what's worth seeing in the northern part of the u s and a?

[Aaarg]

the trip i'm planning will take me from northern virginia to northwestern oregon (portland area).

i'm planning on just kind of going quickly through everything east of chicago, and from there on out spending more time checking stuff out.

i'll go through the black hills and the badlands and the rockies and the cascades and finally get to the pacific ocean. then i turn around and do it all again.

i plan on doing a lot of hiking and wandering around on foot, checking things out. mostly sleeping in my car or in a tent, eating just enough to keep me going, etc. i guess every few days i might stop at a motel or something. i guess if a town strikes me the right way i'll spend an evening in a bar or something.

i don't know, i'll just kind of see how it takes me.

so what's worth seeing in lakota country and points west?