Florida to Southern New Mexico

PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:
Parts of I-10 are not great, but it is likely the route with more RVs crossing the country now.

Going north adds two or three days to the trip.

This time of year, I would not want to travel on I-40 into New Mexico. Might be nice one week and ice covered the next.

The last time we went west from the Dallas/Fort Worth area we took US-380 to US-70 to I-25. Not a bad drive with not many small towns.

Most of I-10 through Florida, Alabama and Mississippi are fine.

I-10 thru Louisiana and East Texas is the worst part.

No one takes I-10 thru New Orleans. I-12 across the north side of Lake Pontchartrain is the route to take. You can head north to I-20 from Mobile or I-59 if you don’t want to drive US highways.

Over the last 3 weeks, we just brought I-10 from Galveston, TX to Pensacola right now. I agree with all of this.

I don't know about westbound on I 10 through LA, but I just went through LA eastbound on I 10 and I 12 ( to bypass New Orleans) and never found any section of that route I'd consider really bad. I wouldn't think westbound would be that much different. I've been on plenty of "bad" roads. One example would be I 220, off I 20, to go around Shreveport LA.

2gypsies wrote:
How long are you planning to stay in southern New Mexico and when? It gets cold there in winter. Southern Arizona is warmer.

We spent a month in Las Cruces last January-February and enjoyed it thoroughly. We then spent a week in the Casa Grande-Phoenix area and it got to 90 degrees (in February!). That's too hot for us, so we went back to New Mexico after that.

We just took I20 from Abilene TX down to I10, across thru El Paso and up to Queen Creek AZ. We went thru El Paso sunday morning about 11am and it wasn't a problem at all. We also found I-10 to be a decent road and there wasn't too much construction on either of the roads. Nothing that really slowed us down much.

Follow the coast to South Padre island, then I-2 then US 83.

one_strange_texan wrote:
To avoid the worst parts of I-10 in Louisiana and the I-10 construction in Orange, TX, I'd use US-190 as some have suggested. You can jump over to 190 using LA-415 right after you cross the Mississippi on I-10. It's about 3.5 miles north to US-190. Stay on 190 to avoid the long, 2-lane (each way) Atchafalaya River bridge, Lafayette, Lake Charles (including the old, steep & narrow Calcasieu River bridge), the rough highway in Sulphur and the construction right when you cross into Texas in Orange. Take LA-12 at Ragley, LA. Continue on LA-12 on into Texas where it becomes TX-12 after you cross the state line and it rejoins I-10 near Vidor.

You probably want to loop around north of downtown Houston on I-610 and north of San Antonio on TX-1604, though there is no way to avoid the traffic completely in these two big cities.

Safe Driving!

Sounds like an excellent plan to me!! Thanks big time!

To avoid the worst parts of I-10 in Louisiana and the I-10 construction in Orange, TX, I'd use US-190 as some have suggested. You can jump over to 190 using LA-415 right after you cross the Mississippi on I-10. It's about 3.5 miles north to US-190. Stay on 190 to avoid the long, 2-lane (each way) Atchafalaya River bridge, Lafayette, Lake Charles (including the old, steep & narrow Calcasieu River bridge), the rough highway in Sulphur and the construction right when you cross into Texas in Orange. Take LA-12 at Ragley, LA. Continue on LA-12 on into Texas where it becomes TX-12 after you cross the state line and it rejoins I-10 near Vidor.

You probably want to loop around north of downtown Houston on I-610 and north of San Antonio on TX-1604, though there is no way to avoid the traffic completely in these two big cities.

Safe Driving!

Good point. And I have a 25 year old small Class C

stickdog wrote:
I'd always heard how bad I10 was till we drove it from
St Augustine to Phoenix AZ last winter. We did take I12 around New Orleans and bypassed Houston to the north as we had friends in the Austin area. Reconnected with I10 in Kerrville. The only bad road was the elevated section over the Atchafalaya flood land. We hit El Paso at the end of morning rush no problem. I must say I'm from the Chicago area and heavy traffic does not bother me as long as it's moving and as a construction carpenter I drove every xway in the Chicago area all type of traffic and weather.

You are probably getting a totally different ride in your F350, than being in a Class C or A.

I'd always heard how bad I10 was till we drove it from
St Augustine to Phoenix AZ last winter. We did take I12 around New Orleans and bypassed Houston to the north as we had friends in the Austin area. Reconnected with I10 in Kerrville. The only bad road was the elevated section over the Atchafalaya flood land. We hit El Paso at the end of morning rush no problem. I must say I'm from the Chicago area and heavy traffic does not bother me as long as it's moving and as a construction carpenter I drove every xway in the Chicago area all type of traffic and weather.