Old Texas saying . . "When the truth gets in the way of a good story . . . tell the story" ! !

<i>That's now 2 votes against and 1 vote for the Natchez Trace Parkway.</i>

Drive a stretch of it and decide for yourself. I found its receptiveness boring, but others don't.

Natchez Trace Parkway is one of the few "must-do" drives that disappointed me. Another is the so-called Coronado Trail in Arizona, which is a lot of hard driving with little scenic payoff.

My idea of scenic drives include Highway 1 in California, Highway 12 in Utah, Highway 170 from Presidio to Big Bend NP in Texas, and Highway 14 along the Columbia River in Washington.

HTtY

I think I'll hang on to my story. If you repeat it enough, you begin to believe it. ;)

okay... to be clear, we promise not to pick the bluebonnets. which truly will be an easy promise to keep. it's just not the way we roll. pictures, yes... picking no...

i can't thank you all enough for the assistance that you've offered. i haven't had a chance to check out all of the links, but i will!

i'm giving this trip to my wife - well, to the both of us really, for Christmas. i think she's gona love it. We've been talking about seeing this part of the world for quite some time now...

so here's a heartfelt thanks and also, here's wishing you all a most Merry of Christmases...

i hope that we continue our dialogue soon after the holidays...

a quick question - is it still possible to travel much of highway 61 between New Orleans and Memphis? I'm REALLY interested in seeing and experiencing some of the countryside that gave birth to the blues...

Yes . . 61 pararalls I-55 . . Hav not done it in few years so it would be a good idea to check for construction

thank you all so much!!! we've tweaked our trip considerably based on your comments on things/places that we should check out. now, one more question - do you have any tips on things/places we should likely not include? and i don't mean the obvious like "don't spend the night sleeping in the city park". haha...

what i'm getting at, is that sometimes things aren't what they are advertised to be - and given that we're basically "off the beaten path" kind of people, are there places you might recommend that we stay clear of because they're basically fabricated "tourist traps"?

I hope i'm getting across what i'm trying to. i know every place/thing is worth seeing, but in my experience, some are worth seeing more than others - especially when time is a consideration.

thanks for any input that you can offer...

Aside from what has been mentioned, is there something specific on YOUR list that we need to provide an opinion? Such as -- is it your plan to see the largest rubber band ball (as an example), and we need to steer your clear of that bad idea.

we don't really have a list of specific places (other than the obvious big ones such as san antonio - new orleans - memphis), but we do have a list of specific things we'd like to see. in no particular order, they are: hear some authentic zydeco, cajun, and blues music, eat some authentic tex-mex, cajun, southern cooking, travel some backroads just to see what we can see, the bayou, a plantation, cotton fields, find little out of the way spots of beauty/interest, attend a good old fashioned gospel church service and with a little luck strike up some conversations with some colourful local characters...

our typical method of travel is to chart our a general route, but not be afraid to deviate when we hear about something interesting to see... all we know for sure is the day we land in dallas and the day that we have to be back in dallas to fly home. the rest is kind of made up as we go. not the kind of trip for some folks, but it's always worked well for us...

and actually, the largest rubber band ball sounds kind of good to me!

<i>...a quick question - is it still possible to travel much of highway 61 between New Orleans and Memphis? I'm REALLY interested in seeing and experiencing some of the countryside that gave birth to the blues...</i>

Yes, but much of it is not particularly scenic. However, once you're in the Delta it's easy to divert (west for the most part) from US 61 to small and back roads, some on levees, that parallel the Mississippi.

We did a trip up the river from NOLA to Memphis a few years ago, with some of your same aims. Here's a trip report - look especially at "Day 5." It's all still there, waiting.

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...-the-lobby.cfm

Another track out of Dallas is go to Fort Wort and take us 377 south to Granbury to Stephenville to Brady. US 87 south out of Brady to Fredericksburg. Leaving Fredericksburg take 290 to Austin. Leaving Austin don't miss Wimberly, Gruene and New Braunfels. On to San Antonio. Eat at The Gristmill in Gruene.

streamwalker, unfortunately I think your last question is a little impossible to answer since you are covering such a broad geographic area, and because you don't yet have specifics (and might not, I understand that is part of how you like to approach your trip).

thank you so much gardyloo and daleb! your suggestions will be researched and very likley followed. I really appreaciate it! And yes toucan2, my last question is a little obtuse all right. i guess i was looking for some "what not too do's" or just plain old "things to avoid". But i do hear you...

we are sooooo looking forward to visiting this part of the world. we've been watching movies shot in various locations that we hope to be in - reading everything we can - visiting webites... part of the fun is in planning, right?

once again, thank you ALL so much for all of your advice and input!

By the way, it was -26C here yesterday....

Here's maybe an example of what i was getting at earlier - some "what not to do" advice. A colleague of mine suggested that when we go to New Orleans to leave my "big" camera in the car. I own a fairly decent Canon with a good lense and he suggested that it would not be in my best interest to walk with it when in downtown New Orleans. In his words, "the streets are a little rough and you need to be very careful". I'd love to hear what others think about that advice. I don't know whether he's just an over-cautious kind of guy or whether his advice is on the money. I realize that it's important to always be "aware of your surroundings" when travelling, but i've never yet been worried about carrying a camera around my neck...

thoughts anyone?

@ SW2001 - if you go to New Orleans, a "trick" / "scam" that may be played on you is: Someone will walk up to you and ask you where you got your shoes -- your answer should be "I got my shoes on _________"(being whatever street you're on).

Also, they will sometimes want to clean or polish your shoes. Not a good idea.