This 30-day, 4,983 mile road trip in late February / early March 2020 takes me back to Arizona for a second visit. There’s a lot more tourism this go around, in addition to a second trip to the Fountain Festival of Arts & Crafts (formerly the Great Fair). It’s spring training, so I take in a few Cincinnati Reds games in Goodyear and Mesa. And this year, I include stays in Tucson and Sedona. I even went down to the border to see The Wall, near Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and Ajo, Arizona. I think the southwest is growing on me. But maybe it’s because I’ve only been there when the weather is great – not when it’s 117. But I did hear someone say once that it’s a dry heat.
THE ROUTE:
- Chicago
- Eureka, Missouri
- Pawhuska, Oklahoma: Home of Pioneer Woman; Capital of the Osage Nation; Ben Johnson Cowboy Museum
- Guymon, Oklahoma
- Dalhart, Texas: XIT Museum
- Santa Rosa, New Mexico: On Route 66; Blue Hole
- Holbrook, Arizona
- Snowflake, Arizona
- Payson, Arizona
- Fountain Hills, Arizona: Overlook Trail; Fountain Park Hotel, Best Western Signature Collection (formerly Lakeshore Hotel & Suites); Georgie’s (for breakfast)
- Tucson, Arizona:
- Ajo, Arizona: Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
- Scottsdale, Arizona
- Sedona, Arizona
- Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Fort Union, New Mexico: Fort Union National Monument; Santa Fe National Historic Trail
- Dalhart, Texas (again!)
- Dodge City, Kansas: Boot Hill Museum (Gunsmoke!)
- Chanute, Kansas: Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum
- Fort Scott, Missouri: Fort Scott National Historic Site
- Eureka, Missouri
- Chicago