It's quite a loop, possibly the least direct trip you could make without going via Dallas.

That said, here are a few notes (I lived in Jackson for five years and Oxford for two and frequently drove through both N and S Alabama on trips back to SC to see family.

1. I assume you are going to Tupelo because it is Elvis's birthplace. I can't think of another reason to go there.

2. Tuscumbia, AL is worth visiting. Helen Keller's birthplace is there, if I remember correctly.

3. I wouldn't go to Tuscaloosa unless I wanted to see the University, and it might be fun to go on a home game day if you don't mind madness.

4. Selma isn't much to look at, but it is a very moving place, particularly the area around the Edmund Pettit Bridge where the marchers were attacked. It was the real beginning of the end for segregation because the actions of the authorities made the passage of the Civil Rights Act inevitable.

5. I had never heard of Monroeville, so looked it up to find out the two famous authors born there. Go for it!
6. Mobile is a pretty nice city, interesting houses and gardens.

Rural Alabama is pretty mild country in general, not hugely much to see since crop farming gave way to grazing and tree farming and people left a lot of the small towns. But I would make the trip!

Hope this helps.

We like to see places we've heard about all our lives. They can't all be as interesting as San Francisco or Eureka Springs. You have been a big help, especially in saying "...I would make the trip!"

HTTY

HTTY,
Have you been along the River Road, where all the plantation homes are(an hour or so from NO)?

Have you been along the River Road?

We've been on the road where Nottoway Plantation is located and, on another trip, a beautiful stretch in Illinois. I understand the road goes through ten states--we haven't done that.

After three or four days in New Orleans we will explore SW Louisiana and southern Texas as far as Padre Island.

HTTY

You are my kind of traveler!

You are actually seeing America. You are probably eating real American breakfasts and real American pies.

Sadly, all too many Americans don't do this themselves when they are traveling, though they will do it at home.

When you come to New England, post something with my screen name.

By the way, my sister and I are leaving this morning on a road trip from Boston to the Connecticut River, which we will follow as closely as possible from the Massachusetts border to Canada on two lane roads in New Hampshire and Vermont. We will loop into Quebec, then come back into Vermont and follow State Route 100 from Newport back to North Adams, Massachusetts. We have no reservations and no schedule other than to be back in Boston on Monday evening, and the only "must see" on our list is the St Gaudens National Memorial in Cornish, NH.