Stops between St. Louis and Santa Fe

My husband and I will be traveling between St. Louis and Santa Fe as part of a longer road trip. We'd love some ideas for things to see along the way. We only have two days to do this part of the trip, so we're looking for places that would be nice for little breaks of a few minutes to an hour each. They should be close to the highway, and we'd like places that are either free or no more than a few dollars (since we won't be stopping for long at each anyway). We have pretty broad interests as long as the places meet the above criteria - historical places, good scenery/nature, or just random, odd sights are all ok. Also, we might like to occasionally get off the interstates and do a bit of driving along back roads. Any tips on the places along the way where the scenery is most worth the extra time it would take to see it? Thanks for any advice!

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You'll need just about all of the time available to you in two days to make that drive safely, but by the same token you also need the occasional time out to keep yourselves fresh. So plan on making a few short R&R stops for some fresh air and exercise, but not much else. The one place that would be worth a bit of a detour and some reflection is the Oklahoma City Memorial.

AZBuck

A more whimsical stop would be the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo.

You may have a logistical issue seeing the memorial - OKC is almost at your halfway point, and the last ticket to the museum is sold at 5pm and it closes at 6pm. Unless you get out of STL before dawn, you may be too late. If you wait till morning, it opens at 9am but that would get you into Santa Fe pretty late.

Yeah, I don't know that OKC would work too well with the timing, unfortunately. I guess what we would prefer is to stop at more unique, one-of-a-kind stops like the Cadillac Ranch. State parks would be ok if there's something really special there; otherwise the distance off the interstate might be not be worth it just for a quick stop (I've never been to one before that didn't require at least some driving on back roads). I saw the Santa Rosa spring mentioned somewhere - is it a nice place to stop? Of the towns we'd pass through, do any of them have a particularly nice (maybe historical) downtown to take a quick walk through?

Sounds like a Route 66 thing.

Lots of stuff to see and easy off-on to the interstate.

The Blue Whale in Catoosa. Art deco in Tulsa. Big Texan in Amarillo. Of course, Cadillac Ranch. Blue Swallow Motel and Tepee Curios in Tucumcari.