The Long Way Home from Montana to Florida

We just finished an epic trip out West, but unfortunately Becky’s mom Gigi got sick before we could leave Montana. And per doctor’s orders she can’t fly back. But we need to get back home for work. After checking our options, we decide the best is to drive the long way home from Montana to Florida. But Becky plans some cool stops along the way.

Planning the Long Way Home

First off, a big THANK YOU to Amy and the staff at Lake Condos at Big Sky. When Gigi got sick, we were supposed to check out the next day. But we were able to stay a few more days until we were ready to leave. As if staying in these condos on their beautiful lake wasn’t enough, the staff made our stay even more memorable (and Baxter the dog!). Situated between Bozeman and West Yellowstone, this resort was the perfect base for us. You can read more about it on their website at: Lake Condos Experience (lakeatbigsky.com).

We loved our time in Montana, but now it’s time to drive home. I drove from Montana to home back in 2020 with my son Drew. To read more about it, check out: Driving from Washington to Florida in 5 Days. But since Gigi is not 100% yet, we plan a longer route with stops along the way.

So we mapped over 2,500 miles and 40 hours driving home or about 500 miles and 8 hours a day. Our 1st logical stop is Rapid City, SD where Drew and I stayed in 2020 while visiting Mount Rushmore. Since Becky, Gigi and our daughter have never been, we plan to make a stop. The next day we will drive to Badlands National Park, only an hour from Rapid City just off the interstate. And GuideAlong (fka GyPSy Guide) has a tour package that includes both places: Black Hills, Rushmore & Badlands Audio Driving Tour | GuideAlong. After stopping at Badlands, we’ll drive 2 days to get to Arkansas to see Hot Springs National Park. And we’ll stop in Biloxi, MS for our final night before heading home to Florida.

Day 1 Wednesday 7/20 of our Long Way Home – Montana to South Dakota

After packing up our rental car for the return trip, it’s almost 9:00AM before we leave. To get to Rapid City, SD we will need to drive over 500 miles and about 8 hours, so we have a long day ahead of us. But the weather is sunny and we’ll stay in the Mountain Time Zone the whole trip. And once up to Bozeman, we get on I-90 to cross the state. We make a pit stop or 2 before stopping for lunch at Cracker Barrel in Billings. After a good stop and lunch, we head back on the road. Once I-90 starts to turn south, we stop for gas in Crow Agency. And just down the road is Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument

Drew and I stopped here back in 2020, but the visitor center wasn’t open. About 2:30PM already, we decide to make a quick stop at Custer’s Last Stand. Since we have our annual parks pass, we don’t have to pay the $25 per vehicle to enter. And once in we park near the restrooms within walking distance to the visitor center. It was great to check out the visitor center, but we didn’t do much else this time. We were only here about 30 minutes, but if you want to read more about this cool place. Check out when Drew and I visited at: Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument Stop.

Unfortunately this stop was only half our distance to drive today. Once back in the car, we drive a different route through the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation toward South Dakota. It’s a nice but long drive with few cars on US-212 toward South Dakota. But before our destination this road cuts through the Northeast corner of Wyoming. Nothing to see however, and then we get to South Dakota and our hotel by 7:00PM. The drive wasn’t bad and Gigi is feeling ok. So after checking into our hotel, we head to Mount Rushmore.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial

Mount Rushmore National Memorial is about 40 minutes from our hotel with plenty of food options on the way. So, we roll through a drive-thru arriving about 8:15PM. Unlike last time Drew and I visited, it is summer and there is still light out. Not only do we make it before sunset, but the shops and visitor center are still open. Mount Rushmore is free to enter but they do charge $10 to park. At the entrance is their Information Center & Bookstore which has free wheelchairs to borrow. So we get one to give Gigi a rest while we walk through the Avenue of Flags to the Grand View Terrace.

