Help with Southern U.S. itinerary.
 

Hi,

My girlfriend and I are heading to the United States. We are hiring a van and driving through some of the Southern States. Our route is as follows;

Dallas
Memphis
New Orleans
Tuscaloosa/Birmingham
Atlanta

Just wanting some advice, is there anything that we can't miss along this route? Food is a major factor in our travel plans!

Thanks in advance.

First - a couple of questions:

What time of year are you looking at? Summer will be hellishly hot! Spring or fall are a much better idea.

How much time do you have?

And why a van instead of a smaller car? You're not trying to live in a van are you? This would be a really bad idea, extremely complicated, and finding a place to put one and find basic services would be an issue in places.

What NY said about the van.
Landing "where"
We need some more info--interests, etc., time you have...

Yes, and why fly into Dallas and out of Atlanta? When we go to the South we try to avoid these Cities. Are these your primary destinations?

There is often a hefty fee for picking up a vehicle in one city and dropping it off in another.

Please let us know what you hope to get out of this trip.

HTtY

Woah! Thanks for the quick reply guys.

We have hired a fully furnished winnebago, so its more than just a van. I have previously driven a winnebago from seattle to San Diego, so i am comfortable with any pros or cons associated with travelling this way.

We land in Dallas and have two weeks to get to Atlanta, we have booked to see some sporting events in these places so thats why we are going to these cities.

We both enjoy good food and want to experience bbq, gumbo, hush puppies and good ol' southern hospitality. All i was after was some suggestions of places to go and see that were along this route as it is the one we have chosen.

thanks!

Do you have plans for where you will stay at night.
Birmingham has great restaurants owned by Frank Stitt--Highlands Grill is wonderful.

When is this planned for? What Month?

On your drive from Dallas to Memphis, spend one day/night at Petit Jean State Park in Arkansas.

In Memphis-allow 2 days
My favorite spots for dining are
Blues City Cafe -BBQ Ribs and other souther specialties
Gus's Fried Chicken-Chicken and Fried Green Tomatoes
Renedevouz--BBQ using coal instead of wood
Sunday Brunch @ Peabody Hotel
See Graceland/Elvis
See The Ducks at Peabody Hotel (free)
Stroll down Beale Street

Nashville-allow 2 or 3 days
Hot Chicken is the thing here
Have a meal at The Loveless Cafe
Get a popsicle at Las Pasaletas
See Country Music Hall of Fame
See The Hermitage
Plenty of other sights to see, depending on your interes

In New Orleans--3 or 4 days
I would see The Nottoway and Oak Alley Plantation Homes. This is between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. There are several other plantation homes there too that are great as well.
My favorite places to eat in NO
Commander's Palace
Johnny's Po Boys
Mother's

I would be tempted to include The Great Smoky/Pigeon Forge area and possibly even driving to The Biltmore House in North Carolina. It's a pretty drive over the Smoky's.

By the way, I think the RV is a terrible idea. Where do you plan to stay in these cities in your RV? Horrible gas mileage, not really safe(if you not experienced).

Although you say you are familiar with the Winnebago, you are visiting large urban centers. Parking and driving in them may be daunting, although great for tailgating, maybe.

Blues City does have some decent Hush Puppies. Most places that serve Fried Catfish always have Hush Puppies. There are variations on them. Corn, onions, jalapenos, and cheese are usually the 4 ingredients that people include or exclude from the basic recipe. It is basically cornbread, but fried instead of baked. You will find them most often in round balls, but some places(including Blues City), kind of rolls them out in little log shaped forms.

Thanks, that's some great suggestions.
I like the flexibility of the rv. It's actually fun finding inventive places to park up, you can be right in the thick of the action. For instance, we once parked our rv in fishermans wharf for two nights, just across the road from where the Alcatraz tours left from. The biggest worry is getting rid of the grey water, but it can be done.

Please keep the suggestions coming! Getting hungry just thinking about it!

Are you interested in the history of American blues music? If so, in the Memphis area you could visit Clarksdale, Mississippi, just about an hour away. There is a great blues museum and Morgan Freeman's club, Ground Zero.

visitthedelta.com/explore_our_region/clarksdale

I agree that Frank Stitt has the best restaurants around in Bham but that is not at all the type of cuisine you described. Instead you might try Full Moon BBQ -- don't miss the black & white cookies, or Jim N Nicks. For your hushpuppies, you might enjoy eating in Tuscaloosa at the Cypress Inn on the River. Or at Ezell's...pretty sure they are still open. In either city you should stop off at Dreamland, it's a don't miss, but the authentic location is in Tuscaloosa. Also, both cities have a location of Steel City Pops for a sweet treat after your southern meal. I think this will be right up your alley and they really are to do for.

Birmingham has a lot of food trucks downtown during the week. This is a new trend that has been pretty fun for the area, although controversial to the city in the way of taxes and business licensing, etc. I know this doesn't sound like the most appetizing cuisine ever, but some of it is really pretty good and much of it is local food made by up and coming chefs looking to break out in the business.

I agree with the PP's about your destinations and plans. Especially with football season almost upon us, your winnebago will be hard to park if you don't have a better plan for it in some of these locations. The RV-park is prime real estate near a football stadium in the south. ;)

Just one more thing about Frank Stitt--credited to bringing a French touch to southern cuisine. His cookbook is a gem.

Also in downtown Memphis is Sun Studio, where Elvis got his first break. The tour is really good.

Gretchen -- While in Chez Fon Fon on Friday I noticed he has more than one cookbook now! I can't remember the exact title of the most recent one but it looked equally as good. Going on my Christmas list.

Yes, I think so. We made a special stop in B'ham on the way to Pensacola to eat at Highlands. It was memorable.
We looked at the bistro, and maybe one of the others in that area--were glad we did Highlands.
I'll look at the other one, but have sworn off even one more cookbook!!

To the OP, I hope your overnights and dumping (that IS what it is called) are legal--just saying, since "we" live here all the time, and you don't.

Oh Highlands is always the best bet. It is closed for lunch though, so we resigned to eat at Fon Fon (which was a delightful 2nd choice, lol!). I am glad you enjoyed your meal while there. We were also just in town for the day, so we always take advantage of Stitt's restaurants or the Hot and Hot Fish Club when we can!

I am also growing too large a collection of cookbooks but I can surely squeeze in onnnne morrrre.....

Hmm, your itinerary will have you hopping about a lot. Houston is much closer to New Orleans than Dallas (about 4 hours closer) yet due to the roads you'd use, it's only about 2 hours further from Memphis (570 miles+ v. 450+ miles from Dallas).

If Tuscaloosa is a must, then go to New Orleans, up to Memphis with some detouring on the River Road for the plantations (Laura Plantation is unique among the bunch, Oak Alley is iconic and typifies the architecture and design of many others), across to Nashville, down I-65 to CrimsonTideville, and from there it's a straight shot to Atlanta on the truck-infested I-20.

Careful: Memphis is #4 in US cities (> 250K people) in violent crime, Atlanta is #5, Nashville is #13 and New Orleans is #1 in murder rate (#28 overall; the black-on-black violence in NOLA is tragic).

By now, darcym87 has probably given up on Fodors, where he has been admonished for his choice of transportation, questioned on the logic of his choice of cities, and provided scary crime stats for places that people visit and enjoy every day.

All the guy wanted was advice on what not to miss and food.

Sorry, I normally don't complain, but this kind of stuff has happened to me before here and it very frustrating.