There was a thread here before with this debate but I can't find it. So, which route is the fastest? Memphis to PCB... Go!

You can do Tupelo-Birmingham-Montgomery. Or Tupelo-Meridian-Mobile. Or Jackson-Hattiesburg-Mobile. I've become partial to the Meridian-Mobile way. It has the fewest amount of tractor trailers so it keeps my blood pressure the lowest. Modern day truck drivers think it's cool to pass another truck going 0.25 miles slower than they want to go. So they get in the left lane and pass them going 0.25 MPH faster than the truck they are passing. If my car was equipped with rocket launchers they'd be in trouble.

However you get there, just stop somewhere along 30A and vacation there instead.

Do not, I repeat, do not venture off of the interstate in Alabama. Take 65 all the way down. Then hit 10. Do not be fooled by the Less Miles that an alternate route through southern Alabama might save you. I promise the small towns will cost you triple the time. Also the other poster is right. 30A is the bomb, I stayed there for two weeks back in May with my family and it is a amazing

(06-20-2014 09:34 AM)TigerNK Wrote:  Modern day truck drivers think it's cool to pass another truck going 0.25 miles slower than they want to go. So they get in the left lane and pass them going 0.25 MPH faster than the truck they are passing. If my car was equipped with rocket launchers they'd be in trouble.

This.

FML

Birmingham, Montgomery, then 331 to 98. Drops you right between Destin and Panama City.

There is no great way to get there once you get past Montgomery.

I would go 78 to Birmingham (IMPORTANT - don't take old 78 when the signs tell you to. Go all the way to the end and get off at the last opportunity, turn right and go about three miles to Daniel Payne - you'll see I-65 from the intersection). When we go, at Montgomery we take I-85 over to Taylor Road and head south to 231, 231 to Troy, 167 / 79 to Back Beach Road (depending on where on the beach your hotel is located).

I've been every way conceivable and each way's timing and distance can be better or worse than others at any time. One time we got behind a funeral procession on 231 just past Montgomery. It was a four lane, but we went 20 miles before someone had the nerve to pass them. Just try to enjoy the trip as much as you can. ha

(06-20-2014 01:33 PM)salukiblue Wrote:  

(06-20-2014 09:34 AM)TigerNK Wrote:  Modern day truck drivers think it's cool to pass another truck going 0.25 miles slower than they want to go. So they get in the left lane and pass them going 0.25 MPH faster than the truck they are passing. If my car was equipped with rocket launchers they'd be in trouble.

This.

FML

And they often wait until you are just a few feet from them before whipping over in front of you. Rocket launchers...great idea.

(06-21-2014 09:08 PM)eltigre Wrote:  

(06-20-2014 01:33 PM)salukiblue Wrote:  

(06-20-2014 09:34 AM)TigerNK Wrote:  Modern day truck drivers think it's cool to pass another truck going 0.25 miles slower than they want to go. So they get in the left lane and pass them going 0.25 MPH faster than the truck they are passing. If my car was equipped with rocket launchers they'd be in trouble.

This.

FML

And they often wait until you are just a few feet from them before whipping over in front of you. Rocket launchers...great idea.

Coming back from NW Ark this afternoon, just before the construction backup at Forrest City, in the westbound lanes, I saw 2 trucks side by side going slow, no cars in front of them for at least 1/4 mile, and traffic backed up behind them going slow or stopped for at least 2 miles. Memphis to Little Rock has to be the worst interstate for truck traffic.

OK going to Orange Beach from Dallas, long drive ahead! Do we go 20 to Jackson, Hattisburg, Mobile, or 20 to Shreveport , down 79?, to 10 outside of the Big Easy and 10 across?

Just watch out for speed traps around Laurel, Mississippi.

I think Southern Airways has a flight to Destin, FWIW.

(06-20-2014 03:05 PM)Phillip26r Wrote:  There is no great way to get there once you get past Montgomery.

