Alternative to traveling I-40 westward

mnbstack

Member
We're planning our trip in early May traveling westward from Fort Smith, AK to Tucumcari, NM. Any suggestions for an alternate route? I-40 is rough traveling especially through Oklahoma.
 

yondering

Retired-Full Timer
One alternative is to drop down to Little Rock, Ar, then take I30 to Texarkana,Tx and on to hwy 380 at Greenville, up 287 to wichita falls and on to Amarillo, then I40 again to Tucumcari. This is a simplification, but a map will show the layout. Not bad roads, scenic and not to many towns . Best wishes and may God Bless ya, Al & Dee Weaver
 

bill40

Well-known member
OK is not the only place I40 is rough, in some places it is fine but boy tie everything down. Hope you enjoy Tucumcri. We stopped there for a couple days on our way back in November.
 

Peteandsharon

Well-known member
You didn't mention whether you were under any time constraints for this trip. There may be alternate routes but only if you are willing to go well out of your way. For instance, the route suggested by Al and Dee above going through Little Rock etc. turns a 550 mile trip into about a 950 mile trip. I'm thinking you would really really have to hate the rough road on I40 to add 400 miles to the trip. Outside of that, though, you don't seem to have any great alternatives.

As a side note, Al and Dee, I really love your beagle picture. That's priceless.

Pete
 

CrazyScotsman

Well-known member
I 40 West of OK city is mostly smooth now, they done a lot of resurfacing last year. There is some parts though that will still beat you to death. Like going through OK city.
yondering... I don't know about you, but for me 287 feels like it is never going to end. It has to be on my top ten list of boring stretches of road. I 70 in Kansas tops the list.
 

yondering

Retired-Full Timer
Thanks for the note on the beagle, it is not our dog, came from an e-friend card that a friend sent, I just could not resisit using it here. Yeh, 287 is long and boring, but at least it is halfway smooth. lol. God bless ya, Al
 

mnbstack

Member
We were hoping to avoid I-40 because we've been out there before and what we remembered was that it was rough driving through Oklahoma. I think, with the help of another couple that will be accompanying us on this trip, we're going to be taking another route. When we come out of Arkansas into OK we're going to pick up OK Rt. 9. Then just south of Oklahoma City we'll pick up OK Rt. 152. That should take us across OK and then we'll pick up I-40 again.

What do ya'll think?? ;)
 

RoadJunkie

Well-known member
"Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything."

-Charles Kuralt

 
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