Dallas area - Amerihost Inn and others
 

Going to Dallas area next week. Maybe spending a night at the Amerihost Inn, McKinney (because I have a coupon and we're on a TIGHT budget). Any opinions of the Inn? <BR>I'll also be visiting Waxahachie, Granbury, Fort Worth, and Tyler. Any tips or recommendations would be wonderful!

Shannon, I know nothing about Amerihost, but do know the areas you will be visiting and McKinney is not convenient! So much of your travel will take you into the heart of busy Dallas, LBJ, I-20, I-35, through the worst of Dallas traffic for virtually all your destinations. You might be better off basing yourselves south of Dallas, perhaps Waxahachie where traffic headed in these directions, though not wonderful, is not quite as bad as North Dallas traffic.

Thanks for the tip! I wasn't sure what to expect with the traffic.

Shannon McKinney is quite a drive from Dallas and you will be driving in traffic depending on what time of day. What kind of budget are you on and what do you want to see in Dallas. Perhaps I can help you find a better location that would suit your budget.

Depending on which direction you are driving from, McKinney wouldn't be that bad. Look at a Texas map. You could avoid Dallas traffic by taking 380 to Greenville then down to Tyler. From Tyler take I20 to 35E to Waxahachie. From Waxahachie take 287 to Ft. Worth then to Granbury or take the back roads from Waxahachie to Grandbury. You could do this in reverse by taking 121(DFW hwy) out of Mckinney to Ft. Worth or 380 to Denton then 35 south to FT. Worth and Grandbury then over to Waxahachie and I20 to Tyler. Regardless of where you stay, there will be traffic. If you prefer not to deal with major Dallas freeways and sitting in traffic backups, you might prefer the scenic countryside drives.

121 or 35E a scenic country drive? You must not live anywhere around Dallas.

I did get a chuckle out of the 121 recommendation too. The intersection of 121 and Preston Rd. (in Plano, along the route out of McKinney to Ft Worth Edie suggested) has been named in a State Farm report as the 8th most dangerous intersection in the nation!! Check http://www.statefarm.com/di/danlist00.htm to see the others. I drove through this one on a regular basis, also through #9, Clearview Parkway and Veterans Blvd in Metairie, LA when we lived in New Orleans. <BR><BR>Anyway, 121 was country ages ago, but no more, and sections like the Plano intersection with Preston and the area around DFW are terribly busy.

I'm mostly interested in the outskirts and the countryside, anyway, so I would probably be making a big circle around DFW. I want to spend a day near Denton/McKinney, maybe a day or so near Tyler, then to Waxahachie and Granbury, and up the west side of Fort Worth. I'm mainly interested in the small towns with historic downtown squares and the countryside. Thank you for the info!

People are too freaked out about traffic.<BR>I have lived in Dallas all my life and if you avoid the main rush hour, it's a dream. I live in East Texas and work in Southlake. It's a 55 mile commute, one way and a piece of cake if I leave at 630am I arrive at work at 730am. I leave the office at 330pm and again, it takes 1 hour to get home. My drive is on Hwy 78 to 190(Garland),190 to 75 (Plano), 75 to 635, 635 to 121 (DFW), 121 to 114 (Grapevine), 114 to Southlake. It don't get much better than that on the Autobahn.<BR>Bottom line: Don't travel during the peak rush hour times.<BR>BTW... If you do stay in McKinney, have a burger at Culvers (on 75) and visit downtown. <BR>I leave at 7am tomorrow for LA, arriving at 758am. Just in time for the never-ending rush hour traffic.<BR>Driving from LAX to downtown LA truly sucks.