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Member
Posts: 11
| Lucky us, we get to leave Minnesota for the winter & spend it in Arizona. We take two horses with us in our horse trailer with LQ. Usually, we head to Denver, then South on I-25 to Albuquerque, then we go West on I-40 to Flagstaff, then South on I-17 to our destination. This year we are planning on going South on I-35 to Ft. Smith, Arkansas then across Oklahoma on I-40. Does anyone know of rodeo grounds or other places to stay along that route? |
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Veteran
Posts: 212
  Location: novinger, mo | Check on: http://www.countyfairgrounds.net/ |
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Regular
Posts: 93
   Location: ark/ok border | I live here in Ok next to Ft Smith, is this area where u are planning to spend the nite?? We have a small local rodeo grounds, of course Ft Smith has a very large rodeo arena (about 6 miles from I40) with facilities that they might would let you stay at. Sallisaw Ok(25 miles west of FS, close to I40) also has nice rodeo grounds w/facilities. Both are on the net and have numbers to call. good luck and have a safe trip. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 330
    Location: northeast Texas | Not sure where in Oklahoma you plan to need a stop over but there are several nice horse motels in the Oklahoma City area. You might want to check your map again as I-35 does not go through Fort Smith. Perhaps you meant I-30 to Little Rock, Arkansas and then I-40 across thru Fort Smith and on across to Oklahoma City? There are some horse motels in Little Rock. I stayed just outside of there in Benton, AR recently at Holtzman Riding Academy. I usually mapquest the milage to find a stop over town/city and then do a search for horse motels, fairgrounds, riding academys, horse boarding. There is a KOA off I-40 at Checotah, OK which is just west of Fort Smith that accomodates horses if you call ahead. Looks like a more direct route to come I-35 to Oklahoma City. Arkansas looks a tad far east, unless you just want to go that way:) |
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Veteran
Posts: 165
   Location: Western Ar | If it works out on your schedule the Shawnee Exspo Center at Shawnee Ok has hookups and are cheap. We like laying over there where we can turn horses out in large lots and they can graze but you need to call ahead to make arrangements. It is also close and easy access off of I-40 |
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Member
Posts: 11
| Sorry I was vague about our route from Minnesota to Arizona....we are going to spend several days in Branson, Missouri, then on to either Ft. Smith, Arkansas & West on I-40, or over to Joplin, Missouri & take I-44 to I-40. We don't like to travel much over 6 hours with our horses before stopping overnite. I so appreciate the responses I've received with info on overnite places we can stay with the horses. Would love to hear more. |
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Veteran
Posts: 165
   Location: Western Ar | Just my 2 cents; I would stay off of rough as a cobb I 40 as long as I could. If you do come down 540. Harper Stadium in Ft Smith probably would be the best place. |
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Member
Posts: 20
Location: Woodland, Wa | You might check out these sites: www.horsemotel.com; overnightstabling.com; horse and travel.com. lists of overnight stabling all over the usa.
Have a safe trip! |
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Veteran
Posts: 165
   Location: Western Ar | From Branson to Ft Smith will be approx 3 hours with a trailer hit 412 west to Hindsville and then catch Highway 45 into Fayetteville where you can pick up I 540, This will be pretty fair 2 lane roads. To Shawnee O.k. from Branson will be around 7 to 7 1/2 hours. The Exspo Center there has good facility's cheap but you have to call before the close of business that day. They have a security guard full time easy access off I 40 with fuel and food close and lots of room. Large pens usually with grass. We usually lay up there on our return trips from out west. Between Branson and Shawnee there won't be much but Rodeo grounds, |
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Member
Posts: 11
| We think we've decided to travel from Branson, Missouri to Joplin, MO, & take I-44 to I-40. Anyone know of fairgrounds or horse motels along this route? And, on I-40 West of Oklahoma City? Thanks everyone for your great suggestions! |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 326
    Location: central IL | When we travel long distance, we use www.horsetrip.com and www.horsemotel.com to book our overnight stays. Only twice did we stay at fairgrounds. Yes, they're cheap, but both were not the cleanest pens around. Now this sounds hard to believe, and I won't ID it on a public forum, but the last one was in a southern state. When we arrived, we were directed to pick any pen we wanted in a large empty covered building. There were TWO dead hogs lying in different pens. I went to the office and reported the situation, and I was told that they were wild hogs. Go figure why the carcasses had never been disposed of, and it was obvious that they'd been there a good LONG time. Needless to say, we did NOT stay there again on our return trip back to IL. Enroute to NM a couple of years ago, we overnighted in El Reno, OK at Dr. Denny's stable. Turned out he was a retired vet, and was a super host. We so enjoyed our stay and his taking time to visit with us after a long 12 hour travel day, not to mention the blow-out we had that day. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 373
     Location: Texas | In Tucumcari NM is:
http://www.emptysaddlerv.com/index.html
Corrals, RV spots with plug ins if you want. Nice folks. Have pay station if they are not there when you arrive. Dennys just down the road for food if you want... Dirt parking area behind it, so you do not have to unhitch if you want to leave horses in corrals and drive whole rig over for dinner.. |
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