travel plansHi Mom,
This will probably the first of a couple today. I'll have a bit more
time this afternoon to give details but I wanted to give you some stuff
to contemplate while driving to Spring Green.
First thing is to look at the websites for a few chain hotels. Super 8,
Comfort Inn and Days Inn are a few that are dog friendly. Best Western,
Candlewood Suites and Holiday Inn Express also seem to be repeated
listings for being dog friendly. I think Super 8, Days and Comfort seem
to be the most prevalent in the book I have but the others (especially
Holiday Inn Express and LaQuinta are usually newer so may not have had
all their facilities when my book was published.
You should be able to get locations for all their hotels along I90 from
Sioux Falls to Missoula and if you print them off, you can have their
locations and phone numbers available in the car so you can anticipate
if there's going to be a barren stretch ahead when you begin to think
about stopping.
The spacing of major places to stay is a bit challenging. Spring Green
to Sioux Falls is about 420 miles. Exit 399 seems to have a number of
places (in Sioux Falls) as that exit is right by their airport. There
is another exit (396) that is the intersection of 90/29 that probably
has stuff but there isn't much after that until you get to Mitchell
which is another 100 miles west on I90.
Sioux Falls to Rapid City is about 350 miles and there are a good number
of places in that area. Then Wyoming is pretty limited along 90:
Gillette may have stuff and there are several places listed in Buffalo.
Sheridan is your last opportunity in Wyoming until hitting Billings. As
soon as you leave the Sheridan area you enter an Indian reservation
which takes you into Montana. The reservation has next to nothing in
the way of services so make sure your gas is reloaded too That also goes
for the space between Rapid City/Buffalo and Sioux Falls/Rapid City.
This afternoon I'll send you listings of hotels in these areas so you
can think about where you want to target for stops. Since you'll be
traveling with Meg, I would assume you'd want to limit drive time to 6
to 8 hours? That would provide up to 2 hours for stops/walks and food?
Getting here in two nights makes for longer drive days: you may find
that's pushing it but you can see how you feel as you go. I've canceled
the Monday night meeting and can stay home a good portion of the day too
so don't push too hard just to get here earlier on Sunday for that
reason.
Here are some basic distances:
Wisconsin to Sioux Falls: 420
Sioux Falls to Rapid City: 350
Rapid City to Sheridan: 250
Sheridan to Billings: 130
Billings to Livingston: 115
Livingston to Butte: 106
Butte to Missoula: 120
Missoula to Kalispell: 120
Best stops probably:
1st night in Sioux Falls but no further than Mitchell
2nd night in Buffalo or Sheridan but going to Billings may be too far
For 3 night trip:
1st night Sioux Falls
2nd night Sheridan or Buffalo
3rd night Livingston or Butte