We get asked frequently “where are you?” or “where are you going?” Below is a running agenda of our travels and the stops Bright Dais Ahead will make in the USA.  Of course, this is a working list and subject to change, but we will frequently update.

Check back about our reviews or posting of some of the stops we make. We would love to get your ideas of stops or places to stay!

If you have been to a place along our route and have suggestions of things to do, please comment or let us know.  And if you are in the area, we would love to stop and see you!

Don’t forget to check out our Facebook and Instagram for the most current happenings and Bright Dais Ahead sightings and where we will be!

Disclaimer: We have not been paid to promote a campground and the reviews of the campgrounds are our own.

April 2020

• April 8^th – left Kansas City making our way to Tampa Florida.  Stayed in Mt. Vernon, Illinois for the night. (338 miles) (Hotel $80)
• April 9^th – quick visit with Caroline in Atlanta Georgia. (479 miles) (Hotel $125)
• April 10^th – arrived in Seffner, Florida at Lazy Days RV! (455 miles)
• April 10^th – April 27^th – stayed in Lazy Days RV Park* in Seffner, Florida. (Paid $33 per night, free breakfast.)
• April 28^th – Ragan’s Family Campground *in Madison, Florida (216 miles, paid $51.30)
• April 29^th – May 5^th – Camp Gulf *in Miramar Beach, Florida (208 miles) (Paid $117 night at a weekly discount plus resort fees)

Total April – 1,358 miles, paid $1,667

May 2020

• May 6^th – Bay Hide Away RV Park & Campground in St. Louis, MS (215 miles, paid $42 per night)
• May 7 – 8^th – Natchitoches Pecan Orchard RV Park in Natchitoches, LA (289 miles, paid $43.38 per night)
• May 9^th -10^th – Jellystone Park at Coyote Ranch RV Resort* in Wichita Falls, TX (395 miles, paid $69.00 per night plus resort fees)
• May 11^th – Blaze-in Saddle RV Park in Tucumcari, NM (338 miles, paid $25 per night)
• May 12^th – May 29^th – Moochdocking at Sherryl’s parents “Rancho de Brightwell” * in Santa Fe, NM (158 miles, FREE)
• May 30 – June 1^st – Dolores River Campground* in Dolores, Colorado (295 miles, paid $50 per night)

Total May – 1,690 miles, paid $490

June 2020

• June 2-4^th – Portal RV Resort and Campground* in Moab, Utah (118 miles, $55 per night)
• June 5 – Harvest Host at Rowley’s Southridge Farms & Big Red Barn in Santaquin, UT (195 miles, FREE after initial Harvest Host $75 yearly fee) Lakeside RV Campground*in Provo, Utah (191 miles, $44 per night) turned out it was expected to be 96 degrees, so we moved somewhere we with hookups, so we didn’t use the generator for AC power
• June 6^th – 9^th Bear Lake Marina Side KOA* in Garden City, Utah (158 miles, paid $63 per night)
• June 10 – 13^th Teton Valley Resort* in Victor, ID (158 miles, paid $65 per night)
• June 14^th – 21^st – Yellowstone Grizzly RV Park & Cabins* in West Yellowstone, MT (127 miles, paid $96 per night)
• June 21 – 23 – Bear Canyon Campground in Bozeman, MT (95 miles, paid $59 per night) needed this stop to get provisions and see friends!
• June 24 – Indian Campground & RV Park * (we were going to do two different Harvest hosts, but I mixed up the dates for our other confirmed reservations for one, and the other was a little too far and down a long dirt road, so to get our Wyoming State sticker, we did a quick overnight stop.) (300 miles, paid $45 for the night)
• June 25 – 26 – Elkhorn Ridge Resort* in Spearfish, SD (probably our most favorite park to date! Great location to Devils Tower and Deadwood.) (169 miles and paid $60 night)
• June 26 – July 1 – Fort Welikit* in Custer, SD (very much liked our stay here but wanted to stay at Rafter J which is supposed to be amazing. Also, Mt. Rushmore KOA looked sublime!) (65 miles and paid $45 night)

