The Trail of The American Outlaw

Kansas City

Arrive from your transatlantic flight into Kansas City. Collect your hire car at the airport and transfer to your downtown hotel.

Stradling the Kansas state line, in the northwest corner of Missouri, the city is as well known for it's history as it's many beautiful fountains and parks and a very lively Jazz scene.

Once a convenient trading post in the 1830's for pioneers heading to the Western United States, today Kansas City is a lively metropolis with activities and attractions to suit all tastes.

There will be plenty of time over the next few days to explore this friendly city and the surrounding countryside , so tonight is yours to relax and enjoy an early dinner.

Put on your walking shoes and explore the city sights and local neighbourhoods such as the Garment District, City Hall, & Westport. Don't miss the interesting Historic District of the city, otherwise known as River Market or City Market, located along the banks of the Missouri River.

Alternatively, one of the best ways to experience this thriving Midwest city is by enjoying one of the many Segway tours on offer. In case you haven't discovered this unique experience yet, the Segway is a wonderful two wheel wheeled electric balancing vehicle that allows you to safely travel around urban areas and still see everything on offer.

Choose from 'The Urban Journey' that takes in the city highlights to The Cultural 'Plaza Art and Architecture' tour or alternatively enjoy a journey around the K ansas City Zoo in the aptly named 'Segway Safari'.

One of the city's biggest and best loved landmarks is the Union Station – originally built in 1914 and carefully renovated in more recent years. The Station is also now home to 'Science City', a wonderful museum with hands on exhibits that will appeal to all ages.

Visit the Arabia Steamboat Museum where you can follow the shipwreck tale of the 'Great White Arabia' that sank back 1856, when settlers were forging their way west.

As Kansas City as the original home of the BBQ sauce , make sure you sample some hickory smoked cuisine for which the city is well known. Finally when the lights go down make sure you check out the city's jazz and blues scene in the Historic 18th & Vine area.

St Joseph

53 miles

A leisurely start today as you haven't got a long drive ahead of you. After breakfast head approximately 15 miles north east of the city to Liberty and see the bank where Jesse James committed the first daylight robbery after the Civil War in 1866. Visit the Jesse James Bank Museum situated in the old bank sitting on the corner of the town square. Here you can see the original safe and vault allegedly raided by the infamous outlaw, when the bank was known as the Clay County Savings Association Bank.

Moving on to Kearny, visit the Jesse James Farm . Home and farm to the notorious outlaw, the farm is open to visitors and features artifacts from the James/Younger Gang's years.

Arriving at St Joseph, you will discover The Pony Express is still alive in today's folklore.

Once a booming supply depot for the California Gold Rush, and home of the legendary Pony Express, today St Joseph is a busy manufacturing town. However, no trip here would be complete without a visit to the Pony Express museum to learn about how the West was won on horseback in the name of communication, and some of the colourful characters and riders that became legends like Buffalo Bill Cody and Charlie Miller.

Patee House, a hotel used by The Pony Express was also the site where James' murder began its investigation. Adjacent to the hotel is the home where Jesse James lived and was killed by the coward Robert Ford shot James in the back of the head in April 1882.

Sioux Falls

309 miles

An early start today as you head further north into Nebraska to follow the Outlaw trail along the Missouri River and through Sioux City used by Butch Cassidy and his gang.

With a full day at leisure in the Sioux Falls area, there's much to see and do. Begin your day at the city's namesake The Falls of the Big Sioux River at Falls Park. Known to the Lakota Sioux as "Laughing Waters", the Big Sioux River winds throughout the city culminating in the center of Sioux Falls. Enjoy the views of the beautiful triple waterfalls from three different lookout platforms. Be sure to stop in the Visitor Information Center at Falls Park, which has an impressive 5-story observation tower. Preview local and regional art at the Horse Barn Arts Center built in the late 1800's and relax outside on the deck looking over the Falls.

Twenty minutes north east of Sioux Falls, Jessie James, one of the most notorious outlaws in history, still lives on in South Dakota's historic Palisades State Park. Walk amongst magnificent rock formations creating a natural paradise for picnicking, hiking, fishing, canoeing, and rock climbing.

Pierre

224 miles

Your next stop on this exciting journey across The Mount Rushmore State is the second smallest state capital in the USA. Sitting along the east bank of the Missouri River in the centre of the state, Pierre is a charming and typically friendly South Dakota town with a population of about 15,000.

Arrive in time to take a walk or drive around the town to see the black domed Capitol Building and perhaps pay a visit the Cultural Heritage Center, located on a hill just north of the capitol.

