Billings, Montana, Terry, Montana

Bismarck, North Dakota, Barnesville, Minnesota

8/13/2019 to  8/18/2019

Heading toward Ohio, just driving and camping

Tuesday 8/13/2019     Our drive this morning was 226 miles from the KOA in Butte to another KOA in Billings, Montana.  This KOA was the first KOA in the world.  I guess that's why the trailers are very close together in the section of the park where we were given a site.  The park must have been set up before the large trailers with slides and bus type RV's became so popular.  We had a difficult time setting up because there was a tree outside of our large slide and we had to pull up further to be able to put the slide out.  This didn't leave us much room to park the truck but I managed to back it in at an angle.  I also thought I'd booked a site with full hook-ups but it turns out it only has electric and water.  We're only here for two nights so we should be fine.  We left shortly after setting up to fill up the truck and find something to eat.  When we returned, there was a new trailer next to us that had two cars.  One of the cars was pulled sideways in front of their trailer and now I couldn't fit my truck in our site.  We looked around for some over-flow parking but only found a few spots for visitors.  I went inside and asked the employees if they had any other parking and he said no so I parked in one the visitor's spaces.  I need to say that the employees haven't been extremely helpful.  In fact, they never answer their phone.  We tried to call a couple of times on the drive here to inquire if we could check in early and they never answered.  I read a lot of reviews once we got here and people were saying the same things.  Some of the comments were that the employees were not courteous, the reviewers also thought they had reserved full hook-ups and the sites were too close together.  We're hoping we are able to pull the trailer out tomorrow morning, the roads are very narrow.  Around 7 pm we went for a walk to find the Yellowstone River which is very close by.  It wasn't an incredible view but I guess we're spoiled after all the beautiful national parks we've visited.  We also walked around to the newer side of the KOA.  There's a definite distinction between the haves and have-nots.  This side had spacious sites with patios and full hook-ups.  It was like night and day.  I guess I should have researched this RV park a little better.

Wednesday 8/14/2019     We didn't do anything exciting today just went for a ride around the town and visited a local mall to do a little bit of mall walking.  We haven't been hiking in several days so we wanted a little bit of exercise.  

Thursday 8/15/2019    We had to wait a short time this morning for our camper neighbor to the right of us to pull out of the Billings KOA Park.  He was waiting for his neighbor to his right to leave so he would also have enough room to maneuver.  By 10 am we were all able to leave.  I hardly ever write a review on a campground but I am going to for this KOA and voice my displeasure. We left Billings this morning and drove 183 miles to Small Towne RV Park in very tiny, Terry, Montana.  (last population count was 605)  We weren't sure what to expect at the Small Towne RV Park because it's not a commercial park.  It's basically just a man's side yard that he installed eight RV sites.  It does have full-hookups which is a step above the KOA we just left.  It was actually a very pleasant overnight stay.  The owner Mel, came out to greet us and show us where to pull in.  He also brought us a small trash can and a doormat to place by our trailer door.  The next morning there was a copy of the Billings newspaper waiting for us on the trailer steps.  It was a very nice overnight place to stay and very inexpensive.  He only charges $25.00 for full-hookups.  We paid $53.00 at our previous spot with no sewer.  

Friday 8/16/2019     We traveled 236 miles from Terry, Montana to Bismarck, North Dakota KOA.  This KOA was much nicer than the last one in Billings.  There was more space between the trailers and we wouldn't have any trouble pulling out.  It also had full-hookups.  We set up and went for a drive to see Bismarck.  We found a Red Lobster and had dinner with enough for leftovers tomorrow. 

Saturday 8/17/2019     Today's weather was very dreary with periods of rain and much colder.  We couldn't do anything outside so we found another mall and went mall walking again.  Afterward, we went for a drive to see more of Bismarck.  We drove past a small house that was completely filled with stuffed animals from base to roof.  We looked it up online and it was a prank accomplished by the man's friends when he was out of town.  We returned to the trailer, had our leftovers and just stayed inside out of the poor weather.

Sunday 8/18/2019     We left Bismarck around 10 am for the 216-mile drive to Barnesville, Minnesota.  This is another small town with a population of 2600.  Larger than Terry but still very small.  We are just staying for one night in a county park called Wagner Park.  It's a small park with full-hookups on a grassy circular loop.  We have no plans for the evening besides working on my blog and researching where we're headed tomorrow - Apple Valley, Minnesota.

Monday 8/19/2019     Today we packed up and headed for Apple Valley, Minnesota which is near The Mall Of America.

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