Cross country road trip

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Leah

Leah

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 29, 2009
Messages
99
Location
Georgia
Over spring break (March 6-15) my boyfriend, mom, and myself are moving my best friend, Chris, in Oregon across the country to here in Georgia. We are flying out of Atlanta on the 7th and just need to be back in Georgia by 4:30 on the 15th. We're going to be driving Chris's Durango and pulling a massive trailer behind it with all of his stuff.. We just are looking for things to do along the way!

The route we are looking to take (which seems to be the shortest) is down through Oregon, Idaho, across Utah, Colorado, and some random mid-west states that I don't remember, to Missouri, TN, then here to GA. The only set things we are going to do are seeing the arch in St. Louis and staying overnight with a friend in Memphis.. Other than that, we are free for suggestions!! Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions on neat things to do through those states?

We were looking to go to a national park in Wyoming, but the website says there will still be freeze warnings at that time of the year. Though Chris is experienced in driving in snow and ice, we really would like to try and avoid it.

So.... any ideas?!
 
SD is right next to Wyoming and Rushmore is here, as well as the Badlands, Custer, Deadwood, Wounded Knee, etc. Huge historical significance in the western part of SD.
 
Make sure the Arch isn't flooded when you go.

It floods a lot. Pretty annoying, really, but it's neat to go up in it. It's been raining a lot around here, so I'm sure the rivers and creeks are up a bit.
 
Peggy, we were going to take that route across Montana into SD then down, but mom is really afraid of the weather up there. We aren't used to anything lower than 50 degrees on a regular basis, lol. In early March, does it still snow up there?
 
It is hit and miss Leah. Right now, we've got nothing. Nebraska is hard hit, but not here. It has been like 45-55 on this side of the state, and the western side has been up higher in the 60's.

Remember though, SD is a drier cold/heat, so even when it's cold, it isn't usually hideous cold unless you start to really drop into the 20's or below.

The lighting ceremony at Rushmore is well worth the cold though, even if it does drop. It's just gorgeous. :)
 
If you're going through Colorado, you should go through Rocky Mountain National Park if you pass by Denver. I'm guessing though, that with the route you described, you're heading through further south and passing into Kansas. In that case, you might want to stop at the Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs. It's a pretty neat place. By the way, there's only one "random midwest state" between most of Colorado and Missouri, and that's Kansas.
 
map.jpg


Here is a map that Mapquest provided that shows the route we are looking to take.

BTW, the stars on the map are for Beaverton, Oregon; St. Louis, MO; Memphis, TN; and Columbus, GA.
 
I've done parts of that drive many times (the Oregon - SLC - then split off northern to Iowa part). Sorry to say, but the first long day (you'll get to SLC if you drive 14 or so hours) is pretty boring.

I've done the XC drive once via SD and took the detour to Mt. Rushmore that Peggy talks about. It was well worth it and really neat to see. Who knows how long it will still be around with erosion, so I would recommend it.

BTW, your friend lives in the same town I do :) Did you ever make it out here to visit during our yucky Christmas weather?
 
I've gone from Chicago to my sister in Seattle and back, but took the "northern route", in Sept. [90 - 94] Since we've had snow in May around here, I'd prefer to go the "southern route" in March, especially with a trailer! In looking at the atlas I have, I'd get to Rt. 40 as soon as possible, and take that east. Ice and snow with a trailer is death-defying, and although maybe a little longer, better safe than sorry, in my opinion!
 
Tiatrack said:
BTW, your friend lives in the same town I do :) Did you ever make it out here to visit during our yucky Christmas weather?
Click to expand...

I did! I was delayed in Atlanta for about 45 minutes, but safely made it to PDX! The view from the plane with all the snow on the ground was AMAZING. We departed on time to Honolulu, but we were delayed about 2 hours leaving Honolulu to PDX.

