Road trip from Houston to New Orleans
 

Is there anything to see along the way or will we be struggling to stay awake on flat, straight, boring roads? We are driving out from Houston on monday to New Orleans, driving back to Hou on thursday. We would like to stop a few times to take in the south but not sure if its worth it or if we should just drive straight through as fast as possible.

Also i'm open to suggestions on which route to take.

IH-10 is really the only route to get out of Texas, and it's a drug trafficking corridor, so cops everywhere. You can speed a little on the Texas side, but DO NOT speed once you get into LA...

JB's BBQ in Orange (my hometown) is worth stopping for. Best BBQ I've ever tasted. It's where Old 90 meets IH-10.

I imagine you don't want to get off the interstate much, but there's some other good eats there. Other than that...just keep driving. Do not stop in Beaumont. People that go there disappear, it's a black whole for decent lives.

Seems like there was a visitor center right after you get into LA that has a walkway through the swamp where you can see some alligators, but can't find anything on it.

I've never been much farther than Lake Charles...

Thanks dude. Good info there. I'll look into stopping at the BBQ place but otherwise I think we'll try and just head straight there and no really stop along the way. My girlfriend wants us to stop several times along the way but I get the feeling there isn't much to see or it isn't in our best interest to stop.

Here's a good review of the place, with addy at bottom:

Houston Foodie: JB's BBQ in Orange, Texas

Only notable place within hours on either side if you happen to be hungry at that point in the journey.

Other than that I think the best advice is to get to New Orleans as quick as possible, without talking to Jean E. Law.

I did that road trip a couple of times when I was in grad school in H-town. It's pretty much boring as fuck. Don't let the gas tank get too low because I think there are some long-ish stretches of I-10 through the swamp with no service stations.

The plus side of the otherwise excruciatingly boring drive was that I managed to convince my then-GF to give me road head. "C'mon honey, what else is there to do?" Worth a shot at least. :bigtu:

LA is one of the few states i haven't any time in, in the south east. I like all different flavors of BBQ, but i am still adapting to beef BBQ here in TX. I guess its all how you grow up, where im from in TN is close to NC SC and GA (within 4-5 hours) To GA. All kinds of nice BBQ joints. Alabama BBQ is kinda weird. As for what to do on the way, I always drive straight through, til i get to florida.

Curious of this same thing...will be driving to Florida through Houston soon enough, stopping in New Orleans, ultimately for our honeymoon.

Well i rented a Prius so gas shouldn't be a problem.

I'd totally get some road head if there wasn't going to be another person in the car :(

I think this needs to be said a few more times...

DO NOT SPEED once you get into LA.

I grew up in New Orleans and have made that drive more than a few times. Sadly it is dead boring. The view from I-10 once you get into LA is actually kind of cool as far as seeing the swamp goes. On the long elevated bit for the 25 miles of so leading into Baton Rouge the speed limit is something damn silly like 55. You will want to pull your hair out, but as has been stated don't speed. And I mean don't even do 57. The state troopers out there on the elevated part are bored to tears and looking for a reason (and hoping for a drug bust).

Once you get past BR the cops thin out a bit so the pressure is off, but all the same you are in the sticks. Everyone is drunk and stupid. Keep your head about you. In Gonzales there is a reasonably big outlet mall that she would enjoy, but by then your trip is 3/4 over and you will be ready to just be done with it.

Once you get into NO and down to the river, go to "Cafe Maspero" on Decatur and Toulouse. Its the best value you will find for "real" new orleans food. The Jambalaya is outstanding and last time I was there it was like $4.

So I just thought i'd update this having been home for a few days. Friday was a 4 hour flight followed by a 2 hour drive home. Boy was I glad to be back home.

The drive to and from Nawlins was super boring and dull as I figured it would be. On the way out there I tried to find the BBQ place that gospeed suggested but neither my garmin or google maps on my phone could get us there. The place it took us was just a mess of construction on the side of I-10. We went to the waffle house instead. When we asked the lady about the place she didn't know what the hell we were talking about.

So after spending a week in the south I was as homesick as i've ever been. I thought I would share some pictures to compare home (western washington) and the south (anywhere between houston and new orleans).

I'll start with a view from the plane.

View in Texas:
Attachment 198993

View in Washington:
Attachment 198994

Now for driving.

View in Louisiana. Kinda neat actually since i've never seen swamp before:
Attachment 198995

View in Washington:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...r/DSC01484.jpg

God i'm glad to be home.

Houston = New Orleans west

texas = pile of shit

I would get mad...but it's true.

Sorry you couldn't find JB's. May not still be there, but was worth at least looking for. I used to spend lots of late Friday nights/early Saturday mornings smoking cigs and talking about the night we'd had with my buddies at that Waffle House you stopped at. Used to live in the neighborhood behind there.

Ya it was really weird going in there and being asked if I wanted smoking or non. My gf hadn't ever been to a waffle house so atleast we got to check something off our vacation to-do list even if it wasn't bbq at JBs.