should have enough time to have a new site ready for us, paved, water 50 amp etc. We will give you a heads up so you can have all ready before we arrive. We plan on heading your way on the return flight, will let you know, love to get together, have a few pics of our silver bullet next to your herd of Airstreams




As for South Dakota, all Poggers who went to Spearfish last fall will agree that Elkhorn Ridge RV Park was a great spot and centrally located for touring, Devil's Tower, Custar State Park, and Mount Rushmore, and Deadwood, Leads area.

We thought we might stop in Spearfish while in the area, good idea


West Glacier KOA as bus friiendly for us in 2002. Also, Jellystone RV Park in Missoula was OK for one night.

Will look at this one for sure, there are a few choices in this area.



In Banff, we stayed at Tunnel Mountain Campground above Banff. If has weak power, with water in one area, and drycamping in the rest. Be sure to see Banff Springs hotel, Bow Falls, Mt Norquay gondola ride, and Lake Louise and have lunch at the Chateau, (its cheaper than diinner), and head west on the Trans Canada to see where the Canadian Pacific built two spiral train tunnels. Near there is a dirt road to Takakah Falls flowing off of Daly Glacier. Have fun.


We have a guided tour planned by a silent Pogger who has made himself known to us. If he reads this post hopefully he will make himself known to all of you, great guy, has the bus bug. We are really looking forward to seeing all that there is in the Calgary Banff areas.
__________________
Jim and Chris
3rd bus, 2000 Marathon H3-45-tow LX-470
Coach 0586 EXV

[lloyd&pamela]

We spent almost a month in Alberta last year. Personally, we prefer Jasper over Banff; it's less touched and less commercial than Banff.

If you find more time while you're in the mountains we recommend a visit to the Whistler Village area (hike to Whistler Summit - amazing!) and perhaps a Maligne Lake boat tour to Spirit Island. Lake Louise is also a popular destination - the hike to the tea house is worth the workout. And there's Columbia Icefield, Athabasca Falls, ... Waterton Lakes National Park is one of Lloyd's favourite destinations (I think we had half a dozen posts for that park alone).

You can check out our many Alberta-related travel blog posts. Start here:

http://prevost.wordpress.com/2008/08/10/en-route-to-waterton-lakes-national-park/

Then keep clicking the right arrow (below the bus pic on top and to the left of Subscribe) until you get to "Wheeze and Sore Knees at Lake Louise" because we have A LOT of posts for Alberta in August 2008 with photos (blog quality), info and a generous amount of useful and useless commentary.

Cheers!

Pamela & Lloyd

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Hey Pam & Lloyd, terrific site you have going there.
Thanks for making it known.

JIM

[0533]

Hi Pam & Lloyd,

Good info, we will add all to our list. Jasper sounds great, love the idea of hiking for food and drink. Will make this happen.

We are now in Custer SD. at Custer Culch Campground, great spot, just outside of the gate at Custer State Park, would recommend this park to all. Excellent location, trails outside door, best sites we have seen, best water, best 50 amp power, owners are outstanding, make this place a stop if you are heading along Rt 90 out west. Elaine and Ray are the owners, will do to anything to help, even let us use their entire shop, excellent shop, other campers mostly seasonal from around the country really nice folks, could spend a month here, Custer is a nice town, lots of historic sites within a 50 mile radius. I will add some pics in another reply.

Did have one problem negotiating a tunnel on 1-16 inside Custer State Park, see image, had to lower the air, remove mirrors and take off all antenna on roof, still there trying to put all back together (just kidding) did see an older site seeing MCI making this tour through all of these little tunnels, I felt uncomfortable even in the toad.

We will be heading to Vancouver after Banff/Jasper, then on down the west coast to LA. business and pleasure then back across I-15 to Vegas, I-70 to Denver etc returning heading east later this summer.

Great trip. Most all systems have worked well, had some issues with our friends at Hughes. changed Sat to 99W all is good, bus running like a top.

[0533]

Few pics from Custer State Park area. There are some great driving tours, Mount Rushmore, Excellent trails at the campground that go directly into the park, Stockade lake about a 1/4 mile from campground, lots to do.

[Ray Davis]

Bruce, can you clarify for me please. There is no listed "Custer's Culch" campground, but there are three different "Custer's Gulch" campgrounds listed in the general vicinity of Custer SD.

Can you verify what the address is there? I'm going to be heading through SD after POG, and that looks like a nice place to stop.

Thanks,
Ray

[0533]

25112 Golden Valley Rd, Custer SD. 57730 Ph. 1-605-673-4647. We are in site #43, largest Pull through behind Main office, very quiet, the sites 42, 44 are also huge, level, clear sky sites, these are the easiest to manage and very nice views of the hills and meadows outside of the park.

[Ray Davis]

Thanks Bruce,

Just scoped it out, and it seems that it's very close to where the previous POG rally was held (which I wasn't able to attend).

[0533]

You will enjoy the park, and the close access to all attractions.

Here are a few pics from behind the park on the trails and lake.

having difficulty loading pics on my Sat, will get more later.

[GDeen]

Surely you don't have to negotiate that tunnel to get into the park right?

[Ray Davis]

Surely you don't have to negotiate that tunnel to get into the park right?

I was kinda wondering the same thing!

[BUSTER]

All,

Lloyd is right about Jasper. Bluevost and Buster were there the previous summer...Lloyd has listed all the right places. There were more elk in the campground in Jasper than people...and it is quiet...unlike the Lake Louise campground which is right next to the railroad tracks...where every train blows its whistle 4 times as it goes through 24X7..it is the main rail link across Canada....MANY trains....with all that said.....dinner at the Fairmont overlooking Lake Louise is an absolute must.

Enjoy the trip and buy some red canadian wine when you get up there...Ken and I both liked JACKSON-TRIGGS. I brought 4 cases back home to the US.

All the best,

Mike & Jean:)

[0533]

There are no tunnels at or near the RV park, several inside the park, depending on where you are heading, they have many tunnels like this one. Custers Gulch has no tunnels that will redesign your paint scheme.

[0533]

Can't wait to see Jasper and enjoy the wildlife. Will add the restaurants to the plan.

[Kenneth Brewer]

We should be there (Banff & Jasper) next month this time, if by chance any Pogger should happen by and is interested in dinner or something.

[0533]

We will be there around June 15th as well. Are meeting up with another POG member who lives in Calgary. Lets touch base when we are all settled in. Buster's suggestion about the Fairmont sounds like a winner. My email is 533@bellsouth.net Cell: 561-512-6181

We are heading to Glacier next week for a while then on up to Calgary.