A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 313 miles from Mitchell, South Dakota to Custer, South Dakota.
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Travel from Mitchell to Custer, South Dakota
We drove our coach 313 miles, about five hours of driving, from Mitchell, South Dakota to Custer, South Dakota.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading west:
An interactive map:
Heading west of I-90:
Rest area stop:
Sunflower field:
The Dignity of Earth and Sky sculpture:
A Tiffin Allegro Red motorhome passing us:
Lunch stop at Hutch’s Cafe:
Menu:
Back to our coach:
Entering Mountain Time Zone:
Passing Badlands National Park:
Another rest area:
Paladin sat in his dash bed for a while:
Firehouse Brewery & Winery had several fire trucks along the freeway:
Paladin asleep on the floor:
Busts:
Entering Custer State Park, our favorite state park:
Curvy road:
Whatever we do, don’t turn onto Needles Highway with our coach! Very narrow and short tunnels:
Legion Lake campground entrance:
Our site, with a glimpse of the lake in the background:
Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village National Historic Landmark
We visited the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village in Mitchell, South Dakota, which includes a museum and a covered archeological dig site.
Exhibits in the museum:
Sculpture:
The “Archeodome” covers an archeological dig site:
Interesting stuff.
Lincoln Home National Historic Site
We visited Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Springfield, Illinois, featuring the only house that Abraham Lincoln ever owned, and neighboring houses.
Gift store:
“The Lincolns Buy a Home”:
Floor plan:
Lincoln’s home:
Lincoln’s outhouse:
Neighboring homes:
Another look at Lincoln’s home:
Gateway Arch National Park
We visited Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis, Missouri.
The NPS map:
An interactive map:
Map sign:
Old Courthouse, currently being renovated:
Gateway Arch:
Inside the visitor center, a model tram; eight of these go up and down each leg of the arch:
Exhibits:
A model of the observation area at the top of the arch:
Line to the top:
Boarding pass:
Waiting for the tram:
Our tram:
Looking through the windows in the tram doors to the inside of the arch:
Trams at top:
Top of the arch:
630 feet high:
Jenn taking a photo out an observation window:
Views from top:
Shadow of the arch:
Waiting for the tram for the journey down:
Selfie in the tram:
Inside the arch:
Out of the tram:
Tram waiting area:
Arch store:
Arch cafe for a snack:
Under the arch:
A rather unique national park.
Travel from Elberfeld, Indiana to Sullivan, Missouri
We drove our coach 255 miles, about five hours of driving, from Elberfeld, Indiana to Sullivan, Missouri.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading west:
An interactive map:
Water lilies:
Heading on to I-69 North:
Pulling up a yellow stripe:
Love’s fuel stop:
87.122 gallons of diesel for $367.57; we saved $58.42 off that pump price via our fuel discount card:
Bridge roadworks:
Wabash River:
“Welcome to Illinois”:
We haven’t seen a pump jack for a while:
More bridge roadworks:
Rest area:
Crossover roadworks:
An interestingly shaped trailer (a mobile stage):
Another rest area:
A sign that says “After 11 hours driving, you need 10 hours rest”; we prefer to drive only two hours, but will go up to six on interstates, and stay at least one night when “sprinting”, preferably one to two weeks:
Our first glimpse of the Gateway Arch:
“Missouri Welcomes You”:
Six Flags theme park, yep, with six flags out front:
Approaching our destination, Meramec State Park:
Our site:
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park
We visited the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park in Kentucky, a small park with the country’s first monument to Lincoln, enclosing the Symbolic Cabin, a reconstruction of the tiny cabin where Lincoln was born. The memorial was built between 1909 and 1911.
56 steps up to the memorial, one for each year of Lincoln’s life:
The symbolic cabin inside the memorial:
Peeking inside:
Model of the cabin:
Info outside:
Boardwalk to the visitor center:
Visitor center:
Parents and kids:
Passport stamp:
Gift shop:
Family Bible:
More exhibits:
Table made by Lincoln’s father:
Boundary oak tree:
Model of the memorial:
Mammoth Cave National Park
We visited Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. It is notable as the longest cave system in the world, with over 400 miles of passages.
Visitor center:
Mammoth cave has several guided tours available. We did the “Domes and Dripstones” tour, which required taking buses to a cave entrance:
Down into a sinkhole:
Cave entrance:
Looking down:
Underground ranger talk:
Not too bad a picture of me:
Lots of steps:
Historic graffiti:
Very flat cave ceiling:
Ranger talk area:
More steps:
The “Frozen Niagara” formation:
Vertical panorama of a dome:
An interesting cave, but we’ve seen nicer-looking ones. Just shows that size isn’t everything.
Blue Ridge Parkway south end
South of Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
This park, barely wider than the highway, is 469 miles long, between Shenandoah National Park in Virginia at the north end and Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina at the south end. We visited the northern end a few weeks ago.
Entering the southern end of the parkway:
There were several tunnels:
Views:
Fire lookout:
Visitor center:
Elevation 5,820 feet:
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
We visited Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina over several days, starting with a long drive from Pigeon Forge, north of the park, to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center at the southern side of the park (plus a bit further to the southernmost visitor center of the Blue Ridge Parkway; see a separate post about that).
The NPS map; click or tap to interact:
An interactive map of our route:
Parking tag required:
Elk were re-introduced to the park in 2001:
Oconaluftee Visitor Center:
Farm exhibits:
Elk in front of elk sign:
An interactive map of our route for our second visit, to the Sugarlands Visitor Center and Clingmans Dome:
Sugarlands Visitor Center:
Clingmans Dome:
Passport stamp:
Split rock:
Path to the lookout; we decided not to go up there:
View:
An interactive map of our route for our third visit, to Cades Cove:
Horses:
Old church:
View:
Visitor Center:
Old farm buildings:
