Myrtle Beach to Grand Canyon and back

We also live on the east coast, and made an eight week trip west a few years ago, our first big RV expedition. Some call the region we visited the Grand Circle area, or the Four Corners. At this link, you can click a PDF map.
Grand Circle Website

It was honestly one of the highlights of my entire life and we returned last summer to catch what we missed. Still things on the list to see.

I love the stunning red rock scenery and history of the area, especially Ancestral Puebloan sites like Mesa Verde, Hovenweep National Monument, Chaco Culture National Historical Park, and others. Along with the Grand Canyon, there are numerous world-class National and State Parks to visit. You could easily spend a month in Utah alone where you have Bryce Canyon, Zion, Arches, Canyonlands and other NPs, plus Goblin Valley and Dead Horse Point State Parks. Great camping everywhere.

If you belong to AAA, get their Indian Country Guide Map for free, or order it online (various museums & groups stock it, for example
One place to get the Indian Country AAA Map

I referred to that map constantly during our trips.

We've gone from mid-August to mid-October and had good weather. Works well if you want to attend the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta at the end of your trip before heading back east.

Ya gotta get used to Dick B - he always badmouths the South Rim and Grand Canyon in general.

Don't know where he comes up with the 3 hours bit but I think it is bunk. That 3 hours is for the people who ride the train from Williams - which is a terrible thing to do.

To SEE the Grand Canyon and not just say you have been there you need at least three days for the sunrises and sunsets and all the rest.

We have been there many, many times and it is always a wonderful experience.

But tough to fully address your trip - lots of distance and sooooooooo much to see.

Planning is fun though!

My preference would be August to early October, doing a more northern route westbound, and more southern return, especially if you are looking at really seeing Colorado. Also agree with using non-interstate highways.

As Tyrone and Gladys recommended would definitely make stops in northern NM. Get off I-40 at Clines Corner and go up through Santa Fe up to Pagosa Springs over to Durango. Drive the "million dollar highway" to Ouray in your toad. Ride the Silverton-Durango train. Then head over and visit Mesa Verde then off to visit the beautiful parks in southern Utah (Canyonlands, Escalante, Zion, etc) before heading south to Grand Canyon. I agree with previous poster that it will not take long to visit the Grand Canyon. It is beautiful but it doesn't take long to see it.
You have 8 glorious weeks and will have plenty of time to see all these places and more. On your way home visit Sedona, go further south to visit Big Bend, San Antonio, New Orleans (French Quarter RV park is great, walk to French Quarter).

Your inquiry on "getting off interstate". NO, NO, NO. Do not hesitate to get off if you want to experience local. This is the real America. For stops on the way to GC I also recommend areas of my home state of Arkansas.
Blanchard Springs Caverns
Ozark Folk Center
Petit Jean State Park, Mt Magazine State Park
Crater of Diamonds State Park
I also recommend you go late Spring (late April) or early Fall (September, early October)

What an awesome trip you will have.

Enjoy!

Sharon

Oh, gosh, I think this one's an easy one for your purpose. Drive up to your north and get on US 64. Follow it all the way to just beyond the AZ/NM border to Teec Nos Pos, where 64 stops. Without evening turning, you find yourself on US 160, which you follow until it ends and hits US 89. Turn south on 89 toward the south rim of the canyon; turn north toward the north rim of the canyon.

:)
Lynn

Thanks for all the suggestions. Very helpful. Love help from those who have 'been there, done that'. Will definitely contact the state tourist sites and the national parks services.

Dick_B wrote:
Suggest you add more destinations to the GC trip. The average length of time people spend at the South Rim is 3 hours! I suspect most don't do any hiking.

Last time we were at the GC, we spent 3 days at the South Rim. You've got to spend some time there to really appreciate it. The folks who are only there for a few hours or so are really missing out on the experience. Take a chopper ride, or a Jeep ride; watch the sunrises and sunsets.

Enjoy!

The most direct route is across to Memphis then going out I-40.

That takes you through Atlanta, Birmingham, Tupelo (Elvis), Memphis (Elvis), Little Rock (Bill Clinton), Oklahoma City (Bombing Memorial, Cowboy Museum, 99ers Museum), then a couple of Route 66 museums before getting to Amarillo (Palo Duro Canyon and the Cadillac Ranch). In New Mexico, you go past several opportunities to visit Pueblo sites, touch the edge of the Navajo Nation, go past the Meteor Crater near Holbrook, the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest, the Eagles legend stuff in Winslow.

Going or coming back you could take a more Southern alternate route (we call them circle trips) going through Phoenix (possibly Sedona, Prescott, Palo Verde on the way down) then through Tucson (aircraft graveyards) and Tombstone (gunfights in the streets) on the way out of Arizona, pistachio and pepper country in New Mexico, Davis Mountains in West Texas, Hill Country on the way to San Antonio, which is a multicultural destination itself. Then Houston (Space Center and Galveston) on the way to New Orleans, visiting the Mississippi Gulf Coast before reaching Mobile and starting your way back north through Atlanta.

That's just using the Interstates, months worth of stuff to visit depending on your interests.

There are also northern alternatives, further off your ultimate Grand Canyon destination. I've taken US-50 across Kansas and Colorado to the Moab area, then down through the Navajo Nation and Monument Valley to the Grand Canyon. To get that far north you could go through Spartanburg, Knoxville, Nashville (good for a long stay) and up to Land Between the Lakes before crossing western Kentucky on US-60 into and across Missouri, catching the southern part of the Ozarks (stop at Branson?) into Oklahoma Green Country (Grand Lake O' the Cherokees) and the Great Salt Plains before moving north to pick up US-50 at Dodge City.

I've made all of these trips, different pieces at different times. But what works for you is going to depend on what your interests are. None of the Interstates are really bad, though you tend to fly on through places without stopping to see what is there. The older numbered U.S. highways take you through towns, and you can either visit or go through, and all are rated for 40 ton trucks, can handle your RV. Going through major cities, the Interstates work best, use bypass loops or urban expressways rather than surface streets.

Where you might want to go, what you might want to see, how much you deviate your route from shortest or fastest is going to depend on your own interests.

I suggest getting some travel planning books from each state, Kentucky-Missouri-Kansas-Colorado tier on down to the southern border, to learn what there is to visit that you might want to see. Once I find the places I want to visit, I usually find no difficulty connecting them using the numbered U.S. highway system, supplemented by Interstates in big urban areas.

Since you are researching, check out the National Park Service's website for interesting stops along the way. www.nps.gov

When kids are in school.