Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 06-01-2006, 02:05 PM   #1
2 Rivet Member
 
1978 Argosy Minuet 6.0 Metre
Ferndale , Washington
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 30
North and South Dakota

Hi again,

I was wondering if anyone has any suggested spots for cheap or free camping along Route 2 in North Dakota and anywhere along the I-90 corridor in South Dakota.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Gergstuff
gergstuff is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2006, 03:15 PM   #2
Rivet Master
 
Condoluminum's Avatar
 
2016 25' Flying Cloud
Sunnyvale , California
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,894
Images: 13
Send a message via AIM to Condoluminum
Truckstops?

Having done the cross-North Dakota trip in 2004, there are lots of long stretches with nothing, especially in central and western portion... Really!! No cell phone coverage on interstate, no towns, no nothing... (North Dakotans seem content with this situation..) We had breakdown in Jamestown, and spent day waiting for THE Chevy/GM dealer to replace an alternator. Nearest alternate dealer shop several hundred miles away..

I'd check their policy for maximum stay in rest areas, or few rest stops.. The state might also have website with info on state or county parks off freeway that must be reasonably priced..
__________________
Condoluminum

In Theory, there's no difference between Theory and Practice, but in Practice, there is usually a difference...
Condoluminum is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-04-2006, 12:09 PM   #3
Ready-to-Travel
 
pmclemore's Avatar

 
2012 30' International
Walkerton , Virginia
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 3,166
I'll be heading that way in July - how about diesel? Did you notice if there were stations along the way? I can make about 300 miles between fills.

Thanks - Pat.
pmclemore is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-05-2006, 11:20 AM   #4
Rivet Master
 
Condoluminum's Avatar
 
2016 25' Flying Cloud
Sunnyvale , California
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,894
Images: 13
Send a message via AIM to Condoluminum
Fuel is available...

Fuel is available, including diesel, as it is used in agriculture, which seems to be the leading industry... There are a number of stops at exits from Interstate where Fuel Station and MiniMart seem to be the only structure around, but irrigation equipment and livestock indicate that ranching is taking plae as well, and homes are out of sight of highway... We plan to stop for fuel about every 200 miles when traveling, and never were uncomfortable on or near interstates in north or south dakota on several trips.

John McG
__________________
Condoluminum

In Theory, there's no difference between Theory and Practice, but in Practice, there is usually a difference...
Condoluminum is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-05-2006, 03:57 PM   #5
2 Rivet Member
 
Currently Looking...
Sioux Falls , South Dakota
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 36
I highly recommend Don Wright's Guide to Free Campgrounds. He lists lots of free or inexpensive places along US-2 in North Dakota. Many towns have a city park where you can park overnight, some even have electricity available.

Linda
elh3946 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-05-2006, 09:43 PM   #6
2 Rivet Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 45
Diesel is available at most Cenex stations www.cenex.com . You can check for locations and what fuel is available on their web site. On US 2 there are stations at Grand Forks, Lakota, Devils Lake, Rugby, Minot and Williston.

The North Dakota tourism web page list campgrounds throughout the state. http://www.ndtourism.com/accommodations/ I would call the location to verify the exact location and type of hookups.

NDLR
Bismarck ND
Ruebel is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-06-2006, 10:14 AM   #7
Ready-to-Travel
 
pmclemore's Avatar

 
2012 30' International
Walkerton , Virginia
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 3,166
Thanks, guys - I plan to keep a good log and will report for the benefit of future travellers.

Pat
pmclemore is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-07-2006, 09:27 PM   #8
3 Rivet Member
 
Bradjun1's Avatar
 
1999 34' Limited
1962 19' Globetrotter
Currently Looking...
Northern , Minnesota
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 190
Images: 19
Fuel is plentyful anywhere in ND. Many of the small towns have city campgrounds with city parks that are reasonable.
Bradjun1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-07-2006, 09:35 PM   #9
Rivet Master
Commercial Member
 
New Borockton , Alabama
Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 1,593
Images: 21
Free/cheap fuel or free/cheap campsites? I got lost. For camping sites, those books mentioned are priceless.
__________________
Randy...Converters, Inverters, Trimetric, Surge Protectors, Zamp, Smartplug, AGM Batts
888-828-1893
Bestconverter.com
68 Overlander is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-05-2007, 07:23 PM   #10
3 Rivet Member
 
2005 31' Classic
Gretna , Nebraska
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 152
Smile

Along Hiway 2, there is a cheap campground in the town of Stanley. It is across from the courthouse on the north end of town, Just north of the tracks. I think a couple days are free and then they charge.

