Best route from Palo Duro State Park Texas to Galveston

[Don_and_Eileen]

We'll be traveling through and visiting Palo Duro State Park in Texas before heading down to Galveston. We'd like to avoid the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. Best routes?
Thanks.

[Don_and_Eileen]

Well, darn! Looks like we'll be having to go through Austin as we booked overnights in Sweetwater and LaGrange.
Thank you all for helping us with traveling through an area we've not hit before.

[padredw]

Back of the Pack wrote:
Austin is the worst city in Texas, any direction or road.

This has been my experience, so I agree.

[ken56]

When you leave Galveston take the ferry over to the Bolivar Peninsula and up to I-10 that way. It's a much more uncongested road and wide open for any size rig. The ferry takes semi trucks across the bay so your rig will fit too. It's free.

[BackOfThePack]

Don and Eileen wrote:
Still hoping to get some expert help here on my questions about San Antonio/Austin and bypassing Houston on the way east to LA.
Thanks!

IH-10 is the route preferred. The close-to coast route is slow, crowded and problems can’t be avoided.

Coastal Louisiana is interesting enough, so if a 35-MPH average trip speed (not posted speed limit) is okay, then try it.

Understand that Houston is really more like Louisiana in the first place.

I “might” choose the lower route, but for me it’d be because something about the season appealed.

10 thru LA is hard enough.

Lake Charles gets backed up at the bridge, and Baton Rouge is never easy (road split to New Orleans backup). The water table is too high so the roads available are few.

You can run the old highway north of 10 past BR, just expect a slow average speed. Takes you across the Huey P.

The worst congestion is in BR then east to where IH55 goes north. You’ll lose an hour or more, so plan that in advance

Thunderstorms along this coast are the most dangerous in the US. Any road.
Slidell area peak.

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[BackOfThePack]

Don and Eileen wrote:
We're just now getting back to our routing (nothing like some surgery to distract us.) I'm looking at BackOfThePack's route (avoiding Houston and the Dallas area), but am wondering why you suggest going through San Antonio rather than Austin?
Thanks!

San Antonio E-W on IH-10 is easy.
Austin is the worst city in Texas, any direction or road.

[Don_and_Eileen]

Still hoping to get some expert help here on my questions about San Antonio/Austin and bypassing Houston on the way east to LA.
Thanks!

[Don_and_Eileen]

One more question (for now.)
When we leave Galveston we are heading east towards LA. Our map program routes us up I45 to I10. Is there any reason why we wouldn't want to take TX 146 - again avoiding the heart of Houston?
We're originally from the Boston area, so we know that sometimes it's just as easy to go through the heart of the city on an interstate as to get bogged down in smaller cities/towns around the city. However, I did check it on Google Earth and it looks ok. ???

[Don_and_Eileen]

We're just now getting back to our routing (nothing like some surgery to distract us.) I'm looking at BackOfThePack's route (avoiding Houston and the Dallas area), but am wondering why you suggest going through San Antonio rather than Austin?
Thanks!

[BackOfThePack]

Agreed. I had my share of difficult weather a few weeks back (waiting for roads to re-open)


Another scenic route is to head south in Texas to pick up US-62 across southern Oklahoma to Lawton/Ft Sill. (Highly recommended in spring).

South from there via US-287 to any number of choices.

FWIW, E-W across D/FW is easy relative to trying N-S as with Houston. US-281 from Wichita Falls to IH-20 thence to IH-35S is scenic, and the leg across the Metroplex is short enough not to be much of a problem (always before 1400, preferably from 0900-1100).

[Don_and_Eileen]

Thank you so much, BackofthePack, I apologize for not responding sooner. Life has had some twists and turns, but we're holding our own and grateful we're not in the midst of any of the country's crazy weather.
Eileen (and Don)

[BackOfThePack]

IH-24 to US-87.

US-87 to US-277 at San Angelo, thence south to IH-10.

IH-10 thru San Antonio no big deal. Can use 410-Loop around south side if desired.

IH-10 to Columbus thence south thru El Campo on TX-71 to Bay City.

TX-35 to Lake Jackson it’s a coin flip from there to Galveston (nothing like it was before Hurricane Ike tore it up in 2008).

EAST-WEST across Houston always easy. It’s North-South where it’s a total PITA.

As a lifelong Texan (and truck driver), this is the routing with the least traffic. Steady friction-free miles till the SA to Columbus leg.

95% of Texans live east of IH-35. Avoiding the triangle of Dallas, Houston and San Antonio is how to make time despite a longer route.

OTOH, my preferred “short” route would be US-287 from Amarillo to FTW, then IH-35S to Waco and use Texas-6 the rest of the way to La Marque. (Houston toll roads are easy if you want the expense to avoid backups elsewhere).

.

[padredw]

THANK YOU, Eileen and Don

I did get your PM and I will answer soon. We are on the road, headed for THE VALLEY (Rio Grande) so I do not have ideal connections but I promise to do my best. We are in Waco tonight.

I have to explain some of the ways we Texans may need to be more specific when referring to our regions--especially in regard to East Texas. We usually mean Northeast Texas (Texarkana down to Nacogdoches/Lufkin) or Deep East Texas from Lufkin down to, let's say Huntsville or Jasper. Below that would be Beaumont, Houston--the Gulf Coast.

Not every Texan would agree with my definitions but when I say East Texas I'm thinking of the "Piney Woods" around Tyler, Palestine, Nacogdoches, on up to Texarkana.

I will do some more checking on the routes around Houston, coming in from the Northwest. We are much more familiar with coming in from the North on I-45 or US 59, so I will do a bit of checking before I respond on PM.

[Don_and_Eileen]

padredw, thank you again! I just sent you a PM to ask about the toll situation.
We've had the great fortune of traveling quite a bit around the country and have been through east Texas. The year we were headed to Big Bend after a month in Port Aransas, we had a $15,000 breakdown in our motorhome and so have never made it back to Big Bend. We've also not visited Austin, so there are lots more places to venture to. This trip is a large circuitous route around the country, so we'll have to focus more on Texas again at a later date.
Eileen (and Don)

[padredw]

Sure. On this route you will be coming into Houston on US 290.

You could turn onto the Sam Houston Parkway which is a toll road. Check it out because you may have to purchase the toll beforehand--on some of these toll roads you can't enter unless you already have a pre-pass. Just go online and look up the Sam Houston Tollway.

If you take that route it will go all the way around to I-45 S which will go right into Galveston.

The alternative is to stay on US 290 to the ramp to I-610 S. to the next ramp to I-10 E. to the ramp to I-45 right downtown.

If you take this alternate the day and time of day can make a lot of difference. I have towed right through downtown Houston without difficulty, but one wreck can cause long delay, but that could happen which ever route you take.

I have found traffic to flow pretty well through Houston except for the rush hours. It helps to have a GPS which can notify of route and lane changes.

Good luck and enjoy Texas--although you will miss the best part, the piney woods of East Texas. 🙂

EDIT to say: I will reply to private messages if I can help further.