Driving out with 10 & 11 yr old boys. Looking for suggestions for 1-3 hour stops to break up the trip.

There is lots to do in St. Louis - the Arch, Union Station, City Museum, St. Louis Zoo, Forest Park, Science Center, Magic House, and more. Check out www.explorestlouis.com .

In Lawrence Kansas there is an Indian school and museum.
Columbus Ohio has a zoo I'm pretty sure.
Dayton Ohio (actually Fairborn, very near) has Wright Patterson Air Force Base Museum.
I suggest a portable DVD player for them and books on tape for you!!
And when you hit the Colorado border, don't get hooked into the idea that your trip is done--another 4-6 hours to Denver with NOthing there!!

If they are into sports.....the NCAA Hall of Fame is in Indianapolis. There is also a wonderful Children's Museum in Indianapolis.

In Abilene, Kansas, the Eisenhower Presidential Museum and Library and, quite close by, Old Abilene, an area that celebrates the time Abilene was one of the major destinations for Texas cattle drives.

I second the suggestion for visiting the Air Force Museum on the outskirts of Dayton, Ohio. Your kids will probably enjoy it very much and it is a very short distance off I-70.

I would stop in Kansas City - give them some time at Oceans of Fun or Worlds of Fun and totally wear them out before starting drive on to Denver - which is an endless drive and was the happiest day in my life when I could afford to fly over it.

Yep, after Kansas City there really isn't much until you hit Denver. It's all uphill from here!

The theme parks would be a good tiring break from your drive. There is also a Great Wolf Lodge on the west side. Indoor theme water park.

A bit off the track from I-70 is the Space Museum in Hutchinson. Lots of cool stuff there. No good reason why the collection is there in the middle of the prairie, but there it is! It's really a big deal and there is also a hotel with an indoor water park that just opened in Hutchinson, too.

After KC, expect an 11 hour drive to the mountains.

Well. We're big sports fans, but here's the stuff we would do or have done:

St. Louis, go to a baseball game; it's the last year before they tear down the stadium. Zoo is free and very nice. Kansas City, eat some barbecue at Gates or some chicken at Stroud's and visit the Negro League baseball museum. Lawrence, KS, visit Allen Fieldhouse and take photo standing next the Naismith Drive street sign. Then get ready for a boring drive the rest of the way to Denver.

Just a warning - Make reservations if you want to overnight in Kansas. We drove across Kansas in July and could not get a room in the eastern half of the state on the way back. We had planned to stay about halfway between CO and MO and ended up almost in Kansas City.

Ditto to room reservations for KS...you'd be surprised. A few vacations ago, we went without any reservations. Long story short, we left Pike's Peak about 2 p.m., and ended up having to drive all the way back home to Missouri straight through - got home about 5 a.m. There were weddings, horse shows, rodeos, and everything else you can imagine booked at every hotel we could find.

Even if you don't want to book now, you can always call ahead, early in the day, judging where you will be that night. We usually have pretty good luck with that.

When my daughter was that age and we lived in Kansas City- we would leave in the evening and drive all night so she would sleep the whole way - worked then-
dont think I could do it now -

Three words: Prarie Dog Town. In Oakley, KS. You'll see the signs to be sure. It is a classic American tourist trap, and you'll be giddy with delight visiting the six-legged steer and other curiousities.

I asked if there was something special going on to fill all the motels in Hayes, KS. The clerk told me "It's just a Friday night it Hayes," so I assume it must be a fairly frequent occurance. That drive is NOT fun when you are tired.

Hayes has a college, I think. I have driven that road more times than I would admit. There are many college towns on I70 and they often have things going on. I just usually drive until I am ready to stop and get a motel on the interstate--there are LOTs.

I just want to add my voice to those urging you to make reservations. These days I think it would be foolish indeed to come cross country during the summer on either I-70 or I-80 without reservations. There are just too many other people making the same trip. I've heard many stories of people having to drive much, much farther than they intended because they either didn't have reservations or decided they weren't ready to stop yet when they got to the place they'd reserved. If you're not sure how far you're going to want to go, make two reservations an hour or two apart. Just make sure to cancel one before the deadline (usually 4:00PM)!

Would also like to add my vote for St. Louis as a good stopping point!

You will be driving right behind our house here in KC! It depends on what time of year you are coming thru, but worlds and oceans of fun are great ideas and only 5 minutes from 70! If you want to go to like science city, do the one in STL, its much better than ours and its free! If you time it right you could stop for a royals game, they are horrible this year, but you could get really good seats! There is a new place here that we went to last weekend called power play, its like a huge indoor carnival! very cool! Whatever you do, try to time it so you leave KC at night and have the kids sleep the rest of the way to Denver, it is the most boring 12 hour drive possible!

I don't make reservations because I never quite know how far I want to drive. And remember, coming westward you keep "gaining" an hour of time. From my home in NC to my son's in Denver it is 1600 miles. I usually drive 800 miles/day--stopping in Columbia, MO. It is a college town so there are MANY motels. One time I pushed on to KC just to have some BBQ. I know this is not the syle of trip the poster is comtemplating but I have found the accomodations along I70 to be very ample--and budget minded. Another tactic might be to watch the billboards and project that you might want to stop in 50 miles and call at that point.

Thanks for the tips. I will definitely make a reservation or two for each night. We got stuck driving all night along I-95 through VA, NC & SC. Never again. I will be the only driver so 12 hours is way too much. Being from the East Coast I have to remind myself of the vast nothingness one can encounter between cities in the Mid-West

You may be surprised about the 12 hour thing. The roads are so open you cover a lot of territory. Anyway, have a great trip.
There is a place in Kansas where you come to a top of a rolling hill (Kansas is not that flat!!) and off in the distance to the south you can see the most monumental granary I have ever seen.
Also, if you are travelling in the summer the sunflowers will be stunning.

Stop at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a tour.
or

Take I-71 from Columbus, OH to Louisville, KY. Then I-64 from Louisville to St. Louis, MO and get back on I-70 in St. Louis.
Louisville has the Kentucky Derby Museum and Louisville Slugger Museum.

There is not much distance difference between the two routes.

If you have time, from Cincinatti, take
I-75 to Lexington, KY. Take a driving tour around horse farms and stop at one for a tour. You would have to call in advance to tour one of the farms.

Then take I 64 to Louisville.