Denver to Gillette Driving Trip
 

Ms. Teasip and I are going to a wedding in Gillette in July. Rather than fly into Denver or SLC and take a puddle jumper, we are going to fly into Denver and drive up I-25, as she has never been through that part of the world. Any interesting places to stop on the trip? What about in the Gillette area?

Speed limit on I25 must be pretty high. Google maps says 5 hours 4 minutes for the 349 mile trip, and they are usually a little conservative...

Thanks!

Speed limit on I-25 is 75 mph most of that stretch.

You will be on the plains, not in the mountains, for that drive. There's a little bit of elevation but not much.

You might consider taking 287 out of Ft. Collins to Laramie and I-80 to Cheyenne; that gives you a little more scenery, but it is a significant deviation from your route.

After you get to Gillette consider Devil's Tower National Monument - 60 miles to the east.

IIRC the speed limit is 75 in most areas on the interstate.

I have driven the Casper to Denver portion. It was pretty dull.

I would suggest if you could fly in a few days earlier and then drive up into the black hills area then to Gillette.

I would have to check, but I thought on some days non puddle jumpers fly into Billings.

And there are flights into RAP. Rapid City to Gillette would be much more scenic.

Interesting detours on the way:
Fort Laramie:
http://www.nps.gov/fola/index.htm
Oregon Trail Ruts:
http://wyoparks.state.wy.us/Site/Sit...aspx?siteID=27
Register Cliff:
http://wyoshpo.state.wy.us/trailsdem...ster_cliff.htm
Devils Tower:
http://www.nps.gov/deto/index.htm

United flights to LAR (connecting through DEN) can sometimes be had for not a whole lot more than direct to DEN. Car rental at LAR can be significantly cheaper with a good code than at DEN.

In Casper, be sure to spend time at the National Historic Trails Interpretive Center. http://www.blm.gov/wy/st/en/NHTIC.html
That's assuming of course that you do not exit the Interstate at Douglas.

If you do exit at Douglas you will be driving to Gillette through the Thunder Basin National Grassland, a quicker but more boring drive, unless you like grass. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunder...onal_Grassland Oh, and in Douglas, be sure to visit the jackalopes. http://www.jackalope.org/

Thanks, all - keep the comments coming! Ms. Teasip really doesn't like small planes, which is one of the reasons we are not taking a connecting flight, but will explore some of the options above. I would like to see the Black Hills, have been all over the eastern half of South Dakota chasing pheasant and ducks, but haven't really been west of the river. Cost isn't really a problem - lots of FF miles and free days at National.

Small planes: No regional jets? American flies ER-145s into RAP; that's the 1x2 regional jet that's reasonably comfortable as small jets go.

Yep, I just figured that out. Even better, UA has the 145s from ORD to RAP three times/day, and we can get multiple flights to ORD from all three DC airports. She is fine with 145s, so this looks like a winner.

For the black hills area I would suggest being there for about 5 days and do.....badlands, Custer state park, mt Rushmore, wincave, And near badlands is the minutemen missile national historic site. You could do 3 days on each end of going to Gillette.

If you like beer, then a stop in Ft. Collins is a must.

Cool! As I said earlier, the trip from RAP to Gillette will be much more scenic. Devils Tower is on the way.