Chris said it was snowing there AGAIN a few days ago. My boyfriend and I are flying into JFK then into PDX on March 8... and my mom is flying straight into PDX on the 5th. HOPEFULLY all the weather will be cleared up by then! I'm sort of sad Chris is moving down here.. I enjoyed flying out there a few times a year.
 
How about taking a detour to Ft Myers and checking out my new house!
 
Peggy, we have actually replanned our entire route and are taking the way through SD. We're leaving Portland, going to Spokane (where my mother is a catching a flight back to Ga), going to the place where Custer's Last Stand was (Cross Arrow? or something like that), Mt. Rushmore, the Bad Lands national park, St. Louis, Memphis, then hoommmeee... and of course random spots to spend the night during that whole thing. We plan to be home early Saturday morning, but we'll see!
 
You won't regret it Leah. The Badlands are awe inspiring. If the weather is decent, be sure to get out and follow some of the paths. Most of the animals out there could care less about humans in their space. They just stare at you.

Rushmore is incredible. Take along a water bottle and walk the path down to the museum and stuff.

Custer's last stand is hard to describe. There's nothing really there, other than markers and historical explanations, but if you take a moment to close your eyes and visualize it at each of the spots marked, it's really tremendous.

To get to the Badlands, you should go by Wall. In Wall, there's the Wounded Knee museum (you'll be going by Wounded Knee as well, which is in/near Rosebud Reservation). It's right on the edge of town and there are signs. If you're into native history at all, walk through that and read all the information. I was in tears by the time I finished.

If the guys are into cars, be sure to go to Murdo. Holy crap, talk about cars. Pretty much from the beginning OF cars. I was bored to tears until I saw several that my brothers used to have like the shelby's and stuff, but for a car guy, he'll love it.

Depending on where you drop down to start going south, keep going on I90 and there's an old west town you can walk through, with actual houses, businesses, a church, etc. and the Dances With Wolves Museum that you can see tons of stuff from the movie (which was filmed here).

If you get as far east as Mitchell, of course, there's the "World Famous Corn Palace." You wouldn't want to miss THAT one. :) Google it - it's pretty amazing.

There is just a ton of stuff to see in SD. I hope you get to see a bunch of it.
 
How can you not suggest Wall Drug? hahaha When me and my dad went out to Montana to go fishing in the mountains we went through Wall on the way through.
 
Wall Drug in the winter is dead. There are only like 2 stores open and the one big restaraunt. There's not really any point in the winter, although it's still a cool picture down main street.
 
Leah you know if you go to Memphis YOU HAVE TO GO TO GRACELAND!

You really do and when you're there tell The King I said hello and I still miss him real, real much!

I also hope you know you better post a bazillion pictures of your trip so we can all live vicariously through you!!!
 
Lol.. I went to Graceland a few years ago, but I'll definitely try to sucker my car mates into going again just for you! We were just talking about how many pictures we are going to end up taking.... I'll probably have to get a new SD card for my digital cam!
 
I can definitely recommend stopping by the huge waterfalls outside of Portland. Google "Multnomah Falls" and you'll find it. I've never been there in the winter, but I'm sure they're still beautiful!

It looks like you're going through some really cool cities- I personally LOVE Portland, Boise, and Salt Lake- and I'm certain that through all those mountains you're definitely going to run into snow. Most likely, it won't be on the roads, but definitely keep your eyes on the storm watches until you get out of Colorado. Bring coats :p
 
*oops* I hadn't read that you've changed your route again. We're about an hour south of Spokane and originally from Montana, so you're going through familiar territory. Definitely keep your eyes peeled on the storm watches.

Spokane: go down to riverfront park and take a look at the falls.
Coeur d'Alene: take a look at the lake when you pass through!
Hit up Yellowstone if you have a spare day in south MT/north WY.
From the Montana border through to past Bozeman, keep your eyes peeled for ice and snow and deer at night, but enjoy the drive. Those mountains are awesome, IMHO (and, they're home :) )
Billings: I love the Rimrocks.

have fun!
 
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