Shortest route to visit all county seats in Texas (Houston: how much, hotels)

[Ottho123]

I want to visit each of the 254 counties (county seats) in Texas by car. Any suggestions on the 'best' route? I'm prepared to take a year to do this if needed. The goal is not to do this as fast as possible but to get to know Texas.

[wxf848]

I'm sure there's a shortest route, but I have no idea how to find it. Large parts of the state have square and rectangular counties, which makes it easy to pick them up by rows or columns. Another consideration is whether you'd want to complete a region and move on to another or go in long lines and change and come back to regions.

What I mean is that you could plot a course through the Hill Country, or pick up a line of counties in the Hill Country going, say, north, and continue to the Red River, then move over a line of counties and head back south to the Hill Country. You could complete a region or go back and forth between them, depending on what experience you're looking for.

If you start at Dalhart and head east, then back west, making adjustments as needed to account for road availability, the route to could cover the Panhandle can be found pretty easily. Out west, there aren't as many county seats, and you would probably want side trips to see the far-flung parts of the counties. The challenging routes are in the east. Even then, there are pretty obvious rows and columns of counties, although some zig-zagging may be needed to reduce the total distance.

The routes become fairly obvious when you just draw straight lines between adjacent county seats, accounting for road availability where it's limited. Other parameters will influence how this is done. How many individual trips are involved, which depends on how much time you have for each excursion, is an important factor. Whether you want to complete regions or go back and forth between them is another factor. Side trips will be another factor; there are a lot of places you should see besides county seats.

I submit that finding the route is one of the easiest parts to plan for. Once you determine the details, the route will mostly jump out at you just by looking at a map.

[need4speed2012]

Ask this guy, he's doing it now and most likely will answer your question.

254 Texas Courthouses - Home

[Matthew Duck]

Here's a map of all of the Texas county seats so maybe you can visualize your journey better.

[hound 109]

This is a pretty cool undertaking.

If I was going to do it, I'd probably try to avoid the Panhandle (& most of the Northern Counties) in the Winter, & avoid SE Texas counties during the dog days of Summer.

Also, I'd look at when various festivals, fairs & events take place (& try to attend a few). A tiny county seat can come alive & a good time can be had.

Also, a rule of thumb for hotels/motels is that big cities get cheap on the weekend & little towns are cheaper during the week. (obviously not always the case).

Have fun.

[DanielWayne]

Originally Posted by Ottho123

I want to visit each of the 254 counties (county seats) in Texas by car. Any suggestions on the 'best' route? I'm prepared to take a year to do this if needed. The goal is not to do this as fast as possible but to get to know Texas.

That is one of the coolest things I have ever heard. I would love to undertake something like that myself. I am particularly fond of visiting small towns that are still thriving. Anyway, if you want to get really nit picky, that is a variation of a computer science problem:

Travelling salesman problem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

So you could conceivably calculate the most efficient route. But in reality, that would be awful, and it would probably be more fun to just drive. Hound makes a good point about festival time. Stumbling on to a good small town festival is worth more to me than a trip to Cancun. I envy you!

[Gunion Powder]

1. Southeast Texas. Set up camp in Houston and explore Old Texas. Make sure you have rain gear and a boat.

2. Northeast Texas. Start in Nacogdoches and work your way up to the Arkansas border. Late November is the best time.

3. North Texas. Lots of urbanized counties in Dallas-Fort Worth. Don't forget Rockwall County which is the smallest in the state.

4. Panhandle. Most of us have no real clue what's up there. Take some pictures for us.

5. West Texas. Huge dusty counties.

6. Central Texas. The state capital in Travis County, lots of German place names, and the overrated Hill Country.

7. South Texas. Start in San Antonio and by the time you get down to Brownsville you'll be further south than two or three Mexican states.

I don't know if this is the most practical way but it sounds exciting.

[High_Plains_Retired]

I once set out to collect a copy of every Texas county history book until I realized many of the counties had several. My own home county has three primary county histories. I had a pretty good collection but I ran out of bookshelf space.

It's a big challenge you have decided upon. It makes mine pale in comparison. Good luck and drive safely.

[Matthew Duck]

What about towns that have a more historic courthouse and the newer one? Denton comes to mind. The old one not in use anymore is actually much more popular than the current one. Do you plan on visiting both in each county in which this occurs?

[davemulvey]

I have been working on a similar personal project. Darkened counties are ones I have not been to.