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charming's avatar
charming
Explorer
Aug 15, 2018

Heading West from SC

I think we are close to being ready. We have an ambitious two month road trip planned, already one hitch in the works, beginning in September.

Plan was to leave 9/1 and be back home close to 10/31. We're spending two nights on the road and camping for two nights to rest and regroup at John W. Kyle SP in MS. I made an error when looking at the calendar. I had us arriving a day later than we had considered, we decided to keep the dates because of the Labor Day requirement for three nights if we arrive a day early. We visited Oxford last fall, we're going to spend the free day in Tupelo, to complete our Elvis pilgrimage we began a couple of years ago.

Then we are onward to our first real stop, Little Rock. No reservation yet, discussion on how long to spend. I'm thinking four nights is plenty. We will be back to the area when we go all the way to CA in the spring.

The rest of the stops:
  • Oklahoma City
  • Amarillo, TX, use that as a place holder on the calendar but we're really going to be taking side trips to Route 66 on our way to
  • Albuquerque, not sure if we're going to detour up to Santa Fe. Once again we might wait until spring
  • El Paso
  • Pecos, another place holder for our trip from NM to
  • Dallas - Tickets to the State Fair so we have a window of 28 days to make our way to the big D
  • Austin, we plan to be back in the spring for the Hill Country wild flowers and Blue Bonnets
  • San Antonio
  • Houson
  • Lafayette
  • Homeward with perhaps a few days in Atlanta


This is our first road trip with nothing more than a list of things to see and do in various cities and regions and NO RESERVATIONS!

I'm excited and nervous.

17 Replies

  • Thanks for all the great suggestions. The method we use when we travel is the Hub and Spoke method. We choose an area for base camp and then explore out from there each day rather than moving every couple of days.

    On our trip last December we spent a week in Pine Mountain Ga. From there we had day trips to Plains, Columbus, Hot Springs, etc.
  • Nice you can take some time on this trip. Seems like your stops are mainly cities. Might you be interested in some recommendations for scenic stops along the way?:

    Of course west of Little Rock you have Hot Springs and Lake Ouachita (great COE and SP CG's around this lake). Or go further north up to Eureka for a nice romantic little town. Pea Ridge NMP is also in that area, along with the FREE Crystal Bridges Museum.

    Not far west of Oklahoma City is Red Rock Canyon SP., maybe 5 miles south of I-40. Nice little CG in a canyon as the name suggests. Even for someone who's been to the red rock country of the southwest, I would return there again.

    I would choose Santa Fe over Albuquerque. Lots to see and do in and around there.

    One spot that trailertraveler mentioned that I have to give another strong recommendation for is El Moro NM. Went there for the first time a few years ago and was amazed. Well worth taking a day trip west from Albuquerque.

    I assume your Pecos placeholder is so you can visit Carlsbad Caverns, NM and/or Big Bend NP. Both are worth the time. Big Bend is big enough to warrant several days.

    For Houston, I'd stick to the southern part. Johnson Space Center. San Jacinto Monument. Galveston. Otherwise Houston is just a big huge city with lots and lots of traffic.

    Safe travels. Lots of traffic in many of the places you've listed.
  • I'll 2nd staying at Maumelle COE at Little Rock. Hopefully you can snag a river front site. Very nice park.
  • charming wrote:
    ...The rest of the stops:
    Amarillo, TX, use that as a place holder on the calendar but we're really going to be taking side trips to Route 66 on our way to
  • Albuquerque, not sure if we're going to detour up to Santa Fe...


  • There is a lot to see along I-40. In Amarillo, there is Palo Duro Canyon State Park and the Big Texan on Old Route 66. In New Mexico, Tucumcari still has dinners along Historic Route 66 and numerous murals painted on buildings plus other attractions. Santa Rosa is another Route 66 town and has the The Blue Hole and Santa Rosa Lake State Park which has a nice campground. In Albuquerque there is Petroglyph National Monument, the Pueblo Cultural Center, the Turquoise Trail and the Sandia Crest Highway that are worth visiting in my opinion. In Grants, there is the Mining Museum. Just South of I-40 going West from Grants are El Malpais National Monument, El Malpais National Conservation Area, El Moro National Monument and the Ice Cave and Bandera Volcano. Acoma Sky City is said to be the longest occuppied location in the U.S. They give tours of the pueblo and there is an RV park next to the casino.
  • I really like the two month time frame. You chose good months to travel. If I had 2 months I would be in the West most of the time. I do not like your list of stops at all, but that is all personal preference. I have been to all the states and the middle of the country is not nearly as interesting as the East and the West.
  • Just a couple of notes:

    1> Little Rock. I highly recommend Maumelle COE just west of Little Rock on the River. This is always our choice when stopping by Little Rock.

    2> Of course, I would stop by Santa Fe. In fact, we will be there this weekend. September will be even better.
  • Sounds like a fun adventure. I think you'll have no problems with the September-October time frame finding campgrounds. Call or go on line a couple days in advance and start searching your next geographical area. With kids back in school and it not being quite winter yet and the snow-bird migration hasn't kicked in full swing yet, I think you'll do very well.

    Enjoy, have fun, and occasionally give an update on these forums how things are going.

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