Route Planning Help Needed- Nova Scotia- Utah- New Mexico- Texas, Tennessee-

Wow- so much info Sweetsurrnder- thank you!  We will defiently check all this out!

Many Thanks!

Having lived in ABQ the last 30 years I think I've seen a lot of what the area has to offer.  What to see?  Depends a lot on how much time you're staying and what your particular interests are.  Some folks are all about "gift shops" and "galleries", others hiking and scenic views.  If you're only passing through you get a choice of one or two, if you're here for a week you can take in lots more.  So maybe pass along what kind of sights you want to see, and how long you'd have to spend.

I drive past the Cracker Barrel on I-25 every day and I'd say every other day I see an RV parked there, so it's a popular spot even in January.  Some Cracker Barrels are better than others, not that the store itself is bad but depending on how close to the freeway they are and what's around them.  This one is off an access road so while it's visible from I-25 it's a bit removed and right next to it is a hotel, so fairly quiet.  I've heard the Sandia Casino off of I-25 and Tramway has RV parking but I don't have any details if it's seasonal (balloon fiesta) or if they charge anything.  Isleta casino on the south end of town has a full blown RV park with hookups and a fishing pond.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

Hi Mark-

Thanks for your reply!  A NM'er!  Hooray!  We want scenic views, historic spots, and light hiking (I just suffered a rodeo injury in August and am still in Physio - while I can do moderate hikes- i think anything of any constant elevation gain might be pushing it right now).  I do LOVE to shop- but really magnets are what i buy as souvenirs to all of our travel spots! 

Is there any side by side rentals around for exploring the back country?

Many Thanks!

The thing about NM is that it's not quite as "dense" as things east of the mississippi.  There are scenic views, and historic places.  But you'll put some miles on traveling between them.  I guess after living on the east coast and visiting antiqity the UK, seeing landmarks here doesn't have quite the same impact but it's all relative.  Frankly I think SW Colorado is more scenic than NM but that's not to say NM doesn't have some worthwhile views.

Just to pass along a few day trips I think are worth the trouble, in order of preference it would be the Enchanted Circle, taking in Nambe and Chimayo along the way on the High Road to Taos.  Taos, Red River and the Vietnam Memorial are the key stops there.  Next would be a loop up through Jemez mountains, past valle caldera, Los Alamos and back down Hwy 14 through Madrid on the turquoise trail.  The mission ruins SE of ABQ is an easy day trip.  After that if you're up for a bit longer a ride there's the VLA near Magdalena, lastly a trip west to see the ice caves and El Morro can check a box.  For hiking there are over 100 miles of trails across the Sandias next to ABQ, some quick and easy some that can be a challenge.  I find the ones towards the south and east side of Sandia Crest to be the most scenic (Eye of the Sandias and CCC trails).    Up by Cochiti lake there's Tent Rock national monument which is a quick trip from ABQ and short/scenic hike with rock formations you'll see nowhere else.  In ABQ proper if you're into museums I think the balloon museum is worth a visit, the nuclear museum and the natural history museum are pretty good too.  A ride on the tram to the crest for lunch or dinner gives a nice view of the city, especially at dusk or dark.  Old Town in ABQ has the typical tourist stuff but is close to the history museum and worth a stop to grab lunch and look at the trinkets.  Go see the live snakes at the rattlesnake museum...

Outlined above is way more than you can do in a couple days, so maybe there's enough there to fill the space, or consider with maybe a couple different base locations as you travel through.  I don't know of anyone that does off-road rentals, I've never done that kind of thing before.  The trails I hike usually don't allow any motorized vehicles.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

One more word of warning about route planning in New Mexico, a number of New Mexico state highways are actually dirt roads in places, something I have not seen anywhere else in the US in modern times.  So don't just assume because it is marked as a state highway on a map that it is passable in a motorhome, as even the paved portions of some New Mexico state highways may not be suited for larger vehicles like motorhomes.

An example of this is NM126 off NM4 going west out of Los Alamos to Cuba, NM still has about 4 or 5 miles of unpaved surface.  This is a 68 mile drive if taking NM126, vs being a 97 mile drive staying on pavement the whole way.  There are other similar examples where staying on pavement add a hundred miles or more to potential routes.

One time on a scooter trip going through wyoming there was a sign on the highway, "pavement ends".  Hmm?  This is a highway.  Then, what the...  dirt.  It had rained, the dirt was rutted and for several miles I was standing on the pegs playing dirt bike rider on a harley.  Note to self, pay attention to those signs.

