DFW area Boxster roads - share your favorite local roads

[dkh]

Having lived within the Dallas/Ft. Worth metropolitan area for most of about 25 years it's always been necessary to drive out of the mess for at least 25 or 30 miles to find some lesser used, curvy, somewhat scenic roads to have an enjoyable drive. Around here you're not going to find any Tail of the Dragon or Ozark Hwy 7 drives, but something better than just another freeway commute is a great improvement.

Now that I already live 35 miles outside the DFW mess and now that I own this wonderful car (after having a 73 911T spend most of it's time awaiting it's next repair project with very little time for enjoyment on the road) I've been discovering some short but very enjoyable drives around my home base in Waxahachie that have proven to be great for reducing stress and satisfying the need to drive something other than a freeway.

So for the benefit of other DFW area Boxster drivers who want to know some more places to go for a drive I thought I would share some suggestions and try to provide some info about the roads - condition, scenery, etc. Maybe these routes could be good starting points for finding other drives in the area.

Please realize that these are also fairly short drives, around 30 minutes to 45 minutes, but if you combine a visit to the Waxahachie downtown/historical area with several sidetrips it might make for an interesting morning/afternoon. Your mileage may vary.

I guess I should put a cautionary statement on this too: it is highly recommended that you observe the speed limits and drive aware and safely. Not all the roads are perfect. And I've spotted enough police, sheriff, or state trooper cars to keep you honest. You're still not going to be able to safely discover the limits of your car on these roads - for that I highly recommend that you participate in an autocross or driver education event sponsored by PCA or one of the other area car clubs.

I would love to hear from local DFW 986ers of other good roads in our area.

All of these routes originate in or near Waxahachie.

"thenavarro" may chip in on some recommendations here too - he's lived in Waxahachie longer than I have. When emailed some of these routes to suggest to him, he had already discovered them and he recommended some of the roads I've mentioned here.

Route 1, so far my favorite:

Here's a nice little tour that's around 25 minutes or so: Start out from Waxahachie on Brown Street and continue northeast on FM 813, stay on 813 where it takes a hard right at Rockett and continue on (I think this is the best and prettiest part of the route) to Palmer and take a right on FM 878 which will take you back to Waxahachie. Repeat as needed. Try reverse direction!

Here's a map of the route:




Same thing but zoomed out a bit:




Route 2:

FM 55 south by way of I-35E or Hwy 77 to west on Hwy 34 then return north to Waxahachie on FM 877. Sections of this route are pretty but a good bit of the roads are rough. The section of 877 and other roads near Lake Waxahachie (home to local sports broadcaster Dale Hansen) have some nice scenery.




Route 3:

Except for the section on FM 875 which is very beautiful and recommended just for that 10 - 15 mile stretch, I don't like this route as well as the other two. I think I'll continue to explore the roads around the escarpment that runs through the Midlothian area. Take Ovilla Road/664 north to West on 1387 into Midlothian then south on FM 663 (I think it's 9th street in Midlothian that becomes 663) to East on FM 875 back to Business Hwy 287, take a right and you're back to main street Waxahachie.




Have fun, be safe, and let me know if you take any of these suggestions and/or if you have some other good routes to suggest!

Ken

[Jeph]

Good Roads? In DFW? Hmm. I've lived here for almost 15 years since I got my license and I SEARCH for roads that inspire. I have failed.

[dkh]

Well....nobody said any of these roads were inspiring. I'm afraid you'll have to go elsewhere for that - but as with most things in life, it's all relative. Compared to LBJ Frwy - or Airport Frwy through Irving - especially at rush hour - these roads are a slice of heaven. Here in DFW the reality is that we may just have to lower our expectations of what is a good road to drive. When I had other Porsches years ago - a 78 911SC, a 74 914 1.8L, and a 73 1/2 911T all at different times but with some overlap of the 911T and the 914 - I lived in or near N.Richland Hills and I would have to drive quite a distance to find any roads that were not way overcrowded (thanks to all the suburbs growing and popping up all throughout what used to be nice rural and remote farmlands and also torn up from overuse. If you go far enough North to get past the growth, you're almost in Oklahoma. You can go West but you'll have to go nearly an hour to an hour and a half past Ft. Worth - the area around Possum Kingdom Lake is nice driving. Go southwest to the Glen Rose area - or keep going south another 4 hours and get into the Hill Country. Or two or three hours into East Texas.

But if you don't have that kind of time and don't want to go that far, these roads MIGHT temporarily satisfy you. They have been the best roads I've found that are the least trouble to get to in our area. Of course I live right here in Waxahachie - but even if I lived in Dallas I might be inclined to make the 35/40 minute drive here.

I'll probably drive one of these routes this weekend. It's a nice alternative to a trip the local Starbucks - or grocery store - or my daily commute.

One other footnote to this: in spite of my recommendations to be safe in driving these roads, that road that you see in my signature image provided a wonderfully smooth, straight, long, and bowl-shaped depression where I could easily see far ahead and find out just how fast this car can go.

[MTS986]

Hey, I know Waxahachie! Our old horse trainer lived down near there (off Ovilla Road) - I always enjoyed taking the Boxster down and meandering on the state roads yonder.

My first year here, I got a copy of DFW Porsche Club magazine and read accounts of a road rally held North of the metroplex in the Whitesboro vicinity. I never could get the exact route, but I have done a good bit of driving in area bordered on North by TX/OK border, West by I-35 and East by US-75, and have been rewarded with a few good state highways, several of which have recently been repaved!

My faves north of metroplex are found within an "L" area bordered on the south by US-380 and on the west by US-377...

1. FM-428 (west/east) between Aubrey and Celina.
2. FM-455 (west/east) from Pilot Point, through Celina to Anna
3. FM-1285 (north/south) from near Pilot Point to US-380

No fun coming back through Dallas on I-35 or US-75 (recommend tollway as far as you can take it). But, still, there's some good stuff up north.