Honeymoon roadtrip need help from fellow southwest members
 

Im 29 and finally getting married to the love my life.I got the wild idea for our honeymoon to roadtrip back home from California ( she totally agreed to it ). I have the logistics figured out time wise for the most part . Our last final bash will be Nashville. Starting out Sat Am. In California Newport beach 1st day and then NHRA museum on sunday then headed to the sometime early afternoon to the grand canyon with the intention to get there sunday night. From the grand canyon we plan on following rt 66 to Albuquerque then to Amarillo. My question is on that section of RT66 is still a straight shot or will this really kill time. I think I have allowed a few extra hours between places and stays to accommodate for possible loss of time . From Amarillo we will go to Memphis for a one night bash and dash then we will try to get to Nashville Friday night or Saturday heading home to Elgin il sunday at some point.

Question 1. I think I have allowed enough time. Am I nuts or should 9 days be enough

Question 2. I posted about it in the post but is rt 66 a straight shot from NM to TX

question 3. Any cool things to do along the way. Just quick pull over and see ? We love craft beer so plan on checking out local breweries in NM and Texas in our nightly stays along with some live music places if possible.

Thank you in advance for any help. Again I think I have allowed enough time for variables between stops but im not from that area.

I think so. That section is called I-40 these days.

There are scattered parts of Rt 66 through Arizona, NM, and Texas. The majority unfortunately has been bypassed by US 40. This is a great website that describes what to see in each state. Some of it is in downtown's and while a bit scenic will eat up a lot of time due to traffic.
https://www.historic66.com/description/

In any case, Congrats on finding and marrying the love of your life! Enjoy your trip!!

Thanks guys I appreciate the feedback .

Maybe it's just me I have a tendency to be a wander but that,s sure a lot of travel for such a short time to be looking at special places. I've been over much of that area on different trips the miles sure suck up a lot of time.

Just me and my thoughts, I bet you have a wonderful memorable time..... Tedd

I gave that an honest thought and hope we left enough room. Essentially we want a solid day in nashville for our ending and we are not "focused" so to speak on any particular activities or time frames. We do various day trips where we end up in totally randomplaces but do have atleast one set destination for the day.

WoW Happy Wedded Bliss

are you coming by my place on the trip?
please warn me so I can jump on some BBQ

Congrats to you coppercutlass. Sounds like a great adventure.

If you are on 66 in
Tucumcari NM please stop for the night at the Blue Swallow Motel. A great trip to how it used to be!

Williams, Arizona is a good place for old Route 66 atmosphere, it's right next to I40 as well.
I found plenty to see and do in New Mexico but nearly everything required taking a detour from the interstate highways.
When you get to Amarillo take half an hour and a can of spray paint to visit Cadillac Ranch. If it's wet you need stout footwear!.

Roger.

Thanks guys. I got the route planned out and we are making stops along the way to pretty much accommodate half days eat, do some exploration get some sleep and motor on. We are both excited about this trip . I have about 1 day to use up as a safe buffer for wasted time like extended stays and delayed departures from food stops etc etc.

Ok one last roll call for anyone else who wants to chime in. Im getting married 4-19-19 and will be in California 4-20-19 working our way through the southwest into Nashville for one last bash before we head home. we have 9 days total . the drive from Nashville to elgin is 7 hrs. we will be following I-40 pretty much all the way to Nashville. Any suggestion on cool things to check out will be considered. we cant do big major stops shooting for small roadside attractions site seeing that wont kill too much time. we plan on doing nightly stays in AZ. NM. and TX. spending maybe half days at those places.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re...k_Arizona.html

http://www.sleepinawigwam.com/index.html

If you would like to stay in a tipi , teepee , wigwam off old route 66 Holbrook AZ This may be worth checking out