The NM routes I offered are all at least 2 lane highways with shoulders but you're absolutely right about 126.  I took that once in a car and it was pretty rough going, lots of ruts, sharp curves and grades.  There'd be no way I'd try that in a motorhome though no doubt someone has.  I enjoy a couple of campgrounds on the Cuba end of 126 but take 550 and come in from the west, no way to get there from here from 4.  Not sure where you'd find out about those sections of roads, gives one pause to just blindly follow your GPS.  I looked on my Garmin street GPS and notice that on 126 the road color changes from white to gray where the pavement ends and if I check "unpaved roads" in avoidance settings it won't route that way.  So at least make sure that box is checked before blindly forging forth.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

Ok noted- uncheck use unpaved roads in GPS!  Eeks!

Cochiti Lake Corp of Engineers Campground is a good central location for seeing Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Bandalier, Los Alamos, Valle Grande, Tent Rocks etc.
It is 45 minutes to both cities and 15 minutes from a commuter train station (The Rail Runner) that goes to both if you want to save the hassle of trying to park in the city. Santa Fe can be pretty well explored by walking from the final stop. Albuquerque old town, the tram, etc will be better by car and to drive the Turquoise trail, or the Jemez mountain loop past Tent Rocks over to Jemez Springs and up to Valle Grande, Los Alamos, etc.

I personally like the drive up towards Chama on US 84 from Santa Fe then over to Taos on US 64 then down the Rio Grande to Espanola on NM 68.

To head east you can use US 60 from just south of Albu. over to pick up US 84 near Clovis and to US 180 or US 380 depending on which side of Fort Worth you want to end up on.

Anyway, have fun

Great advice above in NM - seems the rest of your trip is being neglected .  I know more about NM so I'll re-enforce a couple of things.

- 126 is the exception, not the rule on NM highways.  Almost all are paved.  I spend a lot of time hangin' in the meadows on the west end of 126 off forest road 103 every year.

- Bandelier National Monument is one of my favorites.  Not strenuous hiking, but trails and ruins and just really cool.  Tent Rocks is cool as well, but I like Bandelier if choosing.

- For Zion/Bryce we stayed at a small campground in Mt Carmel Junction - pretty central to the area.  Small town though and you need a car so might want to make sure that gets figured out.

- The tram in ABQ is very cool as well.  The restaurant at the top is recently remodeled and re-named to 10-3 (elevation 10,300').  I've heard it is pretty good but haven't been up since they re-did it.  When I take folks up there, I always try to be there around sunset.  Amazing looking over the city as the sun drops.

- ATVing.  I don't know of anywhere in the Jemez to rent - but if you do the Enchanted Circle (Red River/Taos/Anglefire/Eagles Nest) you can rent them in Red River which has some nice trails to ride.  Goose Lake is beautiful mountain lake you can ride up to.  NM has some great ATVing but as I have one I don't rent. 

Have a GREAT trip!
-Chak

NMDriver mentioned Chama, reminding me that the Cumbres & Toltec RR out of Chama is a marvelous experience. Personally I like it better than the Durango & Silverton, but we've taken both several times, and they're both good. I'll second Bandelier, also.

Larry N. said:

NMDriver mentioned Chama, reminding me that the Cumbres & Toltec RR out of Chama is a marvelous experience. Personally I like it better than the Durango & Silverton, but we've taken both several times, and they're both good. I'll second Bandelier, also.

Click to expand...

X2 on the Cumbres & Toltec RR

Ok so should I centre ourselves in Santa Fe and rent a car there to do Santa Fe and Alberquerque?  SOrry I may have misunderstood something? we have decided to do the trip in reverse now so essentially when we leave NM not we will head into Utah - we thought it would be best weather wise to wait later on into our month long trip to do Utal/Colarado on the return loop? I purchased RV Trip Wizard and have mapped it out some--starting from east and headed south into Georgia and then my look around the country....what do you think now?

Let me ask what size class A will you be using for this trip, after knowing that I may have some suggestions on tweaking your route, etc.

Having said that, here are a few initial observations, first I would suggest bypassing Atlanta,GA and Birmingham, AL, Atlanta is a general mess, and I-20 through downtown Birmingham is undergoing MAJOR reconstruction.

As I already mentioned I would pick Santa Fe for a base of exploration, for tourist destinations inside Santa Fe I would consider using Uber or public transportation to get downtown, when we were there in October we stayed at an in town RV park by the name of Trailer Ranch RV park, which is a nice in town RV park, but with very tight spacing and interior roads, so probably not suited for larger RV's.  It also have a city bus stop just by the entrance, which many people there used to get around the local area, though we did not, instead we opted to use Uber, which costs about $15 each way to get to downtown, so likely cheaper than a rental car.

We are driving a 40 ft FRED....

I'm all for using uber/lyft as well!

Let the tweaking begin- I'm trying to stay max 450 miles per day on driving days...I know that may scare some but not us...we drive ALOT.....We want to stay a couple nights in Georgia and explore- and spend a good day of stops going through Lousiana we want to stop in Monroe at Duck Dynasty- yes cheesy but if we are in the area why not!

