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grue

Road trip in the southeastern USA - the boring parts?

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So I'm gonna be flying down to Naples, FL to pick up a car in the next few weeks, and I'm plotting out my route and hotels.

The original plan called for the first night's stop to be in Pensacola, but I've had need to make it either Tallahassee or Biloxi instead. The 2nd night will be Dallas, though.

The question is, what's more boring/tiring, the 750ish miles from Naples to Biloxi, or the 850ish miles from Tallahassee to Dallas?
cavete terrae.

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It's all incredibly flat. And the FL panhandle is longer than most people think. At least to Biloxi you may have some coastal views. Destin has some great beaches and the sand is like sugar. Passing P-Cola you could always stop at the Florabama, Jimmy Buffet might be there. Biloxi has casinos and good restaurants, so something to look forward to.

Going to Dallas, you have to pass New Orleans. You are a stronger man than I if you can go through there without at least picking up a muffaletta to eat on the go. Try the Central Grocery if you do stop.

West of NOLA, it just gets boring. And once you pass Baton Rouge, even worse. Swamp all the way to the Texas line. The road is a lot of causeway and flat enough to be a bowling alley. And this time of year it will be hot and humid.

My vote goes to the 850 because of that stretch there. Good luck on that. If you get adventurous with the radio tuner, you may be able to find some Cajun DJ playing zydeco.
Shit happens. And it usually happens because of physics.

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If you're taking I-75 from Naples to Tallahassee, that will be extremely boring. There won't even be anything nice to look at. :|

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

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skymama

If you're taking I-75 from Naples to Tallahassee, that will be extremely boring. There won't even be anything nice to look at. :|



Heis going to see lots of TREES and ROAD...TREES and ROAD...TREES and ROAD...TREES and ROAD... and if lucky go up over an overpass where you can see more than 100 ft off the TREES and ROAD...TREES and ROAD...TREES and ROAD...

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If you're not in a big hurry, take US41 into Bradenton. Then cross the Skyway and pick up US19 to Perry, then either pick up US98 to Pensacola (my choice). or go to Tallahassee and take US90 west. Many small towns and much more scenic than I-75/I-10.

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muff528

If you're not in a big hurry, take US41 into Bradenton. Then cross the Skyway and pick up US19 to Perry, then either pick up US98 to Pensacola (my choice). or go to Tallahassee and take US90 west. Many small towns and much more scenic than I-75/I-10.



Good call I have spent many hours on those roads before the Interstates were THE roads to transit... way too much family along those roads going back to when they first traversed the old wagon trails that became those US highways.:)

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muff528

If you're not in a big hurry, take US41 into Bradenton. Then cross the Skyway and pick up US19 to Perry, then either pick up US98 to Pensacola (my choice). or go to Tallahassee and take US90 west. Many small towns and much more scenic than I-75/I-10.



One thing you can be sure of seeing... are a bunch of confederate flags mounted on pickup truck beds riding around... :S:P
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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Amazon

.....
Good call I have spent many hours on those roads before the Interstates were THE roads to transit... way too much family along those roads going back to when they first traversed the old wagon trails that became those US highways.:)



Yeah, before the Interstates, these were some of the highways where all the old tourist traps attractions were ...before Disney and Universal sucked all the air out of them. Only a few survived, like Weeki Wachi or Gatorland (on OBT). There are still some interesting spots on these routes. Just about all the US highways in the State have lots of historical sites from the Post War boom. We used to take weekend scooter trips down these roads with no particular destination planned. Just stop at whatever places struck our fancy or take the occasional side road.

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BillyVance

***If you're not in a big hurry, take US41 into Bradenton. Then cross the Skyway and pick up US19 to Perry, then either pick up US98 to Pensacola (my choice). or go to Tallahassee and take US90 west. Many small towns and much more scenic than I-75/I-10.



One thing you can be sure of seeing... are a bunch of confederate flags mounted on pickup truck beds riding around... :S:P

Lots of "Roll Tide" stickers, too! :D:D

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I live in Slidell, LA (near NOLA, about 45 min from Biloxi), and drive the 9+ hours between there and Tampa every time I get a 4-day weekend. The bit between P-Cola and Slidell is better, as you have towns, coastline, and state lines to break up the monotony. Even between P-Cola and Tallahassee is pretty boring, I'm afraid. You aren't doing much but counting down miles until the state line.

And a great way to skip NOLA is to take I-12 once you get to Slidell. It cuts off that whole V-shaped southern detour across the lake, and avoids a ton of crazy traffic (read: crazy drivers). :P

ETA: I highly recommend getting all the way to Biloxi on your first day. Morning traffic through Pensacola and Mobile will delay you so much that you'll feel defeated the rest of the drive. It will be better if you can get through Mobile in the evening, when it's clear, and have a fresh start the next morning.

See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus

Shut Up & Jump!

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TriGirl

I live in Slidell, LA (near NOLA, about 45 min from Biloxi), and drive the 9+ hours between there and Tampa every time I get a 4-day weekend. The bit between P-Cola and Slidell is better, as you have towns, coastline, and state lines to break up the monotony. Even between P-Cola and Tallahassee is pretty boring, I'm afraid. You aren't doing much but counting down miles until the state line.

