driving from Flagstaff, AZ to Oklahoma City are there interesting stops,hotels going early Oct.?

Answer 1

Walnut Canyon is nice. It's a smaller version of Mesa Verde. Meteor Crater is close as well, but I've never been there.

You won't miss the large dinosaur statues between Flagstaff and Albuquerque - unless you're driving at night. I believe there are museums or some sort of other tourist traps (dinosaur themed) along there.

The Petrified Forest/Painted Desert is a pretty detor, but can add some time to your trip.
http://www.americansouthwest.net/arizona/petrified_forest/national_park.html

There are a lot of trading posts near Albuquerque. We always stop at one that advertises cheap fireworks. It's just East of Grants and has a Dairy Queen. I'm not sure of the name -something like Blue Mountain Trading Post. It's become a tradition for us. The bathrooms are terrible though.

There's an area before you hit the border between NM and TX that has VERY FEW cities/gas stations. We almost ran dry looking for a gas station. Try getting gas in Tucumcari

The Texas panhandle is flat and fairly boring, but there are a few things to watch out for:

The Cadillac Ranch is just outside of Amarillo.
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/TXAMAcadillac.html
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/TX-CadillacRanch.html

There's a huge cross just of the highway near Amarillo.

There's Palo Duro Canyon State Park. I'm sure I've been there, but don't remember much. Southeast of Amarillo.

Texas is a great place to stock up on all the jackalope souveniers you could possibly want.

Amarillo is halfway between Albuquerque and Oklahoma City (a little closer to OKC) and would make a good place to stop for the night. There's a great Days Inn (the Airport/Downtown one) at 1701 I-40 E (exit 71).

There's not much to do on the Oklahoma leg of the trip. Oklahoma City has stuff to do though.

Good luck - it's about 13-14 hours. It's 4.5 hours to Albuquerque, from Albuquerque to Amarillo is 5, and then from Amarillo to OKC is about 4.