Austin to Memphis - suggestions along the way?

[londonsam]

Hi all,

My girlfriend and I are planning a mini-roadtrip this weekend, arriving in Austin on Thursday evening and leaving from Memphis Monday lunchtime. We're planning to spend the first two nights in Austin and the Sunday night in Memphis, making the drive from Saturday morning to Sunday eve.

Does anyone have any suggestions for places to take in along the way? I guess we are most interested in small towns and places with great landscapes, to contrast with the cities either end of the trip. I'm not sure whether we should take a direct route via Arkansas, or to go via Louisiana / Mississippi.

Any suggestions most gratefully received!

thanks,

Sam

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

Austin to Memphis is just long enough that it is an easy day and a bit drive if you stick to the Interstates, but gets up to two nearly full days if you take US and secondary roads and add enough of a detour to take in the lower Mississippi River. Still, given your stated preferences, I'd make that tradeoff. You can use basically US-79 and US-190, skirting the northern edge of Sam Houston National Forest and crossing Lake Livingston, to Jasper. From there you'd take TX-63 and AR-8 to Alexandria and then AR-28 through the Dewey W Wills Wildlife Management Area to US-84 to Natchez. then it's just a 'straight shot' up US-61 through Vicksburg to Memphis. As I say, that will be two relatively serious days of driving, but if you find yourself wearing thin or in a hurry, you can always jump on the nearest Interstate and just get where you need to go.

AZBuck