Back in 2008 my wife and I made a round-the-country driving trip which
took us from upstate New York to Buffalo to see my son, across Canada to
Michigan and the Upper Peninsula, back down through Wisconsin and Iowa
(where we met up with Ken and Joel) then across Nebraska, South Dakota,
Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, then across Washington and down the west coast.
There we stopped to see Moose in Berkeley and continued on down to So.
Calif. (my old stomping grounds when in high school). Then we wound our
way back through many south west and southern states including stops in
Las Vegas to see my dad, Dallas to see my brothers, North Carolina to
see my daughter, etc, etc.
Before making that trip I requested y'all to give me suggestions about
what we might want to see along the way. I got lots of good advice.
Well, we're doing another big driving trip cross-country in a couple of
weeks. But this time it's too late in the year to take a northern route
across the Rockies and I also have some specific objectives to meet.
The proximate cause for the trip is two 50th year high school reunions.
One is in Battle Creek, Michigan (where I didn't actually graduate but
have been invited anyhow) and the other is in Pomona, California not far
from La Puente, California where I did graduate. These two events are
being held 3 weeks apart. In addition, before going to California, I
must stop in Las Vegas for a week to visit and care for my father and
relieve my sister. She now lives with and cares for my father but needs
a break to go to California and see her kids. That accounts for one
week of the three so I have two weeks to get from Battle Creek, Michigan
to Las Vegas. How do I spend that time?
Despite being only a couple weeks away our travel plans are very loose.
The only things we've decided is that we'd like to follow whatever
might be left of old Route 66 between Illinois, Missouri and Oklahoma
(Chicago, St. Louis, Joplin, Tulsa, etc). As a kid in the mid 50s I
crossed old Route 66 three times. On the 2008 trip we explored some of
the western end of Route 66 (especially in and around Kingman, Arizona).
I suspect there's much less left to see on the eastern end and need to
research it (again, but I've forgotten already) but want to generally
follow that route regardless.
The only other thing we have decided is that, after being thoroughly
impressed with Zion National Park (and others) on the last trip, we'd
like to see more parks in Colorado and Utah. But we are relatively
unfamiliar with all those parks and, in particular, we are not hikers or
campers. Places that do not have convenient motels and restaurants are,
unfortunately, not on our itinerary.
So, the major questions are:
1) Are there "must sees" between Chicago and Tulsa/Oklahoma City?
2) Is there a more scenic way to go to Colorado than crossing Kansas?
3) Never been there. Have I underestimated Kansas?
4) How do I spend perhaps as much as 10 days in Colorado and Utah.
Thanks for any insight
Chuck Norcutt
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