Road trip from NJ to Dallas (Plano, Richardson: safe, moving, suites)

[Capitalprophets]

I will be driving to Dallas next week. I've divided my trip into 3 days. First day will be 10.5 hours thorough VA to Knoxville, TN. Second, will be from Knoxville, TN to Texarkana which is another 10 hours approx. and finally 3-4 hours to Dallas. Total drive is around 24 hours approximately 1500 miles.

if someone else has taken a similar road trip. Let me know your experiences and the places you've stopped on the way for scenic overlooks and things to do etc.

[jennifw]

My only suggestion is to make Day 2 a little shorter. Stop in Little Rock or somewhere in Arkansas. Once you get to Texarkana- you are pretty much in Dallas. It's about 3 hours or less depending on how traffic is moving.

With solid 10 hours of driving each day, you might not have a lot of time to look/see along the way.

Good luck.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by jennifw

My only suggestion is to make Day 2 a little shorter. Stop in Little Rock or somewhere in Arkansas. Once you get to Texarkana- you are pretty much in Dallas. It's about 3 hours or less depending on how traffic is moving.

With solid 10 hours of driving each day, you might not have a lot of time to look/see along the way.

Good luck.

^^^^ This.

[Prumio]

Get familiar with "loop roads" around the major cities. Use Waze to decide if/when it makes sense to use them. They are sometimes a lot longer with respect to distance but can save a lot of time, depending on traffic, e.g., Memphis. You'll be coming into Dallas on I-30, but you may want to alter that toward the end, depending on your final destination. No need to go downtown if you are landing in Richardson, Plano, etc.! Safe travels.

[ChristieP]

I agree that you want to stop in Arkansas, not push all the way to Texarkana. The three good places I have found to stop in Arkansas are Forrest City, Benton/Bryant (west side of Little Rock), and Hope.

To easily get to destinations in Collin County, get off I-30 at Greenville, and hop onto 380 to McKinney, then go south on 121 or 75.

[Prumio]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

To easily get to destinations in Collin County, get off I-30 at Greenville, and hop onto 380 to McKinney, then go south on 121 or 75.

You need to be careful of tollroads though. Christie: isn't 121 tolled?

[ChristieP]

Originally Posted by Prumio

You need to be careful of tollroads though. Christie: isn't 121 tolled?

Yes, 121 is tolled. But there's no really good alternative if you're trying to get to Lewisville or Frisco. You can also stay on the service roads to avoid the tolls.

[NJTOOTX]

NJ to Blacksburg, VA Hampton Inn was great
Blacksburg to Nashville, TN Embassy Suites nice
Nashville to Little Rock, Arkansas Embassy Suites great
Little Rock to Dallas

TN felt like it would take forever to get through. I’d sooner stop in Nashville than Knoxsville. The drive through Knoxville was white knuckle with many 18 wheeler trucks and stupid cars weaving (the truckers were not the bad guys!).
Try to never hit a major metro during morning or evening rush hours. I can’t take more than 8 hours at a time. This made it a tidy 6-8 per day. The rest stops in VA were the nicest. There were few in Arkansas.

[RJ312]

Originally Posted by NJTOOTX

TN felt like it would take forever to get through.

So true! I did not like driving on Interstate 40 across that state in a previous road trip.


When I moved to Dallas, I got to experience the endlessness of driving across large parts of Texas. Texas and Tennessee are two of the longer state drives I've experienced.

[Prumio]

When I said "Memphis" I meant Nashville! The 840 loop to the south is longer, but mostly wide open highway last time we used it.