Surprising South Dakota

With just about a week to go, we are still doing some last minute planning for the trip. We have the first 30 or so days planned in some detail, but not the last few days of the trip when we are heading back home from Yellowstone. We are spending three nights in South Dakota but based on the number of things to do we should have planned more nights, especially in the Black Hills area.

The first night is in Deadwood and that looks like an interesting tourist town. Deadwood was a gold mining boom town back in the late 1800’s, but it is also famous for being the place where Wild Bill Hickok was killed playing poker in 1876. It is probably even more famous today from the HBO series, but as we haven’t seen any of that we will have to stick to history. They re-enact the shooting of Wild Bill Hickok several times a day and hopefully we will be able to see one of them. Our hotel there is also a casino, so if I ever draw aces and eights, I’m folding.

Our main reason for stopping in Deadwood was that it is close to Mount Rushmore which we are seeing the next day. What we also discovered is that there are a lot of other interesting things to do in the Black Hills. In addition to Mount Rushmore, we are now going to try to squeeze in a 2-hour train ride on a replica of an 1880’s train, a visit to Wind Cave National Park to do some cave exploring and a scenic mountain drive through Custer State park for some animal watching. That is going to make for a pretty full day and doesn’t even leave us time to visit the Crazy Horse monument. Oh well, there are only so many hours in the day. When that day is done, we spend the night in Rapid City.

The next day is spent travelling across South Dakota to Sioux Falls, but we are taking some detours to see Wall Drug, a drive through the Badlands National Park, the Corn Palace in Mitchell and maybe a stop at a prairie dog town along the way. It is going to be another long day.

Inbound Itinerary

Tuesday, Sept. 28

7 hour drive to Winnemucca, NV

Winnemucca Inn & Casino

Wednesday, Sept. 29

5.5 hour drive to Salt Lake City, UT with stop at Great Salt Lake

Tour Salt Lake City, Temple Square

Airport Hilton

Thursday, Sept. 30

5.5 hour drive to Jackson, WY via Idaho

Buy lunch supplies for 3 days in the parks.

6:00pm - Bar T5 Covered Wagon Cookout.

Homewood Suites

Friday, Oct. 1

Tour Grand Teton National Park - Craig Thomas Discovery & Visitor Center, hike at Jenny Lake. Picnic lunch.

Tour lower Yellowstone National Park, Yellowstone Lake, Old Faithful.

Dinner at Old Faithful Inn Dining Room

Old Faithful Inn

Saturday, Oct. 2

Tour Yellowstone - Upper Geyser Basin; Midway Geyser Basin; Firehole Lake Drive to Great Fountain Geyser; Fountain Paint Pot; Lower Geyser Basin, Monument Geyser Basin, Artists Paint Pot, Steamboat Geyser, Norris Geyser Basin. Picnic at Norris. Upper and Lower Falls (Some walking required), Roosevelt Lodge.

Drive out into Lamar Valley to animal watch at dusk.

Dinner – Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel

Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel

Sunday, Oct. 3

Sunday Breakfast Buffet at Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel

Tour upper Yellowstone - Albright Visitor Center; Walk around Historic Fort Yellowstone; explore road south towards Norris

3 hour drive to Billings, MT

Hampton Inn

Monday, Oct. 4

2 hour drive to Little Bighorn; tour battlefield.

4 hour drive to Devil’s Tower

1.5 hour drive to Deadwood

Hampton Inn

Tour Deadwood; Cemetery (Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane)

Tuesday, Oct. 5

Drive to Wind Cave National Park and take cave tour

Drive to Mount Rushmore National Park and tour Information Center, Lincoln Borglum Visitor Center, Lakota, Heritage Village.

1 hour drive to Rapid City, SD

Hampton Inn

Wednesday, Oct. 6

2.5 hour drive to Badlands National Park Visitor Center and driving tour of park

4.5 hour drive to Mitchell SD and tour Corn Palace

1.5 hour Drive to Sioux Falls, SD

Homewood Suites

Thursday, Oct. 7

6.5 hour drive to Coralville, IA (University of Iowa) via South Sioux Falls, NE

Hampton Inn

Friday, Oct. 8

7.5 hour drive to Toledo, OH

Hampton Inn

Saturday, Oct. 9

2 hour drive to Cleveland;

Tour Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Doubletree

Sunday, Oct. 10

7.5 hour drive home

Outbound Itinerary

Thursday, Sept. 2

7 hour drive to Christiansburg, VA.

Hampton Inn Christiansburg

Friday, Sept. 3

6.5 hour drive from Christiansburg, VA to Mt. Juliet, TN

Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 5-7

Golf Saturday and/or Sunday

Stay with Gran

Wednesday, Sept. 8

5 hour drive to St. Louis. MO

Tour Anheuser-Busch Brewery

Driving tour of St. Louis – Old Courthouse (of Dred Scott fame); Laclede's Landing and the cobblestone riverfront, Basilica of St. Louis IX, Union Station, St. Louis Soldiers Memorial, and Busch Stadium.

