My wife and I are planning a road trip from Maryland to Scottsdale AZ to see out daughter. We plan to take 10 days and begin our trip in the middle of May.


We plan to use the trip to see family and friends - that are conveniently located in manageable intervals until we get to Kansas. In Kansas, we have people in Olethe (near Kansas City), Wichita, and Lindsborg (a lovely community of Swedes near McPherson) and will likely stay 1 day in each town.


From there, it appears that the best two options would be to travel west towards Denver and then south through eastern Utah. On-line searches identified many beautiful parks and natural scenery.


The other option that jumped out at me was to go south and pick up Route 66 near Oklahoma City and take that west to Flagstaff then south to Scottsdale. This plan seems loaded with history and natural beauty.


Does either of these stand out as having more beauty, better road-side attractions, or just a better vibe.


Thanks much
Emil

 

UTAH! you cant go wrong with Southern UTAH! North Rim of Grand Canyon for one, good luck on your trip.

 

Do not go south to pick up Route 66. It is a myth that the road still exist. Depending on time constraints, go to Colorado and then over to Utah.

 

From Santa Rosa, NM on across may be scenic, but east and up thru OK TX and KS is a lot of pretty arid bare country. As said, much 66 is under I40 with little parts of mostly deserted strips in spots. You can make good time that way, tho

CO would be some alpine areas.... trees... and Utah is great depending on your hi way

 

That makes it unanimous - 3 to 0. Colorado and Utah is the winner.

 

There are some great National Parks in Utah. Beautiful country. A friend and I spent two weeks just riding CO a couple of years ago. We had a blast.

 

If I was heading out west the middle of May I would take more of a southern route. I would dip down through Texas and New Mexico, maybe consider going back on more of a northern path.


You are looking at riding between 2300 and 2600 miles in 10 days, depending on the route. Since you are stopping and visiting family and friends along the way I would suspect there won't be much time left for sightseeing.

 

Most definitely Denver, and south from there.

 

Good Point. I think I will add a day. That way, with the stops we need to make I'll only have two days longer than 300 miles (325 and 360 miles)

 

ISP be right about May temps and weather in the High country of CO. Very Iffy and can change fast