If there were ever a summer for a classic American road trip, 2026 is it. No, we’re not talking about Route 66 (but do that, too). This one is especially well-timed. Serendipitous.
Stretching roughly 260 miles from Rapid City, South Dakota, to Medora, North Dakota, this route through the Great Plains ties together two presidential landmarks with a whole lot of romantic western drama in between: the granite icons of Mount Rushmore at one end, and the new Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, opening July 4, at the other. And in between, it’s all roaming bison, colorful badlands, tiny cowboy towns, prairie sunsets and some of the most cinematic scenery in the country.