Sorry to bother you all, but I figure you've got the best insight on the best route. We're from central Texas but my son's graduating from A&M on Saturday morning (5-13-06) and the family is leaving straight from Aggieland for SW Colorado (Gunnison area) right after graduation.

I figure we can make it to Amarillo (probably not as far as Dalhart) before we tire out completely, but would appreciate your advice.

I always found it easiest to take 6 to Waco and then 35W through Fort Worth. That hooks you up with 287 straight in to Amarillo.

Figure on about 10 hours.

Ditto on LyonAgs suggestion. And Amarillo is the perfect place to stop for the night if you are going to Colorado. The drive from Fort Worth to Amarillo on 287 is a real beatdown.

Thanks! Any comments on the Hwy 6 to Eastland through Lubbock route?

Is 287 a superior road, the obvious road of choice?

I used to go the Lubbock route, too...

If you take the Fort Worth/US287 route, you get nice 4 lane roads most of the way... boring, but fast amd convenient.

If you go by way of Lubbock, you can do 6 to the interstate or one of my favorite routes was to hook up with 36 which takes you to just outside of Abilene. Kind of scenic at times, too.

For scenery, I always enjoyed heading west through Turkey and Quitaque to take me up the Caprock.. then you can catch I27 north... but that is a bit of a detour.

went 6 - 35 - 287 for 4 1/2 years while I went back and forth from school and home. Best route possible hands down.

Waco/Ft. Worth/Wichita Falls/Amarillo is a good route for weekends, or times you will be going through Ft. Worth at non-peak hours.

If you were going to hit Ft. Worth at rush hour, I would make other plans.

We've gone both that way and the Lubbock Route. Going through Lubbock and going through Ft. Worth are almost identical in time and distance (hard to believe, but true).

If you are going to Lubbock in a hurry DO NOT take Highway 6. It is a fairly quick route up to I-20, but it takes a very long time to go through all the little towns and such between Eastland and Lubbock.

To go to Lubbock, go to Temple. You can either take 6 to Hearn, then 485 across to the back side of Temple. It is narrow and full of curves, don't go that way at night or if you don't enjoy winding roads.

Most folks take the Loop 47 to Highway 21, 21 to Caldwell, and pick up highway 36 through Milano and Cameron then loop around Temple.

Stay on 36 all the way to Cross Plains and to I-20. There will be an exit by the Abilene Airport from 36 toward I-20. Take I-20 through Sweetwater, then exit at Roscoe on US84 to Lubbock.

Stop in Sweetwater, the Roscoe/Snyder/Post stretch is almost totally devoid of life.

At Lubbock follow 84 into town and exit on I-27 north. It's only another 120 from there to Amarillo.


Again, Ft. Worth/Wichita Falls has the most 4-lane road, but it is more crowded and to be avoided during rush hours.

Highway 36 may be a little shorter, but has more two-lane roads from A&M to Abilene. From there on it is 4-lane or Interstate.

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The drive from Fort Worth to Amarillo on 287 is a real beatdown.

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?????

You do have to go through several small towns (OBEY THE SPEED LIMITS WHEN THEY DROP!), but it is all good 4-lane road.

There is a 5-mile stretch of 2-lane construction near Claude, but the rest is in great shape.

It's a good road, but I just mean it's a long, boring stretch, particularly between Wichita Falls and Amarillo. Of course I had two small fidgety kiddos with me so that may have had something to do with it.

I'm from Lubbock and agree with CanyonAg's Temple route. (Hearne directly to Temple to Gatesville...etc) It takes you through a lot of country (and the Army base), but it is scenic enough to keep you awake and there is usually little to no traffic.

Have fun on your trip!

As someone from a town on Highway 6 north of Abilene (Stamford), I NEVER take that route between home and College Station. 36 is a far faster route, particularly using the FM 485 shortcut between Temple and Hearne. It is a lot harder to pass people on 6 for most of the route, so getting caught behind a slow driver or two can slow you down for miles. Plus, it has a tendency to be nightmarishly busy in the Waco-Marlin-Calvert area, and you can't pass at all.

