Best route: Iowa to Arizona

[LWALPINE]

Looking for any input or suggested routes between Cedar Rapids, Iowa to
Phoenix, AZ. Pulling a 40 ft 5th wheel. Would like to avoid mountains
as much as possible. Will be going late spring or early summer.
Prefer interstates over 2 lane as well.
Thanks in advance.
Larry

[notanlines]

Let's start with I-80 west to I-35 south to Joplin. I-44 west to Oklahoma City and then I-40 west for a long while. Probably at Flagstaff head south on I-17, however there will be a number of suggestions before this is over for alternate routes from Albuquerque. We have been that way many times, but the interstate follows the least mountainous regions. We prefer to come into Mesa (Apache Junction) from the east. It is all four lane, but very mountainous. Sure is beautiful however. Have a great trip however you travel.

[hankaye]

LWALPINE, Howdy;

Directions to Albuquerque are good, if yo want a less hilly drive, drop South
on I-25. Then you can either take a few 2 lane roads to get to I-10 from
Hatch, N.M. to Deming, or waste more than an hour and add 60 odd miles to
your drive to find I-10 in Las Cruces, N.M. then 65 miles over to Deming then west to Az. Going across the flats just before you cross into Az. can
sometimes be tricky as the dust storms move across the interstate, oh yea,
Spring time is when we have our best winds. Any way once you get across the alkali flats Phoenix is only 5 or 6 hours away.

hankaye

[bobbecky]

If you are wanting to avoid mountains as much as possible, you may want to work your way down to I-10, and come into Phoenix from the south. Going to Flagstaff and dropping south on I-17 will put you into serious mountains. We've gone from Missouri through Wichita, KS, taken US 54 west, then US 287 and US 87 south from Stratford, TX through Amarillo and Lubbock down to I-20, and then west on I-20 and I-10. Not a whole lot of scenery, but it's definitely not mountainous.

[scottz]

No much elevation change on I-40 west of ABQ to Flagstaff. There is an elevation drop of 6000' on I-17 between Flagstaff and Phoenix, but all interstate and pretty easy.

[cvin]

The interestate in and around flagstaff is in really lousy shape unless they do some serious work by then

[ctbruce]

Let's start with I-80 west to I-35 south to Joplin. I-44 west to Oklahoma City and then I-40 west for a long while. Probably at Flagstaff head south on I-17, however there will be a number of suggestions before this is over for alternate routes from Albuquerque. We have been that way many times, but the interstate follows the least mountainous regions. We prefer to come into Mesa (Apache Junction) from the east. It is all four lane, but very mountainous. Sure is beautiful however. Have a great trip however you travel.On this route take 435 south to 49 south which hits Carthage at I-44.

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[KCSA75]

Let's start with I-80 west to I-35 south to Joplin. I-44 west to Oklahoma City and then I-40 west for a long while. Probably at Flagstaff head south on I-17, however there will be a number of suggestions before this is over for alternate routes from Albuquerque. We have been that way many times, but the interstate follows the least mountainous regions. We prefer to come into Mesa (Apache Junction) from the east. It is all four lane, but very mountainous. Sure is beautiful however. Have a great trip however you travel.

On this route take 435 south to 49 south which hits Carthage at I-44.

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Why go to Joplin? I-35 will take you on a more direct route to Oklahoma City and it's a much prettier drive.

[sourdough]

Might as well throw in my 2 cents.

If you are looking for interstates and no mountains I might suggest;

I380 to I80
I80 to I35 to OKC
I40 to Amarillo
I27/87 to Lamesa, TX
349 to Midland
I20 to I10
I10 to Phoenix

Takes a bit of a southerly route but will miss virtually all mountains, and, although much of it is very drab for scenery, it gets pretty interesting once in AZ. 349 to Midland is mostly 4 lane now with a bit of construction but it should be OK.

[ctbruce]

Why go to Joplin? I-35 will take you on a more direct route to Oklahoma City and it's a much prettier drive.Agreed. I just didn't want anyone wanting to go to Joplin not winding up there.

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