Have a safe trip

SO...…….. WE are back and still married after 7 days in a car LOL. We landed in LAX Saturday morning with no sleep from the night before (wedding night) we spent Saturday in Newport after an extended nap haha.. we grabbed dinner walked the beach and enjoyed the ocean. ON sunday we found out the NHRA museum in Pomona was closed so we decided to go to Vegas. WE checked out kounts customs, had a few beers with lunch at local brewery and then went to the MOB museum. We stayed at the golden nugget hotel and after we cheked in we decided to go drink and enjoy the nightlife . Lost 200 bucks on the slots but we had fun LOL. Monday we headed to the grand canyon stopping at leak Mead to take picture and a few cool little places along the highway. We only spent about 3 hours at the grand canyon site seeing and taking picture and I was floored. Its breath taking and intimidating to stand that high up. Monday night we stayed in flag staff and check out 2 local breweries having dinner at one of them. Tuesday we woke up and checked out the flagstaff depot grabbed breakfast and headed to New mexico. Along the way we realized we where gonna drive pas the petrified forest NATL. park in AZ. and decided to check it out on our drive in we decided to take a huge chunk of RT66 as the back way into that park is off of rt 66. It was very scenic both the park and the drive into the park along rt66 we also stopped in Winslow Arizona walked around took picture . We got into New mexico a bit later than we thought so we pretty much got dinner and went and checked out local breweries . Wed. wanted to do the tram line at sandia peak but my wife kinda freaked out at how vertical it went so i said no big deal and we continued on our way ., we jumped back onto I40 zig zagging in and out of rt 66 . Tucamiri was a really cool town we walked around took pictures and continued on to
Amarillo. We stopped at the Cadillac ranch and I put a big olds rocket on one of the cars and some wedding commemorative graffiti for my wife and I . In amarilo we checked out the historic downtown , had dinner checked out local breweries and decided to cut loosed at a local dive bar. stayed up wayyyyy too late and drank wayyyy too much. Thursday morning we woke up late and hung over and hit the road on our way to Memphis. We made a stop in OKC to pick up local beers to bring back home which we did in every state. We got into Memphis at 8pm and hit beale st. and did what anyone else would. get BBQ and drink beer haha and listen to some great love music. We intended to spend firday in Nashville but the NFL draft made It a mad house so we stayed Friday in Memphis and hit graceland and walked around . Saturday we packed it in headed home stopped in Nashville for one last beer stop to take beer home and that was it. Im sure my timeline of events and locations specially in Arizona may be off. we did so much its hard to remember what happened where. we took a ton of pictures and we both had a blast. Thanks for the feed back guys. we did as much as we could and we feel we got a very good overall experience from this and got to see so much of this country.

Sounds like it was a lot of fun.

Didja see the statue on the corner?

Yeah we took pictures there. It was a cool town.

Congratulations! Very happy to hear you made it.:)

Congrats on the nuptials and a good trip.

Thanks Guys. Im still on cloud 9 I guess. we are setting up a photo bucket account since have almost 1100 pictures. I hope to share them here. It was one hell of a trip and a first for me and my wife.

Here's Standin' on the Corner. I've been by there a few times. Includes the flatbed Ford for "It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford slowin' down to take a look at me."

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/classic...7ef45c666.jpeg


In the mural on the wall behind, there actually IS a girl in the flatbed Ford.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/classic...ad120715a.jpeg




https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/classic...884f21b8e4.jpg



Been to the top of Sandia Peak, too, on the tram, and, yes, it can be a bit nerve-wracking as you're going up and down as you're way up high, but it's quite safe and pretty cool when you get up there. Here's a few photos. I like the first one because the cable car cables disappear in the distance.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/classic...be72040c1c.jpg


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/classic...aac9b39d35.jpg



Albuquerque spread out below.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/classic...8a356bdbd0.jpg



Restaurant at the top with outdoor eating area overlooking the view.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/classic...48ebfa5335.jpg


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/classic...561176da64.jpg

Go stand on a corner in Winslow AZ it's a girl my lord in a (red) flatbed Ford slowin' down to take a look at you....and brass guitar player statue.
Very cool hotel there too, La Posada, good food & drink and the rooms are nice. Do take the trip off 40/66 and see the meteor crater. Your driving right by it. Well worth the~5-6 mile detour and admission. Both were on my bucket list. Both very KOOL.