You shouldn't have any particular weather problems, but in Feb. you just never know. By going south from Albuquerque to Las Cruses you should avoid some of the possible winter weather.
If you go through Springfield, try to have time for the Lincoln musuem/library/.
If you to to take a chance with sightseeing in March, go north out of Tuscon, visti Sedona, maybe a sidetrips to the Grand Canyon and Painted Desert/Petrified Forest.If you want more take another sidetrip to Santa Fe from Albuquerque.

You are practically following old Rte 66, so there is lots to see on the way. Plenty of history of the old road, - you could even drive along some of it if you have the time. Have a look online for some of the quirkier sights along route 66.
Cahokia Mounds near St Louis is well worth a visit if you like Native American history. We liked the museum at the bottom of the arch in St Louis, but I didn't enjoy the claustrophobic ride to the top.
OKC has a wonderful Cowboy museum which is worth a visit, Palo Duro Canyon in Texas is lovely. The Painted desert and Petrified forest are interesting diversions too.

I-40 to I-25, then NM 26 (which I had to look up; it takes you from Hatch to Deming, NM) to I-10 should be fine in February. There will be road advisories if it's snowy or icy.

If you take NM 26, you won't really go near El Paso.

Lee Ann

boom_boom Thanks so much for the info.My husband is particularly concerned about the weather at the time we will be driving. Fortunately, we have extra time alloted so if there is a real problem we can get off the roads.Also, I think the Lincoln library would be a good stop...after all Illinois is the land of LIncoln!We have been to Grand Canyon and Sedona in Oct. It was awesome.The Painted Desert and Pet. Forest have always been of interest to us. Now I will start to research it.
hetismij..Great idea about the Lincoln museum as not only do we love historical places but after all Illinois is the land od Lincoln!!Not familiar with Cahokia Mounds. I will look into that. When we are in Tucson, we do a lot of hiking and visit various areas where Indian artifacts have been found.My husband is already looking this stuff up on the internet. If you have any links for this or the Cowboy museum, let us know. When we were in St. Louis I went up into the arch. I am not claustrophobic but it bothered me.Santa Fe is on our list. Thanks for the input to both of you

Sorry ElendiPickle...I made a mistake- meant to say I25-I10.Thanks

Hi boom_boom,
Question - driving due north from Tucson to the painted desert & petrified forest--is one likely to hit bad weather around March 15th.?

Be flexible. Check the weather channel frequently. Change your route, or just stay where you are, if there's wintry weather ahead of you.

You'll be moving in the opposite direction of any weather system, meaning a snowstorm will pass fairly quickly if you just stay put. And the interstates will be plowed quickly AFTER a storm has passed.

Also, I'll take US54 at Santa Rosa, NM down to Alamogordo and then US70 to Las Cruces. If weather is fine. It's a fast road with few towns.

Save you some miles over taking I-25.

rkkwan told us about US54 to US70 last year when we were driving to the Tucson area, it was good advice. We went the first week of January, had no problems. We would take that route again. Enjoy your drive!

And if you don't mind deviating a little from US 70, Carlsbad Caverns is just south of Roswell on US 285.

rkkwan
Thanks so much for your detailed response and your road advice. Hubby is the map person with a good sense of direction. He said that US54 appears to parallel I25. He wanted me to ask you if you take this route rather than the (usually fastes road)interstate because it's faster, more scenic or better weather if a storm moves through? He's very anxious to get your take on this.

Cahokia Mounds: http://www.cahokiamounds.com/

OKC cowboy museum:
http://www.cowboyhalloffame.org/

From Santa Rosa, NM to Deming, NM is 351 miles via I-25 and NM26. It's 304 miles via US54 and I-10.

Save you 47 miles. If you average 70MPH on I-25, it'll take you 5 hours. I think you can average 60MPH or a little higher on US54 and I-10 because traffic will be extremely light on that road in Feb. So, timewise it's a wash or slightly better, but you save about 2 gallons (depending on your vehicle) of gas.

And to me, if there's no time penalty, I'll always get off the interstate. Just more interesting.

Surprised no one has mentioned the Salt River Canyon route. You need to take 40 out of Albquerque to Holbrook, AZ then 77 to Showlow and onto Globe, then ( another scenic route) 60 to Florence Junction and 79 into Tucson. This is IMO the most scenic, and I've driven all the others mentioned. I'd avoid southern New Mexico and Arizona (I 25 & I 10)...dull.

rkkwan
Thanks -- you sold us.

historytraveler
Thank you for your suggestion on a scenic route which we would take on our way home from Tucson to Chicago and probably take rkkwan's shortcut on the way to Tucson. Although we have no time restrictions, we are making a list of intersting and scenic areas to visit on our trip home in middle of March and am sure will have to forego some. I would appreciate your input as to how much extra time and miles would have to be allowed for this slight detour and any other suggestions that you might have.

But if you want to go to Santa Fe, you don't want to take the road from Santa Rosa to Deming. You'd take I-40 to Clines Corners, then cut over on 285 (I think - I'm not home and don't have my road atlas) to Santa Fe.

