>>I'm driving the family to Santa Fe from Maryland.
>
>Wichita Mountain National Wildlife Refuge is not too far from I-40. It has buffalo, elk, feral longhorn cattle, and a campground (unusual for NWRs). If you use the campground, watch out for thieving raccoons. You'll be sharing the buffalo with far fewer tourists than at a place like Yellowstone.

I could probably talk my wife into taking 287 east out of Amarillo then cross the Red River into OK to get to 62 and travel that east until we get to WMNWR. I would like the boys to see buffalo and elk.

>You'll see a National Recreation Area on the map in the Texas panhandle. I forget the name and I haven't been there but I heard it was beautiful.

If you saw Steve Gibson's reply about the Palo Duro canyon this is probably the one you're refering to... (that's a likely overnight there.)

>A lot of people prefer to hyperspace across the prairie on their way to the mountains and canyons of the West. Many of these people aren't interested in much and would be bored almost anywhere. This region can be interesting to birdwatchers and history enthusiasts.

Neither my wife nor I am much in the way of bird watching but I have become increasingly interested in and awed by the American Southwest - the land and the history. My first visit to the SW was the VFP DevCon in Scottsdale, AZ in 1997. This is my 3rd visit to the region since. I spent the summer of 97 reading Larry McMurty's Lonesome Dove series and now I want to see the llano firsthand.

>If you take one of the state roads from I-40 around Tucumcari to I-25 around Las Vegas NM, you climb steeply and dramatically up onto the plateau on which Santa Fe sits. Driving that road eastbound is like driving off the edge of the earth. It might be NM-104 but I'm not sure.

It is 104. This is the route we'll be taking back. Going to I will have to probably bend to the will of my wife and the boys and the only time constraint of the entire vaction - being in Santa Fe at the appointed time to pick up the keys to the place where we're staying. They will think that I've dawdled enough by then. Coming back I've made it clear that we are not rushing. hehe...

Thanks again, for taking the time to write.

-Gil Munk