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sight seeing road trip suggestions
rambo rebel
Member Posts: 4,028
taking a 3 week road trip with my 85 yo dad to AZ (I'm 56) and we are taking his new nissan altima.
we are leaving on sept. 6 and taking I-40 across northern miss, ark, bama, tx, and n.mex. stopping in southern az to visit a cousin. then we are coming back along the southern route of I-65 where I know we'll stop are roswell and carlsbad caverns, new orleans.
what I need from you guys is suggestions as to where we should go to see the sights. we are going to the canyon too.
I figure our first day/leg of driving will put us near the al/ms line and day 2 louisiana/tx line and day 3 NM/az line.
we will stay a day or so at each stop the sight see so what do you recommend?
we hope to find some good eaterys and bbq joints along the way.
we like odd stuff like bobby joes rattle snake farm and emporium along with natural stuff like water falls and mountain veiws. we also like history stuff.
we might go to vegas since we will be within 250 miles of it where we are going in AZ but we may not since we could care less about gambling, hookers, neon, or seeing shows. if we do I'd drop $100 in a slot and call it quits when it was gone or I won a pot. the hookers may interest us a little. ;>)
we are leaving on sept. 6 and taking I-40 across northern miss, ark, bama, tx, and n.mex. stopping in southern az to visit a cousin. then we are coming back along the southern route of I-65 where I know we'll stop are roswell and carlsbad caverns, new orleans.
what I need from you guys is suggestions as to where we should go to see the sights. we are going to the canyon too.
I figure our first day/leg of driving will put us near the al/ms line and day 2 louisiana/tx line and day 3 NM/az line.
we will stay a day or so at each stop the sight see so what do you recommend?
we hope to find some good eaterys and bbq joints along the way.
we like odd stuff like bobby joes rattle snake farm and emporium along with natural stuff like water falls and mountain veiws. we also like history stuff.
we might go to vegas since we will be within 250 miles of it where we are going in AZ but we may not since we could care less about gambling, hookers, neon, or seeing shows. if we do I'd drop $100 in a slot and call it quits when it was gone or I won a pot. the hookers may interest us a little. ;>)
Comments
El Morro...some early explorers were here.
Entrance to Monument Valley
Where are you starting from?
In Tuscaloosa, Al. (roll tide!) I-20 running west will put you in a large city about every 175 miles. It might be 200 here or 150 there. But on avg you can pretty much find yourself in a city about every 3 hours.
Tuscaloosa, Meridian, Jackson, Monroe, Shreveport, Dallas and so. However, that goes S of Ark. To get it in your trip you would have to head N out of Shreveport to Texarkana and pick up I30 back east to Hot Springs and or little Rock.
If you go I-40, you would see the likes of Memphis, Little Rock,Ft Smith, Okie City and on to Amarillo (where I found my beloved Claudia!)
Anyways, you may have planned for a lot of doubling back. But if you find yourself in Memphis, I recomend the Natchez Trace Parkway. It's a 2 lane highway and it goes to I-20 in La. (I think, check the map on that before you venture off).
If you happen to be on the Tenn Bama state line, Jack Daniels is a entertaining stop and its just a few miles away.
Bottomless Lakes has good fishing if you like 'em small. It's about 30 miles East of Roswell. You might see an abandoned missile silo if you go North from Roswell on US285; it's disguised as a mound of dirt with a staircase descending to where the welders cut it off. It's on the East side of 285 about a mile from the top of Nine Mile hill.
Carlsbad has only one decent hotel; The Stevens, and next door is the Stagecoach hotel/restaurant.[:(] Good eats are the burritos at the Drifter gas stations-I recommend the brisket or asado; watch for unpeeled chiles.
The Caverns are a 30-minute drive through flooded roadways, and there are tours that take 4-6 hours.
How are you with humid, underground situations?
West of Roswell is the Hondo Valley; artists, Texans, Ruidoso, Mescalero Casino, Silver Lake (featured in the Jason series), tourist traps of all sorts (avoid the Fox Cave-Jesse James/Billy the Kid/Pat Garrett never heard of it), Tularosa, then Alamogordo-home of the White Sands flying circus and Melrose Bombing Range.
If you continue West, you'll cross the Organ Mountains into Las Cruces; just a short hop South into crime-infested El Paso, and Mexico.
Continuing West from Cruces; there's a checkpoint[V] just before you get to Butterfield Station (a "ghost" town), or if you head North; it's only a 3-hour cruise up I-25 to Albuquerque (after the checkpoint at mp 21), past Hatch (chile capitol of the World) T or C (home of lowest level of all time Elephant Butte), San Antonio (home of the world famous Owl Bar and the best Green Chile Cheeseburgers, and the entrance to White Sands Stallion Range), then Socorro (home of the Energetics Research Facility/explosion mountain), then Belen/Los Lunas, Isleta Casino (formerly Hard Rock), and Albq.
I recommend Powdrell's on East Central and their BBQ to everyone, as well as Quarters BBQ on Yale, South of Central in the University area, there's also Whole Hog BBQ on Montgomery just East of Eubank, and on the way to 10,590' Sandia Crest is Ribbs BBQ-not bad for bein' so darn high!
If you come in through I-40 from Amarillo, your first opportunity for gas will be the truckstop about 4 miles into nM. No BBQ there.
Tucumcari is the first "civilization" you'll find; never mind San Jon or the checkpoint[:(!] just East of town right before you get to the India Truckstop-don't eat the Vindaloo anything there![xx(]
If you continue along I-40, you'll have to take a left somewhere around Santa Rosa to get to Roswell. I suggest the Joseph's Diner there, across from the Tower motel. No BBQ, but it's not going to poison you.[;)]
Better yet, shoot me an email when you cross the line, and I'll fill you in on all the events, places to see, and available BBQ/nM food joints you're likely to want to see/do/visit.
I've traveled nM extensively in the last 45 years, and have been down every road in the state, eaten at every hole-in-the-wall greasy spoon, and seen every sight there is to see here with the one exception of the Restricted Areas in Los Alamos where the Bomb was built.[}:)]
Palo Duro State park outside of Amarillo. Also makes it easy to hit the Cadillac ranch.
Beautiful!