South Dakota Travel

[marcimiller2@gmail.com]

After a visit to Colorado this summer, we will be heading north to Cheyenne, then on to Badlands National Park, SD. I'm looking for help with the best route to travel (we are a big rig) and the best RV parks ... suggestions? Thanks

[tbutler]

Depending on where you plan to leave Colorado, the Denver to Cheyenne route is I-25. It is much improved from several years ago still you will find some thumpty-thump sections and plenty of traffic. If you are coming out of western Colorado I'd head north to I-80 and come across I-80 which is a much easier route east than I-70.

From Cheyenne, continue north on I-25 to US Hwy 18 which goes east then north to US Hwy 85 and on to US Hwy 16 to Rapid City.

On US 16 at Custer is the Crazy Horse Monument being carved (blasted) out of stone. There is a great museum there also. We have hiked up onto the Crazy Horse statue with Volksmarch on two separate occasions. They sponsor a walk onto the outstretched arm of Crazy Horse each spring. Don't miss that if your schedule allows. While in the area, be sure to see Custer State Park for the bison. The Black Hills have many opportunities for hiking and fishing. You'll be a short drive from Badlands National Park and that is something not to be missed though it can be intolerably hot in the summer. Wind Cave National Park just south of Custer State Park is also a great cave adventure and Jewel Cave National Monument to west of Custer is also interesting. There is a great excavation site at Hot Springs, SD that has mammoth bones exposed in their position where found and a nice museum to go with it. There are many interesting things to see and do in Rapid City and Sturgis is just north of Rapid City but don't go there during the Motorcycle Rally unless you really like crowds of motorcycle riders and their fans!

We stayed at the Custer/Crazy Horse RV Park just east of Custer on SD 16 Alt. That was in 2004! We found the park to be quite adequate and it was within a days touring of all the things listed above. We haven't stayed in the immediate vicinity of the Badlands so don't have a recommendation there.

[garykd]

Hi marcimiller2,

Minuteman Missile Tour

In addition to what Tom posted, there is the http://www.nps.gov/mimi/index.htm National Historic Site located at exit 131 off I90. This is one of the exits for the Badlands. Reservations are a must. Go to the web site and follow the instructions to make reservations. Tours are small due to the size of the elevator and underground command center. You'll get to see the command center and the key switches that needed to be turned to launch our missiles. You will also see a missile silo with a real Minuteman Missile still in it (deactivated). Our missile silos are hidden in plain site! Once you take this tour, you'll be able to pick out the silos as you travel in South or North Dakota. After living through this period in our history, I really enjoyed this tour. Many of the NPS tour guides are the people who actually manned these missile sites. The stories they can tell.