Florida boy with Texas questions.

[Michael K (Az.)]

Supposin I'm crusin W. on IS 10 and want to get thru Houston and then Austin with as little fuss and bother as possible, what would you folks recommend?
Ultimate goal would be Phoenix, Az.
Thanks for the info.

[Wanderer]

Austin and the Hill Country and surrounding parts are well worth getting hung up in and around! When are you coming thru? You might want to do your desert riding after dark on major hiways to avoid the animals as much as possible if you are coming thru this time of year. ~Jeff

[Rocketman]

Go by way of Texarkana.
Seriously:
I assume you want minimal traffic, and freeway speeds.  If you want good riding roads, at the expense of travel time, let us know.
As for Houston, if you're coming through on off-hours (mid-day, or post~7 PM), I-10 straight through works just fine.  From ~4-7 PM, or 6-9 AM, it's a bit rough, especially on the west side of town, although it follows standard patterns (morning is bad inbound, evening is bad outbound).  You'll probably lose an hour or so in traffic there.  However, you'll be able to use the HOV lane.  It sometimes takes some studying to find the entrances, so talk to us again if you're going to use that option.
Unfortunately, there aren't a whole lot of good bypasses without going out of your way by quite a bit.  You might catch 105 out of Beaumont, to 1488 up near Conroe, and over to 290 toward Austin.  I'm not sure what the traffic looks like on those roads, though.
Is there a reason you're headed through Austin?  It's not on I-10.
If you have the time, you could kill several days riding through the hill country (west of Austin/San Antonio).

Mark

[soz]

If you want to avoid I-10 for a more scenic route....catch 290 off the 610 loop (west side)...good highway most of the way to Austin....then some scenic stuff west of Austin...stay on 290 and it will hook back up with I-10 north of Kerville...it will probably add about 1-2 hours drive time but it is a much nicer route...west of Austin is very nice...a little north of the best riding in the state but pretty enough. Paul

[Michael K (Az.)]

You folks did great with the choices and directions! Now, if I only had told you a couple of things that would of made my questions a leetle bit clearer!
1. I meant San Antonio, not Austin! (Guess my fingers just wanted to spell Austin).
and
2. Guess I could've mentioned that I wasn't gonna ride as this will be a Jeep Liberty w/ Valk onna trailer and I'd be movin to Phoenix instead of making a laid back type of trip. (Somebody has to go and harass f6 gal and Psycho, haven't had a chance in a coupla years!)  :

[RainMaker]

Not sure how that Valkyrie is going to like riding on a trailer.  People will see it up there and assume it is a Harley.

[Michael K (Az.)]

Yep, I'm just gonna tell em that today's the day I usually take my bike out for a little ride! 

[Lyn-Del]

'Round here, we see lots of folks taking their washers, dryers, and refrigerators for rides like that.  And HDs of course.  Not many Valks.

Maybe you could let the air out of the rear tire, then folks could see you were taking her for a tire repair.  Save the bike the embarrassment of being seen hitching a ride for no good reason?

Drive safe.

[Wanderer]

Very creative thinking there, LD! ~Jeff

[Rocketman]

If you're just looking for "quickest", then I-10 all the way through, if you can avoid passing through Houston, especially Katy (just west of Houston) at peak hours.  If you can't avoid the peak hours, let us know, and we'll try to work up an alternate.

Mark

[Michael K (Az.)]

Thanks everybody for the replies. My job's going t!+s up soon, (they don't tell ya when they're stripping a Co. It'll be a suprise!)
 I don't even know what week, day or month it'll happen but it's coming!
When the time comes I'll let you all know and maybe I can do a meet and greet with some of yas as I fly (well, poke along) on my way to Aridzona!!

[HayHauler]

Not sure how that Valkyrie is going to like riding on a trailer.  People will see it up there and assume it is a Harley.

I doan kar who u r, ats funny rat der!!!

Hay   

[Thalas'shaya]

i know you asked specifically about the texas bits, but i highly recommend taking the bypass around tucson, unless you absolutely need to stop there.  You'll catch US Hwy 70 in Lordsburg, NM and follow it right into the west side of Phoenix.  I-10 in Tucson is under major construction and it's a significant stretch out of your way, to boot.  US 70 is faster, prettier, and more direct.

[Michael K (Az.)]

Thanks for the heads up on the Tucson leg!!
Job ended as I thought it would so it looks like I'll be headin out within the month.
Now I just gotta figure out how to put 10 lbs of ca-ca in a 5 lb bag!