wow pray to the weather gods once u get past st. cloud minnesota. No trees and any snow could be a disaster as it is always windy up here. Prolly the worst time other than maybe january to be heading through the midwest.
The heartland poker tour is having their championship In Gary Indiana
In Minneapolis i would definately say hit up the canterbury poker room. Maybe hit up the mall of america if u are into that mess. Also the tubby smith led Minnesoooota Gophers are playing at the barn Dec 12. There is a pretty nice casino near fargo called the shooting star casino about an hour northeast with some extremely soft games on the weekends. Other than that speed as fast as you can through north dakota.
Im still sticking to it you probably want to head south when u get to minneapolis and take i-90 through minnesota and south dakota it will be ten degrees warmer too. In south dakota u can hit up the badlands, mount rushmore, sturgis (actually see how small it is when there is no motorcycle rally) and deadwood (lots of poker rooms) all not too far from each other.
From there head into myoming maybe visit jackson hole and head north through both Grand Teton National park and yellowstone and up to bozeman and go skiing at Bridger Bowl possibly.
Like i said im not sure of your interest etc. but IMO there is not much to do this time of year west of minneapolis and the weather can be nasty.