Mount Rushmore is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the country. The carved heads of 4 of the nation’s most important presidents represent the nation’s birth, growth, development and preservation. You can read more about it at: Special Mount Rushmore Lighting Ceremony. To learn more we take the elevator down to the Lincoln Borghum Visitor Center below. Becky and Gigi get their passport stamps while we check out the displays. They also have a 14-minute movie we watch that explains the process for creating the memorial. Afterwards we find out a lighting ceremony starts at 9:00PM, so we head outside.

Just outside the visitor center is the park’s outdoor amphitheater which is full. But we find a spot up top for wheelchairs. The show promptly starts at 9:00 when a ranger walks out. The inspirational show focuses on the presidents, patriotism and the nation’s history. And the ranger delivers a moving speech for over 10 minutes. He is followed by the film “Freedom: America’s Lasting Legacy”. And right at 9:30PM, the president’s faces light up in the darkness.

The President’s Trail

After about 10 minutes, I decide to do the 0.6 mile Presidential Trail which is completely dark. It also has 422 stairs, mostly down, so it’s not an accessible boardwalk trail even in the daytime. So, I go solo and try to do it quickly before meeting the others back at the entrance.

And it’s so dark I have to use my phone to see where I’m going. But what I can see is the monument close-up and from many different angles. There are about 20 marked spots along the trail including to Sculptor’s Studio, which is unfortunately closed. And after 35 minutes I find myself back to the Grand View Terrace to meet the others. We easily spend over 2 hours here, but we still have to head back to our hotel to get some sleep. And we still have a long way home and a lot more driving to do tomorrow.

Day 2 Thursday 7/21 of our Long Way Home – South Dakota to Iowa

Drew and I drove from Rapid City, SD to Kansas City in 1 day. But we didn’t stop at Badlands. So, today we plan to drive another 500 or so miles not including our trip driving the Badlands Loop Road. This 38 mile road should only take about an hour without stops. But we have our GyPSy Guide and plan to make stops along this scenic road. So after eating breakfast at the hotel, we don’t get on the road until 9:20AM getting to Badlands around 10:30AM.

Badlands National Park

Badlands National Park is named for its colorful geological layers of rocks throughout the park. These layers correspond to different moments in geological time starting with the oldest layer at the bottom. And as you guessed it, the youngest layers sit on top of the formations. To read more about this park check out: Badlands National Park (nps.gov). To see more details and pictures of our Badlands stop, see our separate post: Driving through Beautiful Badlands National Park.

We exit off I-90 at the exit for Wall and plan to drive the Badlands Loop Road through the park. Without much time to plan our trip, we rely on GyPSy Guide who tells us where to see prairie dogs. So we make a side trip down Sage Creek Rim Road to Robert’s Prairie Dog Town and back. Back on the main road is an enjoyable drive through different geological formations around every turn. We stop at multiple overlooks including the aptly named Panorama Point which offers extensive views of the Badlands landscape. This is a great spot just to take it all in.

We try to do the loop fairly fast skipping some stops since we still have a long way home. And we get to the visitor center at 1:00PM. The Ben Reifel Visitor Center is the main facility in the park including the only gift shop. We head in to get passport stamps and shop for souvenirs. They also have some exhibits and a Fossil Preparation Lab. After making it to the exit at almost 2:00PM we’ve spent 3.5 hours rushing through the park. But we enjoyed our drive and hope to come back one day and spend more time.

Long Drive to Nowhere on our Long Way Home

From here we need to continue the long way home and get back on the road. And we will pass into the Central Time Zone losing an hour, so we’ll drive as far as we can. We stop at a gas station in Mitchell, SD near the World’s Only Corn Palace. So, Becky decides we have to go check it out. While the other half of the car is asleep we make a drive past the Corn Palace. It’s known for its unique corn-made murals that adorn the building. And this year’s theme is “Under the Big Top” with circus inspired murals all around the building.

The drive on I-90 has been good with an 80 MPH speed limit. But once we get to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, we head south on I-29 toward Sioux City, Iowa. I-29 bisects the nation between the Midwest states. While we drive through Iowa we can see Nebraska on the other side of the Missouri River. And we stop for the night in Council Bluffs, Iowa across the river from Omaha, Nebraska.

