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We're probably going to move there in May or June.
I've been all over NM northern and southern various times.
Love Santa Fe but high altitude and expense and...feels somewhat isolated. Las Cruces seems like a good compromise, nice small town, not a huge drive to Abq, Santa Fe, Tucson, or I guess El Paso (?? never been there), for city and cultural experiences. Big desert skies, nice mountains, cheap cost of living.
Anyway a friend of mine in that area suggested we go down through West Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, and then to Las Cruces.
Mapquest takes me thru Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, I really don't like that route too much as it reminds me of the long mostly boring drives from Chicago to NY (I grew up outside Chicago). Pennsylvania hills were pretty but the rest was ugly.
Any ideas? Most scenic routes? We aren't going to barrel through or we'll be exhausted.
Any good b&b or residence inn's or smaller hotels along the way that anybody knows of? Where I can open a window. Don't need high tech. Maybe we will even camp a little, not sure.
The only issue I'm sure I'm going to have is that the last time I lived in the desert (Santa Fe) I didn't have sinus issues and now I do. My sinuses are irritated and dry and inflamed and so is my nose. Even when I didn't have such issues, I had to take two showers a day to hydrate or I'd get "dry" sort of bleeding nasal passages.
So I guess Las Cruces is going to be even drier and hotter? Do people use humidifiers a lot? Especially in the dusty windy months?
The first question I have is, what are your time restraints? If you have more than a week for instance, I'd give you a really nice route. The quicker you have to be there from NYC, the lousier the drive will be. When I drove here from NJ, I did the PA-MD-WV-KY-TN-AR-OK-TX-NM route.
We're probably going to move there in May or June.
I've been all over NM northern and southern various times.
Love Santa Fe but high altitude and expense and...feels somewhat isolated. Las Cruces seems like a good compromise, nice small town, not a huge drive to Abq, Santa Fe, Tucson, or I guess El Paso (?? never been there), for city and cultural experiences. Big desert skies, nice mountains, cheap cost of living.
Anyway a friend of mine in that area suggested we go down through West Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, and then to Las Cruces.
Mapquest takes me thru Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, I really don't like that route too much as it reminds me of the long mostly boring drives from Chicago to NY (I grew up outside Chicago). Pennsylvania hills were pretty but the rest was ugly.
Any ideas? Most scenic routes? We aren't going to barrel through or we'll be exhausted.
I drove from North Jersey, near the GWB, twice. I took a route from Jersey (I-80, 287, 78 to 81 to 40 to 440 to 30 to 20 to 10) that took me through PA, MD, W VA, VA then into TN via Nashville and Memphis, AR where I passed through Little Rock, then into TX where I passed through Dallas and eventually picked up I-10 which took me directly to Las Cruces.
I had to plan the trip in stages via mapquest, since it won't give you this route directly. I think I did NJ to Nashville, and then Nashville to Las Cruces. It was a very nice drive, spent a lot of time going through TN via I-81. There were lots of places to stop and eat, look around, etc. I did the drive in a little over three days with stops and two overnight stays.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jenbooks13
Any good b&b or residence inn's or smaller hotels along the way that anybody knows of? Where I can open a window. Don't need high tech. Maybe we will even camp a little, not sure.
There are lots of places along that route and lots of decent rest areas.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jenbooks13
The only issue I'm sure I'm going to have is that the last time I lived in the desert (Santa Fe) I didn't have sinus issues and now I do. My sinuses are irritated and dry and inflamed and so is my nose. Even when I didn't have such issues, I had to take two showers a day to hydrate or I'd get "dry" sort of bleeding nasal passages.
So I guess Las Cruces is going to be even drier and hotter? Do people use humidifiers a lot? Especially in the dusty windy months?
Well, yeah, it is. But, that is one of the advantages of having a swamp cooler vs. AC in the summer. I don't know anyone who uses a humidifier since so many of the house have the swampers, but, someone else may know more about that.
Also, the elevation is lower than Santa Fe, so that may help some.
Last edited by TigerLily24; 02-23-2009 at 08:38 AM..
Hi Mike--yes we have more than a week--although I expected it would take a week to ten days. I'm open to all ideas. Don't want to take FOREVER but might as well enjoy the trip.
Hi Tigerlily that sounds like a great route, I will look at it on a map, thanks.
Well is it dry in winter too?
I'm only asking because here in NY the prewar building I'm in--is SOOOOO dry even when I have the heat entirely off and the windows cracked open. It's the stacking effect of everybody's radiators and the boiler turned up high so the top floors can get enough heat. And I dry out totally. So I was just planning ahead.
