Sorry in advance for the length and complexity of the post. Any help you can provide whatsoever is appreciated.
Hi all. I have done a few small road trips before (NJ to Virginia Beach, NJ to NC and back through VA, various trips to upstate NY) but nothing at all on the scale I'm proposing here. I am looking to plan a 9 day/8 night trip sometime during September or October of 2011, which would take myself, my wife, and two friends through the Midwest and back. My wife and I came up with two different itineraries, both with seemingly similar mileage and driving time commitments. The goals of the trip are primarily to find interesting regional restaurants, with a secondary emphasis on historical touring. The details on these both are sketchy at best at the moment, but we have a general idea that these areas might offer what we're looking for. Likewise, the destinations for each night are not set in stone, but offer a general idea of where we want to go.
Other things I can think of that might be relevant: realistically we would probably only be using two of the four of us to drive (the other two aren't comfortable on long distances), and we would be staying in hotels, rather than camping.
I am primarily curious whether the routes are too long, too relaxed, too structured, or otherwise flawed- and/or if there's something glaring that we're missing.
Here are the two itineraries:
Itinerary #1:
From Central NJ:
Night 1: Baltimore (156 mi, 2:50 driving)
Night 2: Pittsburgh (244 mi, 4:27)
Night 3: Chicago (462 mi, 7:26)
Night 4: Indianapolis (183 mi, 3:22)
Night 5: Nashville (287 mi, 4:46)
Night 6: Cincinnati (272 mi, 4:31)
Night 7: Cleveland (249 mi, 4:24)
Night 8: Gettysburg, PA (312 mi, 5:47)
and then home (193 mi, 3:30)
Itinerary #2:
From Central NJ:
Night 1: Baltimore (156 mi, 2:50)
Night 2: Pittsburgh (244 mi, 4:27)
Night 3: Cincinnati (289 mi, 4:56)
Night 4: Louisville (114 mi, 1:53) by way of Indianapolis (108 mi, 2:00) (or vice versa)
Night 5: St. Louis (265 mi, 4:24)
Night 6: Chicago (301 mi, 5:05)
Night 7: Cleveland (345 mi, 6:05)
Night 8: State College (255 mi, 4:29)
and then home (250 mi, 4:41)