Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Branches Southwest Road trip, need thoughts from NM and CO peeps

I am going to be in Houston in a week and I need to know the best route to take back to Utah. Mapquest shows me two ways but I want some opinions on what kind of roads I am actually going to be driving on.

One route shows me driving mostly on interstates up through Dallas, OK, KS, through CO into Denver, then onto Cheyenne and then straight across into Utah.

I could also head towards Amarillo and onto NM, hit the SW corner of CO and into Utah. This route is 200 miles shorter but if the roads suck and there are only little towns with low speeds I might avoid it I do know that there are very few interstates along this route. This route, if my memory serves me correctly (its been about 12 years since I was last in this corner of Utah, has me on the road for about seven hours from Moab to home.

Thoughts on the two routes?

I can't tell you much about the SW route, but the one up to Cheyenne and over I'm assuming cruises up I-25. Not a very exciting drive, but you'll see most of plains Colorado. Traffic shouldn't be too bad, save for around Denver, and you've got 75-ish speed limits most of the way. I'd give the SW drive a try though, would be a lot more interesting, although I don't think you'd hit much of the Rocky Mountains that route.

Jon,
NM 550 from Albuquerque to Durago is a great road with 65-70mph speed limits (IIRC). Then 491 to I-70 to Hwy 6 isn't bad at all. It's mostly 2 lane, but it's pretty easy goin' and great scenery. Moves nicely on Sundays.

Moab to SLC on that route is about 5-5.5hrs (driven at 5 over posted speed limits). I can't recall the Abq. to Moab length exactly, but I think it's about 6 hrs.

Save the 200 miles, avoid Denver, and hit the smaller towns.