Heading West from WI

You may want to avoid US 2 around Williston ND. near the Montana border. There's still an oil boom going on. Food and Lodging, including RV parking are expensive and crowded. Check out the Bakken oil field information.
Once you're in Montana, US 2 is a good and scenic road.

Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything.
- Charles Kuralt

My favorite quote these days

Matt

Hello all,

Thank you for all the tips. Especially the road construction update. It is so helpful to get these suggestions during the planning stage. It makes the drive go better and everyone benefits.

I will look into all the suggestions and plot a more relaxing and enjoyable drive so we can enjoy the whole trip, not just the destination!

Thanks again!

Wendy

Theodore National Park is one of the parks best kept secrets but it is worth a couple of days. Search this Forum for it and you will get lots of info.
One caution on Route 2: don't let your gas gauge get below 1/4 even better 1/2 because not every town has fuel in an RV friendly orientation. And not every town had a 5 star RV park.
As I remember there is one section of 100 miles with no services but you are warned ahead of time.

I drove to Calgary from Mt. Rushmore last summer coming north on US 85 to I-94 where we stopped at the Teddy Roosevelt NP. There is a very nice RV park in Medora and dry camping in the NP. The park is worth a couple of days. We then followed I-94 into Montana where we drove north at Forrest Park on 200S and 13 to US-2. These were good roads with little traffic. We then followed US-2 over to Browning. This was a nice quiet drive with nice RV parks in Glasgow, Havre and Cut Bank. We spent one night at a city park in Shelby before we went into Canada. This year we are planning on coming east from Seattle on US-2.

US2 from ND to Browning isn't any more scenic than I94/90.

But if coming across ND on I94, and heading to Glacier, it does make sense to jog north to US2 once you enter Montana. However the last time I cross Montana I stayed on I94/90 to Billings and then drove NW to Great Falls and Browning. That was pleasant, especially the mountainous bit through the Little Belt Mtns (US89).

US Highway 85 will be under construction between Hwy 16 and US 2 and around Alexander in 2014. You definitely don't want to go through Williston with the Bakken boom going on. Better to take 200S north at Glendive, MT and Highway 13 up to US 2 then west from there.

Which route you take also depends on your timeline. If you need to make good time, then I-94 would speed up the trip. If you are interested in seeing Theodore Roosevelt National Park, you could take I-94 through MN and ND to avoid all the small towns, then north on Hwy. 85 in North Dakota (with stops at Roosevelt Park) to Hwy 2. Take Hwy 2 west through Montana because it is listed as SCENIC and the small towns are farther apart.

We also love Hwy 2 across the states.

I would come west on US 2. More scenery pleasant drive.