CHOOSING THE PERFECT CAMPSITE! Tips for Selecting the Best Place to Stay

We’ve made a lot of mistakes when choosing a campground for our #RV adventures and now we’d like to share what we’ve learned from these experiences. In this video we answer some important questions, such as:
- How trustworthy are online reviews?
- How do I determine what’s best for my traveling party?
- Who should I listen to when making a booking?
We’ll shed some light on how to make the best decision for the way you like to travel, and we share some hacks for working from the road.
We filmed this video in Hill City, South Dakota, and in it we explain the differences between our chosen campground (Black Hills Trailside Resort) and the world’s second-largest KOA down the street (Mt. Rushmore KOA Resort at Palmer Gulch). We break down why one might choose one resort over the other, and explain that either can be a 5-star experience, it just depends what you’re looking for in a vacation.
Other sights explored in this video include:
- Mount Rushmore National Memorial (Keystone, South Dakota)
- Custer State Park (Custer, South Dakota)
- Roberts Prairie Dog Town (Wall, South Dakota)
- Wall Drug (Wall, South Dakota)
- Badlands National Park (South Dakota)
- Crazy Horse Memorial (Crazy Horse, South Dakota)
- Wind Cave National Park (South Dakota)
Please like & subscribe to see our RV tour, watch videos from all our recent travels, and look for upcoming videos featuring more of our summer travels to the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona and beyond!
-- Our Gear --
Our RV: 2021 Keystone Passport 268BH
Our Truck: 2021 Ford F150 EcoBoost
-- Learn More -
Visit our blog: www.sabbaticalfromsuburbia.com
Find us on Insta: / sabbaticalfromsuburbia
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-- About Us -
Hello! We’re Amanda, Derrick & Myles, a suburban family who - along with our dogs Iggy & Brisket - are traveling the U.S. in an RV every chance we get, and working remotely while we explore. We're not full-time adventurers, but instead find opportunities to take sabbaticals from suburbia, while still making it back to our home base in time to keep a normal school schedule for the kiddo. While life on the road can sometimes be “ruff,” we make it a priority to savor the beauty around us while bonding as a family.
- Why We’re Vlogging -
Amanda is the travel planner in the family, and Derrick & Myles are always happy to join in on whatever shenanigans she cooks up. But we’ve noticed that the boys tend to have a pretty bad memory about these adventures after the fact. By vlogging our travels, we hope to have a lasting memory (or at least video evidence) of the places we’ve explored together as a family.
- What Inspires Us -
When we first started RVing we found KZbin to be a valuable resource in finding RV tips, tricks and travel advice from experienced #rvlife couples and families. We gathered advice for traveling with kids from KZbinrs such as Less Junk More Journey; gathered general technical advice from helpful resources like Keep Your Daydream; laughed along with Happily Ever Hanks; accumulated travel planning suggestions from Travels with Robert; followed along with others who were new to RVing like Kara and Nate; and appreciated the wisdom that came from the years of experience that Changing Lanes has to offer. Ultimately we decided to take the leap into this #glamping life after following along with Adventures of A+K, who showed us a world we couldn’t wait to explore, and who continue to inspire us with amazing new content weekly. While we’re still working and aspiring to achieve even a fraction of the quality videos that these channels produce, we highly recommend following each of these vloggers for even more amazing RV content!
#RV #RVing #RVLife #RVLifeWithKids

[@LayilaFaon]

Extremely beautiful places wow

[@SabbaticalFromSuburbia]

Thank you! We agree - South Dakota is a gem!

[@BrokenDreamsReborn]

We are planning on going to the Black Hills next summer! We also rely on good internet and we check the coverage maps and they are not full proof either, lol! Thanks for sharing! ~ Shion and Matthew

[@SabbaticalFromSuburbia]

Internet truly is king! It's tough in the Black Hills because, well, there's hills - ha! But, I am also terrible about checking coverage maps like I should. I'll definitely heed that advice for future stays!

[@GimpyCamper]

We stayed in Wall a couple weeks ago at the nomad view area which was AMAZING! I’d hate to have to depend on WiFi… I’ve stayed 2 places in 3 years that had decent WiFi but I usually don’t do the resort thing. I think the answer for the future is definitely starlink but we aren’t there yet. I’ve never stayed at a KOA because the one here where I live charged me $5 for my kid to visit her grandpa in his own camper 5 years ago… I can hold a grudge… but as I said I usually don’t do that type of place… I prefer plenty of yard space.

[@SabbaticalFromSuburbia]

We definitely prefer open space as well, and that’s what I look for when we’re not working. But when we are working, finding decent wifi is, for sure, a fool’s errand 😜 KOAs are interesting though because they are wildly inconsistent - both in terms of quality and also when it comes to fees. Being charged extra for kids/dogs is something we also try to avoid when possible. So many things to consider when booking a spot!

[@rventureawaits]

Nice job on this video.

[@SabbaticalFromSuburbia]

Thanks so much!

[@michaelcertain415]

Don't feel too bad Amanda. I have booked us into more than a few "gems". LOL! Custer State Park is supposed to be very nice!

[@SabbaticalFromSuburbia]

I've definitely made mistakes in the past, but I was proud of how much better I'd gotten at choosing a place to stay... which is why this "miss" stung so much! Custer was so gorgeous though! Our next video will feature our time there, and I am 100% sure we'll be back. Next time maybe we'll camp in the park (assuming we don't need wifi or internet that is).

[@michaelcertain415]

@@SabbaticalFromSuburbia We all get bitten on occasion. I booked us at Guntersville State Park in AL while our daughter was at space camp. It looked so nice, and some of the park was. We were packed in like sardines in our loop. Worst design ever. To make it worse, there was a problem at the electrical post so we were getting shocked every time we opened the trailer door. Yikes :)

[@ChasingOurSunshine]

Campsites are hit and miss- some are wonderful and some are set up bad- Budget and internet if working are so important to find. KOA looked really nice and huge- great tips- Chasing RV Sunshine ☀️ Joel, Deb & 🐕 Maya

[@SabbaticalFromSuburbia]

If only campgrounds could fix this internet problem! But we’re hopeful this will improve over time :)