June Trip from NYC

I am trying to plan a solo road trip, leaving the NYC area around June 15. I'm 49, male, driving solo. Here is a broad itinerary:
1. Drive from NYC to Front Royal, VA
2. Drive the skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway (a few days)
3. Drive to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky
4. Drive to Mount Rushmore
5. Drive through the Badlands to Minneapolis.
6. Drive north along Lake Superior, HWY-61
7. Either take the Trans-Canadian Highway back to NYC, or drive to Duluth and go throgh northern WI and MI, and pick up the Trans-Canadian Highway after that

I've never done a big road trip---is this too much? An alternative would be to shoot to Mount Rushmore over 3 days on the Interstate, and then do everything from #4-#7

Thanks for any help.
Stu

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

That does sound like a great trip. The big question is how much time do you have available? Without knowing that, it's hard to say if that's too much trip.

If you did the alternate, getting from NYC to Mount Rushmore in 3 days would be tough as a solo driver. Not impossible, but you'd be on the road 10+ hours a day, and certainly not much fun.

Well, I'm a teacher, so I technically have as much tie as I need. Though I was thinking of around 3 weeks.

That would be a lovely trip over three weeks, but you would need to it schedule it out in a little more detail. Not necessarily to the mile/day, but you will want to say how many days you'd like to spend on each leg. e.g. how many days is 'a few days'?

I rarely plan anything much, but mark on my (paper) maps where I want/need to be on certain days/dates. Then break the rest up so that I stay on-track.

Great trip. Enjoy!

Lifey

Three weeks seems very reasonable for a trip like this. I'd imagine you'd spend your first week exploring the BRP and mammoth cave, the second getting to and then exploring the black hills and badlands, and then the third making your way east through canada.

If you're planning to explore the north shore of lake superior along MN-61 then I would continue through Thunder Bay and around that way. There's lots of great stuff on both sides of the lake, but it would be quite a bit of backtracking to go back to duluth. Of course, don't forget your passport for travel into Canada.

Here are 2 possible trips I am thinking of starting around June 15. This will be my first road trip ever. I'm 49, male, and will be traveling solo from NYC. Here are my "goals" for this trip: Scenic/interesting drives; getting a taste of small-town America/rural America.
Here are 2 itineraries I've come up with for each trip. I don't have any real time restrictions on needing to return home by a certain date. Thanks in advance for any feedback.
Stu

Option A (4223 miles according to Google maps)
June 15: Drive to Cedar Point
June 16: Cedar Point Amusement Park
June 17: Drive to Illinois (no planned stops)
June 18/19/20: Drive Lincoln Highway (US-30) through Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska (several stops)
June 21: Drive to Rapid City and Mount Rushmore
June 22: Other sites---Crazy Horse; Deadwood, SD
June 23: Through Badlands
June 24: Drive to MPLS
June 25: Day in MPLS with Uncle Bob
June 26/27: Drive Northern Minnesota
June 28: Drive to Sault Ste. Marie Michigan
June 29: Either continue on Trans-Canadian Highway back home over 2-3 days
OR
June 29: Drive south in Michigan to Ann Arbor
June 30: Spend day in Ann Arbor
July 1: Drive back home

Option B (1990 miles)
June 15: Drive to Front Royal, VA
June 16: Drive the Skyline Drive (105 miles)
Jun 17/18/19: Drive the Blue Ridge Parkway (435 miles)
June 20: Drive through Great Smoky Mountains to Gatlinburg, TN (5-6 hours)
June 21: Drive to Mammoth Caves
June 22: Mammoth Caves
June 23: Louisville and Churchill Downs
June 24: Drive to Cedar Point
June 25: Cedar Point Amusement Park
June 26: Drive Home

Moderator Note: Please keep all questions about the same trip in the same thread.

Well-planned! Nothing seems out of line as far as drive times, allowing yourself enough time at the place to actually see something, get out of the car and take a hike or a tour, to absorb what you are seeing. In Option A, you would need a passport in order to go into Canada and back to the USA, where you wouldn't need one in Option B.

