In previous posts, I noted that there were a couple of detours that I didn’t take, and both sort of mid-west-ish…one in Canada, one in the US. So I want to see what it would look like if I did a separate trip to check out those locations.

Segment 1 would start in Wisconsin (50d). When I planned my route back from New Orleans, I pretty much went straight North to Chicago, Milwaukee, etc. I didn’t deviate much from that route. And there is a whole lot of midwest that I skipped over. I would probably start in Minneapolis. Then continue down through Des Moines, Omaha, Lincoln, and Kansas City. I would probably go to Witchita, just cuz I love the song from Cindy Church. Oklahoma City would be next on the list, and if I didn’t hit Dallas / Fort Worth earlier, I’d do them this time. I already did Albuquerque, but I’d probably do it again on the way to Denver. Then swing West, probably to Salt Lake City. I don’t know at that point if I would do Casper Wyoming or up into Yellowstone. It’s possible that before I went south to KC, I probably should have picked off part of North and South Dakota. But after SLC, I could mosey to Boise. So many options. I could try to finish off in Butte. Or some variation thereof. For the map, I went over to Montana and back to Iowa, but I could be flexible. It’s a whopping 98h, 10400km, so 25d just in driving at 400 km a day. I’m going to double that, which might be a bit high, but there are a lot of famous sights along that route, plus lots of places to do a bit of paddling and hiking.

Segment 2 would take me to Waterton Lakes / Glacial Lake National Park (16d). I have wanted to go to Waterton for a very long time to see the area. I tried multiple times while working to schedule a conference there, with no luck ever. Sigh. Coming from Columbia Falls, the best route is the Going-To-The-Sun Road that goes right through Glacial Lakes NP on the US side. The problem, of sorts, is that a) it is seasonal, you can only go in the summer, and b) you have to book it in advance. Except I’m not likely to know my route and timing well enough to get me there in time to book it. Unless I totally reverse my trip and go to the Park first. 🙂 At the moment, I would start in Columbia Falls, pass through Sprague Creek / Crystal Point / Siyeh Bend and end up at St. Mary on the other side of the US portion of the park. From there, the trip returns to normal limitations of time and desire, with a stop at Waterton Lake on the Canadian side. I plotted a route back through Lethbridge and Grasslands National Park, and then just a straight line back to Ottawa that takes me back through North Dakota and Minnesota.

Overall, the trip would be about 10d or so, but I would double that first part, 6d or so, making it 16d in total for 3800 km. The totals are all off though as it won’t let me officially take the right road at this time of year, so it keeps rerouting me the other way around. But I know the road has a bunch of other limitations including overall length of car and trailer combos (no longer than 21′, which might mean having to leave the trailer near one of the entrances and driving through or around to pick it up again later). I’d figure it out for the year I was going.

So that takes care of the “missed” mid-West. I could TRY to add it into my first “west of the Mississippi” grand trip, but these two segments are already large on their own:

• Segment 1: 50d, 10400 km
• Segment 2: 16d, 3600 km
• Total: 66d, 14000 km

And with that done, it pretty much covers the entirety of Canada and the US except Nunavut, Hawaii and the Grand Canyon, all of which could be separate one-off trips at some point.

Do you have any place you want to go that I missed?