Route Question - US 82 Wichita Falls TX to Tuscaloosa AL

[Thom02099]

Piggy backing a prior question about travel on US 287 from Amarillo to Fort Worth TX (which, coming from Colorado is a good route for me) I'm interested in the route from Wichita Falls TX east through Texarkana, across southern Arkansas, crossing the Mississippi at Greenville MS, and continuing on over to Tuscaloosa AL.

Yes, I've looked at MapQuest and Google Earth, but I'm interested in real time driving experiences. Looks to be a goodly number of small towns in east Texas, and good 4 lane across Mississippi. Not looking to make great time getting across, just taking my time in getting down to visit family in Alabama.

Any input would be appreciated! Looking to do this trip in late winter/early spring 2015, so planning now.

[Thom02099]

Thanks for the info so far, folks! Keep it coming! Especially interested in that stretch around Paris TX to Texarkana, looks like there are a lot of small towns along the way. Do these slow you down some, with stop/go traffic going through them, or are many of them off the roadway to the north or south?

[egh33]

Was over it from Henrietta to Texarkana just about 3 weeks ago. Some construction west of Bonham, other than that I thought it was a pretty good road.

[padredw]

We make the Wichita Falls to Paris, Texas several times a year. It is our preferred route to Amarillo and Colorado. We have also made the US 82 portion from southern Arkansas to Tuscaloosa. As someone else has posted we have stayed a couple of times at Pecan Grove near Lake Village, Arkansas. We have taken this route as an alternate to I-20 to break the monotony. It is not the quickest route, but it is a more interesting route.

Just to be clear, the only portion of this route on US82 which we have NOT taken has been from Paris to near Texarkana.

BTW, we bought our present fifth-wheel trailer at Shady Pines. The RV park is a really nice one right next to the dealership.

[sdianel_-acct_c]

We took that route two years ago and there were sections that were really rough. Don't know if they've fixed all of it yet.
We like Shady Pines RV Park in Texarkana TX on hwy 67. Not far from US82.
In Lake Village Arkansas we stop at Pecan Grove. Not fancy but good for overnight stop. Or you can boondock at Harlow's casino at the river bridge. They built the new bridge a few years ago and it's so much better than the old bridge!! We also stayed at Lake Chicot State Park but it's about 12 miles from US82 if you can stay a few days there. We got a spot on the lake. Good fishing.
Just north of Columbus MS is Dewayne Hayes Corps of Engineers campground on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. They have some full hookup sites on the water. You can reserve them on www.recreation.gov

[RoyB]

I have made the trip between Tuscaloosa AL and Wichita falls TX using US82 on many trips back in my working days pulling my OFF-ROAD POPUP.

Like said there is alot of four lane and alot of two lane still remaining.

For us gas stops was no problem as this goes through several large towns.

We would park over night in motel parking lots sometimes. Lots of strange things to see along the US82 corridor from Large Airplans to Lawn Mowers collections.

Always got a motel in Greenville MS area before crossing the Miss River. Be sure to bring along your own water as the water is very bad looking (BROWN).

When you hit Texarkana going WEST we would be sure to find a WHAT-A-BURGER place and chow down before crossing the big road to Ft Worth... Best hamburger in the country...

For us the US 82 continues on to Wichita Falls and we get to visit the wife's family cemetery in Gober TX near Bonham State Park.

Roy and Carolyn

[kohldad]

Have done the AR/MS line to Tuscaloosa, AL and can say it was a great road with minimal traffic. Would do the route again in a heart beat. Few small towns to go through but just breaks up the boredom of a long drive.

Just west of the Mississippi River, we turned north so don't know beyond there.