Total June- 1,381 miles, paid $1,795

July 2020

• July 1 – 3 – Sleepy Hollow Campground in Wall, SD (notice no asterisk, but if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all! We did like the proximity to Wall Drug which was fun for the girls and a trip to the Badlands.) (97 miles and paid $44 a night)
• July 3 – Harvest Host at Round Lake Vineyard in Round Lake, MN (358 miles and FREE! )
• July 4th – 9th – Hay Creek Valley Campground in Red Wing, Minnesota (213 miles and paid $44 night) (We made a detour to see our dear friends and former neighbors The Huddleston Family. We are crashing their family lake vacation. This campground doesn’t have a pull through so John will have to back in. Our campsite also only had 30 amp but we snagged a site with sewer. This campground had a lot of Seasonal/Permenant sites but they had horse camping which the girls loved!)
• July 9 – 15th at Sherwood Forest Camping & RV Park in Wisconsin Dells, WI (193 miles and paying $72 ($55 for site + $17 for extra people and vehicles) we paid extra because John’s parents will be joined us for the week.)
• July 15th – 20th Fremont Jellystone Park in Fremont, WI (103 miles and FREE! Finally getting to use our Thousand Trails membership)
• July 20th – 27th – City of Houghton RV Park in Houghton, Upper Michigan (273 miles and paying $28 a night)
• July 27th – July 30th – Big Cedar Campground and Canoe Livery in Germfask, MI (185 miles and paying $33 a night)
• July 30th – Mackinaw Island KOA in Mackinaw City, MI (83 miles and paying $51 a night) (This is a super popular campground and couldn’t get more than a night. If you want to see Mackinaw Island, book early!)

Total July- 1,505 miles, paid $1,200

August 2020

• July 31st – August 7th – Petoskey RV Resort in Bay Harbour, MI (40 miles and paying $59 a night)
• August 7 – 13th – Traverse Bay RV Resort in Traverse Bay, MI (56 miles and paying $80 a night)
• August 13-17th Poncho Pond RV Park in Luddington, MI – (100 miles and paying $50 a night)
• August 17th – 23rd in Camp Dearborn in Milford, MI (SE Detroit Area) to see Alyssa, and friends from our MI days (220 miles and paying $40 a night)
• August 24th – 26th in Twin Mills Camping Resort (165 miles and FREE using our Thousand Trails membership)
• August 26th – September 1st in Terre Haute Campground (274 miles and paying $50 a night)

Total August – 855 miles, budget $1,755

September 2020

• Sept 1 – 4th in Thousand Trails Horseshoe Lakes in Clinton, IN (30 miles and FREE with our Thousand Trails membership) We tried staying here for our complete Terre Haute stay, but the campground is upgrading their electricity and didn’t take any reservations for August.
• September 5 – 8th in Dayton, Ohio boondocking with some friends. (218 miles and FREE!)
• September 8 – 9 – near Ark Encounter, KY TBD campground (101 miles budget $100)
• September 10 -16 in Diamond Caverns RV Resort in Park City, KY (174 miles and FREE with Thousand Trails Membership)
• September 16 – 23 in Natchez Trace Thousand Trails in Hohenwald, Tennessee (169 miles and FREE with Thousand Trails Membership)
• September 23 – 28th in Florence, AL planning to boondock with some awesome friends or stay at the McFarland Park if we need a few days for sewer tanks. (58 miles and FREE!)
• Sept 28 – October 5th in Hidden Cove RV Resort in Arley, AL (84 miles and FREE with Thousand Trails Membership)

