I 40 east--route up to Branson?

[MarkieBob]

If traveling east on I 40 and wanting to visit hot springs NP in Arkansas and Branson Missouri, then heading east to Littlerock, nashville, etc. What's the best route from I 40 up to Branson?

[reddwar]

Well if your rig is not to big straight up 7 is a scenic route & you need to stop at Petit Jean state park. Then at Russellville a real good hamburger could be best in Arkansas at I 40 & 7 NW corner CJ's Butcher boy. Some folks may tell you whatta burger but frozen meat & FF shake premix, not Tx whataburger. The hamburger at CJ's Butcher boy meat ground fresh every day & real taters.

[kohldad]

Only suggestion I can make is Hot Springs, NC (not from personal experience but knowing about the location). We ended up skipping Hot Springs due to the cost and my wife remembering she had a reaction to some minerals in the water in Maine last year.

Instead we visited Petit Jean State Park, Agricultural Museum (south east of Little Rock) and Toltek Mounds instead. We mainly travel the back roads and hit as many government operated spots as we can find. The trip to Branson was 2,700 miles of which only about 700 miles were interstates.

[MarkieBob]

kohldad wrote:
I was out there a few years ago for a Jeep Scrambler even and got there a day early so we stayed at the KOA east of town. Was nice and clean if you don't get any better recommendation.

Make sure you do some research on the pools. There are no hot pools operated by the national park as the water is to hot and they are required by law to distribute all of the water unchanged. My wife wanted to go there earlier this month until she found this out and checked into the rates for the spas and health pools in the area.

WOW--hot pools is one reason I'd go there. Any suggestions on a good place to soak?

[GoPackGo]

I stayed at Cloud 9 RV Park just off Hwy 70 outside of Hot Springs. Real nice place up high. Peaceful, quiet, and not expensive. Full hookups and pull thrus.

[TyroneandGladys]

When we left Branson going to Petit Jean State Park we took 65 South to Harrison and then AR7 to 154 to Petit Jean State Park. Great scenery on AR7 and was not that bad of road.

[padredw]

I-40 to Ft Smith, I-49 north to Springdale, US 412 east to US 65, and north to Branson.

I would also suggest this route. Then down to Little Rock. A good choice for visit to both Little Rock and Hot Springs is Lake Catherine State Park. OR you could move from Lake Catherine up to Maumelle COE Park which is nearer to Little Rock.

For less back tracking, come down to Lake Catherine from Branson and then up to Little Rock.

There are many other choices in the Hot Springs area, but we stayed at Lake Catherine in November and really liked it.

[kohldad]

I was out there a few years ago for a Jeep Scrambler even and got there a day early so we stayed at the KOA east of town. Was nice and clean if you don't get any better recommendation.

Make sure you do some research on the pools. There are no hot pools operated by the national park as the water is to hot and they are required by law to distribute all of the water unchanged. My wife wanted to go there earlier this month until she found this out and checked into the rates for the spas and health pools in the area.

[MarkieBob]

Thanks folks. I'll check the map. By the way, the hot springs AR area. Good places to camp near hot pools, etc. in the area?

[TexasShadow]

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[BB_TX]

If you are heading east from the OKC area, I would take I-44 (toll) to Springfield and US 65 down to Branson as noted above. OR, take I-40 to Ft Smith, I-49 north to Springdale, US 412 east to US 65, and north to Branson.

After Branson, then take US 65 down to I-40 to Little Rock. And after Little Rock, backtrack a little I-30 to US 70 to Hot Springs. Hot Springs is only about 60 miles from Little Rock. You could do Little Rock and then Hot Springs, or vice versa. That minimizes the mileage and backtracking to see all three. Then it is simply I-40 from Little Rock to Nashville.

[kohldad]

So you aren't double tracking, you may want to catch I44 in Oklahoma City and take it up to Springfield then Hwy 65 south to Branson. Not sure if you were wanting to see anything between Oklahoma City and Little Rock on I40.

From Branson to Little Rock, will agree on Hwy 65 as the best and really only practical route. Just did this last week.

[BuzzWolfAR]

Take 65 the whole way, turn north in Conway (15 or so miles before Little Rock). Road is very hilly in parts, but also 4 lane in parts. Pretty drive.