Directions for driving from Galveston to Corpus Christi

From Galveston take FM 3005 to San Luis Pass, where you will pay $2 to cross the toll bridge. Continue south on Blue Water Highway to Surfside. Turn right on Texas Highway 332 North and cross the bridge to Freeport. Take a left on FM 523 South at the light, which will take you to Texas Highway 36. On your right you will pass the Dow Chemical plant at Oyster Creek. Veer to your left on FM 1495, where you’ll cross the Brazos and eventually end up on Texas Highway 36.

As you approach the town of Jones Creek, take a left on FM 2611 West toward the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge. Continue west and take a right on FM 457. Continue north on FM 457 for about six miles and take a left on FM 521. At the stop light continue on FM 521 West until the road dead-ends. From FM 521 West, take a right on Texas Highway 60, then a left on Texas Highway 35 South to Palacios.

Continue on Texas Highway 35 to Point Comfort and Port Lavaca. Once in Port Lavaca, turn left on Harbor, which turns into Commerce. Take FM 238 South, which turns into Austin Street for a brief period, and continue on FM 238 South toward Seadrift. To get to Port O’Connor, take a left on FM 1289 and then another left on Texas Highway 185 East.

From Port O’Connor, take Texas Highway 185 West to Seadrift. Continue on Texas Highway 185 and at the stop sign, take a left on Texas Highway 35 South. Once in Fulton, take a left on Broadway and then another left on Fulton Beach Road. Continue on Fulton Beach Road, which turns into Broadway once you pass over a bridge and get into the Rockport city limits. Continue on Broadway, which turns into Austin Street, to Water Street. At the dead end take a left on Loop 70, which merges into Business Highway 35.

Head south on Business Highway 35 to Aransas Pass. Once you get into town, take a left at the light at the H-E-B. The street sign says “Port Aransas,” but the road is really Texas Highway 361 South. Take the free ferry to Port Aransas. Once you get off the ferry, continue heading south on the only road out of the ferry landing area. Take a right on Allister Street, which is Texas Highway 361 South. This road takes you to Corpus Christi.

Directions for driving from Galveston to Quanah

Texas Highway 6 begins at what used to be called the Texas City Y—where state highways 3 and 6 depart from (or join, depending on which way you were headed) the Gulf Freeway, Route 3 going up the east side of Galveston County and Route 6 going up the west side. The merging of these roads going southbound used to be one of the deadliest intersections in Texas before it was reconfigured.

There are several places where Texas Highway 6 joins up with other highways, and if you don’t pay attention, it is easy to go astray. Northbound, Texas Highway 6 joins U.S. 290 from Houston to Hempstead and then suddenly exits just past Hempstead (stay right). The next spot to watch out for is in Hico, where Texas Highway 6 and U.S. 281 come together briefly before splitting (stay left). Out of Albany, U.S. 180 partners Texas Highway 6 more than halfway to Stamford (stay right). Beyond Stamford Texas Highway 6 turns north in the middle of nowhere (stay right). I was in the middle of a rainstorm and found myself on Texas Highway 283 before I knew what had happened. Going southbound, Texas Highway 6 begins on the Oklahoma side of the river; the U.S. Supreme Court, in a moment of mindlessness, held that the entire river belongs to Oklahoma. The problematic places occur in Hempstead (if you go straight you find yourself on the business route; stay left, take the overpass, and merge with U.S. 290) and in Houston, where you need to stay alert for the Texas Highway 6 exit.

Directions for driving from Loving to San Antonio

It’s a straight shot on Texas Highway 16.

Directions for driving from Round Rock to Caddo Lake

Once you get to Round Rock on Interstate 35, look for the exit sign for Sam Bass Rd/U.S. 79—they are the same road. The trip begins west of the freeway on Sam Bass, but begins in earnest east of the interstate, as the road becomes U.S. 79. Stay on U.S. 79 all the way to Henderson, where you take Texas Highway 43 North to Marshall. That road becomes Texas Highway 43/U.S. 59 for a brief time. To the northeast of town, follow the signs for Loop 390, take it for a mile, and go right on County Rd 2116, also known as Harris Lake Road—this is the old stagecoach road. Drive slowly on this two-way clay stretch—sometimes it get pretty narrow. When you come out on Texas Highway 43 again, you’re almost at Caddo Lake; it’s about five miles more. Go right on FM 2198 and, again, drive slow—there are a lot of dogs and slow-moving animals in the neighborhood. You might even see an alligator moving under the mossy cypress trees.

Directions for driving from Wichita Falls to Brownsville

U.S. 281, for the most part, is a straight trip south until the area near Hidalgo, where it turns into an eastbound or westbound highway. Take U.S. 281 east to Brownsville.

Directions for driving from Brownsville to Laredo

U.S. 83 and U.S. 77 are the same expressway between Brownsville and Harlingen. Just before the San Benito city limits, U.S. 83 and U.S. 77 split to the left, while Business 77 splits to the right. Stay on U.S. 77 and U.S. 83 into Harlingen. In front of Valle Vista Mall on the west side of town, U.S. 83 and U.S. 77 split and U.S. 83 curves to the west. Go about a mile and take the Business 83 exit.

Business 83 is a straight shot from Harlingen to Mercedes, Weslaco, Donna, Alamo, San Juan, Pharr, and through McAllen (it runs roughly parallel south of U.S. 83). It is slow going (the speed limit ranges from 30 mph to 50 mph) with lots of red lights.

At Mission, east of downtown, Business 83 splits into one-way streets for the eastbound and westbound lanes. The westbound road becomes Tom Landry Street. West of downtown, the eastbound and westbound lanes converge again.

West of Palmview, the town west of Mission, Business 83 ends and U.S. 83 becomes a two-lane divided highway with speed limits up to 65 mph. Before downtown Rio Grande City, it splits into one-way eastbound (called Main Street) and westbound (called Second Street) roads. Then it converges again on the west side of town.

U.S. 83 makes no other turns or splits from Rio Grande City to Laredo.

Directions for driving from Beaumont to Jefferson

From Beaumont, take U.S. 69 to FM 1013 at Hillster. Head east on FM 1013 to Bleakwood and catch Texas Highway 87. For a scenic diversion, you can take FM 1414, a loop that will wind back around to Texas Highway 87. Then continue north on Texas Highway 87 to Milam, where you catch Texas Highway 21 to San Augustine, then on to Nacogdoches. Take U.S. 59 out of Nacogdoches going north and stay on all the way to Texarkana, passing through Garrison, Tenaha, Carthage, Marshall, and Jefferson.

Directions for driving from Fredericksburg to Amarillo

Stay on U.S. 87 pretty much the whole way, which will take you through the center of many towns.

When you get to Lubbock, follow signs for Interstate 27 to Amarillo. The freeway cuts directly north to the east of the city center. (Interstate 27 and U.S. 87 are the same road for good portion of the drive from Lubbock to Amarillo.)

U.S. 87 diverts from Interstate 27 three times after Lubbock.

Take the first Plainview exit to go through Plainview (Business 27).

Take the first Kress exit to go through Kress and rejoin Interstate 27/U.S. 87 at Tulia.

Exit at Happy to go through Happy and Canyon and rejoin Interstate 27/U.S. 87 a few miles south of Amarillo.