Need Road Trip Suggestions - Detroit to Sierra Vista, AZ

I am moving from Detroit to Sierra Vista, AZ (south of Tucson, north of Mexico) in July. I will have seven days to complete the trip. I'll be traveling with a wife, two boys (9 and 7) and a borderline incontinent mutt in a G8. Google says I can make the 2,000 mile trip in 30 hours but the route looks soul-crushingly boring. As this will basically be my kids' only summer break excitement, I'd like to make the trip a little more memorable.

So, what to do? I-80 west, then down through Denver and Grand Junction looks like it might be good. What should I see on the way? I'd love to hit Zion National Park in Utah, but that might be too far out of the way.

Or, south from Indy and through Dallas and then west Texas is a possibility. Anything car related is obviously a bonus. I'm all about taking photos of abandoned stuff too, so ghost towns, dis-used gas stations, desert junk yards are in the mix. Route 66?

Frankly Route 66 is really boring, at least the Chicago to St. Louis part. The best part of that is starting at Lou Mitchell's for breakfast.

If you go down I-80, call ahead to Rips Chicken in Ladd IL to carry out some fried chicken. Best fried chicken in the world. Don't forget the Krispies.

Great Sand Dunes park in Colorado is not too far off Interstate 26 and it will burn up a lot of the kids energy climbing the dunes.

Guess the Grand Canyon needs to be on the list.

The Grand Canyon is absolutely an option. We'll be in Arizona for at least three years, so I figure it'll be the focus of its own trip. If we go that far west, we'll definitely stop. I've heard great things about Sedona, too.

If it were me, I'd get as far as Grand Junction then turn south and make your way through CO, NM, and AZ on smaller roads. I was just in CO and, with the excellent advice of forum members here, we saw some spectacular scenery. CO 550 is a wild road through the mountains, but I was warned about traffic getting heavy (we ended up doing it in the beginnings of a snow storm, which cut down on the traffic rather considerably). 141 is further west and runs through largely uninhabited but remarkably scenic terrain. From there, UT/AZ 163 takes you through Monument Valley. Swing further west and take one of the routes through the Tonto National Forest; we did AZ 87 a few years ago, but it may be too far west for your purposes. Sedona is impressive but overrun with tourists - if you're going to be in AZ that long, go in the off-season. From there, it's just a short hop to Sierra Vista by your choice of routes.

To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, these are from CO 141:

Wow! That's what I'm talking about.

Yeah, and the best part is that the road was nearly deserted. Slower than an interstate, sure, but a lot more fun.

G8MikeGXP wrote: I'll be traveling with a wife, two boys (9 and 7) and a borderline incontinent mutt in a G8.

Eep! Not at all my idea of a road trip.

I think it makes a lot more sense to get past Chicago, then take I-57 south to I-44 to I-40.

No advice for getting there but when you go through Tuscon Pima air museum is awesome and Neo Mylasian Kitchen is a great place to eat.

In Sierra Vista I enjoyed hiking through Ramsey Canyon and a lot of the various other hikes.

I really enjoyed my 3 month TDY to Ft. Hauchuca. Sort of wish I had taken a permanent spot but I liked money more at the time.

Avoid west texas like the plague. It's a boring and pretty soul crushing drive. Honestly, make sure you go through colorado. Plan out a stop or 2 in the mountains. There are so many good places. Also, If you go along I70, You can hit Moab and Zion as well. The arches are really cool to go see.

Zion

Arches

Both well worth the drive.

My vote: spend as much of the trip in Utah as possible, hit any national parks that are convenient. If the family travels well, you don't need to have an incredibly solid plan- if they don't travel well, fly them out there and drive by yourself

We stayed as far north as possible before dropping down into Arizona when we did Pennsylvania to Flagstaff, AZ.

If you're doing it during summer, I'd probably use the interstate till you hit Denver, then head south on 285. Or, go as far west as Moab and take 191 the whole way down through eastern Arizona.

As beautiful as the Grand Canyon is, it's not very tactile. You get out of the car, you look at it, you get back in the car.

What will you be doing in Sierra Vista? Something military related?

south out of Cortez CO to canyons of the ancients. Continue south turn west, south of shiprock and back roads to Canyon De Chelly . Then Grand Canyon. It is great country.

I personally loved Rt 66. Mtn is right; parts of it are boring. Like many of the IL and MO parts, Rt 66 is just the frontage rd for I-44, so you can bounce around on the terrible frontage road and look over at it, or you can bounce around on the slightly less terrible freeway. But there are sections of it that are truly neat. Rt 66 in OK takes you through some serious "twister-esque" landscapes on old abandoned sections of concrete roads that have grass growing up through them. Its like a scene from a movie who's description starts with "in a post-apocalyptic wasteland..." Rt. 66 has gems of unquestionably fascinating things that really excite me, but there are some pretty big stretches of nothingness.

