Routes and campgrounds in west

djsamuel wrote:
In your case, I would head west on I-40 and see Petrified Forest Nation Park, Meteor Crater, Grand Canyon (staying at the Grand canyon Railway campground in Williams). There are other sites in the area such as Oak Creek Canyon. Perhaps on the way back stop at Mesa Verde National Park, or Durango, CO for the Durango and Silverton Railroad. With kids the age span you mentioned, I wouldn't try to cram a lot in. Allow yourselves to take your time and relax; and not burn out the kids.

Good plan also add Great Sand Dunes NP in CO and Lowell (?) observatory and the volcano at/near Flagstaff AZ

I would do Yellowstone and the Tetons. Or the Black Hills and Glacier NP.

Look on you tube

In your case, I would head west on I-40 and see Petrified Forest Nation Park, Meteor Crater, Grand Canyon (staying at the Grand canyon Railway campground in Williams). There are other sites in the area such as Oak Creek Canyon. Perhaps on the way back stop at Mesa Verde National Park, or Durango, CO for the Durango and Silverton Railroad. With kids the age span you mentioned, I wouldn't try to cram a lot in. Allow yourselves to take your time and relax; and not burn out the kids.

NCMODELA wrote:
Thank you NMDRIVER. That’s the stuff I’m looking for. Is there a website that contains this information or possibly a book? Or is this all word by mouth? My wife and I just want to sit down and plan out our summer.

Just comes from living here. During the summer you want to try to stay above 5000ft (north of I-40, west of the Pecos) for any overnight stops. I would contact the CO and NM state tourist offices for maps and brochures. The route I recommended will get you up into the Rockies and down to the high desert Indian reservations.

There are alternate routings like going through Las Vegas, NM and Taos, NM to Chama, NM and Pagosa Springs, CO instead of over US 160 from Walsenburg. Going from Las Vegas to Taos route has the possibility of catching trout in the Red River, NM town pond while overnighting. Going through Chama puts you near Georga O'keefe country link and is a terminus of the Cumbres/Toltec link tourist train to Antonito, CO.

Day trips from Cortez, CO to Durango and over US550 to Ouray and back via Telluride will give you all the "mountain" experience you want. Going down to Shiprock and around the reservation will give you all the "Indian" culture you want, and the drive to Moab is nice bare rock country.

Lots of options and most all of the roads are good if not heavily traveled.

BTW: If you push west on I-40 for two days (1100 mi) you will reach Las Vegas, NM at the foot hills of the Rockies. Cortez, CO is another 400 mi west via Taos, Chama, etc.

It takes 2 days of hard driving from Nashville to get to any place of interest "out west". About 600+++ miles per day. So that is 4 to 5 days of you trip as hard driving.

In the summer go north to Badland of SD, Yellowstone and Grand tetons.

Spring or fall go south to Great Sand Dunes NP CO and Southeast UT and/or Grand Canyon. I like SE UT best but could be hot in the summer.

I am planning a 6 week trip in 2018 with my DD from Nashville to "out west" and I would like for it to be a 8 to 10 week trip so we do not do long days driving.

If you can swing more than two weeks in a span, it would make things a lot easier. One three-week trip is likely better (i.e. seeing more and being more relaxed) than two two-week trips. If you can't, then of course do the best with what you can do--and you'll have a wonderful time and make good memories still.

I'd suggest having everyone in the family come up with one or at most two things they really would like to see, with the understanding up front that some might get delayed for later or possibly missed entirely. That at least gives a starting point to work from.

For me, I would probably choose Yellowstone. It can be crowded during the summer, along the roads at least, but it's a beautiful place and geologically unique. The geothermal springs and geysers and such simply don't exist in such a large concentration elsewhere on earth. I'd also campaign for a day stop at the St Louis City Museum.

St Louis has a lot to see overall, for that matter.

NCMODELA wrote:
Ages from 17 to 5. E350 v10 12 passenger van 32’ camper. That’s my problem. There is so much out west that it’s hard to nail down. So. If you were taking two weeks off of work to go where would it be and what would you see coming from Nashville? We know we can only see a portion at a time. So what would some good segments be?

Also what would be a reasonable 1 week trip for things to see in Midwest or close west?

Just Google search the areas you might want to see - narrow it down and we can help.

16 .5 days is really not long, especially when 5-7 days are just travel time to and from, with long days driving and nothing to really see coming and going.

Not easy but you can DO IT.

Look this over - http://www.cross-country-trips.com/ - they did it every year and loved it.

Here are some pictures of Stan's photo's of MANY great places to think about - http://www.pbase.com/sparker1/root%26view=tree

Sooooooo much to see and never enough TIME.

Hope this helps,

Thank you NMDRIVER. That’s the stuff I’m looking for. Is there a website that contains this information or possibly a book? Or is this all word by mouth? My wife and I just want to sit down and plan out our summer.

It would be summer when kids are off of school