St. Louis to Tucson in December

[ZeeBabar]

Thinking of a solo road trip from St. Louis to Tucson starting out the first week of December, perhaps a 12 day trip with 2-3 nights with friends in Tucson.

I would like a scenic drive but don’t know of weather issues. At Least, in St. Louis,, there has hardly been any snow before Christmas so I don’t know if I would encounter any major winter travel issues.

I don’t care for “city” or historic stuff, just scenery and a less than boring interstate drive.

Suggestions?

[glc]

Is that 12 days round trip?

[DonnaR57]

So the point of the trip is getting out to see your friends in Tucson, correct? If it's a 12-day round trip, here's a suggestion:

US-54. You'll have to bookend it with I-70 on one end, and I-10 on the other end (depending on which direction you might take it). But it gets you off the Interstate slabs. There are a few places of interest along the way. West of Pratt Kansas is the World's Largest Hand Dug Well. Near Meade is the Dalton Gang Hideout. Liberal does have a couple of museums of interest, one based on The Wizard of Oz, and the other the Mid-America Air Museum.

New Mexico has a little more to offer, as far as scenery is concerned. Logan has Ute Lake State Park. Tucumcari is worth driving into, just to remember "what used to be" along Route 66. At Tucumcari, anyway, US-54 rides concurrently with I-40 -- fortunately not for long and, as of this past July, was not in the construction zone. (That was around Clines Corners). The Blue Hole probably wouldn't be open there in Santa Rosa.

The ride gets a bit prettier as US-54 west heads more south. At Alamagordo, you'll have to switch to US-70 west. Just past Alamagordo, you have White Sands National Park -- definitely worth a visit. That's followed by miles of the missile range. Sad to say, you will get on I-10 at Las Cruces. But if you had time, the weather is cooperating, and you don't mind going a little out of your way, you can catch US-180 up to Silver City area -- and then NM-90 will take you back to Lordsburg. OR get back on US-70 and take that into Safford, AZ, and drop back down to I-10 on US-191.

While you're in Tucson, if you haven't already done so, see BOTH sections of Saguaro National Park. The section on the east side are all the really old saguaros. The west section has them as thick as forests, if I recall correctly. If the weather is cooperative again, Sabino Canyon is beautiful. The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a very unique museum - and mostly outdoors.

Someone else may have a suggestion for your return trip. I will say that New Mexico's I-40 has been under construction for over a year. If you can stay off of it, you're better off.


Donna