I would go 78 to Birmingham (IMPORTANT - don't take old 78 when the signs tell you to. Go all the way to the end and get off at the last opportunity, turn right and go about three miles to Daniel Payne - you'll see I-65 from the intersection). When we go, at Montgomery we take I-85 over to Taylor Road and head south to 231, 231 to Troy, 167 / 79 to Back Beach Road (depending on where on the beach your hotel is located).

I've been every way conceivable and each way's timing and distance can be better or worse than others at any time. One time we got behind a funeral procession on 231 just past Montgomery. It was a four lane, but we went 20 miles before someone had the nerve to pass them. Just try to enjoy the trip as much as you can. ha

I agree. This is the best way to do it.

(06-21-2014 10:56 PM)mapdude Wrote:  

(06-21-2014 09:08 PM)eltigre Wrote:  

(06-20-2014 01:33 PM)salukiblue Wrote:  

(06-20-2014 09:34 AM)TigerNK Wrote:  Modern day truck drivers think it's cool to pass another truck going 0.25 miles slower than they want to go. So they get in the left lane and pass them going 0.25 MPH faster than the truck they are passing. If my car was equipped with rocket launchers they'd be in trouble.

This.

FML

And they often wait until you are just a few feet from them before whipping over in front of you. Rocket launchers...great idea.

Coming back from NW Ark this afternoon, just before the construction backup at Forrest City, in the westbound lanes, I saw 2 trucks side by side going slow, no cars in front of them for at least 1/4 mile, and traffic backed up behind them going slow or stopped for at least 2 miles. Memphis to Little Rock has to be the worst interstate for truck traffic.

Regularly has the highest percentage of truck traffic in the country.

(06-21-2014 10:56 PM)mapdude Wrote:  

(06-21-2014 09:08 PM)eltigre Wrote:  

(06-20-2014 01:33 PM)salukiblue Wrote:  

(06-20-2014 09:34 AM)TigerNK Wrote:  Modern day truck drivers think it's cool to pass another truck going 0.25 miles slower than they want to go. So they get in the left lane and pass them going 0.25 MPH faster than the truck they are passing. If my car was equipped with rocket launchers they'd be in trouble.

This.

FML

And they often wait until you are just a few feet from them before whipping over in front of you. Rocket launchers...great idea.

Coming back from NW Ark this afternoon, just before the construction backup at Forrest City, in the westbound lanes, I saw 2 trucks side by side going slow, no cars in front of them for at least 1/4 mile, and traffic backed up behind them going slow or stopped for at least 2 miles. Memphis to Little Rock has to be the worst interstate for truck traffic.

you can also get on Hghwy 64 E at Conway and avoid LR-MEM. It's a decent drive that takes you through Wynne and straight into I55 near Marion

I would definitely avoid US-98. I've gone two ways from Memphis and the first one took much longer:
I-55 to Jackson, US-49 to Hattiesburg, US-98 to PCB via Mobile .... the stretch from Mobile to PC Beach took forever.

I endorse this route because US-231 takes you straight there from a North to South direction: US-78 to Birmingham, I-65 to Montgomery and then US-231 (through Troy, Dothan, and Marianna, FL)

Tupelo-Birmingham-Montgomery is probably the best way, but I always preferred Memphis-Jax-Hattiesburg-Mobile then to I-10 to the exit for the Destin bridge or continue on for locations east of there.

Especially now that we are in TX, I just take 20 straight across to Jax and on down 49.

I know it's slow, just enjoy that drive. We always had our regular stops along the way.

The trip to/from Montgomery on 231 seems to take forever.

Who goes to Panama City? St. George Island is the sh*t.

(06-21-2014 10:56 PM)mapdude Wrote:  

(06-21-2014 09:08 PM)eltigre Wrote:  

(06-20-2014 01:33 PM)salukiblue Wrote:  

(06-20-2014 09:34 AM)TigerNK Wrote:  Modern day truck drivers think it's cool to pass another truck going 0.25 miles slower than they want to go. So they get in the left lane and pass them going 0.25 MPH faster than the truck they are passing. If my car was equipped with rocket launchers they'd be in trouble.

This.