Day 3 Friday 7/22 of our Long Way Home – Iowa to Arkansas

Since we didn’t make it to Kansas City yesterday, we will need to make up some time. It’s still almost 3 hours to Kansas City and 9.5 hours to our next destination Hot Springs, AR. But before we leave Iowa, we decide to go across the river for breakfast in downtown Omaha. Nebraska. We’ve never been to Nebraska so we get some breakfast sandwiches and coffee to go from Scooters Coffee downtown.

Another state checked off our list, but now we continue the long way home to another state we’ve never been to. But before we get to Arkansas, we continue south on I-29 through Iowa into Missouri and Kansas City. Once in KC, we get on I-49 into Arkansas to I-40. Once off the interstate we are deep in the Arkansas woods before emerging in Hot Springs and at our hotel.

Arlington Resort Hotel

After driving over 600 miles of uninteresting highway and backroads, we make it to the Arlington Resort Hotel by 7:00PM. And driving through Hot Springs to the hotel we notice many abandoned buildings until we get to the old looking Arlington Hotel. We can’t drive to the front entrance by car, so we drive into their parking garage. But here is where valets let us know we can check in. However, we have to self-park which is at another parking garage down the street. This other garage is next to an abandoned building and doesn’t look very safe itself. And I have to park on the top and walk down the ramp since the elevator doesn’t work.  

Once back at the hotel, there’s a lot of people in the large lobby as we check-in. Once checked-in, we take our luggage up the small elevators to our room on the 3rd floor. However, they place us in the last room all the way at the end of a long hall. This is too far for Gigi to walk, so we request another room and get one half way down the hall. They give us an antique key to open the doors with which is not easy, but we’re finally in our room. The room itself is small but adequate with 2 queen beds and a window AC. But after throwing our luggage in, we’re ready for dinner.

Superior Bathhouse Brewing

It’s a short walk from the hotel past Arlington Lawn to the Superior Bathhouse. It’s 8:15PM by the time we get here and we’re hungry and thirsty. The brewery is in a converted bathhouse, the only brewery in a U.S. national park. And they claim to be the only brewery in the world to utilize thermal spring water in their beer. This place is busy, but we get seated right away in a side room with about 6 tables.

Becky and I each order a flight of 4 beers each but they’re nothing special and warm. We’re not sure if the taps aren’t cold or if it’s from the thermal water. But our daughter enjoys her fancy grilled cheese with tomato soup and I like my large sweet potato salad. Becky’s burger is good but she doesn’t like the spicy pickles. Gigi’s large baked potato comes with spicy sweet bacon and chipotle sour cream. So she asks for regular sour cream and butter, but apparently they have none. And after our server drops our food, he’s nowhere to be seen. It’s disappointing, and after an hour and 15 minutes, we walk back to our hotel ready for rest. We hope after a good night’s sleep, we’ll be ready to explore more of the park tomorrow.

Day 4 Saturday 7/23 of our Long Way Home – Arkansas to Mississippi

After driving the last 3 days we sleep in. And when we get ready we go down for breakfast in the hotel’s Venetian Dining Room. On Saturdays they have a breakfast buffet which is a reasonable price and we are seated right away. The buffet has covered dishes of all the main breakfast staples and the service is good. After a good fill up, we check out about 10:30AM and load up our car. We then valet since this is still probably the closest place to the park. Then we walk toward the only Arkansas national park.

Hot Springs National Park

This urban park in downtown Hot Springs is surrounded by touristy shops. But there is no charge to enter and includes a network of 26 miles of hiking trails and mountain overlooks. However this national park is all about the hot water from the thermal springs in the area. To read more about this park, check out: Hot Springs National Park (nps.gov). To see more details and pictures of our Hot Springs stop, see our separate post: Hot Springs National Park is Full of Hot Water.

