How's the drive between Santa Fe and Denver, co (Las Vegas: good hotels, construction)

[Tom Tom]

Thinking of driving from Santa Fe to Denver next Oct as part of a road trip from Charlotte, N.C. How is the drive during that time of year?
Tom Tom

[Chaparral]

Unless there's a freak early snowstorm (5% chance or so) the drive should be cake. Just watch out for the state troopers between Pueblo and Denver, if you are inclined to push the speeding envelope.

Chap

[Tom Tom]

Thanks, I haven't driven that route before. Plenty of gas stations and motels if need be?

[shammy]

The drive is just beautiful that time of year but I would extend the Colorado Trooper watch from Trinadad northward. Tickets are a real source of revenue for state police. A good radar detector is a help but sometimes they "shoot" you from hiding so keep watchful. Not a lot of great motels but gas is available and many of the gas/stores have small Subway's inside if you want to avoid burgers.
Expect the possibility of bad traffic from south Colo Springs thru Denver, depending on time-of-day.

[BrianH]

Its a good drive, nice and easy and pretty quick too. There are plenty of towns between SF and Denver with good hotels / motels.

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by BrianH

Its a good drive, nice and easy and pretty quick too. There are plenty of towns between SF and Denver with good hotels / motels.

Yep. It's interstate the whole way.

While it is possible you'll run into snow in October, I wouldn't bet on it. Snow that early, while it happens, is rare.

Your biggest headache is probably going through road construction.

[Tom Tom]

Thanks for the reply. It really helps to hear from someone who knows the Hwy.

[Tom Tom]

Thanks for the info. We will look forward to the drive.

[Julia2sf]

There's a great restaurant in downtown Trinidad that I like to stop off at, but can't think of it's name. Make sure you're gassed up leaving Santa Fe. No stations until Las Vegas, about an hour, hour plus north. After that I can't think of any long, lonely stretches without stations.

[Zoidberg]

While the interstate gets you there in the shortest possible time, I think you'd be missing out on a good deal of scenery that way. Between Las Vegas and Raton (no small distance) it is extremely dull, and depending on your timing, you can be lucky enough to enjoy a solid traffic jam from the southern edge of C Springs all the way into Denver.

Putting Alamosa, CO as a waypoint between ABQ and DEN gives you a bit more variety, and puts places like Taos and South Park as options on your itinerary. Expect to travel about 20mph slower going this way, however.