FML

And they often wait until you are just a few feet from them before whipping over in front of you. Rocket launchers...great idea.

Coming back from NW Ark this afternoon, just before the construction backup at Forrest City, in the westbound lanes, I saw 2 trucks side by side going slow, no cars in front of them for at least 1/4 mile, and traffic backed up behind them going slow or stopped for at least 2 miles. Memphis to Little Rock has to be the worst interstate for truck traffic.

There are rumblings of adding a fast lane toll section like the one in Texas called Texpress Lanes that's off limits to trucks and slow traffic. Just Talk at this point.

A completed I-69 would divert some of the semi traffic that pours into I-40 at Little Rock. We give billions away to failed green tech start ups but can't complete needed interstates in decades.

http://www.thv11.com/story/local/2013/05/23/1757952/

(06-28-2014 08:55 PM)WaywardMemphian Wrote:  

(06-21-2014 10:56 PM)mapdude Wrote:  

(06-21-2014 09:08 PM)eltigre Wrote:  

(06-20-2014 01:33 PM)salukiblue Wrote:  

(06-20-2014 09:34 AM)TigerNK Wrote:  Modern day truck drivers think it's cool to pass another truck going 0.25 miles slower than they want to go. So they get in the left lane and pass them going 0.25 MPH faster than the truck they are passing. If my car was equipped with rocket launchers they'd be in trouble.

This.

FML

And they often wait until you are just a few feet from them before whipping over in front of you. Rocket launchers...great idea.

Coming back from NW Ark this afternoon, just before the construction backup at Forrest City, in the westbound lanes, I saw 2 trucks side by side going slow, no cars in front of them for at least 1/4 mile, and traffic backed up behind them going slow or stopped for at least 2 miles. Memphis to Little Rock has to be the worst interstate for truck traffic.

There are rumblings of adding a fast lane toll section like the one in Texas called Texpress Lanes that's off limits to trucks and slow traffic. Just Talk at this point.

A completed I-69 would divert some of the semi traffic that pours into I-40 at Little Rock. We give billions away to failed green tech start ups but can't complete needed interstates in decades.

http://www.thv11.com/story/local/2013/05/23/1757952/

They are already building a "Texpress" that will go across the city of Dallas east to west. It will be a toll road in the middle of 635.

I agree, the I-40 from Little Rock to Memphis is the worst part of the drive from Dallas. Never look forward to that part of the drive.

(06-28-2014 10:31 PM)dfwtxtiger Wrote:  

(06-28-2014 08:55 PM)WaywardMemphian Wrote:  

(06-21-2014 10:56 PM)mapdude Wrote:  

(06-21-2014 09:08 PM)eltigre Wrote:  

(06-20-2014 01:33 PM)salukiblue Wrote:  This.

FML

And they often wait until you are just a few feet from them before whipping over in front of you. Rocket launchers...great idea.

Coming back from NW Ark this afternoon, just before the construction backup at Forrest City, in the westbound lanes, I saw 2 trucks side by side going slow, no cars in front of them for at least 1/4 mile, and traffic backed up behind them going slow or stopped for at least 2 miles. Memphis to Little Rock has to be the worst interstate for truck traffic.

There are rumblings of adding a fast lane toll section like the one in Texas called Texpress Lanes that's off limits to trucks and slow traffic. Just Talk at this point.

A completed I-69 would divert some of the semi traffic that pours into I-40 at Little Rock. We give billions away to failed green tech start ups but can't complete needed interstates in decades.

http://www.thv11.com/story/local/2013/05/23/1757952/

They are already building a "Texpress" that will go across the city of Dallas east to west. It will be a toll road in the middle of 635.

I agree, the I-40 from Little Rock to Memphis is the worst part of the drive from Dallas. Never look forward to that part of the drive.

Same here. If I know ahead of time that the interstate is backed up I will try and get off and drive on 79.

(06-25-2014 04:23 PM)poppaslaw Wrote:  Who goes to Panama City? St. George Island is the sh*t.

Personally I prefer the Isle of Dauphine for the spring migration.