Total September – 616 miles, budget $100

October 2020

• October 5 – 12th in Lazy Acres RV Park in Lenoir City, TN (275 miles and paying $40 a night)
• October 12 – 16 TBD in Smokey Mountains (60 miles)
• October 16 – 22nd in Green Mountain Park in Lenoir, NC (165 miles and FREE with Thousand Trails Membership)
• October 22 – 26 in Forest Lake RV Park Resort in (75 miles and FREE with Thousand Trails Membership)
• October 26 – Nov 2 in Goose Creek RV Resort in Newport, NC in (265 miles and FREE with Thousand Trails Membership)

Total October – 840 miles, budget $520

November 2020

• November 2-5 at TBD at James Island County Park (342 miles and paying $60 a night)
• November 5 -12 at The Oaks at Point South RV in Yemassee, SC (63 miles and FREE with Thousand Trails Membership)
• November 12 – 17 at TBD in Asheville, NC (276 miles and $60 a night) Sherryl is meeting up with her sister for a girl’s trip!
• November 17 – 21 in Stone Mountain Park (225 miles and $60 a night)
• November 21 – 28 in Margaritaville RV Resort at Lanier Islands (47 miles and paying $90 a night) We will get to see Caroline and spend Thanksgiving week with her!
• November 28 – 30th at Jennings KOA in Jennings, FL (288 miles and paying $51 a night)

Total November – 1,241 miles, budget $1,210

December 2020

• November 30th – December 21st at Orlando RV Resort in Clermont, FL (185 miles and FREE with Thousand Trails Membership)
• December 21 – December 31st – TBD

Total December – 0 miles, budget $0

2020 STATS

• 22 States
• 45 Campgrounds
• 1 Harvest Host
• 3 Mooch-docking at family or friends
• 9,486 Miles
• $9,937 in campground fees ($8,737 in campground + $1,200 in Thousand Trails Membership Fees)
• Budgeted $13,500 – beat the budget by $3,563 mostly due to Thousand Trails membership.

How do we plan?

The 3-3-3 rule.

We try to stay at least three nights, drive no more than 300 miles a day, and arrive before 3:00 pm. Staying three nights gives us the chance to get to know the area, not feel like we are continually moving and more downtime for all of us. Driving 300 miles in a day doesn’t seem significant, but towing a big 42-foot trailer is exhausting for the driver. We also only drive 65 mph to ensure we don’t overheat the tires. Arriving by 3:00 pm gives us plenty of time to set up before dinner time, and we tend to be the rush of people in lawn chairs watching the big rig try and park.

The Budget.

We are budgeting $1,500 per month (including tax) for campground fees. This is a little on the higher side than some other fulltime families we follow, but we are more willing to pay more for campgrounds with more amenities. We like campground with pull-throughs (to avoid backing in the beast!). We like 50 amp electricity (to have the ability to run all three AC’s in the summer), water hook up and ability to dump sewer at our site. We also look for Wifi and amenities for the girls like playgrounds or pools.

We have joined and bought a membership at Thousand Trails which does have some fees involved for about $200 a month. So where we say we are staying for free, we actually paid $200 for the month as part of our membership. The total we paid for campgrounds does include $200 a month for July – December.

Note: per night fees may include discounts such as Good Sam, KOA, Escapees, Thousand Trails, or Harvest Host, all of which we are members of and paid membership fee. We did not include some fees or taxes in the quoted nightly rate but did include all fees and taxes in monthly totals.

Bright Dais Ahead Campground Approved

Those listed with an asterisk* get the Bright Dais Ahead thumbs up! A BDA recommendation means they are toddlers and parent-approved. When looking for campgrounds, we look for Full Hook-Ups of 50 amp electric, water, and dumping facilities, decent wifi and cell phone signal, dog friendly and kid-friendly which means playground or something fun to keep the little ones entertained.

LOOK AHEAD TO 2021

January – February 2021

• January 4 – 18 – at Orlando RV Resort in Clermont, FL (TBD miles and FREE with Thousand Trails Membership)
• TBD mostly. Looking to book more in Southern Florida including Ft. Myers and the Keys area.

We want to hear from you! Comment below and let us know where you are or your bucket list of places to visit! We look forward to answering your questions or comments!