Your in the middle of it now. Only half of your 1400 mile journey between the Grand Canyon and Galveston to go. Today’s drive is long and boring, but easy. Make the most of it with a visit to Carlsbad Caverns or Kerrville, TX… or get an early start on the day, minimize stops, and get into San Antonio before dinner for some great food!
Day 1: Flagstaff,AZ to Roswell, NM – Click HERE
Day 2: Roswell, NM to San Antonio, TX
Drivetime: 8.5 hours (about 530 miles)
Day two of our journey from Flagstaff to Galveston takes us from Roswell, New Mexico to San Antonio, Texas. There’s a lot of, well, nothing besides wide open spaces between these two places. The good news is, it’s a pretty easy route. But watch out for ruthless ticketing cops along I-10 outside Kerville, Texas. It’s known for speed traps. I got a ticket for going four over the speed limit, which (by the way) is 80 for most of the way between Fort Stockton and Boerne. And remember the time change! Roswell is in Mountain Time, but the second you cross the border into Texas you’re on Central Time, so you loose an hour. You might as well just eat lunch on the road because there’s not really much in the way of food when lunch time rolls around.
Click for more Carlsbad photos
If your kids are over 8 years old, you’ll want to make the stop at Carlsbad Caverns, which is only about an hour outside Roswell. This will make for a long day if you go all of the way to San Antonio tonight, but it’s lot’s of fun for spulunkers. Children 15 and under are free. Adults are $6. Can’t beat that. You do have to pay more for guided tours. Children three and under aren’t allowed on any guided tour. The park service recommends reservations for guided tours because they are really popular. You can do that HERE.
If you don’t stop in Carlsbad, Fort Stockton is about four hours away. A good place to gas up but not much else. You hop on I-10 here and your legal speed pops up to 80. THere’s literally nothing until Ozona about 112 miles down the interstate. Ozona is where we grabbed lunch… at the only Sonic I’ve ever been to without a drive-thru. Too hot I guess. They do have an indoor playground (albeit a dirty one). It let’s the kids blow off some energy if that’s what you’re needing about now. It’s another 143 miles to Kerrville, so I’d gas up again here just to be sure. Don’t want to be stuck in the desert any time of day or night!
If one was desperately tired after playing too long in Carlsbad, you could stop for the night in Kerrville. There are several motel/hotels there. (Click HERE for a link to Kerrville accommodations.) And it’s a really pretty town in the heart of the Texas Hill Country. You can find a Kerrville visitor’s guide HERE. If you’re a jewelry nut, you’ll be interested to know that the world headquarters of James Avery Jewelry is based in Kerrville. You can visit both their retail shop and visitor’s center on weekdays.
Otherwise, it’s on to San Antonio. If you time it just right you can scoot thru the suburbs and into downtown without much traffic. There is construction on the outskirts of town that can REALLY slow you down if you’re not lucky. We got caught in that mess on our way back to Flagstaff and it added an extra hour to the drive time… and that was NOT in rush hour. Yikes!
San Antonio is a huge metropolitan area. It’s grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, so if you went only five years back you’ll be surprised. This is a great city with lots to see and do, so you might want to plan at least a whole day here, two if you want to hit one of the amusement parks. I’d recommend staying downtown by the Riverwalk or Mercado. We stayed at the LaQuinta Market Square (great location and super clean, plus allows all size dogs for no fees).
I’ll discuss more about San Antonio, including where to eat and what to see, in the Day 3 section on this guide. Click HERE.
Out West Road Trip 