Moving From L.A. to Austin- Some Advice 4 the Drive (Amarillo: amusement parks, car registration)

[nighthouse66]

Hey guys,
I am a native Georgian about to move from Los Angeles to Austin. I got a couple questions for anyone out there who has made the haul.
First off, i want to make the most of the trip and see some interesting sights. everytime i drive cross country i wind up doing a high speed burn and not seeing anything. this time i plan on crawling through, and taking secondary roads whenever possible.
so, anybody know of any good routes, scenic routes, maybe route 66 related routes that i could take? any weird old abandoned sites like amusement parks, drive ins, or gas stations? (I love that stuff- i'm a photographer). any short or long highway tips would be appreciated.
also, i will be traveling alone, and i have always heard crappy stuff about texas police. being that i have a california license plate (and a license that says venice) i am wondering if this makes me more of a target for harrassment. i drive a white van that is in really good shape, looks like a retiree drives it....but i am wondering if my california license plate might annoy some yokel (forgive the term) and get me pulled over. anybody had any kind of experience with this?
i know i had a friend who moved to portland and apparently there is alot of anti-cali sentiment up there and he had his car broken into there and it was keyed twice. just trying to avoid this stuff. if it is a bad deal, i will just drive on straight through.
anyway, any tidbits of wisdom is always appreciated. anytime i wanna know anything about a city, i come here. thanks everyone!

[Jaipur]

Originally Posted by nighthouse66

Hey guys,
I am a native Georgian about to move from Los Angeles to Austin. I got a couple questions for anyone out there who has made the haul.
First off, i want to make the most of the trip and see some interesting sights. everytime i drive cross country i wind up doing a high speed burn and not seeing anything. this time i plan on crawling through, and taking secondary roads whenever possible.
so, anybody know of any good routes, scenic routes, maybe route 66 related routes that i could take? any weird old abandoned sites like amusement parks, drive ins, or gas stations? (I love that stuff- i'm a photographer). any short or long highway tips would be appreciated.
also, i will be traveling alone, and i have always heard crappy stuff about texas police. being that i have a california license plate (and a license that says venice) i am wondering if this makes me more of a target for harrassment. i drive a white van that is in really good shape, looks like a retiree drives it....but i am wondering if my california license plate might annoy some yokel (forgive the term) and get me pulled over. anybody had any kind of experience with this?
i know i had a friend who moved to portland and apparently there is alot of anti-cali sentiment up there and he had his car broken into there and it was keyed twice. just trying to avoid this stuff. if it is a bad deal, i will just drive on straight through.
anyway, any tidbits of wisdom is always appreciated. anytime i wanna know anything about a city, i come here. thanks everyone!

Hey nighthouse,
I have made the drive from Los Angeles to Austin several times on a couple different routes. A more scenic route (but not as economical) would be to take I-40 instead of I-10. Route 66, for the most part is gone. The government decommissioned it, I-40 runs along most of Route 66 but a few places are just completely gone and some will take you far off track. Now if you decide to take I-40 (which I recommend for what you want) there are a lot of cool places just along the way. Northern Arizona to start, is quite pretty. I'm not sure if you want to take Route 66 to the Grand Canyon or not because I don't know how much time you have, but that is always nice. Then after that you should go see the Petrified Forest National Park, it is in Arizona and is really cool. Most of the drive through New Mexico will be bland. When you get to central New Mexico you will probably want to take a break (overnight), if you do you can take the I-40 loop to Santa Fe or you can stay in Albuquerque. If I were you to get the full experience I would stay in Santa Fe, and then early in the morning the next day just take a short look around and eat somewhere good for dinner the night before. After you depart, you will be taken into Amarillo. From this part of the drive to Austin the most scenic sight will be Austin. There are several ways to get to Austin from there. Since I've actually taken all of them I can help you find which will most fit your needs. I think the best way to take is to go on Highway 84 to I-20. Then you merge into Abilene. From there you get back on 84 until you come to Santa Anna Texas where you get on to 183 which will take you into Austin. There is also another way that I have taken more than once from that part which goes way off track but takes you through some different scenery (less plains, more desert) I really don't actually consider either nicer I think their both kind of boring (sights wise). Please send me any of your other questions, I am really interested in helping you as I have done this so many times before.
As far as the license plate thing, I have never actually heard of that happening but it sounds like something that would.

