Jump to a day
Stops, in order
The Nebraska panhandle's Oregon Trail landmarks and one gloriously weird roadside monument — Stonehenge, built out of vintage cars.
The Black Hills at their grandest — the presidents on Rushmore, the in-progress Crazy Horse, the eroded spires of the Badlands, a cave of rare formations, and bison by the thousand.
A gold-rush town frozen in the Wild West — where Wild Bill Hickok was shot holding the dead man's hand, now a National Historic Landmark of saloons and gaming halls.
The most famous roadside attraction in America — a whole block of a store that grew from a Depression-era offer of free ice water into a signposted legend.
One of the smallest and quietest state capitals in the country, on the Missouri River in the middle of the prairie.
North Dakota's capital and its wild western badlands — a prairie skyscraper of a statehouse, and the painted canyons, bison, and wild horses that shaped a young Theodore Roosevelt.
North Dakota's biggest city on the Red River — a revitalized downtown, Scandinavian roots, and, yes, the woodchipper.
A palace decorated entirely in corn, and a city built around its namesake waterfalls.
Nebraska's biggest city on the Missouri — a world-class zoo, a cobblestone Old Market, and a bridge you can walk into Iowa on.
Nebraska's capital and college town — a striking tower of a statehouse, a passionate football culture, and a lively old warehouse district.
A tiny Kansas town with one enormous claim to fame — the world's largest ball of sisal twine, and you can add to it.
The rowdiest cattle town of the Old West, and the last great swath of tallgrass prairie in America.
Kansas's biggest city on the Arkansas River — a striking riverfront sculpture, an Old West cowtown, and aviation heritage.
A former end-of-the-line cattle town that raised a president — home to the Eisenhower Presidential Library.
Kansas's capital, with a climbable dome and the landmark civil-rights site where school segregation was struck down. The last stop on the plains.