If you end up on I-12 between I-10 and I-55 at Denham Springs, LA. Take Hwy 16 south to Hwy 22. That is a great ride all the way to Covington, LA.

 

Thanks for the local flavor advice Guys.

Got the maps and had a look and found some nice alternatives to mind-numbing I-10.

probably gonna go wide on New Orleans, been there bunches and unless I stop in to see a Pal, will ease by and aim for a small town Mom & Pop diner and motel.

( I travel for a living and have covered just about every inch of the major highways multiple times---turns out that they all look the same)

mike

 

Here's something for ya. Scroll down to the pic of the rednecks at the diner where it talks about the route through La.

http://www.mrzip66.com/2009/04/20/ro...asy-rider-map/

Here's something else to look at.

http://www.motorcycleroads.us/regions/deep_south.html

 

+1 on Hwy 22. I live about 1 mi from Hwy 16 and it's about a 30 min ride to get to Hwy 22. My wife and I rode down 22 to Ponchatoula day before yesterday. It's my favorite road. Great scenery, places to eat and some twisties, too.

Cecil

 

In AL take 188 to 180 and then take the Dauphin Island parkway bridge to Dauphin island. Then take the ferry across to Fort Morgan and ride the Gulf Coast hiway to FLA. Did that trip last year from FLA to LA and stayed off the freeway as well. Nice ride.

 

I've made the run from Houston to Savannah a few times and also over to Daytona a couple times. I absolutley understand where you're coming from as the ride from Houston to Mobile on I-10/I-12/I-10 is the worst.

I've taken the route Mr Smithbrl mentions from Winnie over to N.O. and east. Road surface on 87/82, 27/82 and 82 is not very good in parts. Gas up before leaving Port Arthur as not a lot along the way till New Iberia. You'll catch a short ferry just west of Cameron. Slow going on 90 through Ms and the casino towns.

Got to disagree with Andouille about 190. I've run Hwy 12 out of the Beaumont area to 190 which will run you across LA to Baton Rouge. However, allow a lot of extra time as there are a bunch of towns/slower speed limits and actually it's pretty boring IMO.

As others have said, 98 in Fla is a nice ride but plenty of traffic through the towns and slow going.

One final option is US 84 if you do have extra time and want to go out of your way a bit to start. Pick it up out of Natchez MS and you can take it all the way down to Valdosta GA, and you'd only be about 30 miles north of I-10 in Fl at that point. You can do 65 on it most of the way. I've ridden it a number of times. Great road surface, nice divided hwy with very little traffic and offers some rolling hills, sweepers and twistys in parts which you don't get a lot of going along the coast on 90 and 98. You'd lose some time working your way to it (about 90 miles north of Baton Rouge as I recall) but it is a nice scenic ride across three states.

If time permits, I take 84. Otherwise, I get on I-10, crank up the music and haul *** for the first 500 miles then I have some better options once past Mobile.

Good luck.