Forum Discussion

charming's avatar
charming
Explorer
Jan 30, 2018

Fall Road Trip from SC to NM

Another big trip planned. We had a great time last spring and took five week winter road trip and spent Christmas on the road.

We are heading further west leaving out in mid September and will probably be gone until late October.

So far we plan to boon dock a couple of nights as we head west to Little Rock Arkansas. We are taking I-40 west. Our major stops are:
Oklahoma City
Amarillo
Albuquerque (we might go up to Santa Fe)
Las Cruces
Dallas (was going to skip Dallas then read about the Texas State Fair. I've ordered season tickets to the fair.)
Austin
San Antonio
Houston
Lafayette, LA
Pensacola, FL
Home

Oh my, seeing it spelled out, we may have to cut out New Mexico. I've already had to cut out the Grand Canyon after I read about the State Fair! We really want to be home by the end of October because we are heading out again for Christmas.

The family planner plodder, is not going to make all the reservations in advance as I usually do. So we will be more flexible. The only other major thing we will do is to hit a few of the highlights of Route 66.

Any ideas or suggestion, all will be appreciated.
Roads and Routes
  • charming's avatar
    charming
    Explorer
    Jan 31, 2018
    timandsusan wrote:
    I agree to leave out NM unless you plan to visit specific sites like Santa Fe-food, art, museums, bike trails, golf, mountain hiking, history. We go to SF almost every year and have always found new areas to visit. Albuquerque same thing in larger city--food, museums, bike trails, golf, mountain hiking. For San Antonio, great food, museums, parks, bike trails, golf, history, River Walk. Need specifics--send me a PM.


    That is how we are with New Orleans. We have been twice and plan to spend Christmas there. We venture out a little more each visit and always find something new to see or do.

    Someone above mentioned the Balloon Festival - a dream of mine. I think that will be 2019. We were going to kind of skip and hop through Texas, but the more research I do, the more we want to see.

    We discussed our trip and we have extended it to two months, minimum! We are going to include the Balloon Fest in Albuquerque. It will be our scheduled stop so DH can meander back towards home and make all the stops he wants on Route 66!
  • charming's avatar
    charming
    Explorer
    Jan 31, 2018
    ken56 wrote:
    Dinner at the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo. Consider staying at Palo Duro Canyon State Park while in Amarillo. Its just a few miles south of town and its known as the Grand Canyon of Texas.

    While in the Dallas area go to the Ft. Worth Stock Yards. If anyone is interested in historical military aircraft then a stop at the Commemorative Air Force museum is a must. Located at the Dallas Executive Airport. NASA tours in Houston.

    Pensacola has the National Naval Aviation Museum too. Lafayette has some old plantation houses you can tour. You may have to do a bit of a drive to get to them.


    Thanks for the suggestions. We visited the Naval Air Museum last year, we might go back this visit. After years of cruising out of Port Canaveral, we will be spending a couple of nights on our way to Sarasota in April and we plan to visit the Kennedy Space Center. I forgot about Houston.
  • charming's avatar
    charming
    Explorer
    Jan 31, 2018
    Sorry, I forgot to mention. We tend to research the areas we're visiting and will decide to spend two nights (Pensacola last year) or a week (New Orleans). We use the hub and spoke method to scope out an area.

    So when I listed a city, we would be in that area for several nights at a minimum. Since I've never visited any of the states on the list - Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico, I think we'll have to save New Mexico and west for next year. Now to look at the map again and reconfigure our circle.

    Thanks for the suggestions so far.
  • ken56's avatar
    ken56
    Explorer
    Jan 31, 2018
    Dinner at the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo. Consider staying at Palo Duro Canyon State Park while in Amarillo. Its just a few miles south of town and its known as the Grand Canyon of Texas.

    While in the Dallas area go to the Ft. Worth Stock Yards. If anyone is interested in historical military aircraft then a stop at the Commemorative Air Force museum is a must. Located at the Dallas Executive Airport. NASA tours in Houston.

    Pensacola has the National Naval Aviation Museum too. Lafayette has some old plantation houses you can tour. You may have to do a bit of a drive to get to them.
  • Home_on_Wheels's avatar
    Home_on_Wheels
    Explorer
    Jan 31, 2018
    You're not missing nothing at the State Fair of Texas. Metroplex area is just another big city with all it's issues.
  • timandsusan's avatar
    timandsusan
    Explorer
    Jan 31, 2018
    I agree to leave out NM unless you plan to visit specific sites like Santa Fe-food, art, museums, bike trails, golf, mountain hiking, history. We go to SF almost every year and have always found new areas to visit. Albuquerque same thing in larger city--food, museums, bike trails, golf, mountain hiking. For San Antonio, great food, museums, parks, bike trails, golf, history, River Walk. Need specifics--send me a PM.
  • ndrorder's avatar
    ndrorder
    Explorer
    Jan 30, 2018
    The International Balloon Fiesta is in Albuquerque in early October. If it fits your itenery, that might make the trip to NM worth while.
  • NMDriver's avatar
    NMDriver
    Explorer
    Jan 30, 2018
    By all means leave out NM if you are just driving through and not stopping, to see, taste, do things. The best high lights of old 66 are West of Albu. so take that off of the list also.

    You do not state your goal other than to go to the state fair in Dallas, so it is hard to give advice about what to see and do.

    Seems like you should cut south at OKC and drive down to San Antonio and then back east.

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