This might sound silly but I’m trying to find the best route. This spring I had to drive from Tucson to Northeast Missouri and we ended up driving through Las Cruces all the way up 54 to Kansas. And let me tell you that is a desolate stretch of road. I’ve looked at the map several times but can someone tell me if there’s a better way to travel other than through New Mexico? I know I can go down through Texas but that adds like 2 hrs onto the trip
Unfortunately 54 is the route to take, take it from a former truck driver who has driven that route many times and it is desolate but is only route that makes sense.
Yeah I could go down through Kansas, Oklahoma through tulsa Texas through Wichita falls and West from there . Just adds so much time onto the trip
Are you just trying to avoid the boredom? Because you can take 40 through Amarillo and Albuquerque and then either take I25 to Las Cruces or another route from 40 in AZ
More so the desolation really bothers my mom who’s going to be with me and she’s 78 so she wants to be able to travel somewhere where there’s more people I think
Can you afford the extra hours? Comfort-wise, time-wise, or job-wise?
If I can help it, I’m avoiding the brutal plains route, as someone who has driven across the country more times than I would like to admit for things other than fun. I’ll spend a decent few hours of my life to avoid driving through the Nebraska or Kansas plains again.
The efficient route is most likely going to be the most boring and desolate, kind of by definition. It will have straight roads and slow elevation builds for efficiency’s sake.
If I had the option to drive southwest through Missouri or southwest through Kansas, I am picking Missouri.
I also find Oklahoma to be a bit more interesting than Kansas, but the Texas panhandle can’t really be helped.
One of the most interesting road trips I’ve ever taken was through New Mexico! From Amarillo, Texas I went southwest to Roswell, then went west. I’m not sure if it was the time of year I went or what, but it was absolutely amazing. Way more interesting than the slow build of a lot of the other plains areas.
Did it add time to my trip? Yes. But it’s been over ten years and I still think about some of the interesting scenery I saw.
Yeah through Roswell is one way we can go… Mom and Dad used to winter with me and they always drove the “Southern” route" because they were pulling their camper. That consisted going down through Texas. I just wanted to avoid 54. That was dreadful
Ah yeah, that’s going to be hard to do on a road trip west of the Rockies.
*on a road trip southwest of the Rockies
We are going to Tucson so we won’t be going west of the Rockies more like South