Hi Mike--yes we have more than a week--although I expected it would take a week to ten days. I'm open to all ideas. Don't want to take FOREVER but might as well enjoy the trip.
The first thing you DON'T want to do is to use I-40 or I-70 for any portion of your trip. I would definitely slow down through Kentucky and West Virginia. IMO, those two states were the scenic highlight of my trip. Eastern Kentucky especially. In contrast, you are short changing yourself going through the Great Plains region by taking I-40 or I-44 from St Louis to Oklahoma City, and here is why: once you get into this region, most of the roads that are NOT interstates are going to be less stressful, and just as fast, because you are going to have longer distances between population settlements. When you do get to a larger town (say over 5k population) you are likely going to want to slow down, and recharge in one of them. This is where your trip can become very interesting. Being from the east coast, as I am, most your prior car travels have likely occurred north to south, instead of east to west. The layout of this country begins to change dramatically once you've crossed the Mississippi River going westward. There are many more routes to go from one town to another east of the Mississippi River than than there are westward. However, by no circumstances, should you get on one of the concrete interstate behemoths to get to Las Cruces. I succumbed to I-40 for a great deal of two days on my trip here, and I really regret that. I only had 5 days to get here though.
My next bit of advice is to get out your Rand MacNally atlas, and find roads with the old federal highway shield, those that have existed pre-1958. These are the roads you want to use for stretches of your trip.
I really do envy you. If I had this opportunity, I'd be planning bits and segments of road to travel on for every portion of this trip. You may never have another travel opportunity the likes of this one again.
In no short order, these are some of the sights I'd try to drive through:
1) The Cumberland Gap
2) Mammoth Cave Kentucky
3) Northern Arkansas through the Boston Mts (stop in Eureka Springs)
4) The entire Sangre De Cristo area in Northern NM
After exploring #4, then drive down I-25 to LC. Try to take an old federal road, such as US-60, through Oklahoma, and the Great Plains, as opposed to I-40. The Oklahoma and Texas panhandles represent IMO an amazing transformation from the green/humid environs that you are used to into the brown/arid desert southwest. Savor and enjoy that portion of the ride especially. Don't have a series of 18 wheelers barrelling down on you sully the ride.
Thanks, Mike! Very good advice. I'll check out those places you mentioned. I don't need to drive through Northern New Mexico as I've spent so much time there, but the rest of it sounds very interesting. THANKS And by the way I love parkways and HATE interstates, I hate the trucks, they just make me very nervous. So I agree with you. Hmm, Cumberland Gap looks gorgeous.
Hi Tigerlily that sounds like a great route, I will look at it on a map, thanks.
Well is it dry in winter too?
I'm only asking because here in NY the prewar building I'm in--is SOOOOO dry even when I have the heat entirely off and the windows cracked open. It's the stacking effect of everybody's radiators and the boiler turned up high so the top floors can get enough heat. And I dry out totally. So I was just planning ahead.
Oh, I remember those days. Pans of water on top of the radiators to moisten the air...
I'm not finding it as dry here in the winter, probably due to not having to have the heat on all the time.
P.S. About driving on I-40 - it was definitely congested once I hit Memphis, although not bad prior to that. I will say that Memphis is a very nice-looking city to drive through and being a geographically challenged north-easterner, I was totally surprised to find that Arkansas lay just on the other side of the Mississippi River Stayed overnight in Hope, lovely town IMO, and veered south right into Texas from there.
The major advantage for me in staying on the more 'well-traveled' highways was that I could easily find places to stop, get gas, take bathroom breaks, etc. without having to travel too far from the highway, but if I had had more time, I would definitely have taken a more scenic route. The traffic going through Dallas-Ft. Worth, while also quite impressive to see, was really intense.
Whichever way you choose, I'm sure it will be a great trip. There is just so much to see driving across this beautiful country.
Take their motto to heart: "Life's a journey. Take the scenic route."
Or limit your responses to threads where people are asking for which airport to use, ABQ or El Paso etc.
This thread was about scenic routes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by newmexhunter
drive to the airport and get on a plane!!!
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And by the way I love parkways and HATE interstates, I hate the trucks, they just make me very nervous. So I agree with you. Hmm, Cumberland Gap looks gorgeous.
Stayed overnight in Hope, lovely town IMO, and veered south right into Texas from there. 
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