Route from NY to NM

[danewguy]

Hello all! We are planning a road trip from Long Island, NY to Founders Ranch in Edgewood, New Mexico in June of 2021. We would like to spend a week traveling to NM and sight seeing along the way, maybe try out using some BLM land for camping. We will be in NM for a week then we would like to take a different route home where we will spend a week sight seeing on the way home.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated

We are traveling with 3 RVs, 2 Class A motorhomes and 1 Travel Trailer

THanks!!!

[mbopp]

We're doing a loop through Utah and then to Williams AZ. Retired, so we're not on a schedule and plan to do some of the old RT 66 on the way back.

[Busskipper]

danewguy wrote:

Busskipper wrote:

danewguy wrote:
Hello all! We are planning a road trip from Long Island, NY to Founders Ranch in Edgewood, New Mexico in June of 2021. We would like to spend a week traveling to NM and sight seeing along the way, maybe try out using some BLM land for camping. We will be in NM for a week then we would like to take a different route home where we will spend a week sight seeing on the way home.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated

We are traveling with 3 RVs, 2 Class A motorhomes and 1 Travel Trailer

THanks!!!

Couple things that can Help - get off the Island EARLY and beat the traffic - maybe on Friday after work - everyone is packed and ready to go on Thursday, you have no idea how big this will be.

With Three(3) vehicles the chances of all three making it to NM without some issue is Slim - so you need to have a plan for that!

Most likely the closest thing you will have to BLM is a Wal*Mart, until you get to New Mexico. Sorry but the drive out is that A Drive ...a long 2,100 miles - so if you can get 200 miles on that first Friday that will leave you with 1,900 miles in 7 days - your average speed will be closer to 50 than 60 mph so think about that when you plan. Eight Hours in the Saddle is a long day.

What we will usually do with Kids is the Friday drive out - Wal*Mart - as long a day as possible to a CG with a Pool for the Night and the Early Morning then two more long days - before giving the kids a break again.

Route is one of Many so just use your Mapping choice to get to where it thinks is easiest. We use Zoom, or Bing Maps over google as it works better for us.

Give us more details and maybe we can help more with specifics.

Hope this is of some help,

edit; just saw your post - 12 hour days will work if you can handle them and will get you there sooner - there is where you want to spend time - so get there and then look for spots - where in NM? It's a big and Varied area - Mountains and Desert - if you are looking to find and enjoyable stop as you drive across the flyover States look for a reservoir with a CG often they are nice.

NY to Founders Ranch in Edgewood, New Mexico in June of 2021 - missed that:S - more info will still help. 🙂

I’ll have to look closer at the routes and give you guys an idea, figured maybe someone had a suggested route. I should add the wife and I both drive, usually do 4 hrs then switch, with 2 shifts each a lot of times we get 16hrs Of driving.

If you are driving 16 hours = 800 miles for two days - then you could easily make the drive in 3 days - we have done that too many times to Golden, Colorado, from Maryland, with just one driver, so it is doable.

I'd still try to get out that first evening to get off the Island and out of the traffic so as to make this an easy 3.5 day drive out and Back. so if you did that after your week in New Mexico you could spend a full Week Bumping around in Colorado before heading back to the Island.

Possible Map out and Back.

Just sounds like you would be a Great Candidate for some time in the San Juan's and then up to Buena Vista, so much that is just wild and Beautiful in these areas.

I threw in RT 36 going Back as it is really a good Road/easy drive that we have grown to enjoy as it is almost free of truck traffic and the Pavement is good. This would be a demanding drive out and back but would give you two weeks in the Southwest - Heaven!

Just a little more food for thought - having made this drive to Denver some 25 times now - I can honestly say the drive out is one with few places that I would ever look to return to, especially knowing what I'm Missing out West.:)

Hope this is of more help,

[danewguy]

Thanks for the replies folks! as always this place is a great source of information.

Hopefully I will be able to pull off some sight seeing on the way there and back , unfortunately my week in New Mexico is pretty tied up with our event, but we will try to squeak out a day here or there to see something.

