Checking off states to goal of all 50.

[Brulie]

Heading out from Rock Hill, SC to the Midwest. Seeing states Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, SD, ND, Iowa, Minn. and Michigan. Only definite plans are Mt. Rushmore, Badlands NP and the Buddy Holly crash site. Any other ideas on places to see?

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

Other than "Checking off states" you haven't told us anything to help make meaningful suggestions. What are your interests ? How much time do you have ? And anything else you can think of wthat would help. If you use the search function for forum ideas and the links in the tool bars at the top and bottom of the page you will find endless amounts of info. The RTA Map centres will show you many interesting places to visit as recommended by RTA contributors. So thats somewhere to start and as more specific questions come to mind, don't hesitate to ask.

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

I shared your goals and honestly can't remember in what order I hit all 50 (except that Alaska was last) but I do remember that it happened pretty much organically. That is, I didn't make any trips where my goal was simply to hit states that I hadn't seen yet. But I had a lot of years where I was both foot loose and fancy free as well as having a job that gave me 26 weeks off a year including an annual three week vacation. If you love to drive and explore, then you'll get to 50 eventually. More importantly, you'll enjoy it more I think.

I really only have a couple of pieces of advice to start you off on, one general and one specific. In general, try to include as much off-Interstate driving as possible. The Interstates will tell you nothing about the states you'd be driving through, and besides just checking off the states, that's what your goal is about I think. The specific bits of advice sort of follows from the first. The specific is that from North Dakota you take US-10 across MN and the UP of Michigan to the Straits of Mackinac and then turn south (through states you've already visited) back to Rock Hill.

Your inclusion of Mount Rushmore means that you're adding 'extra' miles to those needed to just check of the listed states, but that's good if you have the time. Since that's also roughly your turn around point, you might want to spend 2 or 3 days in that area and include wind Cave, jewel Cave Devil's Tower (Montana) and/or the Crazy horse memorial. A few other spots worth looking at visiting would include Hot Springs National Park and Apostle islands National Lakeshore, but if you have other specific interests, we can probably point out a spot or two to indulge those interests as well.

AZBuck