San Jose to Phoenix->Albuquerque->Frisco->Raliegh in thanksgiving week

[laxmanrr]

Hello All

Hope all of you are gearing up for thanksgiving holidays

New to this forum ! I will be driving from San Jose to Raleigh during thanks giving week. My primary interest is to drive along scenic routes and have a relaxing drive. I have 10 days to cover this trip.

I am not too familiar with this route and all your recommendations are welcome.

Thank you folks

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

OK so can you give us a bit more detail, is this a one way trip of 10 days or is it a round trip ? Which Raliegh are you headed for ? Have you any particular interests and/or reasons you are going to the places listed on your route ? You may find Rick Quinns scenic sidetrips book a good resource for finding relaxing drives.

[DonnaR57]

If you are planning to drive I-40 through New Mexico, be aware of construction that may/may not be listed on SafeTravelUSA. When we passed through NM in March/April and then again in late June, there were a number of road construction areas. In the western portion of the state (which IS listed on that website) there were several sections where you would zipper down to one lane in the eastbound lanes. The eastern section, between Moriarty and Clines Corners, has never been listed and was absolutely horrible (1 hour delay) back in late June. Hopefully they're done by now, but plan accordingly for slow traffic and be pleased if it's done.


Donna

[AZBuck]

One of the more useful, but under-appreciated, resources for finding routes that take a little longer but are much more interesting than the Interstate system is the Federal Highway Administration's America's Byways program. Many of those roads are near your basic route (I-40) so that you can use them when you want to enjoy a more relaxing drive yet get back on the Interstates to keep your journey on track time-wise or when you need to find lodging and/or meals. Certainly you can include a few that go through some National Parks or other one-of-a-kind places. Among the ones I'd encourage you to look at are:

Death Valley Scenic Byway
Historic Route 66 (formerly US-66)
Jemez Mountain Trail
Wichita Mountains Byway
Talimena Scenic Drive
Cherohala Skyway
Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Remember, though, that the above list is just a sampler. There are easily many, many more such roads that have not been designated as National Scenic Byways that are just as scenic and relaxed. you can't find or do them all, but you should not have much trouble finding enough to make your drive rewarding and enjoyable,

AZBuck

[laxmanrr]

Thank you for the warm welcome !!

This is a one way trip for 10 days to Raleigh, North Carolina. I am tempted to go visit my friend in pennsylvania if I have additional time. I am meeting my friends enroute to Raliegh so the stops in different cities. I am open to take any route from TX to Raleigh. Thanks for the book recommendation

[Southwest Dave]

When planning your route the important thing to remember is not to take any notice of electronic mapping estimated drive times, they are just not realistic in the real world ! 550 -600 miles per day is going to take around 10 hours by the time you consider rest, food and fuel stops and congestion and construction. On scenic Byways you need to allow more time. Realistically over half of your time will be spent behind the wheel (6 days?) so you will then have to base your stops around where you intend to spend your 'free time' and how much of it at each stop. San Jose to Phoenix is too far for a single drive so you would need to look at an overnight stop. It's not looking too promising that CA120 over the Sierra Nevada in Yosemite NP will be open, but it certainly would of been a scenic option with an overnight stop. To avoid LA you can exit I-5 AT jCT 253 and head through Bakersfield on CA58 to Barstow and pick up I-40. You could stop overnight around Needles or Lake Havasu. You could drop south from Barstow and stop around Joshua tree NP and have a drive through on route to Phoenix the following day. From Phoenix to Albu you could drive through the Petrified forest NP, either by heading through Payson and Holbrook or take US60 through Globe and on through the Salt river canyon. If you stuck to Interstate you could possibly push onto Frisco in one shot with an early start, or you could look for alternative and take an overnight stop. Frisco to Raliegh would be 2 long days on the road, no scenic detours so if you have 3 days left at this point you can get off the main drag and do a little sightseeing on the back roads.