C&K BBQ Takeout

Doubletree Collinsville/St.Louis

Thursday, Sept. 9

Gateway Arch - Riverboat ride on Mississippi; Ride to top of Arch; Museum of Westward Expansion

St. Louis Museum of Art

Missouri Botanical Gardens

Ted Drewes Custard

Doubletree Collinsville/St.Louis

Friday, Sept. 10

4 hour drive to Independence, MO

Tour Truman Home - National Historic Site

Driving tour of Kansas City, including Country Club Plaza

Hilton Garden Inn Overland Park

Dinner - Oklahoma Joe's BBQ

Saturday, Sept. 11

6 hour drive to Colby KS

Ball of Twine - Cawker City, KS

Hampton Inn Colby KS

Sunday, Sept. 12

4 hour drive to Colorado Springs

Tour Colorado Springs - Garden of the Gods; Air Force Academy

Evening – Meg and Rick

Monday, Sept. 13

Drive up Pikes Peak

Do Laundry

Evening – Meg and Rick

Tuesday, Sept. 14

4 hour drive to Taos, NM

Tour Taos - Kit Carson home and Taos Pueblo

Snakedance Condominiums - Taos Ski Valley, NM

Wednesday, Sept. 15

2 hour drive to Santa Fe

Georgia O’Keefe Museum

Tour Santa Fe

Dinner - Bobcat Bite (featured on Food Network)

Hilton Santa Fe Golf Resort & Spa at Buffalo Thunder ($50 gambling credit)

Thursday, Sept. 16

One hour drive to Albuquerque

Tour - Abruzzo Albuquerque Balloon Museum; Sunshine Building (featured on In Plain Sight) and University of New Mexico.

New Mexico State Fair - 7pm Rodeo and Mark Chesnutt concert

Hilton Albuquerque

Friday, Sept 17

Sandia Peak Tramway, tour Old Town; Albuquerque Museum of Art and History; Shopping

Dinner - La Hacienda Restaurant

Saturday, Sept. 18

2 hour drive to Gallup, MN partially on Rt. 66

Lunch – Gallup: Ranch Kitchen. Typical Rt. 66 diner. Recommended: Lamb stew, Navaho Taco, fry bread

2 hour drive to Shiprock, NM

30 minute drive to Tec Nos Pos Trading Post

Four Corners Monument

45 minute drive to Cortez, Co

Holiday Inn Express Cortez

Sunday, Sept. 19

Tour Mesa Verde - Far View Visitor Center, buy Cliff Palace Ranger-guided tour. Tour Cliff Palace, Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum, and Spruce Tree House (if time)

3 hours drive to Moab, UT

Hampton Inn Moab

Monday, Sept. 20

Tour Arches National Park. Drive to the Windows Section and one-half hour walk to either North Window or Double Arch. Drive to the Delicate Arch Viewpoint, stop at Wolfe Ranch.

5.5 hour drive to Bryce Canyon

Best Western Bryce Canyon Grand Hotel

Tuesday, Sept. 21

Tour Bryce Canyon. Visitor Center, drive to Rainbow Point, hike Queen’s Garden Trail (1.8 miles)

2.5 hours– Drive to Zion National Park

Pioneer Lodge Springdale

Wednesday, Sept. 22

Tour Zion National Park. Visitor Center, take Zion Canyon Shuttle to see park, hike Emerald Pool Trail (1.2 miles), take shuttle back to Visitor Center and leave

3 hour drive to Las Vegas

Las Vegas Hilton

Thursday, Sept. 23

R&R at the Hilton

Friday, Sept. 24

9 hour drive to San Jose

Saturday, Sunday & Monday, Sept. 25 to 27

R&R in San Jose with Bill and Margaret

One Month to Go

Ready or not, we are just about one month from our departure. That means we in the last stages of fine tuning for the trip. Here is a short list of last minute items:

• Added one day to the beginning of the trip so that we are now up to 39 days.
• Bought tickets for the evening rodeo and Mark Chesnutt concert (“Bubba Shot the Jukebox”) at the New Mexico State fair and the Chuck Wagon dinner ride at the Bar T5 ranch in Jackson, WY.
• Planned our stops and hikes for the National Parks.
• Added stops at Wind Cave and the Badlands National Parks in South Dakota
• To stay connected since neither of us has a data plan for our phones; we bought a Broadband2Go adapter (thanks to Steve!) for our laptops which will let us get Internet as we drive along and in hotels without service.
• Accumulating books on tape for the trip. With over 150 hours of driving, it will take quite a few.
• Buying items such as duffle bags, travel books and car organizers to make the trip easier.
• Collecting GPS addresses, cleaning off camera, cards, etc.

We leave for Ocean City, MD on August 14 and that will be a mini trial run for us. We are going to test the Broadband2Go and I’m going to move Quicken to my laptop so that I can test paying bills on the road.

I suppose I would say we are almost ready to go. In fact, we are probably anxious to go now as it is so close.