Itinerary - Days 3, 4 and 5

On day 3, we will travel from Alma Center, WI to Bismark, North Dakota. It's another long drive, 572 miles, that is estimated to take approximately 9 hours.

Along the way, we'll be passing through Minneapolis, Minnesota, so right now, the plan is to take a little detour to stop and check out the Mall of America. We won't be able to stay long, but I figured it would be pretty cool to check it out, since we'll be so close to it.

After visiting the mall, we'll then continue on to Bismarck, the capital of North Dakota, passing though Fargo, ND on the way. After spending the night, we'll continue on to our next stop first thing in the morning.

Day 4 has us traveling from Bismark, ND to Billings, Montana. The good news, is that at least we'll have finally arrived in the state that our first “real” destination is located in. 

Also, as a little bonus for today's drive, we'll have the opportunity to stop at Theodore Roosevelt National Park along the way. It's not an often-visited park, but given that we have to drive right through the middle of it, it certainly seems reasonable to stop and spend some time there.

From what I've determined, 2 – 3 hours should be enough to “see” the highlights of this park, and possibly even take a short hike. At this point, we'll have traveled approximately 1800 miles, since we started, and I'm sure it will feel good to have some time to get out of the car and walk around a bit.

After visiting the park, we'll continue on our way to Billings, the largest city in Montana, where we'll spend the night. The next day is a big day, as we'll finally reach our first destination, Glacier National Park.

On day 5, we will arrive at Glacier National Park, our first “real” destination of our trip. On our way from Billings, MT, we're going to take another small detour, this time to stop in Cut Bank, MT. The purpose of this stop is that this will be our last opportunity for anything resembling a real supermarket for the next 7 days. Our travel for this day has us driving approximately 400 miles, in somewhere near 6 hours and 30 minutes. We're actually going to be staying in the small town of St. Mary, MT, on the Eastern edge of Glacier National Park.

Tomorrow, we'll spend the day in Glacier National Park.