Planning a route 66 trip, any ideas?

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We started on our trip Thursday afternoon from Dillon Co driving to Clines Corners, Nm Clines Corners where we stayed at the truck stop for the night. I was a little worried about the temperature for sleeping but we were in the 60's on June the 4th. so this gave us no problem. Clines Corners is an old rt. 66 truck stop built in 1934 that was moved when rt. 66 was moved a few years later. It's a nice place to stop when you're heading south on 285 with nothing else for miles in either direction. From here we took off for Carlsbad the next morning. We drove straight through Roswell to the Carlsbad KOA which I had selected for the sake of being able to use the A.C. at night. We were at 106 degrees during the day and still in the 80's at night so it was the right idea. This was our first time in a KOA and will be our last unless we find ourselves in a similar situation where we have to have power and have no other choices. It was a clean well kept parking lot in the desert but the pool closed at 8 pm so we weren't able to use it. I have nothing against KOA's other then I don't like private campgrounds with no scenery where you have no chance to be in touch with nature and campfires aren't allowed.
Carlsbad was a last minute change after we opted for taking in the Caverns over starting our trip at Tucumcari, and we were very glad that we did. We had never been to the Caverns and cave alone made the trip worthwhile. We stayed late for the bat exodus and headed for Roswell early Sat. morning. The boys really enjoyed Roswell and it's good for a short fun stop.

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After taking in all we wanted to of Roswell we were off for Albuquerque were at the suggestions on the forum we reserved a spot at Enchanted Trails. I would recommend this place to anyone wanting to stay in Albuquerque. The price was great and while they don't allow campfires they do have a grill for guest to use. The owners are very nice and have a great little gift shop that has a lot of older Airstream collectibles in it. There are 2 nice vintage trailers in the front. We checked out old rt. 66 in Albuquerque at night and left the next morning toward Gallup with a drive through Laguna and Grants.
One problem that we didn't think about was how many of the trading post would be closed on a Sunday. We checked out the El Rancho Hotel and a small trading post but Richardson's was closed for the day. We decided to go on through to the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. On our way we stopped by the trading post by Window Rock which was an excellent stop with the best prices of anyplace we found on the trip. We came out of the Petrified Forest near Holbrook and checked out the old road there. Through all of the day we were hoping to find a campground suitable to our liking and would have stopped earlier if we had but we found nothing. Our choices were a private campground in Holbrook or a truck stop again. My opinion was that if we had to stay in a parking lot anyway and couldn't have a campfire then we might as well go for the truck stop. My wife had the great idea of asking the owner at the Wigwam if he might allow us to stay on his lot. Thinking I had nothing to lose I asked and he was very happy to let us stay. The owner John was really nice and filled us in on how his father had built the motels and that he had grown up working in them. He said he remembered people staying in the teepee's even though they had their Airstreams with them. He was a really interesting man to meet. I guess he thought that our old Airstream fit in well with the vintage cars he has parked at each site. They were booked for the night but we parked just behind the main building. Nice example of having some flexibility in our schedule pay off.

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We left Holbrook early Monday toward the Jack Rabbit trading post then off to Winslow. We checked out La Posada which was great. We weren't going to take the picture on the corner but I think it's a local law that you have to. Holbrook and Winslow had the best sections of the old road to this point. Then we were off to Meteor Crater. I was surprised to find that Meteor Crater was privately owned and operated. It was a worthwhile stop but it's almost a crime that this isn't in the national park system. After this point we were close enough to Oak Creek Canyon that we decided we didn't want to spend another night in the desert. We were able to get into Cave Springs in Oak Creek Canyon one night early and were happy to get to spend some time in a higher altitude. A big thanks for everyone who recommended Black Barts. We had dinner there and really enjoyed the food and entertainment.

[Phoenix]

Great photos; we've been there. We also stay in Ruidoso, and Cloudcroft is in cool country, too.

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We spent the next 4 nights at Cave Springs during which time we checked out Sedona, Jerome, and Flagstaff while taking in several good hikes in the area and spending half a day at Slide Rock state park which was a great time. We took a day trip to Williams, and Seligman along as much of the old road that we could. I'd like to have gone to Oatman but that will have to wait for another trip. I've been to Williams which is very nice but had never seen Seligman. We had a great time stopping by Angle and Vilmas trading post/barber shop and enjoyed a shake at the Snowcone. Cave Spings was a somewhat overcrowded campground but still in a very nice setting. I didn't have any problems towing the Airstream through the Canyon but my little 25' Excella is one of the few narrow body trailers made in the early 80's and is only 7' wide. I wouldn't want to live in Sedona but the general area around Flagstaff really appeals to me. Who knows someday I may decide that I could do with a little less snow, of course it's more likely that I'll make that move within Colorado.

