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New to AM Roads but am an avid back roads rider. We like to find out of the way places off the beaten path which is why we joined this here outfit. Anyway, looking for advice from anyone who has driven/riden old US Hwy 54 from IL (not sure where it starts) to El Paso, TX. In my map search, it appears to run through some desolate and rugged territory down through OK and on to the Lone Star state. If anyone has experience with this route, I'd like to know. Thanks in advance and Happy Trails...

 

jessej

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Welcome to the forum. I've absolutely no personal experience with US-54 but somehow recalled that Route 66 News honcho Ron Warnick reported on a drive along the northern bit a few years ago. It's listed under "Road trips" on the blog's home page but you can get to it directly here. Unfortunately, I don't think he gets to any of that "desolate territory" you mention.

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I've personally driven 54 from Santa Rosa NM, where it veers SW off of I-40, all the way to it's El Paso terminus. It was an interesting drive, first through the now near-ghost town of Vaughn NM, which was once a decently thriving town with plenty of now-closed or faded mid-century era road edifices (restaurants, motels, gas stations) due to its location at the junction of three US routes (54/60/285). If one is a fan of this type of architecture, Vaqughn is like an open-air gallery, on par with anything along 66. The highway continues southward through the Billy the Kid country of Lincoln County and Carizozo, then down along the eastern side of the White Sands Missile Range (where Trinity Site is located--open twice each year to visitors and well worth the trip) to Tularosa and Alamogordo (by far the largest town along this stretch of the highway. From Alamogordo it continues on, almost in an arrow-straight line, down through the vast emptiness of the Fort Bliss back country proving grounds into Texas and El Paso.

 

A close friend has driven the stretch of 54 from Wichita to Tucumcari NM, where it joins I-40 and runs concurrently for a short stretch between Tucumcari and Santa Rosa, just to take a slightly different route on one of her semi-regular Chicago-Tucson road journeys. She reports that the road runs mostly straight and empty through the high plains of western Kansas, the Oklahome panhandle, and across the extreme northwest corner of Texas into northeast New Mexico. She did make a slight detour in Kansas to visit Dodge City, which she describes as "like Tombstone, only bigger and less authentic-looking".

 

So, there's my firsthand and secondhand report on the western portion of US 54 between Wichita and El Paso!

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I've personally driven 54 from Santa Rosa NM, where it veers SW off of I-40, all the way to it's El Paso terminus. It was an interesting drive, first through the now near-ghost town of Vaughn NM, which was once a decently thriving town with plenty of now-closed or faded mid-century era road edifices (restaurants, motels, gas stations) due to its location at the junction of three US routes (54/60/285). If one is a fan of this type of architecture, Vaqughn is like an open-air gallery, on par with anything along 66. The highway continues southward through the Billy the Kid country of Lincoln County and Carizozo, then down along the eastern side of the White Sands Missile Range (where Trinity Site is located--open twice each year to visitors and well worth the trip) to Tularosa and Alamogordo (by far the largest town along this stretch of the highway. From Alamogordo it continues on, almost in an arrow-straight line, down through the vast emptiness of the Fort Bliss back country proving grounds into Texas and El Paso.

 

A close friend has driven the stretch of 54 from Wichita to Tucumcari NM, where it joins I-40 and runs concurrently for a short stretch between Tucumcari and Santa Rosa, just to take a slightly different route on one of her semi-regular Chicago-Tucson road journeys. She reports that the road runs mostly straight and empty through the high plains of western Kansas, the Oklahome panhandle, and across the extreme northwest corner of Texas into northeast New Mexico. She did make a slight detour in Kansas to visit Dodge City, which she describes as "like Tombstone, only bigger and less authentic-looking".

 

So, there's my firsthand and secondhand report on the western portion of US 54 between Wichita and El Paso!

