Welcome to RTA (AKA Information Overload, grin)!

Any of the parks you mentioned will be of interest to your grandchildren. Enroll them in the Junior Ranger program at each park. They can do activities, look for certain things, and when the program is completed, they can each get a patch or a badge.

Red rock parks -- you're right, there are a bunch! You even left out one of them, and that's Zion. Zion, Bryce and Arches were always more interesting to me when I was a kid traveling with my parents. Zion is worth a full day, Bryce is about a half day, and Arches is a good 5-6 hours.

If you are staying in Custer, SD, then Custer State Park and Mount Rushmore are easily accessible from there. Your grandkids might also enjoy Wind Cave, which would diversify your trip quite a bit! Badlands is still another 2+ hours from Custer -- we toured through Badlands and the Black Hills this past summer. This is how we divided our time in Custer: Day 1 was to see Mount Rushmore in the morning. (You will want to do so, too, in order to have ease of parking issues at Mount Rushmore with an RV. They'll give you rooftop parking with no low ceiling problems getting there, but it will set you back $15.) We walked the Presidential Trail, took lots of pictures. In the afternoon, we drove Iron Mountain Drive in Custer State Park and the Needles area. Day 2: we saw Wind Cave in the morning, doing the Fairgrounds tour. Then in the afternoon, we drove the Wildlife Loop. I would inquire at the Custer State Park visitor center about the limits for motorhomes on Iron Mountain Drive and the Wildlife Loop. (We were in a pickup truck and didn't pay attention, though I know we saw a small Class C motorhome ahead of us on Iron Mountain Dr.) We didn't spend any time in Deadwood or Sturgis, though either of those would add another day to the time needed in the Black Hills. I did notice that there is both a KOA and a Jellystone RV park in the immediate Custer area, along with a mom-and-pop RV park.

Staying under 6 hours a day driving will limit you to about 250-miles per day to drive. Motorhomes are usually slower, and they take a little longer to fill the fuel tank.

If you don't already have one, you should pick up a national park annual pass. If you're 62 or over, you'll qualify for the senior pass. Otherwise, it's $80 for the year which will get you into any national park that requires an entrance fee. With entrance prices between $10 and $30, depending on the park, a few parks can add up.


Donna