Houma to St. Louis Road Trip

[roadman65]

This October I am planning to go along with a friend to St. Louis for a religious pilgrimage and we both plan on driving up.  My friend is confident that we will make it in over a day.
I myself have not clinched I-55, so I can only say from other N-S experiences on I-75 and I-24 from Orlando to St. Louis it took me a complete day and some hours!  I stopped to lodge in Manchester, TN after leaving in the afternoon and arrived at the easternmost US 41 interchange at 11 PM CT.   I left the following morning at around 10 AM and got to St. Louis around 5 PM about, so if I had left Orlando at 6 AM, I figure I would have made it Mt. Vernon, IL most likely at late night, or if I took my time I would stop in Paducah not to be late traveling to travel right.

Anyway, I know I can get travel times anyplace on line, but I am interested to know if there is anyone who made the I-55 drive and give me a rough idea how far I would make it from experience in one comfortable day time traveling from the Houma area early on a Thursday morning.  I am guessing somewhere just past Memphis as Mississippi is as long as Georgia to get through and someplace in Arkansas or SE MO would be at the same latitude as Nashville area on I-24.

Any help would be appreciated as well as anything of interest along the way roadwise could be suggested.

[Grzrd]

Any help would be appreciated as well as anything of interest along the way roadwise could be suggested.

At the I-69 interchange in north Mississippi, you may want to look to the east of the interchange to check on the clearing work for I-269.

[roadman65]

Any help would be appreciated as well as anything of interest along the way roadwise could be suggested.

At the I-69 interchange in north Mississippi, you may want to look to the east of the interchange to check on the clearing work for I-269.

True, I forgot about that!  Having I-69 photos of the newer designated parts south of Indy is something!  Also, thanks about the I-269 clearing as that sounds interesting.

[NE2]

Watch out for the I-55 turns in Memphis.

[Alex]

I have done I-55 from end to end. Most of my trips along it involved some side roadding though, which added time. I went from Mobile to Sikeston, MO via US 49 to I-55 north at Jackson, with a full loop of I-240 and spokes east to clinch I-155 and west for I-69 in MS. The time stamps on my photos show 6:36 AM at the AL state line and 5:11 PM at Exit 66. The next day from Exit 67 at Sikeston to downtown took 113 minutes.

Another trip on I-55 south from St. Louis to Blytheville, AR took me three hours and 30 minutes, with a brief stop at New Madrid. From Blytheville to the merge with I-40 took another 47 minutes.

From the Tennessee state line south to Interstate 220 took Andy and I three hours and 3 minutes. Another trip from the Louisiana state line north to Exit 81, south of Jackson, took an hour and 24 minutes.

So you are probably looking at 4:45 to do it all in MS, 20 plus minutes through TN and to the split with I-55 and another 4 hours and 15 minutes to get into St. Louis. You can probably factor in your stops for food an gas into that time estimate.

[Darkchylde]

You should actually make the bootheel in one day assuming you leave Houma early enough. We left Louisiana at 5:30 am and even with a gas/food stop, a quickie sleep stop and having to make an unscheduled stop to re-secure the load, we were out of Mississippi just before noon.

Assuming no hangups, you could make the same leg in four hours that took me about six.

[roadman65]

https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Houma,+LA&daddr=St.+Louis,+MO&hl=en&sll=35.675147,-82.617187&sspn=26.360086,62.578125&geocode=FXqYwwEd0bqX-indH8ENwwQhhjFhcgx8c1hlNg%3BFbpmTQIdlKqf-in5ju36qbTYhzFb4Lsiyuo5vg&oq=St.&t=h&mra=ls&z=5

This is what google projected.  I am waiting for mapquest as their system is down and telling me to try again later.

It seems so far everything is in agreement with around the 10 hour mark.