cross country help needed

I will be driving from Pennsylvania to Arizona and want ideas for overnight stops that would be convenient to the drive but also a nice place for dinner and walking around in the evening. We certaily don%26#39;t want to add hours and hours to the drive, and expect to cover about 8 hours a day. With that in mind, does anyone have suggestions for stopping/sleeping points along the way, rather than just pulling in somewhere when we are tired? Thanks for your help!

cross country help needed

Through New Mexico on I40 you can see some of Rte 66 type motels in Tucumcari. Also Albuquerque is the big city in the state. PLenty to see and do there, museums, zoo, sports, etc plus great restaurants. West of Abq is Acoma Pueblo, El Malpais Nat Mon, and Gallup. Once you head into AZ, Petrified Forest National Monument, Meteor Crater, Flagstaff, Grand Canyon.

I would plan a stop in Albuquerque for a night and possibly Flagstaff AZ for another night.

cross country help needed

thanks for your help. I have just started reading about Rt. 66 and may take it for Mo all the way to AZ, going thru NM. It should be fun!

We have driven Rt 66 from MO to CA! Just not all at one time. Plenty of great places to stay and somewhere either in OK or TX we drove along the original road for quite a while, with the click, click, click of the seams in the concrete roadway.

www.historic66.com

When in Albuquerque Central Ave is Rt 66. Not the best place on the eastern end, but near the university is the Nob Hill area. Great restaurants etc. The Frontier is a local favorite restaurant.

When you pass through Gallup NM, stop in the downtown area. Richardson%26#39;s Pawn and the Amtrak Station. A fun restaurant in Gallup is Earls.

Holbrook AZ has Petrified Forest Nat Park nearby. If you want to stay there, maybe look at the Wigwam Motel.

Winslow AZ is also worth a stop. Look at La Posada a former Harvey House Hotel. Great place to stay and dine.

Of course I%26#39;m biased, but I%26#39;d encourage a stop here in Albuquerque. Our historic, Old Town area features a few square blocks of adobe haciendas, now converted into shops and restaurants, a Spanish-era plaza, and pretty old Church. There are historical, natural history, science, and atomic age museums adjacent on Mountain Road. (Old Town is just a few blocks south of I-40 at the Rio Grande Blvd. Exit...or the southern edge of Old Town runs along Central Ave. (if you are taking old Route 66 through downtown) to Rio Grande Blvd.

Along with the Frontier Restaurant (directly across from UNM) another fun place eat is the 66 Diner, a throwback in food, and decor to the 50%26#39;s-60%26#39;s hey day of the old highway. It is about six blocks east of I-25, on Central Ave. (Between UNM/Frontier Restaurant and downtown.)

Stays in Albuquerque, and Flagstaff would be good stops westbound...Oklahoma City would be a good stop before those, as it is about 540 miles east of Albuquerque (a good 8 or 9 hour drive).

If you stay say in Tulsa however, Tucumcari would be a good stop. There are newer motels at the first exit (coming from the east), and I%26#39;d recommend Del%26#39;s Restaurant at the east end of ';downtown'; on I-40 Business, aka Tucumcari Blvd, and old Route 66 through town. Del%26#39;s has been around since the 50%26#39;s I believe, and I%26#39;ve eaten there at least a dozen times coming or going with good results.

Have a great trip, and a safe one.