While there go to the drug store for ice cream. I don't remember the name of it, but they have a one-of-a-kind shake maker. It's worth the stop for anyone who is interested in commercial history.

A nice city pool too.

Dwight
16595 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-05-2007, 09:02 PM   #11
3 Rivet Member
 
2005 31' Classic
Gretna , Nebraska
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 152
Check out this website for free campgrounds. The drug store in Stanley has a "Whirl-a-whip" machine.

Dwight
16595 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-06-2007, 04:00 AM   #12
Retired Moderator
 
john hd's Avatar
 
1992 29' Excella
madison , Wisconsin
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 4,644
Images: 40
if you like to boondock there are 3 nice spots in and around the spearfish canyon. hanna, rod and gun and roughlock falls.

stop in at the ranger station in spearfish for a map. it is right behind the wal mart at exit 10.

ten bucks a night with no amenities except for a pit toilet. nice and quiet.

if you need hook ups the city campground is right on spearfish creek next to the fish hatchery, cannot recall the price.

john
__________________
you call them ferrets, i call them weasels.
john hd is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-06-2007, 04:51 AM   #13
Always Airstreaming!
 
rickandsandi's Avatar
 
2005 22' Safari
1960 24' Tradewind
Anytown , Connecticut
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 3,115
Send a message via AIM to rickandsandi
WOW! People who have actually gone to North Dakota? Its funny, when you look at our decal map on the door of the Safari every state in the mid USA is filled in BUT North Dakota. Had a great trip in and through South Dakota but never made it north. Found plenty of towns with great camping parks for free, but also some very inexpensive $10 a night spots with full hook-ups.
__________________
J. Rick Cipot
Sandi Gould
NEU New England Unit
Airstream Life Magazine
Proud Member of WBCCI
WBCCI #3411
AIR #17099
2009 Silverado 2500HD
2004 22' Safari
1960 24' Tradewind
rickandsandi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-09-2007, 08:31 PM   #14
3 Rivet Member
 
2005 31' Classic
Gretna , Nebraska
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 152
I see I forgot to insert the link, so here it is:

Free Campgrounds for RVs

Yes, people visit North Dakota. Some of us even grew up there. Nice open spaces and great people. It's those "open spaces" that some people can't stand.

Dwight
16595 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-22-2007, 10:12 AM   #15
3 Rivet Member
 
Devils Lake , North Dakota
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 169
Wink

Quote:
Originally Posted by rickandsandi
WOW! People who have actually gone to North Dakota? Its funny, when you look at our decal map on the door of the Safari every state in the mid USA is filled in BUT North Dakota. Had a great trip in and through South Dakota but never made it north. Found plenty of towns with great camping parks for free, but also some very inexpensive $10 a night spots with full hook-ups.
LOL........ As a North Dakotan, we hope this perception continues. The
quality of life here is fantastic!! My nearest neighbor is 1 mile away (and
there are only 3 within 5 miles), air is clean, very little noise, wildlife like
I've never seen. North Dakota is the #1 birding state in the union.

I moved here in 1999 having lived in Minnesota and Corpus Christi, Texas.
I too had the flat, featureless preception prior to coming here. As I type
the sounds of the spring snow goose migration permiate my homes walls,
between 60 and 70 whitetails are feeding in last years corn field, and a
half dozen wild turkeys are amongst them. Out my kitchen window
yesterday I spotted a juvinile moose cruising toward the lake and the
bald eagles are thick due to their migration as well (saw 6 out the window
yesterday alone).

And fishing and hunting????? Unbelievable!! Eat your heart out Minnesota.
The fishing season never closes here, walleye the year long. Jumbo perch,
and 25# plus northern pike. I'm hoping to draw a moose tag, elk tag, or
the coveted Big Horn sheep tag this year. Long shots, but at least I have
a shot.