And a great way to skip NOLA is to take I-12 once you get to Slidell. It cuts off that whole V-shaped southern detour across the lake, and avoids a ton of crazy traffic (read: crazy drivers). :P

ETA: I highly recommend getting all the way to Biloxi on your first day. Morning traffic through Pensacola and Mobile will delay you so much that you'll feel defeated the rest of the drive. It will be better if you can get through Mobile in the evening, when it's clear, and have a fresh start the next morning.



Pro tips! I think Biloxi is gonna be the way to go!
cavete terrae.

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muff528

******If you're not in a big hurry, take US41 into Bradenton. Then cross the Skyway and pick up US19 to Perry, then either pick up US98 to Pensacola (my choice). or go to Tallahassee and take US90 west. Many small towns and much more scenic than I-75/I-10.



One thing you can be sure of seeing... are a bunch of confederate flags mounted on pickup truck beds riding around... :S:P

Lots of "Roll Tide" stickers, too! :D:D

You'd be surprised how many Crimson Tide fans there are. They're all over. Hell, there's a bar in NYC where Tide fans get together to watch their beloved team stomp mudholes in their opponents. :D
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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On your way through the swamps you have to try some boudin and cracklin's.

Wendy P.
There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

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The question is, what's more boring/tiring, the 750ish miles from Naples to Biloxi, or the 850ish miles from Tallahassee to Dallas?



Alabama.

There's a reason the state symbol is two rolls of Charmin and a box of detergent. :)



Don
"When in doubt I whip it out,
I got me a rock-and-roll band.
It's a free-for-all."

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PLFKING

Quote

The question is, what's more boring/tiring, the 750ish miles from Naples to Biloxi, or the 850ish miles from Tallahassee to Dallas?



Alabama.

There's a reason the state symbol is two rolls of Charmin and a box of detergent. :)
Then he won't have far to go through along I-10 :P

Tide detergent is the top brand out of all laundry detergents, so it's a perfect representative for the Crimson Tide. ;)



Don

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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amstalder

***Yes.



What she said. I drove Austin to SE Alabama and back last year (thankfully broken up by about 8 months, but with a toddler). Torture. Pure torture. Even with interesting audiobooks.

Best of luck to you!! :)
I've got three episodes of skydive radio I've been putting off listening to, the first book in Stephen King's Dark Tower series in audiobook format, and Clive Barker - Imajica. Hopefully that does the trick!
cavete terrae.

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grue

******Yes.



What she said. I drove Austin to SE Alabama and back last year (thankfully broken up by about 8 months, but with a toddler). Torture. Pure torture. Even with interesting audiobooks.

Best of luck to you!! :)
I've got three episodes of skydive radio I've been putting off listening to, the first book in Stephen King's Dark Tower series in audiobook format, and Clive Barker - Imajica. Hopefully that does the trick!

If two of those episodes are the latest two, you'll have almost five hours of drive time just off of those! (not sure whether you've checked, but they're LONG). Not that I'm complaining -- the last one covered a large portion of this past Monday's drive back to LA from Tampa! B|
See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus

Shut Up & Jump!

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TriGirl

*********Yes.



What she said. I drove Austin to SE Alabama and back last year (thankfully broken up by about 8 months, but with a toddler). Torture. Pure torture. Even with interesting audiobooks.

Best of luck to you!! :)
I've got three episodes of skydive radio I've been putting off listening to, the first book in Stephen King's Dark Tower series in audiobook format, and Clive Barker - Imajica. Hopefully that does the trick!

If two of those episodes are the latest two, you'll have almost five hours of drive time just off of those! (not sure whether you've checked, but they're LONG). Not that I'm complaining -- the last one covered a large portion of this past Monday's drive back to LA from Tampa! B|

Perfect! I used to use 'em for drives to and from the DZ back in Australia which was >2hr each way, so now that I'm an hour from the DZ they always felt like they'd be better used elsewhere :D
cavete terrae.

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grue



Perfect! I used to use 'em for drives to and from the DZ back in Australia which was >2hr each way, so now that I'm an hour from the DZ they always felt like they'd be better used elsewhere :D



Make sure you give them a call along the trip. Do it in the middle of no where with shitty reception. Just like back in Oz.:D
50 donations so far. Give it a try.

You know you want to spank it
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monkycndo

***

Perfect! I used to use 'em for drives to and from the DZ back in Australia which was >2hr each way, so now that I'm an hour from the DZ they always felt like they'd be better used elsewhere :D



Make sure you give them a call along the trip. Do it in the middle of no where with shitty reception. Just like back in Oz.:D

:D:D:D

The funny thing about that is that it wasn't actually the reception that was the issue, it was the wind noise and the horrible codec used for international calls from a mobile phone. A decent headset and skype would have made all the difference, I just never knew it was bad until they mentioned it on the show!
cavete terrae.

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skymama

If you're taking I-75 from Naples to Tallahassee, that will be extremely boring. There won't even be anything nice to look at. :|

Wow, I thought the 350+ miles of I-80 thru southern Wyoming was bad. Those others sound like torture.

Vskydiver and I enjoy driving thru FL, but maybe it's just the company. ;)

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Vskydiver and I enjoy driving thru FL, but maybe it's just the company.



If you enjoyed I-74, I-4, or I-95 through FL, it was definitely the company. :ph34r:
She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

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