[Jaipur]

I also forgot to add, you can take I-10 scenically, but all of the out of ordinary things would be in Texas 3 hours or less away from Austin.
You can take I-35 back to Austin, it's actually scenery wise not so different from other ways but I think that the small towns on the other routes can be more interesting.
And lastly, there are lots of places in Arizona and New Mexico you can visit if you are not interested in making it a straight shot.

[brattpowered]

If I were you, I would take I-40 instead of I-10. Side trips off of this highway can include Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. Flagstaff, AZ is on 40, and is a great artsy and outdoorsy town to stop at.

Once you reach Albuquerque, New Mexico, head south (maybe after taking a quick jaunt up to Santa Fe), cutting through the southeast corner of the state. Stop by White Sands National Monument and the alpine towns of Cloudcroft and/or Ruidoso. The geographical diversity of the area is pretty amazing and the drive through the Lincoln National Forest is beautiful. Stop by Carlsbad Caverns on your way out of the state, and then take I-10 east to Central TX.

This route will take you through the abandoned town of Orla, Texas. It sounds like it's right up your alley. http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=orla+texas

[twange]

Once you get into West Texas, you can always take a side trip to Big Bend.

Marfa is also out that way which has some interesting history and art galleries as well as being the setting for There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men:

[nighthouse66]

gosh, thanks so much everyone, especially Jaipur, that is amazing information! absolutely what i was looking for. and for the pther poster, marfa sounds amazing...and the place where the marfa lights are! i just realized i have a copy of "weird texas" that could come in handy....
Jaipur, since you know so much and have so generously offered me your wisdom, any tidbits about areas that this time of year i shouldn't drive through? i don't want to wind up in some winter pass unexpectedly.....

again, thank you to everyone who responded! i am printing all this out and taking it with me!

[iceshots]

I was in Arizona last year for vacation and was looking for a Route 66 trip. Ended up going east from Flagstaff and did not see anything really interesting other than Winslow Arizona. You can take a picture of you "standing on the corner". They have a statue set up and a mural of the girl in the flat bed Ford.

Not much else in Winslow.

When I got back I found out that the better Route 66 trip is from the Nevada border to Flagstaff.

Between Flagstaff and Winslow there is also the Meteor crater.

That whole area of Arizona is very picturesque.

[qtp0000]

I made the drive two weeks ago, but didnt take the scenic route just I-10 to 290. I did stop if I saw something and wanted to take a look or get a picture. Whatever you do do not stop at the continental divide. It is nothing but a creepy guy in a store with VERY yellow teeth. Seriously the continental divide is an imaginary line that seperates east from west according to old yellow I was so mad I got out of my car for that.

Watch out in Fredericksburg if you take the 290. This jerk cop pulled me over for speeding, but I wasnt. Then he ask me why I have all this stuff in my car and where im going, blah blah blah. Then he tells me I have 45 days to change my DL/plates (which isnt true its only 30) so obviously this idiot had no idea what he was doing and I will be seeing him in court!

Have a safe trip!

[readymade]

We got pulled over for speeding as soon as we hit Texas as well. We were coming from CA too. So, my advice is to NOT go over the speed limit AT ALL once you hit Texas! (8 years ago, I got pulled over for speeding the second I got into Texas driving from Boston to LA and I was only going about 3 miles over the speed limit!)

THIS time my husband didn't realize he was speeding (that much) because of the signs we'd never seen before. Apparently you can go 75 during the day but only 65 at night. Something like that. He was going about 80 at night. Ouch.

Really sucked because we had to switch to a Texas-friendly car insurance with a brand-new speeding ticket. Good luck with your drive!

(and remember to bring your Social Security card, 1 or two other forms of identification AND your TEXAS car registration receipt when you go to get your driver's license. If you don't have all that stuff, they won't give you one.)

[XodoX]

I went there on I 10. But not much to see on I 10.