Soooo..... Yes, please continue to believe this is a barren wasteland.
Sundance is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-22-2007, 01:41 PM   #16
Rivet Master
 
flyfisher's Avatar
 
2004 30' Classic
Field and Stream , PA & MT
Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 819
Well, the Cabelas parking lot in Mitchell, SD is free, if you don't count how much you might spend shopping in their store.

My wife and I often stay overnight at the Rest Stop along I-90 at Chamberlain, SD. This large rest stop sits a bit farther than most off the interstate, high on a hill overlooking the Missouri River, and has one of the prettiest views that you'll see along any interstate highway. Although the Interstate rest stops in SD all say that overnight stays are prohibited we've never had any trouble in that regards, and there is even a highway patrol office at located at this particular rest stop, along with a nice Lewis and Clark exhibit.

John
__________________
Flyfisher
flyfisher is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-22-2007, 02:36 PM   #17
Lyle V
 
2005 28' Safari
Tullahoma , Tennessee
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 12
Many small towns have little campgrounds with free water & electrical & a separate dump station. Primarily because there are many people FROM ND that come back for the short summer. (Noon to 1 pm on the 4th of July) Everyone has either motorhomes or TT's. We took our 28 ft. Safari last summer (wife's family reunion). On the way up stopped at Jamestown to visit her sister, & parked on the street in front of her house for 3 nights. Nobody said a word.
(One summer we were there when a front came through early in the afternoon of the 4th, temps dropped to the 40's & my mother-in-law has never been able to live it down!)
Lyle V
Lyle V is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-22-2007, 06:42 PM   #18
Rivet Master
 
2017 27' Flying Cloud
2016 Interstate Grand Tour Ext
Altoona , Florida
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 1,644
Thumbs up The River

To really enjoy these states plan to travel and camp along the Missouri River. This mighty roughed country will make you think about our ancestors settling this wondrous country. Spend some time. Visit in the local cafés. You will meet some really proud Americans who love this country. You will see a country with beauty almost beyond description. Cheap fuel and camping - I'm already worried about you and think you need to spend some time in these grand states.
Poprivet is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-16-2007, 12:40 PM   #19
2 Winds
 
2 Winds's Avatar
 
1964 24' Tradewind
1959 24' Tradewind
St. Paul , Minnesota
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 11
Another way to do it (since most of that awesome wide open ND space is void of wireless internet connection), go to the link (North Dakota Travel Brochures) and order the free travel guide brochure. Then you have a hard copy with all the local campgrounds, etc. Suits my spontaneous style better. It is also available at rest areas along the way. ND is pretty friendly to travelers in this way. Hwy 2, aka the Highline, is a great route from Duluth MN to Bremerton WA.
2 Winds is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-04-2008, 05:10 PM   #20
1 Rivet Member
 
windstream's Avatar
 
1975 31' Sovereign
Denver , Colorado
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 10
Ya Oughta go ta North Dakota!

