Hope you will keep us updated as you travel!
Hope you will keep us updated as you travel!
The trip is going so well - and I can only thank the people here for the great advice given as I planned all this.
So far we have driven the following legs:
Chicago to Springfield Il.
Springfield to St Louis.
St Louis to Springfield Mo.
Springfield to Amarillo.
Amarillo to Albuquerque - where we are right now.
Driving here is fairly straightforward - although I have twice missed a stop sign and trundled through - luckily the roads are really clear! I also missed a random person trying to cross the road where I probably should have "yielded"...
The car is incredible. A Ford Expedition Limited with the back row folded down so we have acres of luggage space. Captains chairs in the second row offer the youngest great comfort, car play and all the extras anyone would want.
We are using the Route66 Navigation App which has a few bugs (such as missing a turning either intentionally or accidentally - the app seems determined to get me back to that turning - meaning if I have worked out the remedy I need to reset the destination from my current position) but is pretty accurate.
The people we have encountered have been amazing. We are trying to hit the majority of the sights on the route however what this does mean is I have bitten off more than I can chew - especially in the earlier stages. Chicago to Springfield is a long trip along Rte66 - we have already decided to do this again at some point but to be less planned - get in the car in Chicago and drive until we want to stop.
We have seen some really hot weather - it touched 106 deg F yesterday, so thankful for the AC! Have also seen some mental rain - as we left Merman Caverns the rain was super torrential - but here in Albuquerque it is glorious!
One sketchy moment - driving to Springfield Mo - we encountered two rather beat up cars - one over took us and pulled in front - we were sort of sandwiched between them - am fairly sure they were trying to slow us down but we simply just rapidly over took them and sped away. I might be wrong in my assumption and it was just circumstance butt was not taking chances!
The car is filthy, so here in Albuquerque we visited the Breaking Bad locations and put the motor through the A1A Car Wash! So cool!!
We branch off Rte 66 today and head for Santa Fe before heading up to Colorado!
More to come!
Howdy there!
Thanks for the update. Good to hear you're getting along OK.
I think you will be even more amazed heading through Colorado with it's amazing scenery, just watch out for those Stop signs!
Not sure if you will have the time, but the Great Sand dunes NP is pretty cool between Taos Pueblo and Colorado Springs.
Dave
Last edited by Southwest Dave; 07-31-2024 at 09:35 AM. Reason: Added info
Glad to hear you're having a good time!
I want to leave a few notes here about driving north from Santa Fe:
If you are still planning on going over to Las Vegas NM and then up through Mora and Taos on NM Hwy 518, there are several places where you can stop to enjoy the view. First, once you get past Mora and start going up Holman Hill, you will come to a turnout about a mile up the hill.
Second, there is a nice scenic viewpoint at Apache Canyon. There is also a small resort/ski area called Sipapu that has a little cafe if you need a place to stop.
In Taos, Michael's Kitchen is a great place for breakfast.
How did your trip go? I checked out your blog but the updates ended halfway through... hope you had a great experience!
Long time since I posted here but the trip was amazing - in fact it was better than that.
Am trying to collate all the information into one place - well two actually:
Blog is here if you wish to follow
YouTube is here:
Still lots to do but hope you like it. Happy to answer any questions anyone might have if you are planning - but had very few negative experiences - the worst were actually not as good as others!
Last edited by Southwest Dave; 10-17-2024 at 03:36 PM. Reason: Link format
Looks like a nice site.
mark
Really pleased you had a good time. Perhaps you could share a few high and low points and any observations you made in this thread, or we have a Roadtrip Field reports section if you want to do a more detailed report.
Dave