Texas to New York, gulf coast along the way

Hi, my friend and I are currently planning a roadtrip this summer. Sort of an annual thing. He's moving from Harlingen TX (just gonna pack up his car), I'll be flying down there from NYC on Jun 25th. We are planning to roadtrip back to NYC, and see many of the states we haven't seen before....which are Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and possibly West Virginia. We have about 8-10 days.


We'd like to make the most of it and see some cool sites along the way. New Orleans is a must, possibly Little Rock, Gulf Port, Montgomery, Atlanta. I have a sister that lives in Charlotte. We're also fine with camping...we slept in the car two summers ago from San Diego back to Minneapolis (5 days)

I plotted a quick map on google.
Harlingen TX
Houston TX
Dallas, TX
Ouchita National Forest, AR
Little Rock, AR
New Orlans, LA
Montgomery, AL
Atlanta, GA
Charlotte, NC
Charlottesville or Harrisonburg..WV

We've done the Eastern Seaboard, so not looking to see D.C or anything. Any tips or routes or suggestions.

Thanks

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

In your list of states that you and your friend have missed, you list Oklahoma, and then in describing your route you include "and maybe West Virginia. The route you've laid out is 2550 miles (more or less ) long and misses both of them. But there is another route that is only 50 miles longer (2600 miles) and gets to both Oklahoma and West Virginia, and goes something like this...

Head north from Harlingen up through Austin (great music town) and Dallas (Sixth Floor Museum) to Paris TX and on to cross the Red River into Oklahoma.A little bit farther north and well worth the drive, starting from US-271 north of Talihina OK is the Talimena Scenic Byway which will take you into Arkansas. Heading south on US-71 will take you to Louisiana and I-20 east past G9obsland to Vicksburg MS, Birmingham, and Atlanta. From Charlotte, I-77/I-64 will take you straight up through some of the most beautiful parts of West Virginia. At Charleston, hop on I-79 to Morgantown, I-68/I-70 to Hagerstown, and I-81/I-78 back to NYC.

Now, it's true that the above routing does not get you to the Gulf, but you can either enjoy that at Padre Island near Harlingen before starting out on your RoadTrip, or you can continue down to New Orleans, Gulfport and Mobile before heading inland to Atlanta.

Hope that all helps. Happy planning!

AZBuck

You MUST add Austin to this list. Quite possibly my favorite city in America. I would even skip Houston, unless you want to go to the Galleria Mall.

Gulfport, MS has its outlet shopping. If you drove an hour east, you could go to Biloxi, MS (a miniscule version of Vegas) and stay a night at the Beau Rivage or Hard Rock and spend a day at the Hard Rock's pool. They do big pool parties every Sunday in the summer.

I would also add Tennessee to your list. Nashville is an awesome city, which a great music scene. Also, add driving through the Smoky Mountains, Gatlinburg is a really cool little city.

Hit Atlanta, and look up Savannah, that's my favorite city in Georgia.