Edena_of_Neith said:
New Mexico?
I drove down this road called a freeway, for 5 hours straight, at 75 miles per hour.
Except for this city called Alberquerque, a small place called Gallop, and a few residences along the freeway, there was ... nothing.
I do mean nothing. Nothing at all. Imagine looking to the horizon, and seeing nothing, for hundreds upon hundreds of miles of lonely road.
I've done it about 12 times, around half of them going across the country. Neat stuff everywhere, by far my favorite state by interstate: lava flows, dune buggy races, the continental divide, sweat lodges, vans full of stranded Koreans, drive-through liquor stores, Route 66, Route 666, Indian casinos and tourist traps. You have to stop and taste the fresh chiles once in a while. It's said that the local Spanish has an odd lilting accent as well, though I'm insufficiently versed in the language to appreciate it.
Gallup at one time reliably had the cheapest gas between Lexington, Kentucky and Phoenix, AZ, (partly because of the 86-octane Colorado Plateau) but it's not that great anymore.
I will say it has bad car mojo though - most of my breakdowns have been in NM, but they're usually been... memorable.
Santa Fe may be a little overrated, unless you're really into decorative arts, but Taos is cool. I've managed to miss Roswell every time, sadly. Many archaeological hot spots, Chaco Canyon, Clovis, Black Draw.
I did know a guy from Durango; he seemed to think it was a bit of a pit (his description was eerily similar to what would become South Park, in retrospect), but it's hard to tell from that.