As for the Abilene to Lubbock part of the trip, I've never made the jaunt on I-20 and 84, so I'll defer to others that know that route. You could, however, take the jaunt up 277 to Stamford, and then over to Aspermont on Highway 6/283 and onto 380 (or take 277 to Anson and 83 straight through Hamlin to Aspermont and 380), which will take you to Post and Highway 84. You can flat out fly down the road between Aspermont and Post, as rush hour traffic in the Clairemont/Jayton area is absolutely non-existent.

That's just my two cents, and a plug for visiting my part of the country.

WestTexasAg06-

I took your route a few times, as well as several others. For someone making 5 1/2 years worth of trips (okay, I took way too long to graduate), I often varied my route to fend off boredom.

But if those folks are in a hurry, and if they are going to Colorado they probably are, the WFalls route is probably quickest, as they are transiting Ft. Worth on a weekend.


I understand now, drivinwest, any road with young ones can be a beatdown. But I like the beauty of the open plains and rolling plains, and I know the history and agriculture of the area enough to find interesting things.

For instance, how cool is it to drive by the home of Charles Goodnight, the real Woodrow Call of Lonesome Dove? Across the highway is the remnants of the town he founded, and the Goodnight College that disappeared.

Why did it fail and Texas Tech survive? There is no justice in the world.

6 - 35 - 287

really is a no-brainer as far as ease/time

should only take you 8 hours - unless you stop A BUNCH.

Thanks so much, folks! This helps a lot!

CanyonAg77, where is the Goodnight spread? I had no idea of a Goodnight College.

The original Goodnight home place and ranch (the JA) is deep in Palo Duro Canyon, and not really accessible.

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/JJ/apj1.html

Later, Goodnight developed a ranch in Armstrong County, and that's where the town of Goodnight is located.

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/GG/hng21.html

His last home is located just south of Highway 287 where it passes through the remanants of Goodnight. This is between Clarendon and Claude. Most of the remaining homes are north of 287. His is about 1/4 from the highway, a 2-story house at approximatly the marker in this link:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=35.0325,+-101.1862&ll=35.032527,-101.186142&spn=0.066907,0.173035&t=h&om=1

Most of 6 between Calvert and Marlin is being ugraded to 4 lanes. Should be better in the future.

also between Marlin - Riesel (sooner)

Waco to Riesel is 4 lane now.

By the way, there is an article in the BCS Eagle today. Apparently Calvert doesn't like all the 6 traffic through town and are trying to get TxDot to build a loop. TxDot basically says NFW.

Interesting. Towns in West Texas fight bypasses with all their effort, so that 90% of their highway traffic doesn't get re-routed and away from downtown. Calvert is apparently saying "we don't need no stinkin' highway traffic."

I thought the entire Calvert town budget was funded by speeding tickets given on highway 6. Why in the world would they give that up?

If you go up Highway 6, you can stop in Dublin for some Dr Peppers.

I live in Lubbock, and I can usually make it home from College Station in 6-6.5 hours, and I take Hwy 6 up to Eastland then I-20 over to Roscoe, and hit 84 from there. Do all that andonce you hit Lubbock take I-27 and it should take another 1.5-1.75 hours.

You can make it from Lubbock to College Station in around six hours? How fast do you drive? The fastest I've ever made it was 6 1/2, and that was only stopping once for gas.

yeah, and when I started school down here (back when the speed limit was 55), people always said they could make it to Houston or Austin in an hour. . . .

I have found that people sometimes tend to "embellish" . . .

Not directed at A_John - just a general observation

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Thanks! Any comments on the Hwy 6 to Eastland through Lubbock route?

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I used to regularly take Highway 6 to Stamford and then cut over to Aspermont and come up through Childress.