Which one do YOU prefer? To me, I would do one and keep the other in reserve for another trip. Whichever one you prefer, though, you will want to make some reservations in certain areas: Sandusky, Black Hills of South Dakota, Mammoth Cave, Gatlinburg. Those are tourist-laden areas where you may want to know you've got a place that night to rest your body rather than spending time looking/calling/poking around the Internet trying to find one.

PS: I see you are a teacher...I am, too. Lots of things can be collected on your trip, for use in your classroom - depending, of course, on what you teach. I probably look in gift stores more for teaching ideas and supplies, than I do for souvenirs and gifts!


Donna

Quote:

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Originally Posted by squart

June 20: Drive through Great Smoky Mountains to Gatlinburg, TN (5-6 hours)

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If you could give the Smokies one more day then you could visit the Cades Cove area of the park. It's a beautiful remote valley with a large collection of pioneer wooden cabins and farm buildings. Highly recommended, if time allows.

I'd agree with Donna, I think it really all depends upon which you'd rather see more: South Dakota or the Smokies. Although available time/money is a factor too, since obviously you'll need more for the South Dakota trip. Perhaps also worth thinking about is potential future trips. The smokies are closer, so could be done when you want to do a relatively quick trip in the future, although if perhaps you are thinking of doing an even bigger trip out to say Yellowstone in the future, then maybe SD would be better to wait.

Thanks for the reply.
I really do not know yet which trip I'd prefer. I am certainly just going to do one, and not combine them in any way.
I'm really bad at decision making, so if anyone has any thoughts on helping the decision, please share things I should consider. I know Michael said thinking about possible future trips might help. then obviously the longer trip is more time and money.
I thought one trip might lead to cooler weather than the other, but I don't think you ever know with weather. Speaking of which---is there a good APP to track severe weather, so I don't end up driving into a thunderstorm or tornado warning?
I've never done a road trip, so I don't know if one "eases" into it, making Option B a better choice.
AS always, any help is appreciated.

Deciding which one to do....hmm....

Money would be one of the biggest factors. For the longer trip, you will spend more on fuel, food and lodging. However, there are people here who have managed to have wonderful trips on low budgets (but not too low), so we can help you with tips if needed.

Easing into road trips isn't a half bad idea. My husband and I had our first road trip together when we were newlyweds. It was all of 4 days long, and we enjoyed it a lot. (We were moving from MO to AZ. Both of us, however, had been on road trips with our respective families before we were married.) That made us want to do longer ones, and the very next summer, we road-tripped round trip AZ to MO. That led to a 3-week camping trip, eventually. You learn, on short trips, how much you can handle, what constitutes a nice driving day vs. a brutal one, and what kinds of things you personally require on a trip.

What do you want to do on THIS trip? If seeing your uncle is a priority, then I'd head that way. If seeing some beautiful scenery is a higher priority, then the Smokies and the Blue Ridge mountains would be the place to head for. And so on, and so forth.

An App for severe weather -- ooh, very good question. My husband and I travel with a CB radio in our vehicle, and we have the NOAA band on it. A couple of summers ago, we had that band going several times as we crossed through some bad weather in the Gulf states and later, in Kansas/Colorado. I believe there is an NOAA Radio app for iPhone, and an NOAA Weather Alert for iPhone, both free. If you are a Verizon customer, we have noticed that we get alerts from there on both our old Droid and our old Dumb Phone. (One was a dust storm likely alert, in Arizona, and another was a Flash Flood Warning in northern UT.)

Either trip, it should be a great one for you. Keep us posted on which you choose, if there's any more help we can give you -- and either along the road or when you get home, give us a run=down on your travels, in the Trip Reports forum. I love to read other people's Trip Reports!

THanks Donna,
Good advice. One thought I am having is since I do not know my personal stamina, the Blue Ridge Parkway could be a better, because at any point, I could realistically, turn around and head home. Even if I get to the end of the Parkway, and I decided I've had enough, I could just reverse and head back to NYC.
When I was a kid, long drives were never a problem. But I have not done one in about 15 years.

