You've packed up the RV and are ready to hit the road to travel from the Everglades and sparkling beaches of Florida to mountainous Montana. Four different routes from Florida to Billings take you past great fishing or fine art, classic Americana or bits of ancient history. Whether you veer through the Deep South or aim high for the Great Lakes, RV-friendly sights and places to park it for a night or more await.
Blend a journey through the Deep South with a trek through magnificent mountains when you start at the panhandle and exit Florida to the west on Interstate 10. Keep hugging the Gulf of Mexico toward Biloxi and New Orleans, where the French Quarter RV Resort means you can park close to the action while enjoying hotel-style luxuries such as free cable TV and a business center. Head north to Shreveport and west toward Dallas; exit Texas through Amarillo, pausing to pick up some barbecue from one of the small towns along U.S. Route 287. Take Interstate 25 north through Colorado, veering off toward any nearby Rocky Mountain sights such as Pikes Peak, the eclectic city of Boulder or the Gold Rush-era downtown of Idaho Springs -- locations not too deep into the mountains that they're hard to access in a long RV. The state has numerous RV campgrounds, including several in metro Denver. Stop in Cheyenne or Casper for some western duds or rodeo, depending on the time of year, and pause at the site of Custer's last stand at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument as you near Billings.
Plow through the Great Plains on your journey to Billings by first leaving Florida through the panhandle and heading north into Alabama. Between Tupelo, Mississippi, and Memphis, Tennessee, pull off at the Holly Springs National Forest to see an Indian burial mound and watch for migratory birds on the trails. The Chewalla Lake Recreation Area is RV-friendly and puts you close to the town of Holly Springs, where you can delve into the old cotton culture in picturesque style just a short drive from Memphis. Continue west through Little Rock and Tulsa, stopping to fish the Arkansas River at a collection of state recreation areas just on the other side of Tulsa. While in Oklahoma, cut off U.S. Route 412 to the Pawnee Bill Ranch, a 500-acre spread with the Wild West showman's 1910 home, an old blacksmith shop, log cabin and more. Continue north through the sweeping grasslands of Kansas into Nebraska, and take a break in the thick Ponderosa pines of the Black Hills National Forest in South Dakota. Go fly fishing in Sheridan Lake or bike on a 110-mile path through the Northern Hills with RV-friendly campgrounds close at hand.
The most direct route between the Florida sunshine and Montana's cowboy country takes you up Interstate 75 toward Atlanta and through the hills of Chattanooga toward Nashville. You can explore Music City without the hassle of RV parking by settling down at the Nashville Country RV Park in nearby Goodlettsville and taking the park's shuttle into downtown for a day of sightseeing. Continuing on Interstate 24 through Kentucky, you can pull off for a round of golf at Mineral Mound State Park before heading toward St. Louis and Kansas City. Along Interstate 70 between these two Missouri cities, you can pay a visit to a home occupied more than 10,000 years ago at the Graham Cave State Park, stretching your legs on a rousing hike or casting a line in a stream to catch the evening's dinner. Straddling the Nebraska-Iowa border and following the Missouri River to the north, you'll cut east on Interstate 90 toward South Dakota's Badlands. The Cedar Pass Campground is more RV-friendly with electrical hookups -- but if your vehicle is small enough to navigate the unpaved road to the Sage Creek Campground, you may wake to find that wandering bison have moved in as your neighbors.
You've got time to kill and the northernmost parts of the country to tackle, so head north out of Florida through Atlanta and veer toward Knoxville, Tennessee, on Interstate 75. Passing through the vast Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky, pull off at Lake Cumberland for a refreshing dip or water sports, along with plentiful drive-in campsites at the Grove and Holly Bay campgrounds. Continue toward Cincinnati and through Ohio, heading all the way up into Michigan until Lake Huron is to your east and Lake Michigan lies to the west. Park at one of the several campgrounds in the Hiawatha National Forest/Sault Ste. Marie Ranger District, and visit the two lakes in addition to Lake Superior on the north side of the forest. If you've got your passport, pop over the Canadian border to the Ontario side of Sault Ste. Marie for a bit of gambling at the casino or art appreciation at the Algoma art gallery. Heading west toward Wisconsin and through Minnesota, you're in the land of lakes with plenty of parks to pull off at on the way to Fargo. At the western edge of North Dakota, pull into one of the Little Missouri National Grassland campgrounds for prairie that sweeps across the horizon, verdant routes for bicycling and hiking, and prairie dog communities that pop up to say hello.