I've also come up through Eastland, Abiline, and Lubbock.

When going Aggieland to Oslo, coming up Highway 6 through Eastland and then either to Stamford or to Lubbock always took me an hour or two longer than through Ft Worth and Wichita Falls.

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You can make it from Lubbock to College Station in around six hours? How fast do you drive? The fastest I've ever made it was 6 1/2, and that was only stopping once for gas.

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I regularly made it from BCS to Plainview in 7 hours and 15 mins. Yes, I tend to drive fast, I'd stop once for gas in Abilene, and the days/times I drove there was hardly any traffic.

And I've taken the 36 route once, then tried the Hwy 6 - eastland-87 route and I much prefer the Hwy 6 to Eastland way.

We had a conference in Lubbock and two cars left our lab in CS at the same time... Dr H went up 35 to Fort Worth, I went the Highway 6 way... he showed up to Lubbock four hours after I did.

So you bugged out?





Gig 'em, FAST FRED '65.

Before the world wide web, village idiots usually stayed in their own village.

dp

[This message has been edited by FAST FRED (edited 4/25/2006 7:47p).]

Dr H went up 35 to Fort Worth, I went the Highway 6 way... he showed up to Lubbock four hours after I did.


Why in the world would anyone go to LUBBOCK via Ft. Worth? Adds lots of miles.

That's what I said. But those are the directions mapquest gave him, so those were the directions he used.

Mapquest is all kinds of screwed up when it gives directions to West Texas. I put College Station to Stamford in there once for grins, and got Hwy 6 to Waco, I-35 to Ft. Worth, I-20 to Abilene, and 277 to Stamford. It apparently only considers major four-lane highways, so I almost never use it.

Mapquest and similar websites have an algorithm that calls for most of the travel to be on interstate as much as possible, US Highways next, on down the line. That is how you get all those goofy directions.

I usually drive with the cruise on at around 78 or so. I don't ever stop, I can make it from BCS to Lubbock on a tank. From my driveway to drive is approximatley 450 miles, so if I average 75 then I make it 6 hours. From BCS to Eastland is always a crap shoot because you don't know about traffic and things like that. I've caught myself not paying attention and looked down and saw I was going upwards of 90. When that I happens I back it back down to the 70's.
Now when I still had my jeep, the fastest I ever made it home was 7 1/2, and the longest took me 12 because I headed into the wind the entire time and never got above 60. On top of all that it was 20 degrees outside and my heater didn't work. I was stopping in every town I came accross to buy a cup of coffee.

I always go home (Lubbock) by the following route:

• Highway 6 to Hearne
• FM 485 to Zabcikville
• Highway 53 to Temple
• Highway 36 to Abilene
• Interstate 20 to Roscoe
• Highway 84 to Lubbock.

Travel distance is approximately 440 miles.

The only time of year that I stray from this couse is during hunting season, when I go straight to the ranch in Spur. From Abilene -

• Highway 83 to Aspermont
• Highway 380 to Jayton
• Highway 70 to Spur.

Ironically, if you keep going to Lubbock from Spur, travel distance is only 460 miles.

Bonz '02
"And on the eighth day, God created the Aggies."

Kind of depends on where in Amarillo you live... whether you go the 287 route into town or the I-27 route...
I have found that cutting up 400 just before Lubbock to Plainview cuts a few minutes and a lot of time off the trip... It also is much better when there is snow and ice on the road because you will likely be one of the ONLY people on the road - thus safer, and the road surface will not be packed... This is experience speaking for sure!!

Anyone who takes more than 9 hours for the trip is spending far too much time dawdling along the road picking daisys and chasing rattlers...

And anyone who drove with Jim Butler after an Ohio State Highway Patrol guts and gore flick in Guion knows that he was one who would not drive more than 55 and took about 12 hours for the trip... killer!! ...never again!!

AAAAAg