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Why this trip?
This article is the first in a series of 7 called Road Trip from Phoenix to Mount Rushmore.
It started out as a whim, after our first successful road trip from Phoenix. My wife wanted to visit Pagosa Springs, Colorado for HGTV reasons. But then I thought, if we go all the way there – there’s so much to do and see within driving distance. Why not go horse riding in Wyoming? See Mount Rushmore? Explore Moab?
So we did!
We just got back from a nine-day road trip from Phoenix Arizona to Rapid City South Dakota and back, visiting six other states in the process. And we did it all with a pit bull and a seven-year-old.
In the forthcoming articles, I’ll share the destinations (e.g., Mount Rushmore and Moab) but also the stops along the way… because why settle for a quick stop at McDonald’s when you can have top-five-all-time barbecue at a random joint in a strip mall in New Mexico?
And why kill downtime at the playground when you could be driving through a park full of black bears and bison?
Road Trip from Phoenix, Arizona to Mount Rushmore – Day 1: Rim Country Arizona; New Mexico; Pagosa Springs, Colorado
The first thing you should know is that we drove eight hours on day 1, from Phoenix into Colorado. With that, we woke up before dawn on a Friday. We loaded up as much as we could the night before, and everything else was staged in the garage or living room. We woke up our daughter as late as possible, and headed out by 5:30 AM.
If this all sounds like a little much for you, don’t worry! You can do this in two days and stop somewhere like Gallup, New Mexico in between. In general, about four hours of driving per day seems to be the “sweet spot” where you can make good progress toward all the things there are to do and see. This also still leaves time for fun and downtime along the way.
Stop #1: Coffee in Rim Country, Arizona
Our very first stop on this long road trip was for coffee. We drove through Payson and continued past the forest lakes on AZ-260. Just before the turn onto AZ-277 (which takes you to Holbrook and the I-40, via AZ-377), we stopped at Sanders Coffee + Co in Heber.
There were several locals already there, and the small shop was clearly a family affair. A girl, maybe 12 or 13, took my order and knew what she was doing; a man and woman that seemed to be her parents made the drinks. The coffee was surprisingly good for a small-town coffee shop.
After jumping on AZ-277/377 to Holbrook, we hit the I-40 – but in true backroads fashion, we didn’t stay long. We exited the interstate at Gallup, New Mexico.
Stop #2: Gallup, New Mexico
In Gallup, New Mexico, about an hour and a half later, we made the following stops:
- TA Travel Center/Phillips 66, for gas, restrooms, and dog break. There’s also a Love’s next door, which tends to be our default for restroom and dog breaks, but not for gas.
- Richardson Trading Company / Richardson Trading Post in downtown Gallup was a neat store, but expensive as expected and configured oddly. It seemed to be a 3-section store, but only accessible via the middle/main section, and the only access to either of the sides seemed to be closed off.
It’s worth noting that if your family isn’t an 8-hours-on-day-one kind of crew, Gallup is a good stopping point. There are several motels from major chains like Hilton, Choice Hotels, IHG, Best Western, and Marriott, and also plenty of souvenir stores to explore to spend the extra time.
Stop #3: Farmington/Aztec, New Mexico
From Gallup, we rode up US-491 and US-64 to Farmington and Aztec. It was around 2:00 PM local time when we arrived. It just so happened that I was scoping Google Maps along our route the night before, I came across mouth-watering pictures from San Juan BBQ and knew I wanted to stop. We did, and it was easily in the top-five barbecue I’ve ever eaten, nestled in a strip mall next to an insurance agency no less.
Stop #4: Durango, Colorado
From Farmington, we took US-550 and US-160 to our next stop shortly after crossing into Colorado. We checked out Durango, which was slightly off our route. In Durango, we went to the following:
- Pine Needle Dry Goods: This is an outdoorsy store selling brands like Patagonia at full Patagonia price. It was neat to peruse, but we rarely pay full price for these brands so we did not buy anything.
- Barefoot Durango: A neat souvenier shop with a great variety. Also a bit high in pricing, but it was fun to walk around, and there was a cool “Bigfoot” photo op.
- Durango T-Shirt: This store sold cheap (looking) souvenir t-shirts. We passed on this as well.
- Home Depot: We had to run in and buy a tarp to cover the bed of the truck from the rain.
We left after visiting these, but there were a bunch more spots in Durango I wanted to check out, maybe next time:
- Beads and Beyond: This would have been great for my daughter
- Animas Trading: Would have been neat for Maggie to look around
- Maria’s Bookshop
- Mountain Bike Specialists
- Old Colorado Vintage
- Durango Coffee Company, Crossroads Coffee, Cafe Amor, Just the Drip were all already closed for some reason
- Cream Bean Berry looked delicious, but we’d just eaten a ton of barbecue
- Famburger also looked amazing
- Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad
If hot springs and hiking aren’t your thing, Durango might be a better choice to stop for the night than Pagosa Springs – there was a lot more to do in Durango. It’s also an hour less of driving, so there’s that.
Durango has plenty of hotel selections such as Hampton Inn and Fairfield Inn, as well as other chains and local hotels.
Final Day 1 stop: Pagosa Springs, Colorado
Like I said at the beginning, this whole trip started because Maggie wanted to check out another HGTV town (with Waco being the first). So with that in mind, our first overnight stay was booked in Pagosa Springs at a modern lodge called The Drift.
The Drift looked to be relatively new, and was a set of maybe 14 lodges. Ours had a queen or king bed and 2 bunk beds, which were all nice and comfortable. The room was quite nice and had somewhat of an industrial feel with cement floors. The only complaints about the stay were:
- The clean towels were not, well, clean. This wasn’t a huge deal for us because we tend to stay at Airbnbs where we know this may be an issue, so we bring our own.
- The location was… questionable. It was right along the highway running through town, and shared a parking lot with a liquor store.
The Drift had some Electra cruiser bikes that were free to use, and sat along the San Juan Riverwalk, which was a great way for us to move after sitting in the car all day the day before, and to walk the dog as well. There were lots of flower beds and greenhouses making the walk scenic.
The Root House was also along the walk. It was a nice little coffee shop which also sold pastries and had a carefully curated selection of outdoors, Colorado, and Texas-themed goods for sale. The Root House is also of HGTV fame.
On our way out of town, we stopped at one of the Hot Springs, The Mother Spring, but we were not terribly impressed. We observed it for a few minutes and were on our way.
Aside from hot springs and hiking, there didn’t seem to be much to do for a visitor – there were a couple souvenir shops, but they didn’t open until after we left town.
We did go to a park briefly, and it was filled with people playing pickleball, preparing for a little league game, and walking their dogs.
Day 1 Summary
All in all, the first day was a success – we worked our way into two states, had some great barbecue, explored new places, and got through a significant amount of driving out of the way so that we could spend more time exploring in the days to come.
Next stop on our road trip from Phoenix to Mount Rushmore: Colorado Springs, Colorado
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