<p>My D leaves this Friday to go to Abiqui, New Mexico (northwest of Sante Fe) for 10 weeks. She is driving to Kansas City first and picking up a friend who will drive with her the rest of the way. She plotted out her trip two ways: from a AAA Tripticket and through Mapquest and they are very different.</p>
<p>AAA has her going down through Oklahoma City, across the Texas panhandle and up to Sante Fe. Mapquest has her going straight across to Colorado Spring and then south to Sante Fe. The AAA route comes out about 100 miles and an hour longer than the Mapquest route. But I’m assuming that AAA knows something about that trip as to why they suggested that way.</p>
<p>Anyone with any knowledge of how they’d suggest going???</p>
<p>Depending on the skill of your daughter’s driving, I would probabably recommend going on the turnpike thru Kansas, take 35 S to OK City and then cutting over to Amarillo.</p>
<p>The mountain route can be trickier, and the drive across Kansas to Colorado can be very boring. I grew up in Kansas, and that is a long drive. </p>
<p>If she goes from Kansas City, on the turnpike, and then to OK City, and then across to Amarillo she would be on major highways the whole way.
Which I would recommend. (She would need to pay a toll on the turnpike, but I like it better than taking 35. The road is in better condition and there are frequent rest stops on the road.)</p>
<p>I find that AAA does easier to drive routes than mapquest. Also routes that may have more services for drivers. (gas, food, lodging.)</p>
<p>Well, the plan is that she and a friend will be driving from Kansas City to Sante Fe. She figures they can get to Colorado Springs on the first day, where they will stay overnight and then drive on to Sante Fe to arrive at their jobs the next afternoon.</p>
<p>So she won’t be alone and the main stop is Colorado Springs - where there should be plenty of places to stay. And she won’t be driving alone.</p>
<p>I drive that leg (KC to CoS) several (too many) times a year and while it can be done in a day, it is a long day because Kansas is quite boring (sorry berurah - east Colorado can be also) along I-70. When you get off of I-70 near Limon to get to CoS, she will be on a two-lane highway for another one and a half to two hours. Make sure she gets an early start, so she can arrive in CoS before dark. </p>
<p>If you need recommendations of good places to stay that will be easy to find from the direction she’s coming, please PM me. The trip down to Santa Fe can also be made in two different directions: taking I-25 all the way, or taking US-64 and US-84 down through Taos (the scenic route). Western Kansas can be quite long between gas stations (as can some of the stretches in Colorado), so tell her to fill up before the tank gets below one-quarter full.</p>
<p>If you want any other detailed info, again, PM me!!</p>
<p>dig: that was very helpful! She is leaning towards going the CO/NM route. She is actually going to Abiquiu so she would be taking the Us-64 and US-84 rte through Taos. What time do you think she would need to leave Kansas City to get to Colorado Springs by dark? And where would you recommend she and her friend stay in Colorado Springs?</p>
<p>Thank you very much for the tip about gas. I’m thinking that’s probably one of the reasons AAA suggests the other way - a little more “populated”, which I (the mom) like but my daughter is thinking the scenic,adventurous way through the mountains.</p>