I haven't done the road through Show Low, but we have gone from Winslow along the Mogollon Rim through Payson to Phoenix, which is pretty spectacular. I agree that either way would be a lot more scenic than I-25 to I-10!

lee ann

rkkwan & ElendiPickle
OK, we are sold on the scenic route out of Tucson that history travel recommended and the shortcut on the way to Tucson that rkkwan suggested. We definitely want to see the Santa Fe area on the way home. The question for you both is if we deviate from rkkwan's shortcut to go to the Carlsbad Caverns - how bad is that??

If you want to go to Carlsbad, you'll take I-27 south from Amarillo to Lubbock, then take US62 to Carlsbad. Then, you'll continue on US62 back to I-10.

From Amarillo to Las Cruces, that's an extra 100 miles (512 vs 414 via I-40/US54), and most of it non-interstate. So, you're adding about 2 hours of driving (9 vs 7), plus the time you spend at the caverns.

On your way back, idleweiss, you might consider heading east on I-10 and loop down 90 into Marfa, Texas. This is where the movie "Giant" was filmed, with Rock Hudson, Liz Taylor and James Dean. I believe that parts of "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood" were recently filmed there, too.

It is a wonderful little town full of history. Here is a link with some info:

http://gosw.about.com/od/texastravelguide/p/marfa.htm

From there you can do Big Bend National Park. http://www.nps.gov/bibe/ My sister has hiked all over the West and Southwest for 25 years, and this is her favorite place to hike. (She asked me not to mention this to my siblings living in Arizona and Colorado! hahaha)

Texas has SO much history, and you can explore other sites along the way.

If you don't do Big Bend, you can head back to I-10 from Marfa; I-10 runs into I-20, which will take you into Dallas/Fort Worth. If you like western/cowboy stuff- you can't beat Fort Worth. The National Cowgirl Hall of Fame is there, as well as the Fort Worth Stockyards.
http://www.cowgirl.net/

From there, you can head north on I-35 or I-45. Connecting to I-40, I would also recommend taking a trek over to Memphis and going home north from there. If you've never been to Memphis, it has some awesome music history (and Elvis only being a part of that). I'm not a huge Elvis fan, but I loved Graceland. Very impressive and well-run.

If any of these things interest you, you can do a search here on Fodors of other trip reports, etc to see if these are things you might want to do.

Have a fun and safe drive!

Paula
Chicago-born,
Texas-adopted

idleweiss, February might not be the time to do this, but if you come back the same route and come up through Missouri on I-44, there are some pretty places to visit if you get off the beaten track a bit. There are tons of caves to visit if you like that sort of thing--Near Springfield is the big one that they drive you through, Meramec is closer to St. Louis.

And on the more easterly side of MO there are some absolutely beautiful springs to visit. You have to wind about to visit them, through the Mark Twain Nat'l forest, but in the spring it is well worth a detour IMO. Alley Springs is one of the more famous ones and as I recall the most photographed springs in the state. Big Springs is a different kind of springs, and a fisherman's haven.

Elephant Rock state park is very unusual. I don't know if the Johnson Shut-Ins have truly recovered from the Taum Sauk Reservoir failure but I could look that up.

If that interests you, I can come back with links.

Idleweiss, I know this is off the subject of driving info, but I noticed on one of your other posts you mentioned you enjoyed hiking. Did you find some good areas in Tucson to hike? Would be interested, as we also love to hike and enjoy the outdoors.

Among many hiking trails in and near Tucson, Sabino and Madera Canyons are often highly recommended. Katchner Caverns are also very interesting to see. I have seen hikers there, but I have not hiked in that area. Tucson has a great Visitors Guide with many activities and events listed as well as a informative magazine called Discover Southern Arizona which is available free. Tucson will certainly beat Chicago in Feb. as far as weather! You will enjoy your stay!

idleweiss, the natural caves in SW Missouri are amazing. But I have to say that Merrimac is not the best (it is by far the most publicized, that is for sure!).

The Onondoga State Cave park is much better. And cheaper. You most definitely should make a stop there if you're traveling thru SW MO on the way home.

Here is the website:

http://www.mostateparks.com/onondaga.htm

historytraveler
Sorry I haven't gotten back to you - been out of town. I like very much your scenic and salt river canyon route. We would take the scenic stuff on the way home from Tucson to Chgo. and take rkkwan's faster route going to Tucson. My husband has mapped it out on mapquest and it is apparently approx. 665 miles and 11+ hours using your route in reverse from Tucson to Albuquerque. Can you suggest a midway stop? We would probably want to go to Santa Fe either in place of or in addition to Albuquerque. Thanks again.

Hi ustwo Did not want to neglect answering your question on hiking around Tucson. As you said we are seeking info. on stops along the way for our driving itinerary, and prefer to keep this as the main thread but go to www.localhikes.com If you do not see Tucson. add it. They give you enormous info on all hikes, explain what you will see and rate the hikes as to difficulty. We take easy and moderate, but you may be able to do more. We have tried twice to hike the Vetana Canyon trail which, for me, is difficult but people a lot older than myself are able to do it. Maybe this year we will try once more.We love hiking Sabino,and when you drive into Saguaro East or West as well as going to Mt. Lemmon, there are many different hikes. Info is given to you on site. hope this helps.

