STL > SD > WY Route

[ststesting]

I'm trying to make some judgement calls without any experience. Judgement Guesses?

First trip in our trailer (minus the mini shakedown trip), tell me what I am doing wrong. Too aggressive?
22ft trailer, Wife and three kids (10, 3, 3) plus two older dogs.
Bringing mtbs, (I have a tandem the twins and I can ride on), and inflatable sups. We can get out a bit, but
are obviously limited on how much distance we can ride, hike, paddle.

The plan is
STL to Sioux Falls (The big day) 1 night (falls park)
Sioux Falls to Black Hills 3 nights (Rushmore, Needles, Badlands, 1880 Train)
Black Hills to Wapiti 2 nights (Drive Yellowstone South loop)
Wapiti to Cheyenne 2 nights Relax Day
Cheyenne to Lincoln 1 night
Lincoln to STL


Sioux Falls to Black Hills Leg
The Badlands - Stop there for a night trading one of the black hills nights or double back?
Was thinking I'd enjoy parking the trailer for 3 nights, but not if I have to double back that far.

Trade a Cheyenne night for a night in Grand Teton? We are so close, not sure when we'd go back, but that will create two rough driving days to get home, and not sure how much we be able to do there with the little ones.... Opinions please!

I imagine I'd regret squeezing a drive through Teton during the trip, regret not doing it after.

[JAC1982]

We spent 8 days in the Black Hills in June. We were probably ready to go after 6, but you could definitely find lots of things to do there to use up most of your time. If you did want a 'beautiful mountain' portion of your trip, consider a couple days in the Big Horn mountains near Sheridan/Buffalo WY. It's gorgeous there, but not nearly as far as Yellowstone. Could see Devil's Tower on the way over.

Also there's not much to do in Cheyenne. I'd try to limit that to just 1 day so you can spend more time in the more "fun" areas.

[craig7h]

I respect what you are planning, however I think you are planning way to much in a short period of time. When I plan trips I take the day drive night plus 2 nights as a min. That gives time to relax and really see the sights. Your list has way to many things you plan on doing. The 1880 train is a full day, badlands and wall drug at least two days. Its not like you are going to get up and get everybody starting a 6 in the morning. I would bet you would not get started much before 10 to see the sights. Oh how long do you plan on leaving your dogs in the camper!! I find 6 hrs for mine is ok 8 is a stretch. So that cuts into your sight seeing time. Just way to much going on, slow down cut this trip into two adventures I think you will be happier.

[ststesting]

Jeez I leaving a path of potatoes all the way to Seattle and I'm questioning everything.

Seriously thanks for the input. I think I'm gonna take a look at an alternate plan removing Yellowstone from the trip. That and Teton should be their own, and there is an awful lot in the black hills I would like to see.

[WE-C-USA]

Remember, it's a vacation for all family members. You're trying to put too many taters into that 5 pound sack. Slow down and everyone will enjoy more.

[narcodog]

I'll tell you from STL to Sioux Falls is a heck of a trip for your first day. Just north of the SD line is a great roadside rest, it's about an hour or so south of S.F. Gives you a chance to boondock one night. If would decide to stop there, here's secret, drive through the rest area there's road the leads to a small lake. You can park down there, it's quite and no one will bother you. If you don't like it then you can drive on. I also stop at one of the truck stops at Nebraska City. This is just in case you get tired.

[ken56]

I admire your enthusiasm to go camping and see the country but....when you say one night at some place when does that give you time to see anything? One night for us is just a passing through stop over. If you want to see things then its a 2 night stop at least. How many full days have you allowed to see things? Think about that.

Just because the speed limit on the roads up in SD and WY are 80 mph doesn't mean you have to go that fast either especially when towing. You have your family in the vehicle remember.

[valhalla360]

dedmiston wrote:

ststesting wrote:
Holy cow I hope it doesn't take 8 hours to go every 300 miles.

Nah. That should be a six hour day.

5 hrs drive time at 60mph but with that crew, you are likely stopping every 2hr for potty breaks (figure a 1/2hr if just potty to get all 5 handled plus misc stuff once stopped). Maybe an hour for lunch...that's 7hr if you don't include tear down and set up.

If it's on 55mph side roads going thru little towns where you have to slow down to 30mph every 5-10miles, that can easily add an extra hour.

Much more doable than 400-500miles, especially if not back to back travel days.

[TexasShadow]

your second itinerary sounds better to me... can't help you with the final two legs other than to say we have stayed at Sidney NE (Cabela's rv park), plus walmart, pizza hut, taco johns I think.
MO state highway 36 from St. Joseph to Hannibal is a pretty good road if you want to pass up Kansas City and interstate traffic.
There's a really nice state park called Wallace a couple miles south of Cameron, MO.
Another one called Long Branch state park at Macon, MO.

[gkainz]

dedmiston wrote:


My dad used to drive us coast to coast every summer and his schtick was that he would stop for ice cream for us, but only on the right side of the road. Dad, what a goober. He was just driving a pickup and not even towing, but he wouldn't make a Left for us.

