The routes followed for our 2009 trip.  South and east from Phoenix on I-10 to Benson where we detoured to Tombstone for a few hours.  Then I-20 east to Las Cruces.  After the competition, we took I-25 north, exited short of Albuquerque on New Mexico highway 6 at Los Lunas to take a shortcut to I-40, I-40 west to Williams, stopping at the Petrified Forest and Winslow along the way, and then Arizona highway 64 north to the Grand Canyon.  Then it was 64 back to I-40 at Williams, a few miles east on I-40 to Flagstaff, then I-17 south back to Phoenix.   We flew into Phoenix in 2009 as we had in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2008.  As much as we find it an annoyingly crowded airport, the best airfares are generally to there.