Rapid City

173 miles

Depart Pierre and continue heading towards Rapid City at the most western point of the state. Stretching for a hundred miles between the Belle Fourche River in the North and the Cheyenne in the South lies a landscape of rolling hills and flat grain growing plains that is the Black Hills. Rapid City is South Dakota's second largest town, and the hub of the Black Hills area. Allowing very easy access to Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse, among other worthy places to visit it is also close to towns such as Gold Rush town Deadwood, Sturgis, and Spearfish.

Spend this afternoon in Custer State Park where you can follow the Needles Highway for 14 miles through pine forests, and past towering granite spires and the lovely Sylvan Lake.

Meanwhile, the 18 mile Wildlife Loop along the park's southern edge takes you across rolling meadows. Leave this bit until last and as the sun sets over the park you will most likely be treated with sightings of elk, deer, antelope, bison and bighorn sheep.

Witness the sun rising over the Badlands, the harsh but stunning landscape created by millions of years of erosion and known by the Lakota as "mako sica".Then take a trip to Mt Rushmore National Memorial, to see the gigantic busts of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln carved in solid granite. Finally make your way to the Crazy Horse Memorial, another huge mountain carving which has now been in progress for over 50 years.

Deadwood

42 miles

Leaving Rapid City after breakfast your next stop, just a short drive away will be the historic town of Deadwood. Once notorious for its wicked ways of gambling and prostitution as the final resting place for Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane.

Today this entire city is a national historic landmark. As the largest historic preservation project in the USA, Deadwood is a living showcase of history. Authentic re-creation of turn-of-the-century street lamps light the way through accurately, carefully restored architecture. The famous and infamous have left their marks here. Follow their footsteps as you explore the beauty and history of this one-of-a-kind Wild West town. Visit the Hall of Fame and its cemetery, plus learn about life in the 'old days' with a visit to the Adams museum.

Buffalo

179 miles

Today you will leave South Dakota and be heading west into Wyoming and the quiet and attractive town of Buffalo. Nestled in the southeastern foothills of the Bighorn Mountains, the area around Buffalo has been the scene of many conflicts between American Indians and the white men and also the range wars between farmers and homesteaders.

Once an old Buffalo Trail, the town actually gained its name from Buffalo in New York State.

Make a stop en route northwest of Sundance where you can experience the nations first national monument ~ The Devils Tower made infamous by the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Cody

183 miles

Founded in 1896 by William F 'Buffalo Bill' Cody, this cowboy town remains full of Old West Adventure. Attracting cowboys and tourists alike, Cody is known for it's reenactments of famous shoot outs, restored frontier buildings and the annual Stampede hosted every year on 4th July. Possibilities for things to see and do are endless here. Take the scenic Wapiti Valley drive between Cody and Yellowstone, which Teddy Roosevelt called the most scenic 50 miles in America, or visit Buffalo Bill's original hunting lodge, Pahaska. Northwest of Cody, near Cooke City, is sunlight basin.

Make time to visit The Buffalo Bill Historical Center or The Cody Firearms Museum and then for a fun evening why not go to Dan Miller's Cowboy Music Revue.

Cody Country offers many opportunities for outdoor activities such as hiking, skiing, camping, rock-climbing, hunting, fishing, horseback riding, biking and wildlife viewing as well as some great white water rafting opportunities. Ask about pre bookable River Trips and Fishing excursions. Experience some of the pristine wilderness just outside the town where herds of buffalo roam.

Yellowstone National Park

79 miles

From Cody you will be heading straight into the worlds oldest national park. Spectacular Yellowstone is home to steaming geysers, bubbling mudpots and a huge range of wildlife from bears, elk moose and the recently reintroduced wolves.

Take the time to travel through both loops of the park to enjoy the renowned sights of the Old Faithful Geyser, Inspiration Point, Yellowstone's Grand Canyon, Mammoth Hot Springs and the Fountain Paint Pots. Yellowstone is such an accessible park nearly all its attractions are within a few hundred feet of the Grand Loop Road.

Jackson Hole

98 miles

The town of Jackson sits at the south-eastern edge of Jackson Hole – a high, flat valley surrounded by mountain ranges, in north-west Wyoming. It's literally a "Hole" in the mountains, set amidst beautiful pristine wilderness. This is real cowboy territory, and the town strives to maintain its Wild West flavour, with traditional-style wooden buildings and sidewalks, and a famously genuine old country-music saloon, the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, complete with saddles as bar stools. A number of fine Native American arts & crafts shops and a wonderful wildlife art museum add to the Western flavour.

Don't be fooled though as Jackson also provides all the facilities expected of a major upmarket mountain resort with wide range of fine restaurants, championship golf courses, art galleries, cinemas, theatre, & annual concerts.

Outdoor enthusiasts will love the endless choice of activities with mountaineering, horse-riding, hiking among them. The area is also great for fly fishing and white water rafting expeditions as well as wildlife safaris.