Question for your road travellers (Houston, Dallas: hotel, home, costs)

[Texas Cop]

After the 1st of the year, I will be driving back to town from Maryland. My question is which is the best route to take? Mapquest provides 3 different options and I was just wondering if anyone here has made the drive from that area or the upper eastern seaboard to back here to the Alamo City? Thanks in advance for your assistance. John

[Me007gold]

When I moved here from Northern Baltimore County, I took 81 to 40 to 35. Missing some steps in between, but those where the major roads I took. 1st night stopped in Memphis, 2nd night stopped in Texarkana, 3rd day made it to San Antonio. Obviously could have pushed it a bit further, but we made some sight seeing stops along the way, it was a decent trip

[Randyk47]

We drove from Northern Virginia, actually Reston, to San Antonio and it wasn't all that bad. We drove the route that takes you through Knoxville, Chattanooga, Nashville, Memphis, Little Rock, and Dallas to San Antonio. We were driving two SUV's loaded down with our clothing, a few household items, and our animals. Neither of us like long distance driving and since we couldn't share the driving we stopped overnight every 500 miles or so to give us and the animals a break. Helped that it was a paid move so we weren't sucking up the hotel costs though we didn't exactly stay at the "Ritz" every night with the animals being a consideration.

[Soviet]

I did exactly what RandyK did from Dulles Airport. Got stuck in a horrific traffic jam on 81. Hopefully that shan't happen to you.

P.S. I miss Old Bay wings so bad!!!

[Randyk47]

Originally Posted by Soviet

I did exactly what RandyK did from Dulles Airport. Got stuck in a horrific traffic jam on 81. Hopefully that shan't happen to you.

P.S. I miss Old Bay wings so bad!!!

I too miss Old Bay wings but Mrs. K is up there right now on a business trip and it's snowing....that I don't miss! The day we left Reston it started snowing and didn't let up until Roanoke. Seemed like a fitting farewell and it March 29th so very late in the potential snow season for the DC area.

[majormadmax]

Dallas-->Arkansas-->Tennessee-->Virginia-->Maryland!

I-40E and I-81N, 1,673 mi, 28 hours!

Drove it in a little under two days when my father-in-law passed away in 2002 just as we were leaving SA for Belgium. Had two young children (5 and 2) and our dog with me, as my wife flew up. Can't even remember where we stopped for the night, the entire adventure is just one run-on memory...

[pobre]

We've made it to (via Dallas) Little Rock, AK in one day when we've made a similar drive. Then, as MMM stated, on to TN, VA, and MD. (Obviously, route in reverse as you're leaving MD!)

[raspberrysharpei]

We spent last year commuting back & forth from SA to DC. We ran the I-85, I-65 to I-10 route running through Atlanta, Montgomery, Mobile, and Houston. We preferred to avoid the mountains, especially during the winter months. The bayou's can get foggy, however I recall most of the interstate roads being newer and easy to navigate. Atlanta and Houston are easy cities to navigate as long as you avoid typical rush hours. We ran this route both ways, non-stop on average in 24 hours wheels rolling, 28 total drive time (two drivers one pet). Dont pass up the opportunity for a pit stop at Buckees, regardless of which route you take into Texas. Good luck.

[01Snake]

About to make this drive myself here in a week or so. Leaving Newwark, NJ and heading home to SA. I'll probably drive to Birmingham, AL the first night and then head south down to Slidell, LA, jump on I-10 all the way home making it a 2 day trip. I hate driving through both Dallas and Austin due to traffic. It's really comes down to timing thought. I try and make such trips on a weekend or at least plan it so I avoid major metros during the rush hours.

[IonRedline08]

Originally Posted by raspberrysharpei

We spent last year commuting back & forth from SA to DC. We ran the I-85, I-65 to I-10 route running through Atlanta, Montgomery, Mobile, and Houston. We preferred to avoid the mountains, especially during the winter months. The bayou's can get foggy, however I recall most of the interstate roads being newer and easy to navigate. Atlanta and Houston are easy cities to navigate as long as you avoid typical rush hours. We ran this route both ways, non-stop on average in 24 hours wheels rolling, 28 total drive time (two drivers one pet). Dont pass up the opportunity for a pit stop at Buckees, regardless of which route you take into Texas. Good luck.

This is similar to what I did when I moved here from Virginia Beach. Very easy route.