Towards the end of my dad's life, he would say his one regret was that he should have turned left more often. Sounds a lot like your dad.

[dedmiston]

ststesting wrote:
Holy cow I hope it doesn't take 8 hours to go every 300 miles.

Nah. That should be a six hour day.

So this is an RV forum and not a parenting forum, but here's my unsolicited viewpoint anyway...

My wife and I talked when our oldest (late 20s now) was a newborn and we decided that there were two approaches to choose from, or at least a scale with opposite actions on either end. The choice was between predictability and spontaneity, a routine schedule vs. unpredictable randomness.

We decided to see what would happen if we kept things more fluid and spontaneous instead of sticking to a schedule. What if we did weird things with our kids (like your upcoming drive to Timbuktu) and made sure there were rewards and benefits in it for the kids?

My wife used to be a construction project manager and she took all three kids into the field with her in a baby backpack while she visited job sites. They got to see a lot of tough foremen making goo goo faces at them and pulling their fingers. The spent time in the office, time on the road, and time in the field. But they always got fed, changed, and loved.

That only lasted until they could walk, but at least they all got to spend most of a year with my wife instead of a nanny.

We kept it up and made sure there was always something exciting in it for the kids. Take them to the visitor center and buy them a lucite beetle paperweight. That thing fascinated them and it was the fist of many. Buy a book that will interest them and read it in the car. We drove all over Wyoming while my wife read the kids "Death in Yellowstone", the story of all the dumb things visitors did to get killed in the park. What a bunch of lessons and teachable moments we got out of that.

My point is, yes your kids will definitely be under a different stress on the long travel days, but there are ways you can minimize the pain and maximize the pleasure (as Epicurus used to say).

Start taking them out for more drives in your truck now. Drive an hour to a lake or river or something they love. Then drive two hours and stop at a Dairy Queen half way there.

My dad used to drive us coast to coast every summer and his schtick was that he would stop for ice cream for us, but only on the right side of the road. Dad, what a goober. He was just driving a pickup and not even towing, but he wouldn't make a Left for us.

If you make the trip hell for the kids, they'll pay you back double. But if you figure out ways to involve them and appease them to the point that it's fun, they'll pay you back positively for the rest of your lives. Remember that they probably can't see out the windows yet, so you can't torture them with the "wow - look at that" like my dad always did to me.

It looks like your trip is forming up. Go prep your kids with some drives and some fun and figure out a way to make it amazing for them on your stops. You'll never forget it.

[rdhetrick]

valhalla360 wrote:

- If everyone hated the trip, they will fight going the next time. Sure while they are under 12, if you say they go, they go but they will hate it double...and when they get in their teens, do you want them to try and avoid going with you at all?

This.

I'd suggest making sure your first trip is great for everyone - and that means spending time in the campground enjoying the rv - not simply driving by and checking things off of a list to say you've "seen" it. You've got many years ahead to see everything you want to see.

[valhalla360]

We usually plan on an average speed of around 50mph for planning purposes...That puts your short days at 8.5hrs. Add in little ones and you could easily tack on an extra hour for bathroom breaks, lunch, just letting the run off a little steam. Add in an hour for departure prep and an hour for set up...those are 11.5hr days. By the time you feed the munchkins dinner, it's probably going to be 7-8pm and you won't have any time for touring.

If I'm following correctly, you have 9 nights and 6 long days driving. Presumably the 3 free days would be busy touring...this sounds like a painful marathon. I get with limited vacation time, doing a hard day's run at the beginning and end of a trip just to cover distance but after that, it's really much nicer to slow down.

I think of it this way...
- If you have a great time and everyone really enjoys the trip, you'll probably find a way to do another trip to see the places you couldn't get to and the whole family will be chomping at the bit to go.
- If everyone hated the trip, they will fight going the next time. Sure while they are under 12, if you say they go, they go but they will hate it double...and when they get in their teens, do you want them to try and avoid going with you at all?

[ststesting]

Holy cow I hope it doesn't take 8 hours to go every 300 miles.
I think I see my issue (one of them). How do you guys weigh extra nights vs longer drives? Perhaps my thought process is wrong/pre-RV. I've alwaybe been a power-thru, minimize stops, relax when I get there driver.

I'd have thought that a longer(400mile) day followed by two nights is better then shorter days and towing every day...but I'm not used to having my lodging with me yet...probabaly better to poke along each day?
Something like this look better?

REVISED
STL to Sioux Falls (The big day) 590 miles
Sioux Falls to Badlands 279 miles
Badlands to Black Hills 123 miles 2 nights
Black Hills to Wapiti 390 miles 2 nights
Wapiti to Douglas? 293 miles
Douglas to ?, NE ~300 miles (not so excited about Nebraska, sorry NE)
?, NE to ?
? to STL

My nights went from
1-3-2-2-1 to 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 but less miles per day

I can probably add a night to get to 10, sounds like I should.

[Tyler0215]

No one will enjoy the trip. Way to ambitious. 250 to 300 mile days will be more than enough with the little ones. Even 300 miles will turn into an 8 hour day with rest stops, eat on the roll, doggy breaks.