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I've personally driven 54 from Santa Rosa NM, where it veers SW off of I-40, all the way to it's El Paso terminus. It was an interesting drive, first through the now near-ghost town of Vaughn NM, which was once a decently thriving town with plenty of now-closed or faded mid-century era road edifices (restaurants, motels, gas stations) due to its location at the junction of three US routes (54/60/285). If one is a fan of this type of architecture, Vaqughn is like an open-air gallery, on par with anything along 66. The highway continues southward through the Billy the Kid country of Lincoln County and Carizozo, then down along the eastern side of the White Sands Missile Range (where Trinity Site is located--open twice each year to visitors and well worth the trip) to Tularosa and Alamogordo (by far the largest town along this stretch of the highway. From Alamogordo it continues on, almost in an arrow-straight line, down through the vast emptiness of the Fort Bliss back country proving grounds into Texas and El Paso.

 

A close friend has driven the stretch of 54 from Wichita to Tucumcari NM, where it joins I-40 and runs concurrently for a short stretch between Tucumcari and Santa Rosa, just to take a slightly different route on one of her semi-regular Chicago-Tucson road journeys. She reports that the road runs mostly straight and empty through the high plains of western Kansas, the Oklahome panhandle, and across the extreme northwest corner of Texas into northeast New Mexico. She did make a slight detour in Kansas to visit Dodge City, which she describes as "like Tombstone, only bigger and less authentic-looking".

 

So, there's my firsthand and secondhand report on the western portion of US 54 between Wichita and El Paso!

Edited by mga707
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I've personally driven 54 from Santa Rosa NM, where it veers SW off of I-40, all the way to it's El Paso terminus. It was an interesting drive, first through the now near-ghost town of Vaughn NM, which was once a decently thriving town with plenty of now-closed or faded mid-century era road edifices (restaurants, motels, gas stations) due to its location at the junction of three US routes (54/60/285). If one is a fan of this type of architecture, Vaqughn is like an open-air gallery, on par with anything along 66. The highway continues southward through the Billy the Kid country of Lincoln County and Carizozo, then down along the eastern side of the White Sands Missile Range (where Trinity Site is located--open twice each year to visitors and well worth the trip) to Tularosa and Alamogordo (by far the largest town along this stretch of the highway. From Alamogordo it continues on, almost in an arrow-straight line, down through the vast emptiness of the Fort Bliss back country proving grounds into Texas and El Paso.

 

A close friend has driven the stretch of 54 from Wichita to Tucumcari NM, where it joins I-40 and runs concurrently for a short stretch between Tucumcari and Santa Rosa, just to take a slightly different route on one of her semi-regular Chicago-Tucson road journeys. She reports that the road runs mostly straight and empty through the high plains of western Kansas, the Oklahome panhandle, and across the extreme northwest corner of Texas into northeast New Mexico. She did make a slight detour in Kansas to visit Dodge City, which she describes as "like Tombstone, only bigger and less authentic-looking".

 

So, there's my firsthand and secondhand report on the western portion of US 54 between Wichita and El Paso!

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New to AM Roads but am an avid back roads rider. We like to find out of the way places off the beaten path which is why we joined this here outfit. Anyway, looking for advice from anyone who has driven/riden old US Hwy 54 from IL (not sure where it starts) to El Paso, TX. In my map search, it appears to run through some desolate and rugged territory down through OK and on to the Lone Star state. If anyone has experience with this route, I'd like to know. Thanks in advance and Happy Trails...

 

jessej

 

 

I've driven U.S. 54 from Pittsfield, IL, across MO and into KS as far west as Mullinville (just east of Dodge City). MO 54 is an extremely scenic drive, as it winds through the famous Ozarks and hill country. U.S. 54 in KS is far less scenic and way more desolate but lots of fun to drive. This is truly a time-travel trip.....Bliss

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I've driven U.S. 54 from Pittsfield, IL, across MO and into KS as far west as Mullinville (just east of Dodge City). MO 54 is an extremely scenic drive, as it winds through the famous Ozarks and hill country. U.S. 54 in KS is far less scenic and way more desolate but lots of fun to drive. This is truly a time-travel trip.....Bliss

 

 

And here's a really decent site for this old highway. After the "IL" portion there's a photo of the 54/36 "Y", site of numerous fatal accidents and just 4 miles west of where both my wife and I lived when we were kids....Bliss

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_54

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