Forum Discussion

schwartzworld's avatar
schwartzworld
Explorer
Sep 12, 2013

Missouri Highway 54

Did some searching but mostly found info on Highway 54 further west. I'm headed to Texas in a few days and just don't want to take the same old route through St. Louis (no offense to anyone in St. Louis). I'm headed from Cleveland OH to Dallas TX. I usually head through St. Louis, Joplin and into Oklahoma and then south to Dallas. This time I'm thinking of heading to Springfield IL, then into and through Missouri on Highway 54 to Joplin, then onto Dallas. Is Highway 54 a good choice? Can the route be done in one day? Aside from the Lake of the Ozarks, is there anything we should plan on stopping to see?

Thanks much

Fred
Roads and Routes
  • padredw's avatar
    padredw
    Nomad
    Sep 13, 2013
    One possibility, which you may have already considered and rejected, is to head on down through or around Cincinnati to Lexington, KY then across the Kentucky Parkways (Bluegrass, then Western Kentucky).These are really nice drives. We usually cross over into the bootheel of Missouri then down the river to pick up I-40 at West Memphis and I-30 through Little Rock and on to Dallas. We have made the Texarkana to Lexington to Cincinnati portion of this route several times. The Missouri/Arkansas portion of I-55 have been pretty rough, but are being improved. Of course, if you want to go to Nashville, you would come on down to Memphis. I've never had any difficulty towing through Memphis.
  • Odessa_Grandma's avatar
    Odessa_Grandma
    Explorer
    Sep 13, 2013
    The Missouri State Capitol tour is nice with the huge Thomas Hart Benton murals on display. Also, not too far off your path in Warsaw, Mo is the Harry S Truman Dam and visitors center. It's pretty impressive. The Precious Moments Chapel at Carthage, Mo has good reviews on trip advisor.
  • schwartzworld's avatar
    schwartzworld
    Explorer
    Sep 13, 2013
    padredw wrote:
    One possibility, which you may have already considered and rejected, is to head on down through or around Cincinnati to Lexington, KY then across the Kentucky Parkways (Bluegrass, then Western Kentucky).These are really nice drives. We usually cross over into the bootheel of Missouri then down the river to pick up I-40 at West Memphis and I-30 through Little Rock and on to Dallas. We have made the Texarkana to Lexington to Cincinnati portion of this route several times. The Missouri/Arkansas portion of I-55 have been pretty rough, but are being improved. Of course, if you want to go to Nashville, you would come on down to Memphis. I've never had any difficulty towing through Memphis.


    We did something pretty close to that route the first year we went down to Texas. The trip through Arkansas was terrible, the road was worse than I-86 in New York. I hope they have done some repairs to it by now but we're not ready to find out.
  • schwartzworld's avatar
    schwartzworld
    Explorer
    Sep 13, 2013
    Odessa Grandma wrote:
    The Missouri State Capitol tour is nice with the huge Thomas Hart Benton murals on display. Also, not too far off your path in Warsaw, Mo is the Harry S Truman Dam and visitors center. It's pretty impressive. The Precious Moments Chapel at Carthage, Mo has good reviews on trip advisor.


    Thanks for the info. I'll check that out.
  • hotpepperkid's avatar
    hotpepperkid
    Explorer
    Sep 14, 2013
    In mid OCT we are going to take US-54 from Lake Ozark MO to I-40. I have been on parts of it. So I know some of it is good

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