Moving from Portland to Chicago!

[Danika11]

Hello all! My boyfriend and I are starting to plan our move from Portland Oregon to Chicago Illinois. We will be road tripping all the way there. We're hoping to make as many stops as we can at national parks, forests, and hiking areas. This map planning is neat, but can be a bit tricky, so we are looking for any suggestions about things we "must see" or good places to stop along the way. Anything helps! We will be traveling during the summer months, leaving around July 10th, so we hope to mostly stay at camping spots and not too many hotels! Thanks!

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

The biggest question is how much time do you actually have for this trip? The second big question is what things have you already decided are "must see" for you?

We aren't big believers in the generic "must see" here, because there are thousands of potential must see stops, but what is actually a must varies by each person. Based on your goal of natural sites, I can say most people would pick either a more northern or more southern route. A northern route could take you to places like Glacier, Yellowstone, and the Badlands. A more southern route could potentially take you down into California, and across to the many National Parks of Utah and Colorado.

But those are very vague starting points. Once you tell us more about what you are thinking, we can expand more on where you might want to go with this trip.