Route from Raleigh, NC to Mesa Verde, Colorado

I-40 to Abq, then Hwy 550 N towards Durango then Hwy 160.

Palo Duro State Park - Amarillo Texas
Lake Dardanelle SP Arkansas (never been but have heard that it is nice)
Santa Rosa Lake SP, NM

I-40 across Arkansas is boring (although Lake Dardanelle SP is nice, agreed) and has very heavy big-truck traffic. Unless you can't spare the extra time, I recommend US 412 across northern Arkansas for good scenery and light traffic. 412 takes you to Tulsa, where you can pick up I-44 to Oklahoma City.

From Amarillo, I like US 87 and then 287 to Raton, NM. Take a look at Capulin National Monument, a small volcano just north of the highway. It's a short drive to the top of the (dormant) volcano.

Not sure about the route as we came from Idaho, but we stayed a Sundance RV park in Cortez. It was outstanding.

If you like the backroads when you get near Santa Fe take 84 North to Pagosa Springs Co and then 160 West towards Mesa Verde. Absolutely beautiful. We like Junction Creek a National Forest campground with 50a service just west of downtown Durango Co.

Another option from Amarillo to Raton is stay on I-40 to the Vega exit (mm 36-37) then north on US 385 to just south of Dalhart where it joins US 87, it is 2/3 lane - little traffic, avoids some Amarillo city streets, and avoids Dumas. US 87 is 4 lane from Amarillo to Dumas.

In Arkansas:

Petit Jean State Park

M Magazine State Park

In New Mexico we sometimes stay on 40 and get off at Clines Corners to go through Santa Fe up to Pagosa Springs just for the beauty of the drive.

Santa Fe

If you like old RVs and camping stuff, try Sisemore's Traveland in Amarillo. Out back is a fairly good sized Private RV and camping museum. If there is a tall, heavyset guy or a real Preppy looking guy wandering around, say Hi the big guy is Jack and the Preppy looking guy is Trent his son. Both are really nice and the whole staff made us feel welcome and were happy to show us around, Oh Yeah, they were also happy to sell me some much needed stuff. Gave me one of their catalogs too.

Is preppy still PC? :)