It took us over a year and a half on the road full time to try Harvest Hosts and I wish we hadn’t waited so long! Here’s our experiences with some campgrounds in the Midwest!
First, what is Harvest Hosts? It is a membership that allows self-contained RVs to park at a business. There are SO many different types of places you can stay! Just in the Midwest, we stayed at a brewery, a farm, another brewery, a creamery, an orchard and another farm. There are churches, golf courses, farms, and SO many more! It’s an annual fee around $100 or so (you can save 15% if you use our link!) and if there is availability, you can park at the location. It is encouraged to spend $30 at the place. I’ve had folks joke that it’s a really expensive membership because you spend WELL over the $30 at each place. Most of the locations don’t have hookups (water, electric and sewer), which is why you need to be self-contained. Some let you run a generator if you have one.
But it is a much nicer stay than a rest stop or truck stop. It’s also nicer to have a confirmed place to park at night than hoping for the best. These stays are good for longer stretches where you need a stop over.
When we traveled to the Midwest in the summer and fall of 2023, we were able to stay at Thousand Trails campgrounds for a number of states, but there were a few that either didn’t have a Thousand Trails or the Thousand Trails campground didn’t meet our criteria (good internet, decent roads, and full hook ups). We’ve now stayed at eleven different Harvest Hosts and each one was a really wonderful stay.
Our first stop this summer was Folklore Brewing & Meadery in Dothan, AL. This was one of the few hosts that actually have power! This was so nice since it was July in the south, it was only $15 for power and we got some great food for dinner too. We did arrive a little later, so the kitchen was closed. But we enjoyed our time.
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Next we stayed at Crossing Creeks Farm, in Shelbyville, Tennessee. What was great about this one was the animals – this cat would not leave us alone and made setting up a longer process. It even tried to come inside a few times. We got some great food at the shop, which the owner opened up special for us.
Since we were so close and cutting through on our way up to Minnesota, we snagged a stay in Iowa. We stayed at PIVO Brewery & Blepta Studios. This was a nice and quiet stay. We had dinner and Bret had a few beers. We also tried this really fun food, High, Wide & Handsome. It was like a cinnamon roll, but with meats & cheese. Iowa absolutely stole our hearts, it’s a hidden gem of a state!
After we left Minnesota and on our way to Wisconsin Dells, we stopped at Nordic Creamery. This was a GREAT stop and we stocked up on cheese and butter, as you should in Wisconsin. We made friends with another family staying that night as well. Their dogs wanted to come hang out in our RV like that cat in Tennessee.
To cut up the trip from Wisconsin Dells to the Upper Peninsula, we stopped at Heritage Orchard in Chilton, Wisconsin. We were the third RV there that night and we made fast friends with our neighbors. We all sat outside our RV chatting and then we all walked down to watch the sunset in the orchard. And oh baby, we had ALL the apple things here! So so so good!
And the last one we visited on our way back south was White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Georgia. We actually bought a candle when we were in Ellijay, and fell in love with the smell! I booked this Harvest Host because it had grocery items, and it wasn’t until I was looking at their website that I realized it was the same company as the candle! Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a smell I liked when we were there, but all good. We loved the setup of this place! So much to do and it was a very easy in and out.
If you want to check out Harvest Hosts, you can save 15% with our link. Sharing affiliate links to things we actually use and like is really important to us. You won’t pay anything additional, and we get a little extra if you do sign up. If you do, let us know where you stay!
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