From the Gulf Coast to the Badlands: Our 2026 Midwest and West Loop

We were barely home from the Northeast before the road started calling again, this time for a Badlands road trip by way of the Gulf Coast. For this leg, Diana typed the whole itinerary into the computer instead of keeping handwritten notes, so we could share it and look back on it later. It turned into the biggest loop we’ve ever run: from the white sand beaches of the Florida Panhandle all the way up to North Dakota and back down through the heartland.

Same Little Guy. Same two rules: back roads only, and paper maps.

Starting at the Beach

We kicked things off on August 14 at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park on Florida’s Emerald Coast, spending a week with friends and a beach just steps away. Not a bad way to start a road trip.

From there we headed west to Fontainebleau State Park in Mandeville, Louisiana, on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain.

The Toughest Night of the Trip

I won’t sugarcoat it: Mississippi was rough. The travel day was hard, made worse by roads in some of the worst shape we’ve driven. When we finally arrived, there was no way to check in, no sign of where we were supposed to be, and no way to tell if we were even in the right place.

We set up camp, and of course, we were in the wrong campground. When the folks who actually had that site showed up, we tore it all down and moved to our assigned spot, which was in horrible condition. We ended up camped under a dead tree we were afraid would come down on us in the night, with a dilapidated, dirty bathhouse to match.

We packed up first thing the next morning and left a day early.

Arkansas Makes It Right

Leaving early turned out to be a blessing. It meant we got to DeGray Lake Resort State Park in Arkansas early and stayed longer, close enough to visit Hot Springs National Park.

Then it was on to Oklahoma and a KOA on Lake Eufaula near Checotah, where we picked up a new state sticker in our own particular way.

▶ Watch: Something Different with the Newest State Sticker, Oklahoma

Across the Plains

Next came three nights at Milford State Park in Kansas, followed by a stop at a state recreation area in Nebraska. We left Nebraska a day early, which gave us an extra day at our next stop, and I’m glad it did.

That stop was a working cattle ranch near Pukwana, South Dakota, that hosts campers through Hipcamp. We stayed three days instead of two. From there we spent a night at a tiny Hipcamp spot in Isabel, South Dakota, one block from the post office, before heading north.

North Dakota and a Cow on a Hill

In North Dakota, we camped at Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park near Mandan, then at the Medora Campground in Medora, close to Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library. We also enjoyed the Pitchfork Fondo and the Medora Musical, both set in the same rugged, beautiful country that TR himself found so healing and energizing.

That part of North Dakota is flat. You can see for miles. Which is why you can’t miss Salem Sue, the world’s largest Holstein cow, standing all by herself on a high bluff near New Salem. I mean, come on. Who doesn’t want to go see a giant cow on top of a hill?

That same day we stumbled onto the Enchanted Highway near Dickinson, a string of giant scrap-metal sculptures stretching for miles across the prairie. America is full of wonderful, strange things like that, and I’ve got a whole collection of them saved up for a future post.

The Black Hills and the Badlands

We swung south into the Black Hills to camp at Elk Mountain Campground in Wind Cave National Park, with a drive through Custer State Park along the way.

We also saw Mount Rushmore, rode ATVs through the Black Hills backcountry, and took a ride on the 1880 Train between Hill City and Keystone, billed as the oldest continuously operating standard-gauge tour railroad in the nation, with plenty to keep you busy at each end. More on those adventures in articles to come.

Then came Badlands National Park. We hiked all over that place, and the nightly stargazing program alone was worth the trip. The Badlands deserve a post of their own, and they’ll get one, but I can’t leave without telling you about our last day.

The night before, a good rainstorm rolled through. Turns out, whatever kind of clay that ground is made of turns into pure slimy gum when it gets wet. The day before, the same trail had been hard and dusty. Now, with every step, the gunk piled higher on our shoes until we could barely lift our feet, and anything we used to knock it off got stuck too.

We figured we’d let it dry and bang our shoes together to break it off. We figured wrong. It dried into solid rock. I ended up chiseling it off with a hammer and a screwdriver.

▶ Watch: Like Walking in Snot, Gum and Tree Sap Mixed, Badlands Clay on a Wet Day

Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri

From the Badlands we headed east to Split Rock Creek State Park in Jasper, Minnesota, where another new sticker went on the map.

▶ Watch: I Got a Text From a Friend, Our Newest State Sticker Minnesota

Then came Wilson Island State Recreation Area in Iowa, where I cooked up one of my favorite camp breakfasts on the Blackstone, and Crowder State Park in Trenton, Missouri.

The Road Home

Our last stop was Bennett Spring State Park near Lebanon, Missouri, one of the nicest parks we’d been to in a while. On our first morning there, out on a hike around that beautiful place, we got news from home that meant it was time to go.

We hurried back to camp, ate a quick breakfast, and broke our own rule. We hit the interstate and drove hard all day, collapsed in a highway motel around seven that night, got up with the sun, and drove about fourteen more hours to get home.

The rest of Diana’s carefully planned itinerary will have to wait for now.

More to Come

The campgrounds we loved, the ones we’d skip, and the lessons we learned the hard way are coming in their own articles, along with a planning guide built from Diana’s itineraries to help you map out a trip like this one.

I’m just saying.