North Dakotans have a song, "You Ought to Go to North Dakota!," whose lyrics include: "...to see the cattle and the wheat and the folks that can't be beat...." But there's so much more.
I was raised in northeastern N.D. and have travelled all over the state. Every spring, I haul my '75 AS from my home in Colorado to a farm I own near my hometown. I'm joined for a week by old friends from North Dakota, both coasts, Chicago, Colorado, Texas and Minnesota, who come because they love the tranquility of the place, the unadorned loveliness of the rolling plains, the endless sky, and the openness of the natives. They also like the suds and spirits, food bbq'ed outdoors, the huge, blazing campfires with no restrictions, and tall tales. One evening, when it finally got dark, the crew "discovered" the sky and moved their camp chairs out of the farmstead's trees so they could see all the stars. There weren't any clouds, no city light pollution, and nothing in the way of a 360-degree view of the heavens. They were awestruck and sat out there on the edge of the farmstead till past midnight. Me? I'm a North Dakotan. I'd seen it many times before, the unblinking thousands of mini-spotlights, often with the Northern Lights. Ho hum. I beat the crew to bed by two hours.
We also like playing inexpensive golf on sweet little, tree-lined golf courses that almost every town up there has. One year, we moved our get-together to central N.D. to golf on the town courses around Lake Sakakawea. The crown jewel of these was The Links of North Dakota, a true links course of national stature east of Williston. The Links has RV parking. Other championship courses out west are Hawktree at Bismarck and the awesome Bully Pulpit at Medora. Medora is a great tourist destination with an outdoor, summer musical and plenty of RV slots, some along the scenic Little Missouri River. (Medora also is of historic pioneer importance and is the gateway to Teddy Roosevelt National Park and the Badlands.) But I dwell too long on golf.
Sure, if you want to make time, take I-94 or I-29. But if you want to see gorgeous farm and range land, some cool small towns, and stunning prairie vistas, take the state and federal highways. They all go east and west or north and south. There are only a couple of diagonals in the state. Plus, they all are good roads. They might look like trails to nowhere on the map, but virtually all N.D. roads are wide and in top shape.
Travel? U.S. Highway 2 is an excellent route. Start in Grand Forks, which has all the amenities of a bustling college town, including a great state RV park along the Red River in East Grand Forks, Minn. Devils Lake is 100 miles west and the city anchors an attractive resort area. There are three or four RV campgrounds around the lake itself. All the cities and most of the towns on U.S. 2, like other N.D. communities, have either RV campgrounds or city parks with hookups. Suffice it to say, nothing is real expensive in N.D., except for gas.
I've taken any number of other east-west routes off the interstate to get the Red River Valley in the spring and have found good places to eat, golf courses to challenge, and city parks to camp at. Returning to Colorado, I've stopped at Devils Lake to fish and then headed south on local roads with the same results. I usually stay over in Bismarck at Fort Sibley State Park's dynamite RV campground along the Missouri River. Maybe the nicest RV campground I've ever come across.
Fuel and food? Jeez, it's not the 1930s! I've never had a single problem in either N.D. or S.D. coming across fuel or food. Indeed, N.D. is an agricultural state where neither diesel nor gas is scarce. In fact, in the event you do run out on the road, there's every chance that the next pickup will be a farmer/rancher who'll help you get to the next town.
Scenery? It's exceptional, if you stop to smell the prairie roses. North Dakota's elevation rises from 750 feet where the Red goes in Canada to 3,500-foot White Butte near Amidon. More of North Dakota's surface is water than any of the states directly south, including Texas, or west from Montana to New Mexico. The Northern Plains are anything but barren. Like Sundance said earlier on this thread, N.D. is crammed with wildlife. The Prairie Pothole region is nesting ground for millions of waterfowl. Outside of the Valley, the landscape is hardly flat. (The Valley, well, it's flat, but then it has some of the richest farm land in the world. Should we complain?) The prairie everywhere swells into rolling hills dotted with groves of trees along the streams. Its colors are richly saturated, and the sky, both day and night, commands everything. Plus, I would like to see any other state match a North Dakota sunset, including those three on the West Coast. The larger rivers, like the Red and the Sheyenne, are edged with thick woods. Both the Missouri and Little Mo are spectacular. If you want a trip, start anywhere on the Little Mo and follow it through the Killdeer Mountains until it reaches the Missouri.
Someday, I want to boondock through North Dakota. I would anticipate no trouble camping on public or private land, with permission. But, more on that later. I could go on and on about N.D., as if I haven't already. In short, my advice to the wary traveller is: Go. You'll be surprised.
windstream is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
IT'S OFFICIAL: We're Airstreamin', no longer Dreamin'! sierrajb Member Introductions 26 01-11-2006 07:33 PM
2005 South Carolina State Rally smily WBCCI Rallies & Events 31 10-24-2005 08:00 AM
Where are Airstreams Jenturnr Airstream Motorhome Forums 4 06-17-2003 12:44 PM
big wind Perry Our Community 12 03-02-2003 12:24 PM
problem with Brakes jazzbone Brakes & Brake Controllers 33 08-23-2002 07:05 AM


Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Airstream, Inc. or any of its affiliates. Airstream is a registered trademark of Airstream Inc. All rights reserved. Airstream trademark used under license to Social Knowledge LLC.



All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:27 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.