With limited time, we walk back toward Bathhouse Row. The one place we have to stop is the visitor center inside Fordyce Bathhouse in the middle of Bathhouse Row. Once inside a park ranger greets us and we get our passport stamps. We find out the top floors are currently closed, but we can walk through the bathhouse museum on the 1st floor. This self-guided tour goes through different rooms in the bathhouse and the basement has the inner workings of the bathhouse. Once we leave we continue down Bathhouse Row to Lamar Bathhouse which now houses the park’s gift shop.

The emporium has all the normal souvenirs you would want including water bottles you can fill up in the store. We actually fill them up here with thermal water for free. Afterwards, we walk back to our car and do a short 3.5 mile scenic drive loop on the way out. Starting right past the hotel, the switchback drive goes up the mountain to the Pagoda Overlook and back. We finish just before 1:00PM ready to continue our long way home to our next stop in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Harrah’s Gulf Coast Biloxi

For our last night we decide we want to not only get farther South, but have some fun. Gigi has been a trooper and she likes to play the slots. So, we book a room at the Harrah’s Gulf Coast Casino in Biloxi. However, we knew it would be late by the time we got here. After driving forever out of Arkansas, we drive through a section of Northwest Louisiana I don’t think many people travel. And we enter Mississippi at Vicksburg driving through Jackson down to Biloxi arriving as the Sun is setting. We didn’t have as far to drive today, about 450 miles, but we left later than we planned. But when we get to check-in, we find they gave our room to someone else. So, they do the only thing acceptable, give us the penthouse suite!

The room may be the largest we’ve ever stayed in. It has a small kitchen overlooking a dining and living room. The bedroom is absolutely huge and the bathroom is ridiculously large as well. We’ve slept in just about every accommodation you can think of on this trip and this is a good way to end it. We head down to get dinner at a restaurant in the hotel before coming back to the room. Then Gigi and Becky head down to the casino while I put our daughter to sleep. After an hour they come back and Gigi goes to bed while I hit the casino for a little while with Becky. Tomorrow our long way home will end!

Day 5 Sunday 7/24 of our Long Way Home – Mississippi to Florida

Our last day is a cakewalk compared to the 1st 4 days, so we sleep in a little. We have 470 miles down I-10 which is a straight shot to home in less than 7 hours. However, we will lose an hour crossing into the Eastern Time Zone in Florida. Even leaving after 11:00AM, we should get home before dark. But before we leave we grab some coffee from the Starbucks at the hotel for the road.

On the road, it doesn’t take long to be in Alabama where we start to see signs for Buc’ees. These ridiculously large gas stations with endless amounts of food call to us. And only an hour and 20 minutes from the hotel, we decide to stop to refuel. However this fairly new Buc’ees at the exit for Gulf Shores is packed. In fact it’s so backed up from the exit it takes us 20 minutes to get to the store and park. But once parked we take care of business, get gas and lunch. From here is a boring 5.5 hour drive plus the hour time change. We stop a couple times getting more gas and fast food for dinner. But we make it home at 8:41PM just before dark.

Summary of our Long Way Home

Taking the long way home when it’s not planned is tough. We drove 5 long days in our rental car through 11 states, many we haven’t been to before. But, we broke up our trip stopping at multiple stops of interest along the way. The 1st day we got to see the lighting ceremony at Mount Rushmore. And the next day we got to go to Badlands, another national park we hadn’t seen. The following day we get to Hot Springs, Arkansas before visiting Hot Springs National Park the next day. And on our last night we got to stay in the penthouse suite in a casino! But more importantly we got Gigi (and us) home safely.

Since getting married, Hot Springs is the 20th national park we’ve been to together in less than 9 years. But, there are still 43 more parks to explore! We would have loved to spend more time at Badlands, but think we’ll be back some day. Hot Springs, not so much. I think if we would’ve had more time to explore, we may have found it more interesting. But it’s in the middle of Arkansas and not easy to reach. Plus after being out West, it was our least favorite park. But it was also the 5th national park we saw on our trip, including the 2 on our long way home. As soon as we get home, Becky has to scratch off the parks we visited on our family bucket list.