Ohio to Utah/Colorado...etc

[waterski85]

Hello! My girlfriend and I are planning a 2 week road trip from Akron, Ohio out to Montrose Colorado from the end of June to July. We have a few days to play with and definitely want to see a lot of Utah and Colorado and maybe some of Northern Arizona. We would like to see some of the generic touristy attractions along the way but are more interested in the road(s) less traveled. We also would love some info on festivals, flea markets and the like along the way. We want to see as much beautiful country as possible as well as quirky little towns. All suggestions are welcome!
Thanks!

Also, any suggestions on passing the time while crossing the midwest? (ha?)

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

You'll need to budget your time in roughly those proportions for this trip to be enjoyable, which means that you should be spending as much effort planning what to do on the drive there as you are on what to do once you get there. I have actually had some of my best times on RoadTrips crossing the plains, and if you are looking for flea markets, festivals and the like, as well as the roads less travelled, that's where you should be looking. For starters, have a look at these suggestions for Iowa and Nebraska. Also, it's probably too late now to write for each state's calendar of events, but you can stop at their welcome centers as you enter them and talk to the attendants to see what will be going on as you're passing through. Also, once you get out west, you'll find that there are just far fewer roads in general, and so far fewer choices. So if you want quirky little towns and roads less travelled, these will be on the way, not just, or even mostly, at your destination.

From Montrose, it would be quite possible to do a one week loop trip through the National Parks of Utah, the Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Mesa Verde, and the Million Dollar Highway, but that might be more driving than you really want. If, instead, you plan to stay in Montrose and do day trips form there, then you'll pretty much have to limit yourselves to the Four Corners area: Arches, Canyonlands, Monument Valley, Mesa Verde, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, and maybe Dinosaur National Monument and Rocky Mountain National Park to the north.

AZBuck