Thanks Again

[NMDriver2]

I am from NM and was stationed for 4 yrs near Baltimore. Basically I had a northern route and a southern route I used quarterly to get home. I-70/25 and I-40/81 both had attractions and negatives but very little difference in time. The I-40/81 route is a little more rural in the east but both routes have big cities and long stretches without any towns. Attractions are different for every one and in those days I was all for honky tonks. Today I look for fishing spots. I still enjoy hooking up and I was always an advocate for catch and release. Lots of good angling in Arkansas and Tennessee. Had a few good catches in St Louis, Indianapolis, and Columbus too. 🙂

[danewguy]

alfredmay wrote:
My son lived in NM for 7 years in two different locations. We visited him quite a bit. The best route for you is:

In NJ take I-78 West to I-81 South (Near Harrisburg, PA)

Follow I-81 South until it ends in TN at I-40

I-40 West to NM

Almost the same route we took when we traveled to Arizona, except we dropped down to I believe I10 because it was february and many people suggested staying south due to the time of year and weather.

[alfredmay]

My son lived in NM for 7 years in two different locations. We visited him quite a bit. The best route for you is:

In NJ take I-78 West to I-81 South (Near Harrisburg, PA)

Follow I-81 South until it ends in TN at I-40

I-40 West to NM

[ndrorder]

Cannot help with routes. New Mexico has much to see. Not knowing available time wrt competition, consider Sandia tram, Sante fe, gran quivera, Carlsbad caverns, blue hole, Sandia cave, Carlito springs if open, and more hiking trails than you can imagine.

[dedmiston]

If I understand your plan correctly, you'll have a week to get to NM, a week to explore the state, and then another week to get home? That sounds like a fantastic trip to me.

The notion that it takes more than a week to see the state doesn't make sense to me. Yes, of course it takes a lifetime to really explore a place. But you can see and do so much there in the span of a week.

As for the 300/mile-per-day pace, I think that's a doable average depending on your own comfort level and your traveling companion(s). You could easily put in a 500-600 mile day to buy yourself some extra time on other days.

I live in the west and can't really speak to your route (which is what the OP's question was and what this specific forum is supposed to address), but I'm not totally unfamiliar with the area either.

This past fall we spent Labor Day Weekend up in Angel Fire (outside of Taos) and then drove our son up to Denver so he could fly back to school. From there we drove across Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. We absolutely loved that route and wished we had given ourselves more time. We had to get to Sandusky by the weekend because Cedar Point was only open on the weekends by then. After the weekend at Cedar Point, we looped back through Ohio to get to northern Indiana (Elkhart) for some badly needed repairs at the factory.

The drive through those states was pleasant and the roads were decent. I'd absolutely do it again.

Have fun with your plans and stay flexible. And as far as destinations in NM, start a post in Campgrounds and Attractions. You'll get plenty of great suggestions over there.

[danewguy]

Busskipper wrote:

danewguy wrote:
Hello all! We are planning a road trip from Long Island, NY to Founders Ranch in Edgewood, New Mexico in June of 2021. We would like to spend a week traveling to NM and sight seeing along the way, maybe try out using some BLM land for camping. We will be in NM for a week then we would like to take a different route home where we will spend a week sight seeing on the way home.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated

We are traveling with 3 RVs, 2 Class A motorhomes and 1 Travel Trailer

THanks!!!

Couple things that can Help - get off the Island EARLY and beat the traffic - maybe on Friday after work - everyone is packed and ready to go on Thursday, you have no idea how big this will be.

With Three(3) vehicles the chances of all three making it to NM without some issue is Slim - so you need to have a plan for that!

Most likely the closest thing you will have to BLM is a Wal*Mart, until you get to New Mexico. Sorry but the drive out is that A Drive ...a long 2,100 miles - so if you can get 200 miles on that first Friday that will leave you with 1,900 miles in 7 days - your average speed will be closer to 50 than 60 mph so think about that when you plan. Eight Hours in the Saddle is a long day.

