Travel advice - quick cross country trip

[sabconsulting]

Hi everyone,

Next month Sally and I are making a quick (3 week) cross country journey from Tennessee to Washington State. I've worked out a route to see the things I am really interested in - will be moving fast the first few days until we get to SD.

We won't have time to add any big venues or detours onto the journey, but I'm interested to hear from those of you who have done parts of the route if there are little things that are worth dropping in to see for an hour or so on the route. I.e. rather than stop to stretch our legs for 30 minutes at a gas station, why not do the same at some interesting attraction (themed diner / Stone Henge made of cars / lake with a great look-out point, etc. I know we will be passing major destinations in themselves and don't have the time to visit their major attractions, but I would kick myself if later I learned I had driven past some beautiful gorge or amazing attraction a stones throw from our route we could have at least dropped into for a quick look.

Here is the currently planned itinerary:

I40 / I24 through Nashville, St. Louis.
I64 / I70 / I29 through Kansas City, St. Joseph, Omaha, Sioux City, Sioux Falls.
I90 to Badlands.
I90 through Rapid City and 16 to Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial.
16 and then 24 up to Devils Tower, then back to I90.
Back onto 16 at Buffalo, Ten Sleep Canyon then possibly 20 and 26 down to Riverton and 26 / 287 to Jackson Lake.
Tour Jackson / Yellowstone for a few days.
191 back up to I90, then 200 and 83 past Swan Lake to West Glacier.
A couple of days in Glacier.
South via Flathead Lake to I90 again.
Follow I90 through Coeur D'Alene and onto 2 after Spokane (just to get off I90 for a bit and maybe camp by Banks Lake)
Back to I90 before crossing the Columbia River.
South on I82 at Ellensburg and west on 12 maybe having a quick look at mt Ranier and ideally drive up to Johnston Ridge Observatory get a good view of Mt St. Helens.

Any suggestions of nice state parks or dispersed camp locations along the route would be great too.

Thanks for any ideas in advance - not expecting anyone to bust a gut trying to put together a list, just if you happen to have stayed or visited somewhere along the route and thought "hey, that motorcycle museum was amazing" or something similar, would appreciate a heads-up.

Steve.

[BB_TX]

I, on the other hand, thought Rushmore was awesome 15 yrs ago and would go back now to see it again if in the area. Crazy Horse not so much as it was just beginning to take shape.

Little Bighorn Battlefield was interesting (for me) but quite a bit off your intended path. Buffalo Bill Cody Museum was great. Would definitely like to go back there.

And yes, Yellowstone is definitely worth a few days.

[coolmom42]

Don't spend more than 5 minutes in Wall Drug and 10 minutes in the Corn Palace, unless you like tourist junk.

The Minuteman missile range near the Badlands is worth a stop. Very interesting.

You can avoid some traffic by going north through IL and crossing the Mississippi in Moline/Davenport. Take I-24 to I-57, then up to I-64 and go west. Get off I-64 at IL SR4. Use SR4 to cut through to I-55 and take the I-155 branch up to Peoria. Pick up I-74 in Peoria and go over to Moline, and pick up I-80 there. It's a little convoluted, but it spares you going through St. Louis and Kansas City.

Rend Lake is a nice rest stop in southern IL.

If you take this route, check out the John Deere museum in Moline. The Loess Hills in Iowa will be on your right all the way up I-29, and there should be some good places to stop along through there. The Union Pacific railroad museum in Council Bluffs, Iowa is worth a side trip.

[JimK-NY]

Yellowstone and Glacier are worth as much extra time as you can manage. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and most of the rest of the attractions pale by comparison. On my first trip, Rushmore bored me. I did not bother with Crazy Horse. Spent 1 day at Devils Tower and had no interest in staying longer. I have been to Yellowstone and Glacier four times since my original trip.

[donn0128]

If this is a round trip, cancel everything. It will take you at least 4 hard days to make it cross country. That does not leave any time to site see and still spend any time in Washington.

[janstey58]

In South Dakota, the Corn Palace, Wall Drug and the Badlands are all worth a stop off I-90. Deadwood in SD is pretty cool too.