Leaving Friday.

US 84 to Roscoe
I-20 to Abilene
TX 36 to Caldwell
TX 21 toward Bryan
Loop 47 into College Station

Google Maps

One alternative is to go straight through Temple, and take highway 53 to Hearne. It is 5 miles shorter, but you are on much smaller, more twisty roads. The Caldwell route has better roads, and has a few bypasses of small towns.

Highway 53

[This message has been edited by CanyonAg77 (edited 10/17/2013 6:33a).]

I will note that the Google Maps routing (without my modification) takes you down I-20 to Highway 6, then throug Waco on to CS on 6.

They claim it as shorter and faster, but I've always found highway 6 through Waco to be a cluster and highway 6 to not be much different from 36 on slowdowns and small towns.

Have you driven 6 recently? It's now four lanes all the way from Waco to BCS. There's one traffic light on the loop in Waco (which you can usually make). I'm not sure that going around (which is 2 miles shorter), or through Temple to Hearne(which is 12 miles shorter, but has tons more stoplights)is still faster, even if it was at one time.

I can't tell you which is better, but while the boy was there ('13), mom and I went 84, 20, 6. Once the construction south of Waco was complete, it was pretty nice. Fridays are pretty hectic on 6, but Sundays are usually a breeze.

When I was in school ('85), I only went on 84, 36, 21. It worked fine, too. I'm glad that they finally built a loop around Gatesville. That used to be a horrible time waster.

I can tell you that we've made it from Lubbock to campus in under 6.5 hours on 6 without exceeding the speed limit, with minimal stops of course.

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One alternative is to go straight through Temple, and take highway 53 to Hearne. It is 5 miles shorter, but you are on much smaller, more twisty roads. The Caldwell route has better roads, and has a few bypasses of small towns.

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Note that you turn off 53 and onto FM 485 a few miles east of Temple. I don't know if it's any faster but I like the country through that drive. I have timed all three of them recently and they all come out to about the same.

84-I20-Abilene then...
Loop 335-36-21 OR
Loop 335-36-53-485-6 OR
I20-6 all the way

I also like to go SH 70 south of Sweetwater then 153 through Winters, then hit 84 again at Santa Ana. Adds at least 30 min to an already long-ass drive but when you make that drive 100 times it's nice to shake things up. I even took 87 all the way to San Angelo then 190 all the way across for the hell of it once. Long day.

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when you make that drive 100 times it's nice to shake things up

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Been there, done that. From Amarillo you can take 287 through Ft. Worth or cut off pm 281. From Lubbock, there are a ton of variations; 114, 82, 6, 70, 83 and several combinations thereof.

Good way to see parts of Texas that are new to you, see a few historic sites, etc.

one important thing to add is on the 53 to 485 route from Temple to Hearne you pass through Zabcikville home of Green's Sausage house

well worth the stop for a pound or two of dried sausage sticks and a chunk of rat cheese

http://greenssausagehouse.com/

Just stumbled across this on the West Texas Board

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Captain Pablo

Howdy Ags

Just wanted to alert any of y'all headed to the game, that usually travel through Temple, that part of FM 485 was washed out by recent rains and will be impassable for several weeks

Take this alternate route:

From Temple:

36/190 through Cameron

Then Left on 2095 (just after you cross over Little River)

Take 2095 to Hwy 79 in Gause

(Note - 2095 "T's" about halfway between Cameron and Gause. Go LEFT at that "T" to remain on 2095)

Left on 79 to Hearne

Right on 6 to B-CS


Be safe and Gig Em!!!

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Just stumbled across this on the West Texas Board

quote:

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Captain Pablo

Howdy Ags

Just wanted to alert any of y'all headed to the game, that usually travel through Temple, that part of FM 485 was washed out by recent rains and will be impassable for several weeks

Take this alternate route:

From Temple:

36/190 through Cameron

Then Left on 2095 (just after you cross over Little River)

Take 2095 to Hwy 79 in Gause

(Note - 2095 "T's" about halfway between Cameron and Gause. Go LEFT at that "T" to remain on 2095)

Left on 79 to Hearne

Right on 6 to B-CS


Be safe and Gig Em!!!

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When I lived in Lubbock, I always took I-20 to Abilene, Hwy 36 to Gatesville, Hwy 84 to Waco, then Hwy 6 to BCS.

Of course, my parents lived right off 84 outside of Waco and I'd often stay the night there or pick up the person going to the game with me.

BTW, Hwy 36 is a very nice drive, but after dark, watch out for deer.

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I will note that the Google Maps routing (without my modification) takes you down I-20 to Highway 6, then throug Waco on to CS on 6.

They claim it as shorter and faster, but I've always found highway 6 through Waco to be a cluster and highway 6 to not be much different from 36 on slowdowns and small towns.

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Unless they changed the numbers, that should be Eastland/Cisco.

It's definitely slower that way (unless you are in a '64 International farm pickup like I used to drive), but I always enjoyed that route.

Of course, I stayed on Highway 6 to Stamford then over to Aspermont and then north to Canadian.