What we will usually do with Kids is the Friday drive out - Wal*Mart - as long a day as possible to a CG with a Pool for the Night and the Early Morning then two more long days - before giving the kids a break again.

Route is one of Many so just use your Mapping choice to get to where it thinks is easiest. We use Zoom, or Bing Maps over google as it works better for us.

Give us more details and maybe we can help more with specifics.

Hope this is of some help,

edit; just saw your post - 12 hour days will work if you can handle them and will get you there sooner - there is where you want to spend time - so get there and then look for spots - where in NM? It's a big and Varied area - Mountains and Desert - if you are looking to find and enjoyable stop as you drive across the flyover States look for a reservoir with a CG often they are nice.

NY to Founders Ranch in Edgewood, New Mexico in June of 2021 - missed that:S - more info will still help. 🙂

I’ll have to look closer at the routes and give you guys an idea, figured maybe someone had a suggested route. I should add the wife and I both drive, usually do 4 hrs then switch, with 2 shifts each a lot of times we get 16hrs Of driving.

[Busskipper]

danewguy wrote:
Hello all! We are planning a road trip from Long Island, NY to Founders Ranch in Edgewood, New Mexico in June of 2021. We would like to spend a week traveling to NM and sight seeing along the way, maybe try out using some BLM land for camping. We will be in NM for a week then we would like to take a different route home where we will spend a week sight seeing on the way home.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated

We are traveling with 3 RVs, 2 Class A motorhomes and 1 Travel Trailer

THanks!!!

Couple things that can Help - get off the Island EARLY and beat the traffic - maybe on Friday after work - everyone is packed and ready to go on Thursday, you have no idea how big this will be.

With Three(3) vehicles the chances of all three making it to NM without some issue is Slim - so you need to have a plan for that!

Most likely the closest thing you will have to BLM is a Wal*Mart, until you get to New Mexico. Sorry but the drive out is that A Drive ...a long 2,100 miles - so if you can get 200 miles on that first Friday that will leave you with 1,900 miles in 7 days - your average speed will be closer to 50 than 60 mph so think about that when you plan. Eight Hours in the Saddle is a long day.

What we will usually do with Kids is the Friday drive out - Wal*Mart - as long a day as possible to a CG with a Pool for the Night and the Early Morning then two more long days - before giving the kids a break again.

Route is one of Many so just use your Mapping choice to get to where it thinks is easiest. We use Zoom, or Bing Maps over google as it works better for us.

Give us more details and maybe we can help more with specifics.

Hope this is of some help,

edit; just saw your post - 12 hour days will work if you can handle them and will get you there sooner - there is where you want to spend time - so get there and then look for spots - where in NM? It's a big and Varied area - Mountains and Desert - if you are looking to find and enjoyable stop as you drive across the flyover States look for a reservoir with a CG often they are nice.

NY to Founders Ranch in Edgewood, New Mexico in June of 2021 - missed that:S - more info will still help. 🙂

[danewguy]

Gotta say wow, we usually drive a lot further than that daily. Our last trip was to Phoenix, Arizona for a competition and stopping every night we probably drove for 12hrs or so a day. This is why we figured 7 days would give us some time to see some sights. Every time we made long trips we’ve always driven then stopped when we got tired and then hit the road in the am after breakfast. The week in New Mexico will be at a competition

[pitch]

Yep they all are correct. LI to NM is a three to four day drive in a car!

[Second_Chance]

I agree with Lwiddis. You'll not have time to sight-see travelling that distance in just a week. Also, New Mexico (my home state) is a very large place. You'll be able to see one very small part of it in a week.

Rob

[Lwiddis]

Unless you take off very early each day, a 300 mile per day average won’t allow for much sightseeing. Join our club...stop at 2:30 p.m. or 230 miles. Dues are nonexistent. “Convoy” travel is even slower. Yes, you can see some of New Mexico in a week...some...you will be enchanted.