April,

In addition to rv.net I suggest you also check out 2 other RV specific websites and their forums. www.irv2.com and www.rvforum.net

In the 2 years that we've had our RV I've found them to be a great help. Much like this forum but RV specific.

We took a 5 week trip from the Florida Panhandle to that same area, among other places, last year. Were gone last week of August and most of September.

We arrived in Yellowstone the 9th of September and it was still pretty crowded. We had reservations at Fishing Bridge CG, the only cg in the Park with hook-ups. At this point you'd be lucky to find a vacancy, but cancellations do happen. I had reserved 2 weeks but ended up dropping a couple of days from the front and back. Each time I was asked if I was sure if I wanted to do that because once I gave them up, they'd be gone to someone else. You could be that someone else this time, so call - and call often - if staying inside the Park is what you want.

You mention going through the Badlands and to Mount Rushmore. Do not take the Needles Highway in the Black Hills with your RV. There are several tunnels which are not recommended for RVs, not to mention the sharp curves and generally narrow road. There are other routes to Rushmore.

We were at Rushmore for the evening lighting ceremony and had to drive back to our CG in Custer State Park after dark. Bad enough in the Jeep, wouldn't want to do much driving around after dark with the RV due to the ever present danger of deer - or other critters - entering the road unexpectedly. If you plan to take US 16N back toward Rapid City and I-90, it might not be as bad. Didn't drive that route so I don't know what it's like.

If you go to the RV websites we've recommended, you'll find great information on which routes from I-90 toward Cody to avoid. We didn't go that way, so I don't remember and wouldn't want to try to guess from looking at the map. But you'll cross the Big Horn Mts. and there are some very steep grades that you wouldn't want to find yourself faced with if you chose the wrong route, according to all I read.

On at least one of the websites you can find a link to a guy who has written about every entrance to Yellowstone from the perspective of an RVer. I think his username is RVCruzer, but I could be wrong. Just do a search on those websites for route info and you'll get plenty of stuff. Or register - it's free - and post questions.

Okay, I'll stop. But you're going to one of our favor areas and I want others to enjoy it as much as we have. If you do go to the RV sites, I'm registered at 2 under this same user name and under 1 as Floridafrances. Do a search and you'll find all the wonderful answers I received from people when we were planning our trip last year.

Safe travels.

Fran