Travel plans, need your ideas?

As just suggested, be sure you take in one evening at Mt. Rushmore. The program, patriotic music, and lighting of the monument after dark are all quite impressive. If you have never been to Mt. Rushmore you might want to visit on two days--once in the morning for better lighting for photos and once in late afternoon--staying for the evening program. We have been there several times, but our visit the last time for the evening program was a highlight. Had two teenage grandsons with us and they were even highly impressed with the patriotic program. We arrived at about 4:30 pm and stayed for the evening program. You might want to take a blanket--as it cools off a lot as soon as the sun goes down.

We also enjoyed our drive through Spearfish Canyon, a tour of the gold mine in Lead where the kids panned gold, and a visit to the D.C. Booth fish hatchery at Spearfish--which is the oldest federal fish hatchery in the country.

One other idea--check out the High Plains, Nebraska ranch and bunkhouse in extreme NW Nebraska, north of Chadron, next to Toadstool State Park. They have limited RV hookups and one of the best steak dinners we have ever had, served bunk house style. The entire "town" is recreated and furnished with authentic High Plains buildings moved into the area by the owners. It is totally relaxing. Beautiful setting. Truly away from it all. And absolutely delicious food served in their dining room/bunk house area. Requires reservations, but worth every bit of trouble in finding the place. A great place to spend a few hours in the afternoon, spend the night in the middle of the prairie, and head on north into the Black Hills the next day.

Add in an evening trip to Mt. Rushmore. Especially if you are going to be there on the 4th of July. They do a night time lighting ceremony with fireworks pretty much every night but I would imagine it gets a little larger on the 4th.

The Presidential Trail to the left is fairly flat until you get past the good pictures of the Presidents. Just don't go down any more steps than you want to come back up. And come back the way you went in. Have a look at it on Google maps. When you zoom in you can see yellow lines crossing the trail every where there are steps.
I would stop at the Badlands either coming or going. We were on our way back on the motorcycle and wanted to avoid the interstate. We took Rt 44 out of Rapid City to Interior and then went up to I-90 from there. That allowed us to see some of the Badlands. But if we had more time we would have traveled Rt 240 to see more of it.

Agree with another post above - if I had to skip anything it would be the Crazy Horse Memorial. Expensive in comparison and touristy. The only redeeming factor in our opinion was the Native American dance demonstration we happened upon. Overall, we were disappointed. Our favorite things in the area were definitely the Custer Wildlife Loop, the Needles Drive and the Iron Mountain highway approach to Mt Rushmore. Wind Cave was interesting and we liked our Ranger Walk at Badlands Nat'l Park. Enjoy!

I say enjoy yourself each person is a little different as to what they want to do and the Black hills has plenty for all. from gambling to outdoors to shopping. We had a great time when we were there last time. you might like stopping in the Amana colonies if time allows, as suggested earlier.

Have been there multiple times. All of the above are great suggestions. The Mammoth site is great-incredibly interesting. I would highly recommend Bear Country USA as well. Lots of fun and just a very nice animal park. Wall Drug is much more commercial than it used to be and I found it a bit disappointing as compared to the first time I went there in 1984 but still worth a look. Love Badlands and Wind Cave as well.

double post

Everyone's different. Personally, I thought Crazy Horse was a dud; only a tiny bit of the rock carving is done and the "museum" on the grounds is more of a gift shop, very touristy and expensive for what you get. But the Needles drive is great and so is Hwy 385 through the NF between Rushmore and Deadwood. I stayed in one of the NF CGs along the highway and enjoyed it, other than the extreme amount of campfire smoke that night. Deadwood is definitely a sight to behold.

I like MI very well and get back there nearly every summer, but that part of SD is definitely worth a visit.

Update! Once again, thank-you for the quick responses.

We just made reservations at the Buffalo Ridge Camp Resort of the Black Hills Here.

My wife and I discussed it and decided to go ahead and take the 4 days traveling there and 4 days back again. That will get us arriving on July 4 and leaving the morning of July 13. We now need to schedule our stops going and returning. We decided we needed to take the less stressful drive and stretch it over 4 days so we have opportunity to enjoy things along the way too.

So now, we've got the primary reservation at the farthest destination point, now we need to fill in all the gaps!

Once again, thanks again!

As someone mentioned above.... avoid the Sturgis Bike Rally. If possible, also avoid the weeks before and after---there will still be large groups of annoying noisy bikers everywhere.

Lived in Rapid city for a few years and have been back quite a few times. Every time we find something new to do. We generally take two days from Dayton driving and stop at Wall and/or Black Hills. We stop at the Corn Palace in Mitchell they redecorate every year. The Black Hills is a drive thru if you don't want to hike and explore. There is a campground. Wall is a tourist trap but a good one. Plenty of big rig parking can walk to Wall Drug and downtown, also a decent campground near downtown. So much in the Park to do and see, don't go in early August during the Bike Rally unless that's what you are there for. The Bravo Missile exhibit is worth a stop if your into the cold war stuff. Of course Rushmore, cave tour, Crazy Horse, buffalo heard, Custer Battle field and lots of touristy stuff. Deadwood is still worth a visit but kind of a lost a lot since the Casinos moved in unless you like gambling. You will keep busy.