[Steppes] Mission Impossible

[Crystal Lamb]

Friends:

It seems that heck has, indeed, frozen over and I will be able to attend
Coronation.  However, since I now reside in Lower Nowhere, getting there
will be half the fun.  The last time I embarked on this endeavor, I
distinctly remember embarking "cross country" through Tyler and parts
unknown in order to arrive at Ennis.  I also remember leaving at good
Lord oh thirty in the morning to get there.

Any-hoo.  This year when I pull up Mapquest, etc., it tells me that the
quickest way to Ennis from Lower Nowhere (a\k\a Liberty City) is through
Dallas to the Houston cut off, then off to Ennis.  That's almost three
hours, and it makes a huge loop around the world to get there.  If you
look at a map it doesn't take long to figure out that there *must* be a
better way.

My questions are these:  Does anyone have access to any decent mapping
programs out there that can find a better way from Nowhere to Ennis?  Or
has anyone made this arduous trek and can leave a trail of bread crumbs?
Or, if you've made the trip and found that it's just better to buck it
up and make the drive to Dallas, and then cut across, would you let me
know?

Thanks a bunch

~Aslyn