Southwest Trip

On the way out, the National Route 66 Museum and the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum, both west of Oklahoma City. In Arizona, the Meteor Crater. I also recommend Santa Fe, but it is a substantial side trip, as are Monument Valley and any of the national parks north of the. Colorado in Utah.

Your route coming back could take you through the Big Bend, San Antonio, or the Hill Country north and west of San Antonio, depending on where you decide to work your way north. Getting back up to I-40 relatively late could take you through the Ouachita Mountains of SW Arkansas and SE Oklahoma, maybe Hot Springs. Delay until the Mississippi and you might follow the Natchez Trace Parkway.

I like these big loops because they are full of exploration possibilities. My own is from NE Oklahoma to SE Michigan, anything between I-40 and I-80, I-35 and I-75 can be on the way, I can make hundreds of trips not retracing any more of the route than I want to.

If you're going to be in the Tucson area, a couple of suggestions. They're both on Kinney Rd. NW of Tucson.
Old Tucson , and the Sonora Desert Museum.
Old Tucson is the home to most of the cowboy flicks you saw as a child. You can feel John Wayne's presence.
And the desert Museum showcases the native desert creatures that you normally don't see. Snakes, of course, but also pumas, wild burros, gila monsters, etc. And there are interpreters everywhere able to answer any questions you may have. That great big desert isn't empty.
BTW, for some reason, the links are no longer clickable unless you select "open in new window".

jamway wrote:
About 21 miles North of Marfa is Fort Davis with McDonald Observatory near by. McDonald Observatory

Also that is where you will find Davis Mountain State Park with some full hookup sites with cable tv. Enjoy

Very good suggestions, while at Big Bend NP the crossing in the park is now open to Mexico - said to be a great location to visit.

A second to Monument Valley, my favorite.
Tombstone area.
From Monument Valley maybe go by 4 Corners into Colorado, up to Silverton then back through Kansas.
We made that trip a few years ago and loved it.

We enjoyed Tombstone and Bisbee in SE Az in the spring. As others have said--you could spend many weeks seeing it all. Be aware of the weather specially the wind. We drove thru Amarillo in March and the 35-40 mph wind cut our mileage down to about 6-7 mpg. A more southern route could be helpful--like I-10. Have a great trip!

Don't miss The Crater where the meteor hit and left the mile wide crater. Visitor center and the walk-a-round are worth a couple of hours.

I just finished reading all the posts so far. I have printed out several and plan on checking out the links that were posted later. Thanks so much for the suggestions. Now I'm really getting excited about this trip!
I you think of anything else, let me know.
Thanks, Barbara

Hi from AZ. . . Some great suggestions, hope your trip is a month or so !:R Many of these choices need several days to do them justice ( Cadillac Ranch, maybe 30 minutes :W) The snowbirds will still be in AZ, so plan ahead. Also, get to Big Bend NP before Spring Break hits, it's packed then (mid March I think) Cool area though, Fort Davis was great. Another tip, if you're not going to go "below the Rim", GCNP needs about 4 hours. That's for a good overview of the ditch. If y'all are hikers, double the time in a lot of these. Now that we live out West we're trying to see them all, as we can ! regards & safe travels

If you enjoy visiting caverns, my favorite is Caverns of Señora in Texas. A great tour, and the most beautiful formations I've seen. Some photos from my 2012 trip.. There is an inexpensive water & electric campground at the cavern.

A couple of other suggestions that might be along the way - City of Rocks State Park, NM
Both Picacho Peak State Park and Lost Dutchman State Park in Arizona were parks I enjoyed hiking in.

For Joshua do stay in the large boulder-strewn campground on the north side - not recalling the name right now. It's very unique.That would be Jumbo Rocks CG.