It's official! Chandler AZ here we come! Now for the hard part....... (Phoenix: 2013, buy)

[Deasnake]

Hello friends, my wife and I are almost set and ready for the big move! We plan on leaving on June 9th and being in PHX on June the 11th.

We will be driving my 2013 Ford Focus ST, manual, we are going to pack just our NEEDS and buy new things when we get there.

From all the research that I have done, it seems like 90% of people prefer to drive through MO, OK, TX, NM and then AZ, personally, I appreciate nature and would like to take as much in as possible. So, the second route, IA, NE,CO,UT and then AZ, seems more of an appropriate route for my wife and I, plus this car is made for the mountains .


Would YOU personally, take this route? If yes why? If no why? Any suggestions? I have read about the lack of gas stations through Utah, and the possibility of snow at the highest peaks in the mountains, but I want more of these details.


Anything helps!


Thank you!

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by Deasnake

Hello friends, my wife and I are almost set and ready for the big move! We plan on leaving on June 9th and being in PHX on June the 11th.

We will be driving my 2013 Ford Focus ST, manual, we are going to pack just our NEEDS and buy new things when we get there.

From all the research that I have done, it seems like 90% of people prefer to drive through MO, OK, TX, NM and then AZ, personally, I appreciate nature and would like to take as much in as possible. So, the second route, IA, NE,CO,UT and then AZ, seems more of an appropriate route for my wife and I, plus this car is made for the mountains .


Would YOU personally, take this route? If yes why? If no why? Any suggestions? I have read about the lack of gas stations through Utah, and the possibility of snow at the highest peaks in the mountains, but I want more of these details.


Anything helps!


Thank you!

I went from Des Moines to KC, Witchita, south to Amarillo (stopped for the night), then on to Albq, to Phoenix. I did not go through OK City as a lot of people do, it would have added too much mileage to the trip. When all was mapped out, this was the most direct, and I moved in late November so going trough the Rockies that time of year was really not what I wanted to do.

[DetroitN8V]

I did the MO, OK, TX, NM, AZ route and it was smooth sailing but rather boring. The one thing that surprised me is how pretty a lot of MO is. The rolling hills and dense forest caught me by surprise. After that it was pretty much nothingness. If I wanted to sight-see, I would have definitely taken a different route.

[hikernut]

If you had more time I would take the second route, as it goes through a lot of different types of country and is arguably more interesting. With only two days, though, I would personally take the most direct, and fastest route. Google maps shows only one hour difference between the two routes, which is a little hard for me to believe.

hikernut

[fennec2009]

Originally Posted by Deasnake

Hello friends, my wife and I are almost set and ready for the big move! We plan on leaving on June 9th and being in PHX on June the 11th.

We will be driving my 2013 Ford Focus ST, manual, we are going to pack just our NEEDS and buy new things when we get there.

From all the research that I have done, it seems like 90% of people prefer to drive through MO, OK, TX, NM and then AZ, personally, I appreciate nature and would like to take as much in as possible. So, the second route, IA, NE,CO,UT and then AZ, seems more of an appropriate route for my wife and I, plus this car is made for the mountains .


Would YOU personally, take this route? If yes why? If no why? Any suggestions? I have read about the lack of gas stations through Utah, and the possibility of snow at the highest peaks in the mountains, but I want more of these details.


Anything helps!


Thank you!

I took that way out here. It was gorgeous. I recommend taking Route 2 through the Nebraska Sandhills, just make sure you gas up in Lincoln or Broken Bow or something. I saw one gas station along the way in the middle of nowhere but there's not much until you reach Alliance.

In CO, I got off I70 at the 40 and shot up around Lake Granby, then on through Steamboat to Vernal UT. It was a pretty drive, especially the winding roads up and down the mountains when you first get on the 40, but I heard the drive up the 34 through Estes Park is nice too so you could take that and either go on to Vernal via the 40 or connect with I70 if you'd like. I think if I did it again I would go through Estes Park, get on the 70 to the 133 to the 12 through Crested Butte, then on through Gunnison to Montrose then south on the 550 (Million Dollar Hwy). Those are very scenic drives. Then once you reach Durango you can either go south into NW or west into AZ.

Utah was okay. I liked Salt Lake but the drive from there down to AZ is not very interesting. You have to get off the main road and go to the National Parks to see the really nice scenery.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by hikernut

If you had more time I would take the second route, as it goes through a lot of different types of country and is arguably more interesting. With only two days, though, I would personally take the most direct, and fastest route. Google maps shows only one hour difference between the two routes, which is a little hard for me to believe.

hikernut

The other route isn't much better, at least not the first leg. Once you have driven across Nebraska, you are never in a hurry to do that again!

[Deasnake]

Thank you for the feedback! We plan on leaving at 5AM on that Monday, hoping to make it to Kearney NE at least, spend the night there then drive to Flagstaff and stay there the second night and finish the trip on Wednesday. Is that too optimistic?

[CodyW]

Kearney to Flagstaff is a LONG day. Doable, but LONG. You'd probably be better off stopping in Grand Junction or Moab if that is the route you're taking.

[Deasnake]

That's a good idea, I think we might do that instead.

[pbenjamin]

If you are actually trying to drive from Wisconsin the Flagstaff in 2 days I wouldn't worry about whether or not the route was scenic. Take the quickest one. And some amphetamines.