Any input on my day of travel in South Dakota?

I%26#39;m crossing the country from the Seattle area to Indiana, doing it in five days. I%26#39;m planning to hit up Mt. Rushmore for the evening lighting ceremony at the end of the second day. This will be my first time in South Dakota, and I was looking for some general input on how I should spend the third day. I%26#39;ll start in that Keystone area, and want to at least bring myself within a comfortable day%26#39;s drive from Chicago (let%26#39;s say less than 8 hours away) by the end of the day.

My plan was to set out directly east and stop for at least a couple of hours at Badlands National Park. Tentatively I was going to finish that day in Omaha and visit the zoo there the following day before setting off to Chicago. I%26#39;m open to potentially seeing more in South Dakota instead though, it looks beautiful and I imagine the driving will be more enjoyable there than the area between there and Chicago will be (whether I go on I-90 through MN and WI, or I-80 through NE and IA).

Would anyone recommend detouring back and spending time in Deadwood? I dig gambling, but wouldn%26#39;t have a big budget for it on this trip and can gamble whenever, so that wouldn%26#39;t be a priority (though I%26#39;d happily set aside $50 for a blackjack budget or something). I like the thought of seeing an old west town though, so Deadwood made me curious. How about other sites I might want to see in SD?

Any input on my day of travel in South Dakota?

I%26#39;ve lived in Seattle area (mostly Puyallup) and Minnesota most of my life, about half in each place, so have made this drive more times than I can count. We usually figure Billings is half way when we make it a two day drive and Chicago or Indiana about a day farther. That leaves a couple days for touristing.

If you can make Billings the first day you shoul dhave plenty of time the second day for a bit of Black Hills touring plus catching the lighting ceremony. None of the sites are that far apart so why not consider a night in Deadwood rather than Keystone? Deadwood also has good access to I-90 for the third day. By the time you stop or do the Badlands loop Omaha would be a full day.

You%26#39;ll see most of South Dakota anyway because the best option to Omaha would be via I-29 south from Sioux Falls. Or you can cut south to I-80 in Nebraska on a two-lane road but frankly I%26#39;ve usually thought the route along the Platte River more monotonous than the rolling hills in SD.

Alternatively southern Minnesota is very pretty with green rolling hills and corn fields and the transition across SD from arid grasslands to Eastern forests at the Wisconsin border is amazing. I-90 through LaCrosse and long the Mississippi is very scenic. Later in the Winsconsin Dells area it is also very pretty. If not going via Omaha then LaCrosse would make a nice stopping point within range of Chicago.

Any input on my day of travel in South Dakota?

Very helpful reply Sequim, thank you.

I said ';Seattle area'; kind of generically, actually coming from Blaine so tack 100 miles onto the start of the trip, but I am planning on making the marathon drive to Billings that first day.

I was planning on Devils Tower in Wyoming the second day, and Mount Rushmore at night. Maybe I can manage to hit up Devils Tower, Deadwood and Rushmore all in the same day? That would be cool. Seems possible. I%26#39;m noticing that no matter where I stay in that Black Hills region, it%26#39;s going to be probably my most expensive hotel of the week.

You make the I-90 route sound more appealing than I-80. Sounds pretty good to me. Now maybe I%26#39;ll hit up the Nebraska board to see if that zoo (it%26#39;s supposed to be great) is worth going a bit out of my way for. Otherwise I imagine I%26#39;ll try that Minnesota/Wisconsin route.

Billings to Keystone is a long day%26#39;s drive that we%26#39;ve done twice before. Sequim had some good advice and here are my thoughts:

Day 1: To Billings

Day 2: Spend the night in Deadwood and visit Devil%26#39;s Tower along the way

Day 3: See Custer State Park and Mount Rushmore-stay in either Keystone, Hill City, or Custer

Day 4: Drive east, spend a few hours in the Badlands, and as long as you at least make it into Minnesota this night you%26#39;ll be withing 8 hours of Chicago. We live an hour north of Chicago and it takes us about 8 hours to get to Sioux Falls, which is basically on the border of MN and SD.

We%26#39;ve always taken the I-90 route so I can%26#39;t be very diplomatic on whether 90 or 80 is better. On 90, around LaCrosse is breathtaking but then between there and Chamberlain, SD we think the scenery is fairly ho-hum, although we do think Southern MN has the best ever rest areas-pretty places to picnic.

We have done the I-90 route many times and I have to be honest with you. We always hate this part of our trip. It is so boring. All you see are fields and woods. The only part we look forward to is when you hit the Mississippi River, but it is over quick. But we live in Wisconsin and all of our drives are nothing but fields and woods.

We have family who visited from Oregon and they thought the drive was beautiful. They said it is so much better than where they live. When we went to Oregon to visit them, we thought their drives were beautiful.

I think it is just because it is new and something different. Either way you go you will enjoy it.

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