West Bound and down...

Welcome to the forum. I like to use Roadside America when traveling. Maybe you can find something that interests your family.

Enjoy your travels.

Consider going thru La Crosse WI, southern MN, and into South Dakota. Drive southern SD towards Rapid City. Stop and spend time at Badlands NP. While in the Rapid City area, go see Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse. Drive south and see Fort Laramie in WY, reputed to be the most important frontier post to keep the Oregon Trail open. Drive south to Colorado, then west into Rocky Mt. National Park. South to I70, then home to Indy. This trip will be a blend of history and nature. Might even see some elk and moose in RMNP. I can't tell if you have only a total of one week available or one week camping available after driving. Whatever you do, have a great time. Bob

How old are your kids? That might make a difference as to what people might suggest. It sounds like you have a week to spend out in the Rockies, plus time to travel back & forth (total of another week?) PghBob has some good suggestions for you.

I might suggest heading straight to Colorado. I-80 will have more interesting things for kids, some pioneer-themed parks and some state parks. For example, Nebraska has the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer, Ft. Kearny State Historic Area (with Kearney State Rec Area nearby, decent CG there that your rig would fit into), and a delightful museum with great dioramas about the pioneer trek in a big arch over I-80 near Kearney. Ft. Kearny is a real fort - though it won't look anything like the stereotype - built in the late 1840s, with some of the buildings still standing or rebuilt, the ruins of others, and lots of artifacts.

From I-80, take I-76 from Ogalalla, Nebraska to the Denver area. Rocky Mt National Park is worth seeing, for sure. Other places in Colorado your family might enjoy: Colorado Springs (AF Academy, Garden of the Gods, etc.), river rafting (if the kids are old enough) near Buena Vista, and if it has recovered from a wildfire, Royal Gorge near Pueblo. Some decent CGs in those areas. Colorado has some nice state parks too - we stayed at Mueller (west of Colo Sprgs) and Golden Gate (Boulder-Golden area). Reservations recommended.

My family of 5 crossed the Mississippi for the first time three summers ago from N. Carolina. (28' TT bunkhouse) Best trip ever, but we did have the good fortune of having 3.5 weeks. As mentioned above, SW South Dakota is a great place to start. The Bad Lands are awesome and Mt. Rushmore and everything nearby (including Custard Park) are great. We then went to Cody to see a rodeo on the way to Yellowstone, which is a great trip along with the Tetons, but time may be an issue as each would take a couple days minimum.

Were are planning our next western adventure for next summer, Grand Canyon, can't wait!

A couple things we learned. Take a couple of spare trailer tires, you can always return if not used, but we went through 5 between two campers (in-laws traveled with us on their camper). (btw plastic levelers work great as jacks for changing tires, just stack up and roll the good tire up assuming you have dual axels) Also, get off the interstate some, great roads and awesome scenery in the west.

kknowlton wrote:
Colorado Springs (AF Academy, Garden of the Gods, etc.), river rafting (if the kids are old enough) near Buena Vista, and if it has recovered from a wildfire, Royal Gorge near Pueblo. Some decent CGs in those areas. Colorado has some nice state parks too - we stayed at Mueller (west of Colo Sprgs) and Golden Gate (Boulder-Golden area). Reservations recommended.

If you are in Colo Springs and have kids http://www.cmzoo.org/ is one of the coolest natural zoo's you will visit.

If you're only going for a week, you have to decide if you're going north or south in the Rockies. Can't do both in a week. Or even two. Late June should be OK in the north (Yellowstone, etc), but you'll probably run into brief cold weather. We even had snow in Yellowstone in mid-June.

Last September we went to Grand Canyon and back, almost 3 weeks. Really liked the Durango area, and lots of CG's there, lots to do.

Well we also can get snow in Colorado in May and infrequently June as well, even at only 5,000 feet. Weather can be very unpredictable in the Rockies - even in summer months, you can experience a 50-60 degree temperature change in one day, and changes in altitude can be even more extreme. Pikes Peak for example, can be 40 degrees at 14,000 feet, but in Colorado Springs, it can be 105 degrees just 8,000 feet below. Pikes Peak though, is worth visiting. On a clear day, you can see New Mexico, Kansas, and Wyoming from the Summit. I've heard people say that you can see Arizona as well, but I don't believe that. Another tacky tourist spot would be to visit Four Corners where you can stand in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah at the same time. If you happen to make it over the Continental Divide (and yes, I've seen 15 feet of snow in July there), the Colorado National Monument is also well worth seeing if you're heading towards Utah.

FoCoNoCo wrote:
in Colorado Springs, it can be 105 degrees just 8,000 feet below.

:R highest recorded temperature in Colorado Springs was 101F and it was recorded on 06/07/1874.