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Finally we were off on the last leg of our trip toward Colorado to Ridgway State Park. We stopped by Wupatki National Monument, and Monument Valley on the way and entered Colorado near Cortez. I only know 2 people in that area and while getting fuel we were fortunate enough to run into 2 friends and fellow Airstreamers Bob and Lou. They were nice enough to invite us to spend park the Airstream at their home in Delores where we had a very nice evening with great company. Thanks Bob and Lou for your hospitality, we hope to see you again this year around the campfire.
The next morning we were off through the San Juan mountains into Telluride then to Ridgway State Park. We usually boon dock in this area but had friends from work that wanted to take out their RV for the first time in several years, and try their new sail boat. Then off to home on the 14th. and back to work. Overal a really nice trip.

[azflycaster]

Great trip and great pictures!

I'm glad you enjoyed some of my favorite places along the way. La Posada is just a terrific stop and the lobby has such interesting things to see. The food is pretty good too.

The Jack Rabbit trading post is not on my list of must stop places, but it is very historic, too bad the owners have not tried to preserve more history in the place. What, no picture of someone sitting on the big jack rabbit.

You did the all important "standing on the corner" picture.

Vicky has done a great job with the RV park in Albuquerque, you should have seen the place earlier this year when the 4CU held our restoration rally there, I think we had about 50 Airstreams parked in the park.

[Gene]

Thanks for sharing the photos. Good to see your mutant child and you can share a two holer. Is that the world's largest dream catcher in post #103? Where is it?

Gene

[brunoffrance]

Hi pacerised,
thank you too fotr sharing your experience....
Why not making a sort of blog story about the Route 66 and your experience there; I'm sure you'll get success...
if you are interested in, I advice you to take "blogger" as my blogs...(look at if you want to get an example ), free , a great capacity in pictures loading and very easy to use.

best regards from Sunny France.

Bruno.

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Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

Thanks for sharing the photos. Good to see your mutant child and you can share a two holer. Is that the world's largest dream catcher in post #103? Where is it?

Gene

The dream Catcher was next to Joseph City by the trading post.

I'm working on our next next trip now. This weekend we'll be camping locally by Lake Dillon which should give us a great view of the fireworks over the lake from our campsite. Our next big trip is in late July to Glacier with a short stop in Yellowstone. We spent 3 weeks in Yellowstone last year so we're up for something new in our northern trip this year.

Charlie

[Phoenix]

Sorry, this is a little off topic, but did you happen to stay at the Madison Arm (RV) Resort? We are planning on spending a few days there, and most reviews are positive. However, we would like input from anyone who has actually stayed there.

Also, we are having difficulty locating a campground in the Grand Teton area. Any suggestions are welcome...

[Gene]

Charlie, if you go to Glacier, be sure to go across the border to Waterton NP in Alberta.

Gene

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There are some great threads right here in the "on the road" section of the forums on Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. My recommendation for Grand Teton is Colter Bay. If you have to have full hook ups they offer it right in the park in a nice wooded setting. The dry camping section is better and you can have a campfire there where as you can't in the full hook up section. Stay away from Flagg ranch. I'm not familiar with the Madison Arm, but I try to avoid RV resorts and places with hook ups. You can check out both parks while staying in one campground which would be the only advantage to Flagg ranch since it sits directly between the 2 parks.
Try hitting the search option in this sub-forum and typing in "Yellowstone".
Charlie

Originally Posted by Phoenix

Sorry, this is a little off topic, but did you happen to stay at the Madison Arm (RV) Resort? We are planning on spending a few days there, and most reviews are positive. However, we would like input from anyone who has actually stayed there.

Also, we are having difficulty locating a campground in the Grand Teton area. Any suggestions are welcome...

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Originally Posted by CrawfordGene

Charlie, if you go to Glacier, be sure to go across the border to Waterton NP in Alberta.

Gene

That is an issue we're discussing now. I really want to check out Waterton if for no other reason then to say I've stepped foot on Canadian ground. My wife is concerned about the new regulations regarding passports which we don't have. We were going to wait until we get there to ask about this. With the cost of buying 4 passports just for this it wouldn't be worth it. Is there a lot to Waterton that we wouldn't see in Glacier?
Thanks:
Charlie

[Gene]

I believe there's an alternative to a full blown passport—there's a card that costs less. For four, passports + photos (if you have an AAA membership, they're free; some post offices will do it for a price) are something like $75 each for the passports. Though the backlog isn't as bad as it was, you might have to have expedited service to make sure to get anything by the end of July—and that's something like $50 extra/passport. I think up until June 30 (leave and come back now!!) you could do it with driver's license and birth certificate. There are lesser charges for minor children I think.

In other words it's expensive and in my view, dumb. I think it's an insult to Canada as well, our closest friends. But, no one in the gov't asked me.

You can get the forms from most post offices or online. Google something like "passports" and you can find the costs and all the other stuff you need to know.

There are RV restrictions on the Going to Sun Highway and you'd better check that out. If anyone has acrophobia in your family, this is the road that will make them freak out.

Waterton is different. I liked it better. Here's some photos to encourage you get passports someday: