Road Conditions to Branson from Ft Smith???

[Duner]

I'm wondering how good/bad are the highways for traveling in our 40 ft coach taking US412 and US65. I was on 65 south out of Branson about 12 years ago with our truck/camper and remember a nice scenic drive to Ft Smith. Today AAA told me they don't recommend secondary highways and wanted to route me around west of Branson and come down 65 from Springfield.
I'm not in a big hurry and would like to see the hill country and save some fuel too on the shorter route.
Any recommendations one way or another? (pun intended).

See ya'll at the rally,
Duner

[Duner]

I'm wondering how good/bad are the highways for traveling in our 40 ft coach taking US412 and US65. I was on 65 south out of Branson about 12 years ago with our truck/camper and remember a nice scenic drive to Ft Smith. Today AAA told me they don't recommend secondary highways and wanted to route me around west of Branson and come down 65 from Springfield.
I'm not in a big hurry and would like to see the hill country and save some fuel too on the shorter route.
Any recommendations one way or another? (pun intended).

See ya'll at the rally,
Duner

[Hitchhiker]

Duner,

Click here to read another thread on a route to the rally. Also, there's a thread running discussing US 412 in Oklahoma.

[TXiceman]

Duner,

Having lived just north of 412 east of Tulsa, I can tell you it has some pretty bad sections, especially the right lane.

We are coming up from Houston and do not intend to go to Branson via Arkansas. We will take the turnpike from Tulsa up to Springfield and then south to Branson. Several years ago we were in Branson and left going south into Arkansas. The road was not too bad, just lots of hills and great scenery. It was all two lane but I head it now has some 4 lane sections.

We will spend a couple of days in Pryor, OK before heading up to Branson on Sunday.

Ken

[Duner]

Thanks Hitchiker!

I did a Google Earth flyover from Fayetteville,Ak via 74 (25mi) and US 412 (35mi) to the junction of US 65 (32 mi south of Branson). Looks ok to me with gentle turns and small hills of just 200 ft.

Google Earth 3D makes things look flatter than they really are but the curser gives you elevation readings down to the foot resolution. So I followed along the route watching the elevtion. It varies from 1300 ft at Fayetteville up to 1650 ft along the way and back down to 1075 ft at the campground entrance.

Looking forward to our first rv rally ever!!!!
Duner

[RandD]

Hi all - we are currently sitting in Branson enjoying the first non-rainy weather we have seen for a while. We drove here Saturday and after getting tired of being beaten to death on US69 in Ok, we headed East on I40 to I540. We went North on I540 which was a beautiful drive up to Springdale where we hit US412.

US412 from Springdale to US65 is a nice winding country 2 lane road in generally in good condition. There were a few construction zones that were a bit narrow, but other than that, no problem for us. There were a few Class-As seen along with some trucks. As it turned out, we missed out on heavy rains all the way to Springfield and a tornado there also as well *** rain from Springfield down to Branson. From Dallas, 427 miles in 8 hours with one fuel stop and we ate lunch on the run. We are in a 26ft Class-c with toad.

Sorry we will miss you guys when you get here - we are headed to Arkansas than back to Dallas! Go see Yakov for us - he was on vacation this week

Randy and Diane

[DriVer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Randy and Diane: Go see Yakov for us - he was on vacation this week </div></BLOCKQUOTE>America! What a country!

[smlranger]

Microsoft S & T routes me off Rt. 65 onto 465, Ozark Mt. Highroad to Rt. 248 into ABC Campgroud. When we were there 2 yrs ago, we turned off 65 onto the 'Red Route' near Yakov's theater and came into ABC.

Is 465 a new route or is it a better way into ABC?

[Paul Heuvelhorst]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by smlranger:
...routes me off Rt. 65 onto 465, Ozark Mt. Highroad to Rt. 248 into ABC Campgroud. When we were there 2 yrs ago, we turned off 65 onto the 'Red Route' near Yakov's theater and came into ABC.

Is 465 a new route or is it a better way into ABC? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
We just left ABC on 7/1 after spending 5 days in Branson. You can take either of the 2 routes you've mentioned... it is 6 of one, 1/2 dozen of another.

I'd suggest taking the one you are familiar with, and checking out the other route while you are there to see if it might be a better way when you leave.