This is just an additional note if you wish to take I-10, I-20 across New Mexico and Texas and I-30 from Dallas to Texarkana:
At Texarkana you would take US 71 North to Mena. You probably already know that.
I-20 around south of Fort Worth and Dallas is usually no problem, traffic flows at full speed limits. There is only a short section of I-635 east of Dallas to join I-30.
It looks like this would be about 75 miles further than an I-40 route. Of course, I'm biased in favor of driving through East Texas rather than through Oklahoma, but not everyone would share that bias.