My route is totally open to tweaks- tweak away!

I can't really say much about positive about things to see and do along I-20, even though I am originally from western Louisiana (and live here again) and spent 5 years back in the late 80's and early 90's living in Birmingham, AL so drove back and forth down I-20 a good bit during those years. The Vicksburg battlefield park is good for a few hours (thousands of stone marker monuments for troop locations, memorials for each state that sent troops there, the largest is a pantheon like dome room, others are obelisk or columns or even statues,  etc.), but is a drive through park with cell phone audio tour and not suited for large motorhomes (25-30 ft motorhome maybe, 40 ft I doubt it), and probably not worth renting a car just to drive through unless you are a big civil war battlefield enthusiast.  Culturally speaking north Louisiana is very different from south Louisiana, and the Duck Dynasty like culture is a good part of it, my grew up in NE Louisiana about 65 miles from Monroe, and I have ancestors that settled in that region over 300 years ago.  A site I don't suggest visiting in the area is Poverty Point, even though it is a world heritage site, as there is just not much to see there, beyond a some ripples in the ground where ancient irrigation mounts where thousands of years ago.  Going on across I-20 be aware some of the worst pavement that RV'er report in the US is on I-20 just east of Shreveport, though thankfully the state has announced plans to start repairing this section of road, unfortunately this is not likely to be done by the time of your trip.  Going west into Texas I-20 is ok, but again not a lot to spark interest in stopping along the route, other than maybe stopping for BBQ in Kilgore at Bodacious Bar-B-Que (original location, they now have about a dozen locations through east Texas).  Not necessarily the best BBQ in Texas, but probably in the top 50, maybe even the top 20, but being located at an exit on I-20 with a large parking lot (truckers stop here) it is probably worth trying.  Another interesting stop on I-20 further west, is the Frontier Texas Museum in Abeline (RV parking questionable depending on how full the parking lot is).  Consider stopping at Cline Corners travel stop between Carlsbard and Santa Fe at I-40, it is hard to describe, other than a gas station gift shop, that grew, and grew, and grew over the last 50+ years, where you can buy anything from cowboy boots to fudge.  Speaking of gas stations while in Texas, make sure and stop at one of the large Buc-ee's gas stations with 100+ fuel pumps, complete with a fresh made BBQ island, made to order food, dozens of fountain drink dispensers, countless amount of road snack food and some of the cleanest restrooms you will ever see in a gas station.

Going along points west on I-40 there is Petrified Forest national park, worth doing, but be aware the pavement on park road at least in the southern part of the park is awful, teeth jarring awful, as of 4 months ago.  Another stop heading west is Meteor crater, which is good for an hour or two if you opt to do the  1/2 mile (maybe 1 mile) hourly guided rim walking tour.

I will leave it there until I hear more about where and for how long you plan to stop in AZ, UT, CO, etc.

So we plan on staying 3 plus nights in Texas, 7 nights in NM(want to do the caves in Carlsbad, Albuerquerque (definetly that tram) and Santa fe (Historic sites attract us), 3 nights in Ut centred near Zion/Bryce?, drive through Arizona (we've done this state numerous numerous times), 2-3 nights in Colorado, - we have 31 nights and right now I have 28 filled with the shared map and 3 nights allowed for extras along the way as decided.....We planned on renting a car anywhere we are staying for 2-3 nights or using Uber/Lyft if available- in Colorado we would like to stay down in the valley somewhere where we can easily travel to a ski resort for a day of spring skiing?  Colorado springs maybe?  I'm not sure yet?  Maybe there is a better option in Utah?

If you have done the AZ attractions before, and if weather is permitting, I might suggest heading north out of Santa Fe on Hwy 84 then across towards UT on Hwy 64 or possibly Hwy 160.  We did this route on 84/64 in mid October, spending a night in Aztec, NM and visiting the Pueblo Ancestrial ruins at Aztec National Monument, then on across to Goosnecks State Park in UT near Mexican Hat, UT the next night, stopping at 4 corner monument for about half an hour on the way.  This was mostly a fair too good road though 64 is a bit narrow for 30-40 miles west of Dulce, NM.  In our case we then headed south and on to Page, AZ for a few days, before going to the Grand Canyon.

Attached are a couple of pictures from Goosenecks state park (dry camping, with only pit toilets), best view I have ever had from a camp site, and it was only $10 per night.

Wow that is an incredible view- is that the RIo Grande or Colorado river?  I did the mule ride up/down the Grand Canyon last August- it was the most terrifying experience of my life- and I am a skilled horsewoman!  Do you wave to reserve Goosnecks in advance?  I haven't reserved ANYTHING in advance- do you think I should?  While I want a route planned I don't want to feel rushed that I need to get to a certain place each night though?  Am I being to non chalant about the whole thing?

Oops! I misread something. Ignore this.