Also historytraveller interested in hearing from you and has anyone driven to Tucson from the midwest??

idleweiss, with all the talk about other options and routes, I hadn't bothered to come back to your post. Glad I had another look.

We've driven this route a number of time with a few variations.Usually we are coming or going from Denver. We hardly ever drive over 7 hours a day and I we usually spend the night in Sante Fe. Sante Fe is,IMO, much more interesting than Albuquerque.

We have also gone northeast of Holbrook into Utah and stopped at Bluff for the night before heading up to Moab and on to Denver. There is a nice motel there. If you are interested I'll get back to you on the name.

If I haven't answered your questions satisfactorily, please ask again.

I can spell ( most of the time). It should be Santa Fe.

Chances are the weather will be better and warmer for sightseeing on the way back to Chicago in March, but it sounds like you can be flexible either way which helps. We have had ice storms and wonderfully dry roads in Jan. We have gone your route for 5 years from just north of Chicago to Tucson. We figure 28 driving hours on the road with good roads/weather. Our stops with good roads are Springfield, MO, Santa Rosa, NM and then Tucson with about 10-12 hours of driving per day. We have seen the sights so don't stop enroute. We do take highway 25 out of Santa Rosa toward Las Cruces and the Hatch/Deming cutoff unless we visit friends in Las Cruces. Santa Rosa to Las Cruces is about 4 hours and Las Cruces to Tucson is about 5 hours. The White Sands National Park on 25 is interesting if you like that era of history.

We usually take this southern route heading to Tucson and either return the same way or through Colorado/IA etc. if the weather looks good when we come north. Retirement offers many benefits, and flexibility is one of them so we just watch the weather and plan accordingly. Only once did we spend an extra day/night in Springfield because of a horrible ice storm, and we have left Chicago area a day early to avoid the predicted (and actual) snowstorm. You will love Tucson in Feb./March!

historytraveler & any other fodorite
We will definitely take the salt river canyon route to Santa Fe on the way home to Chgo. from Tucson. As this is probably a 12+ hour drive, we would want to take our time and make an overnight stop somewher in the middle. Do you have a suggestion about where to stop that would be interesting.

I was surprised that the trip took 12 hours, but when I asked Mr. history (the driver) he said it'd take about 12 hours. Guess my memory isn't that good.

Okay, for a place to stop I think Showlow is probably your best bet. Snowflake (love the name) is a much smaller town just north of Showlow, but they do have a couple of nice motels. Holbrook while definitely lacking in charm has several of the usual motel chains on the north side of highway 40.

A possible add on if you stop at Showlow would be to take the circular route which is highway 73 to Fort Apache and by the Kinisha Ruins up to 260 which takes you into Showlow.

Have a great trip and let me now how it goes.

I would also suggest you try and stop at Acoma Pueblo. It is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the U.S. It's on 40 near Grant and about 40 miles west of Albuquerque.

Thanks idleweiss for the hiking webpage. I bookmarked it and will explore it as soon as I get time. It looks interesting and I think it will be a good help to us.

CollegeMom, you said you take 25 out of Santa Rosa. Did you mean 54? Have you ever stayed at the Baymont Inn and Suites in Santa Rosa?

After rereading your post, I think I'm still a bit confused on travel times. Are you saying you think it'll take 12 hours from Tucson to Chicago? Originally I thought you meant Tucson to Albuquerque and I'm sure that route is about 8 hours depending on the number of stops you make. But I'm also certain that it would take longer than 12 hours to get from Tucson to Chicago. I know it usually took us about 13 hours from Tucson to Denver with an overnight in Santa Fe. We would leave Tucson early (about 6:00 a.m.)and arrive in Santa Fe about 2:00 p.m. That was going the fastest and least scenic route which is I 10 to cut-off to Hatch and then I 25.

For ustwo, you are correct it should have been 54 from Sata Rosa to Las Cruces. We have not stayed at the Baymont Inn and Suites in Santa Rosa. We have stayed at the La Quinta and Best Western, and both were fine. There are many hotels on the same street, so we have never had a problem arriving without a reservation. The White Sands Park is on NM 54 if that matters to you.

For historytraveler: With many stops it could be 12 hours (typically 8 or 9) to Santa Rosa from Tucson, but it is unfortunately about 28 hours from Tucson to Chicago. It would be wonderful if it were only 12 by car!

http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org/
This Oklahoma City museum is worth half a day of your time. It is the most awesome Western Heritage museum you will find! We always stop here on our way from Michigan to Tucson. Also good is the FREE Basha's Western Art Museum at Basha's headquarters in Tempe AZ (do this while you are in Tucson as a day trip) Basha;s is the local grocery store chain in AZ, by the way. See you in Tucson...the temp here today is 80.