Roadtrips and odd places/things on the way north-south inland US?

[swedesinusa]

Hallo,
We are 2 swedish ladds who are going on a car-tour i 4 weeks with start in the end of september in Chicago and end up in Houston Texas. We are planning to drive from Chicago thruu Minnesota and west to Mount Ruschmoore and then south thruu Denver Colorado to Dallas Texas and then direct to Houston or to San Antonio and then to Houston.

We are grateful for advices of nice/odd places to wisit along the roads. We are interested in everything. For example real big second hand shops, caves, big military-shops and a lot moore.

//Swedes

[DonnaR57]

Welcome to RTA!

Caves....if you're going to Mt Rushmore, there are two caves nearby. One is Wind Cave National Park, the first cave to be protected by the national park system. The other is Jewel Cave National Monument. We did a tour of Wind Cave last summer and enjoyed it very much. Also in the area is Custer State Park, which has the Wildlife Loop and two other scenic drives. You may also enjoy Badlands. If you use this link and go to post #44, you'll read about some places in Wisconsin and Minnesota that we visited last summer. Then go to Page 6 and you will find North Dakota and South Dakota. Badlands and our visit to the Black Hills of South Dakota starts in post #57 on page 6.

Sorry, I can't help you with second-hand shops and military-shops. I only know of an entire strip mall full of second-hand shops, but that's in San Diego County in California. I love to scout through used bookstores and thrift shops when I can, while on trips, but it's usually a matter of "oh here's a used book store", let's stop, not a planned thing.

Donna

[AZBuck]

Välkomnande! Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

You can probably find the main attractions such as Mount Rushmore, Devils Tower, and Rocky Mountain National Park easily enough, so let me point out a few lesser-known (at least to our European visitors) oddities along your way. First in Baraboo WI there's Circus World Museum, then in Mitchell SD there's the Corn Palace, in Wall SD check out Wall Drug, and in Amarillo TX bring your spray paint to the Cadillac Ranch.

As far as military surplus and second hand stores go, their fairly well spread out across America but generally don't advertise much. You'll do better, as a rule, in larger cities or near military bases. One national 'chain' of second hand stores is Goodwill Industries, but local shops are nearly ubiquitous.

AZBuck

[Lifemagician]

You may find that visitor centres are well versed in the presence of the types of stores you are looking for. I have always found them most useful. Or you could just ask a local. I often find asking the people who work in the supermarket, or a department store have that type of knowledge.

Lifey