Hampton>Atlanta>NO>Austin IS the direct route. About 22 hours driving. Charleston is a short detour and well worth it.
If she drives to NO through Mobile she should take scenic coastal route.
Most importantly is to know what local food is in season. When we did the drive - oysters and crawfish were in season. It was marvelous.
Louisiana input: NO is a bit out of the way, actually–the shorter route is to go north of the lake. But NO is worth the detour.
Lafayette is more interesting than Lake Charles for the last stop before Austin. Although it would leave a longer drive to Austin, but not by a lot.
BR traffic sucks. Avoid during rush hour.
Agree that the coastal route, off the interstate, is a prettier drive.
According to Google maps the north route (Roanoke, Knoxville, Nashville, Memphis, AK, Dallas) is only 7 minutes shorter than the south route (Columbia, Augusta, Atlanta, Montgomery, Mobile, New Orleans, Houston), so she has a choice to make.
I’ve driven parts of both routes too many times. I dislike the Chattanooga - Knoxville - VA stretch. There’s a famous (on CC) speed trap in Lexington or Roanoke. The mountains are pretty, but if you’ve driven this route a few times, you’ll be ready for a new one. I find this eastern TN section to not be relaxing driving but I haven’t been to the western section.
The Hampton to Mobile route is more relaxing but you have a 90% chance of hitting traffic in Atlanta because it’s Atlanta. If she goes this way, she can stop at the Bates house of Turkey in southern Alabama. It’s right on a highway exit.
Mobile is really pretty and fun to drive through on I-10. I can’t remember if you get any of the glorious water views or the tunnel if you connect the way this route would take you. Is she a beach person? The Gulf beaches get far better on the east side of Mobile bay. She could detour to Orange Beach or Gulf Shores for an easy and fun beach trip. Or she could head out to Dauphin Island which I haven’t been to but I’ve heard is wonderful.
She could also detour to Ocean Springs MS which is a wonderful small town. Shearwater pottery, the George Ohr museum, and the Walter Anderson museum are nearby. She could detour pretty easily to New Orleans too.
The stretch of I-10 from Lake Charles to Houston is a nasty and frightening petrochemical wasteland. Before this, she could detour slightly up I-49 to go to Prejean’s restaurant just north of Lafayette. Have some gumbo and prepare yourself for our oil addiction! In Houston, the speed limit goes up to 80. The scenery improves greatly when you get into the hill country.
Atlanta interstate traffic is horrendous. The Coca Cola museum is expensive but fun- years ago they had free samples of many different varieties marketed in different parts of the world.
Even though she will have a gps (via smartphone or otherwise) it is nice to get paper maps and travel books from AAA. She can peruse them before leaving to look for quirky things and to help decide alternate routes. btw- many more fine hotels on travel search sites than in the AAA book now.
If a parent can take the time off it could be a nice parent child trip. My sister did that from WI to WA when her son retrieved his kayak. Two people can easily share driving and a room.
DD drove the DC to Houston a number of times and took several routes depending on what she wanted to see or who she wanted to visit. When she traveled we would stay in touch and I would check Google maps to see if there were any traffic issues coming up. She usually went 11-123 hours a day unless she was visiting friends along the way.
Thanks to all of you. After reading all of them, I sat with the Google map and tried to figure out myself ! Felt, my daughter was trying to see many places that she considered as worth stopping over and restrict the driving time to 7/8 hours a day. Now, my wife has stepped in. Powerful lady