Road Trip Help

[Cady Creek]

I would echo most of the above. SD is really cool. Badlands, Rushmore, Custer Park, and Spearfish Canyon. However, your end goal is Montana. Once you get there you will see just as much cool shit as you would have if you stopped along the way. IMO anyway.

 

[Dos Perros]

I would detour off that route, go to Cody WY, then up and over the Chief Joseph Highway, over to Cooke City, and through the park.

 

[Dos Perros]

Let me know if you're stopping in Kansas City at all and I can point you the right way there (here).

 

[wesfromky]

If you are wanting to spend time in the big parks during prime tourist season with that size of a rig, you need to be thinking about reservations now.

Other then that, bandlands/blackhills/deadwood are worth some time on the way out.

 

[CB4]

Omaha NE - with your kids age they have one of the best zoos in the country (Henry Doorly). I know its not the outdoorsy western road trip type thing but your girls would love it. Reasonably priced tickets. You could do that and then go park the camper and stay at Mahoney State Park. It is just SW of Omaha. A little out of the way.

SD badlands would be the next stop. About a good days worth of driving between the two with the family.

 

[wingmaster]

We crisscross the country a lot, some ideas based off your current route:

Arthur Bryant's BBQ in Kansas City - Burnt ends started here!
NRA Sporting Arms Museum in Springfield, MO - Located in the flagship Bass Pro Shop, includes guns owned by Eisenhower and Teddy Roosevelt
Cahokia Mounds near St. Louis, MO - World Heritage Site, climb the stairs to the top of Monks Mound with a view of St. Louis and the Gateway Arch at the top.
Black Hills in South Dakota - Too many attractions to list, check nps.gov to see all the National Park sites. Wind Cave and Jewel Cave tours sell out months in advance. You might even be able to get a tour of the Missileman Site if the dates work. Wall Drug is the best attraction in the U.S.
Devil's Tower in WY - Make sure your family has seen the Close Encounters movie before you come here!

Haven't been to the famous Iowa State Fair, but it's in August so you might overlap.
Also haven't been to the National WWI Museum in Kansas City, but that's an option.

@Marshfly makes a good case for Colorado-Utah-Wyoming if you haven't been to those states before.

 

[Fowl Play]

Thanks guys! This helps. Definitely have allot of planning left to do. National park sites will need to be reserved 6 months out. Main plan is to visit family and stay in some less congested forests/ parks until around early August when most of the summer crowds will die off as kids go back to school. Then start hitting the big ones. Plan was to start from North to South -- starting with either Glacier or Banff (I think Canadians go back to school in September)... which is why I would be taking this route up there, then make my way South through to New Mexico.