If you do Rt 66, definitely stop at Rock Cafe in Stroud, OK. Call ahead and ask Cadillac Ranch is neat, although it has been moved a few times. Big Texan Steak Ranch is a must-do in Amarillo. Its the original place to do that "if you can eat this big steak its free." They also serve rattlesnake and rocky mountain oysters.

I suggest taking a little detour and go out to Albequerque and Flagstaff and down through Pheonix. That just takes you through some mountians and Elk territory. The really pretty section of I-10 IMO is to the west of where you'll be traveling. (sidenote: did you see the Cars Pixar movie? There is a section where the race truck is driving down a highway at sunset. That sequence was inspired by I-10 west of your new home.)

The only other routes I could suggest are not the greatest. You could go out to Denver and south, but Iowa and Nebraska are pretty yawn-tastic. I take that back, somewhat. Iowa has some neatness, and KS and NE have some kitchy tourist things if you're into it. They are home to things like; the worlds largest ball of twine, the geographic center of the nation, the geodetic center of the nation, and the worlds largest statue of a steer. Maybe I'm not the only one who likes kitchy tourist things.

You could go down to Memphis, which is a neat drive down through the Mississippi river valley, but then you turn west and have 700 miles of the boring part of TX to endure.

How much time do you have, and how much time do you want to spend on the road trip part? Cause I have more suggestions if you want.

BMW88 has some good thoughts too. Utah is lovely. Then you could go through Vegas if you want which would take you close enough to see the Hoover Dam, or you could come down route 89 through Santa Fe. NOW THAT'S a lovely drive.

A big benefit to the Denver/Utah route is Glenwood Canyon. That's worth the trip right there.

pheller wrote: We stayed as far north as possible before dropping down into Arizona when we did Pennsylvania to Flagstaff, AZ. If you're doing it during summer, I'd probably use the interstate till you hit Denver, then head south on 285. Or, go as far west as Moab and take 191 the whole way down through eastern Arizona. As beautiful as the Grand Canyon is, it's not very tactile. You get out of the car, you look at it, you get back in the car. What will you be doing in Sierra Vista? Something military related?

This is more or less how I'm leaning. I think Colorado and Utah have the most to see overall. It looks like 191 through Utah and Arizona are spectacular.

I'll be living in Sierra Vista and working in Douglas. Not military, but government.

curtis73 wrote: How much time do you have, and how much time do you want to spend on the road trip part? Cause I have more suggestions if you want.

I have seven days to make the trip. If I drive like a madman and get there in four, I just have to start work that much earlier.

My plan, as of now, is to make it 12 hours the first day. Maybe push the second day also. Google seems to think Grand Junction is 24 hours from Detroit. Then once we turn south, we can take our time and see the sights.

I'd love to hear any suggestions. I've spent very little time on that side of the country.

My Dad is getting ready to leave on a 10 day trip on Route 30 out to California and back to Ohio.

Boys like trains! Just sayin'.

Colorado Train Rides

Durango Silverton Train Royal Gorge RailwayWe rode in the Vista Car and had lunch. You can walk out to the open cars for a better view. We did this with our girls in 2015.

Pikes Peak Cog Railway

subscribed for ideas. headed west this summer.

We did the Durango & Silverton train when we were there a couple weeks ago. If you want the full viewing experience, go for one of the open cars. It's 3.5 hours each way (with time for lunch in Silverton in between), and not exactly cheap, but it's worth it.

Random comments from a SW Colorado person with SE Arizona connections:

Moab will be jammed with people and expensive. 141 is a great drive, the Gateway auto museum is very good, around 65 excellent US cars 1905 - about 1980, no real sports cars. 550 is amazing mountain scenery, there is traffic and road construction south of Silverton that may cost you 20 minutes. As mentioned, lots of narrow gauge railroad history here, if you go through Ridgway on a Wednesday between 9 and 5, stop briefly at the railroad museum and I'll give you a tour, that's my day to be on duty. Once you get off the interstates you won't make time, the roads are twisty and there is road construction, but it's definitely worth the delay. Colorado National Monument in Junction is very pretty. Various good eats: in Montrose, CO Fiesta Guadalajara and Stone House. In Flagstaff area (if you go that way, or for future reference), La Fonda Mexican Restaurant and Mormon Lake Lodge for steaks.

Once you get to the Colorado line, there is no fast way to Sierra Vista. I go to Bisbee quite a bit, and usually go from Ouray (my home base) to Durango, Albuquerque, Socorro, then to Douglas and over to Bisbee and SV. It's about 700 miles from my house to Bisbee, so add 25 miles to SV, and it's too far to go in one day. In the summertime the Coronado Trail through Show Low and Alpine, AZ is pretty and pretty direct, but again, you won't do that road quickly.

It looks like I'll be driving right through your town this Friday Jim. Any concerns with snow or anything in the passes there this time of year? I'm planning on taking 50 to 550 south from Grand Junction to the Albuquerque area as I drive my new toy home from the good people at Flyin Miata.