midwest road trip

[Allison215]

I'm looking to go on a road trip starting from the Lacrosse, Wisconsin area sometime this summer. I will be traveling with a friend who, due to chronic health problems, can not be outside for very long or do very much walking. Hiking is out of the question. If a place is wheel chair accessible that is do-able. We like beautiful scenery but this isn't a requirement of the trip. We are also trying to do this as inexpensively as possible. Maybe there is one destination we could travel to or several interesting attractions along the way to stop at. We are looking to be gone maybe 3-4 days. Does any one have any ideas for us??

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

The nice thing these days is that most places are handicap accessable to some degree and you don't need to hike to see interesting places.

Since the only thing you've told us you do like is beautiful places, one place that would come to mind is the Badlands and Black Hills. You'd really need your 4 days for it to make sense, but if you don't mind a couple long drives it can work.

I actually did a four day weekend from LaCrosse to Rapid City just last fall and had a good time. Basically, I spend all of day one driving there, with a couple short stops along the way. Day 2 was spent looking around some sights at the black hills, like Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and just enjoying some scenic drives. Day 3 I spent the morning touring the wildlife loop at Custer State Park, and and headed for the badlands in the afternoon. Then day four was spent driving from the Badlands home.

Of course, there are many other things you could do, certainly there are lots of things closer too if you don't want that much driving, but having more of an idea of your interests beyond "not hiking" would go a long way. What sorts of things do you find interesting and what kinds of things do you find enjoyable?

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

With the flooding on the upper Mississippi largely over, I would suggest a relaxed trip basically following the Great River Road downstream. My wife and I have made a couple of drives through that area in recent years and have thoroughly enjoyed the relaxed pace, historic aspects, and wonderfully green scenery it has to offer. Just a few of the places we have enjoyed include Effigy Mounds National Monument (a few of the sites and trails are ADA accessible), Nauvoo, IL (an historic Mormon town that is being restored as a living history museum - great carriage rides around town), Hannibal, MO (Mark Twain and Molly Brown's old haunt, and while many of the old historic buildings are not really accessible, there is a great little 'Twain Ride' through town and out to some of the sites made famous in his books); St. Louis (world class free zoo, Museum of Westward Expansion, Lewis & Clark's jumping off point across the river in IL, Museum of Transportation, etc.), Ste. Genevieve (an old French river town with some restored and accessible period homes). In addition you should try to cross the river as often as possible by ferry and feel its pace and majesty,

AZBuck