Centrally located- or not to attractions.

SDcampowneroperator wrote:
Often times the question arises about how central we are to the attractions.

I would like to share my experience as a pipeliner, camp owner and extensive traveler with you about the ' centrally located mindset.'
In pipelining for instance the contractor has 3 choices to set up offices and warehousing on a 100 mi. ' construction spread', say there is a town at each end, one in the middle.
It makes no difference which town is chosen, because the travel time will all be the same if the work is equal; however if the work is weighted towards one end, then it is beneficial to choose a town nearer to that work as long as it has the accommodation for the manpower.
Equate that thought into RV vacation travel. The common misconception is to be 'central' to the attractions, however if you were to visit each attraction within the radius of your campsite once, the travel time will be equal whether you are on the fringe of the area or central. Should you wish to go to one attraction more than once, then it is beneficial to stay closer to it if lodging travel costs and time warrant it.

Inagine a circle. decide whatever distance you are willing to drive to the sites. Place yourself within that circle, Choose any camp, the best camp within that circle that suits you. It will all be the same travel time to the attractions you wish and likely less costly than that one ' centrally located '

I would agree that the distance driven will be the same and that the overall driving time will be the same. However, if you are truly in the center of where you will be driving, the longest driving day will be half of what it would be if you were at the edge of the circle. In a circle with a radius of 100 miles if you were located at the edge some drives would be close to 200 miles round trip. Whereas if you were at the center, none would be longer than 100 miles round trip. Like I said earlier the overall driving time and distance will be the same but some will be longer and some shorter if you are closer to the edge.

By finding a campground "centrally located", most of where you would be travelling would be closer to where you are camping and only one or two trips would be a long distance. I would much rather be camping in Rapid City, Custer, Sturgis or Spearfish than in Wall since most of the attractions I would be visiting would be short trips with only one or two at Wall or East of Wall. Since we have seen most of that area multiple times I would actually rather be staying in Custer State Park at Gamelodge since most of our trips from there would be on the Wildlife Loop which starts within a 1/2 mile of the campground. The Needles or the Ironhead highway would be about the only other trips we would make and they are close by as well.