My friends and I were originally going to ride to the bottom of Natchez Trace Parkway and then head over to Barber Motorsports outside Birmingham. I had asked on this site for a good route from Natchez over to Birmingham and got some good responses. Now however I find that my friends need to cut the ride short and we will only be riding south as far as Tupelo. So now I need a good route from Tupelo over to Barber Motorsports. Any suggestions would be appreciated. And while I'm at it, we're riding from Knoxville over to the top of the Parkway and planning on taking 62 out of Knoxville and then 70N toward Nashville. Anybody have recommendations for going around Nashville that would avoid traffic and be scenic as we go from 70N to the Parkway?

 

There is honestly not a lot to see between Tupelo and B'Ham, I would just jump on 22 to 65S and be there in two hrs

 

 

If you want to avoid I22 and take secondary roads I would take 6 South out of Tupelo to 278E into AL to 78E which will dump you into I22 20 miles or so west of Bham. Honestly it will be all flat land through small towns and farming communities, it will add about 20 miles to the trip as compared to I22 but probably take you an hour or so longer

Another choice is to backtrack north from Tupelo up 45 to Corinth MS then 72 E to Decatur AL onto either 65 or 31 south to Bham. This route is about 100 miles further but will stay north with more terrain changes and the scenery is a little better.

One other route is back North from Tupelo on the Trace to Cherokee AL then onto 72E to 65 or 31 south to Bham, this is probably about 40 miles shorter than the above route up 45 to Corinth

If you are a music lover either of the last two routes may be of interest as you can get off 72 onto hwy 43N for a few miles to Muscle Shoals where they have both the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio and Fame Studio, I think both do tours a lot of great music came out of both and there is an endless number of albums recorded in Muscle Shaols

 

I would take I22 if it were me. Fairly new road and not a lot of better options heading that direction.

 

70 comes out onto I-40 in Nashville and you will almost have to take the 440 loop to pick up Hwy 100/412 which will get you over to the Trace. It's not that far but traffic usually sucks.

 

Lot of construction in Birmingham Ala. ......

 

I'll probably try to hit the Nashville area on Sunday and hopefully will miss the heavy traffic.

 

This thread reminded me I need and want to go there!!! Only an easy 220 mile ride from me. Maybe in Oct after I get 3 other planned adventures out of the way.