Missouri to Jackson Hole Wyoming. Which way to go and what to see.

[jstephens]

We are headed out for Jackson Hole Wyoming leaving on July 27th. We have 3 days to get there and wonder which way to go to see the most on the way. Should we go up through Iowa,South Dakota or go over through Colorado. Never been out west so need input. Thanks in advance.

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Yours is a fairly common conundrum faced by people early in their RoadTripping careers. You want to see everything and so try to squeeze as much as possible into trips. The problem with such a strategy is that you end up spending most, if not all, of your time simply driving and precious little actually experiencing and enjoying all the places you've driven to. For example, in your case, and assuming St. Louis, MO to Jackson, WY, you could head north and use I-90 through South Dakota and 'see' the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Monument and Devils Tower among other sights. But to do so would require driving over 500 miles a day, leaving little or no time to actually visit those places. On the other hand, if you took the more direct route of I-70 to Kansas City, I-29 north into Nebraska, and I-80 along the Platte River, you'd be basically following the route of the old Oregon Trail, and you'd have time to make stops at some of the old forts, landmarks and restored Pony Express stations en route, as well as sample the flavor of Old West cities like Cheyenne and Laramie.

AZBuck

[jstephens]

Thanks for the reply. Once we get to Jackson we will be there for 6 days, so could be back track and pick up what we missed on the way? Or should we spend all of our time around the jackson hole area? Like you said, so much we want to see but not enough time. My wife actually has a conference to attend Sun-Wed till noon each day. So we have 3 days to get to jackson, 4 days at jackson noon- on to site see, All day Thursday, check out to come home Friday. Back to work on Monday. Thanks for any and all advice.