Come August 3rd, my wife, 5 y/o daughter and 19 y/o step-son will be flying to Corvallis, OR to buy a 2005 SMB from a fellow member here on the forum and drive it back to NJ. We, of course, are knee deep in the planning stages of the trip with only two weeks to make all of our arrangements. As you can imagine, it's slim pickings along the route, but so far we've manage to get a few things buttoned up.
Monday night - hotel in Newport OR
Tuesday night - campsite Caldwell (along 84)
Wednesday night - campsite Madison (Yellowstone)
Unfortunately, we don't have all the time in the world to make this trek and need to be home by Wednesday morning August 12 in order for me to be back at work.
3200 miles in 8 days ~seems doable
We are currently looking for something to do for the following portions of our trip.
1. between Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore. Preferably a campground worth staying at. Shell Falls, Devil's tower, etc. We don't want to have to travel too far after leaving Yellowstone so that we can spend most of the day exploring Yellowstone before we head out.
2. After Mt. Rushmore (we are staying in a hotel in Rapid City), we are considering a water park in Sioux Falls to give the kids a break from beautiful scenery. Anything else we should check out?
3. From Sioux Falls to Des Moines? Possibly camp.
4. From Des Moines to Chicago? Where in Chicago? We'll like want a hotel here.
Any first hand experience would be much appreciated.
Here's our route so far:
Our Google Map Route
Hybrid Mode
