Travelocity and Expedia are very good, perhaps the best for rates and bookings, but it doesn't cost anything to check the others as well. You are going at the height of tourist season, and even the "cheap" places will be expensive, meaning that it will probably be hard to find stuff in the $100 per night range. I pulled up rates for Deadwood, SD area on a site called Cheapostay, and the best rate I could find was $65 for July and August, which was at a place called Badlands Budget Hotel, it had a 1 Star rating, on a scale where The Motel 6 received 4 Stars--that was $86 per night, which was discounted from the regular rate of $150. Things went up fast from there-- A lot of the places increased their rates from the last week in July to the First week in August--some more than doubled--which tells you that you'd better make reservations, because chances are, you'll have trouble finding anything on the day you get there. Word of warning!! Before you make reservations, either through an online service or with the hotel reservation service, check the cancellation policies and other fees! Many chains now charge for a night if you cancel after a cutoff date, and some places even charge a non-refundable booking fee in addition to the nightly rate. If you can travel after Labor Day ( Monday Sept 6--the official end of Summer), things will get much less expensive, but the western weather can get suddenly colder then, too. If you like camping, and have a pop up tent and sleeping bags, you can save a lot, and you'll meet a lot more people than if you stay in hotels. You'll probably need to make reservations a campgrounds, too, though. You could rent a camper, too(which might come in handy on a Dinosaur dig), but I am a simple man, and a backpack and a hotel room is all I need. The real questions are about time and cost--the truth is that if you are going any long distance in the US, your best deal is to fly, and, if you need a car at your destination (which you usually do) to rent it. Long distance rail travel can be a lot of fun, but it isn't cheaper than flying, especially when you figure in meals. As to how long it takes to drive 926 miles, it is completely dependent on where you start and finish--if you're driving on a rural interstate, particularly in the west, and have a mind to do it, you can drive 80 or 90 mph, but if you're driving in any of the vast urban nightmares that we don't even have names for (Washington to Boston Corridor is as close to a name as you'll find) you can average 35mph on the interstates, if you're lucky-- There are other reasons to drive, though, like wanting to see the scenery--the comment about 1000 years being a long time is way off the mark in places like the Grand Canyon, where you can see two billion years of history--at least on a clear day. I better go--this is a really long post for me--
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