When you were a kid, you always had playtime in the back seat, right? I know I did! My parents were both teachers, so we traveled a LOT in summers -- plus occasionally on Winter and Spring Breaks. (We had a travel trailer.) When you are the driver, it's a bit different, especially if you are on your own as the sole driver.

Actually, with either trip, you could always decide you've had enough and head back. Motel room reservations can usually be cancelled up to a certain point. The car turns around quite easily. :-) My husband and I have only done that once on our trips, and that was forced by a death in the family. We had to cancel several things because of that, and almost lost money on one reservation (Liberty Cruise out of NJ. They relented in a refund because it was for a death in the family). Everything else was canceled without penalty. So -- it CAN be done.

My husband and I came to one conclusion: road trips somehow get into ones' blood. Our parents enjoyed them, we enjoyed them, and we have passed down that love to at least one of our children. So you will probably do just fine.

Donna

One other question: getting a flavor for small-town America is another hope for my trip. Would I be able to get that with either towns off the Blue Ridge Parkway? Or in rural Kentucky perhaps? that was the purpose of driving part of the other trip on the Lincoln Highway---to get a sense of the real midwest, through Iowa and Nebraska

Routing through the small towns along the two lane highways has always given me a feeling for small town America. Seek out the locally owned shops and speak to the folk there for other similar experiences. Going this way I have stumbled on gems such as galleries of local artists and unique locally manufactured crafts. Most owners will only be too happy to chat with you.

Lifey

I meant more as a kid, like in my 20's driving back and forth from college and grad school. Not an actual kid! ha ha

Quote:

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Originally Posted by squart

One thought I am having is since I do not know my personal stamina, the Blue Ridge Parkway could be a better, because at any point, I could realistically, turn around and head home. Even if I get to the end of the Parkway, and I decided I've had enough, I could just reverse and head back to NYC.

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That was what I was thinking. Design your trip in such a way that you can easily return home should it all become too much.

However, do not at any time allow that to influence future trips. Just stretch future trips a little each time, until you feel comfortable. A roadtrip should never become something to endure. Keep each day's driving only as much as you enjoy, then call it a day.

You have planned well, now go and enjoy at your own pace.

Lifey

Came up with one more option. I have about 197,000 miles, so use some of those to fly to Minneapolis.
June 15--Fly to Minneapolis, spend day with Uncle Bob. Rent car
June 16---Drive to Boone, IA and get on Lincoln Highway
June 17---Head to North Platte, NE
June 18---Spend day and night in North Platte. Nebraskaland Days and Rodeo at night
June 19-20: Drive to Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Deadwood
June 21: Badlands (perhaps the entire day and night there)
June 22: Drive to Duluth
June 23-25: US-61/North Scenic Drive
June 26: Either drive to Minneapolis or spend day there if arrive night before
June 27: Fly back to NYC

Driving from North Platte to the Badlands you may consider driving through the Sandhills of NE Take US_83 to US-20 and US-385 north to Rapid City. These routes, especially 20, run through some spectacular country.

Lifey

So I made a decision(finally). I'm going to go with the Blue Ridge Parkway trip. Planning to leave from NYC Saturday or Sunday. Just a couple more questions:
1. If I plan to drive the entire length of the Blue Ridge Parkway north-to-south, would I also want to drive Skyline Drive? That was my plan, but I wanted to know if the roads were distinct or more of the same?
2. So when I get to the end of BRP in Cherokee, NC, is it just one road through Great Smokey Park to end up in Gatlinburg?
3. Is Mammoth Caverns amazing and worth the trip?
4. Whether EI go to Mammoth Caverns or not, or there nice road in Kentucky to travel north on? I'd certainly like to experience some of rural Kentucky

Thanks!

3) Mammoth Cave National Park is phenomenal (my opinion). That's why it's a national park. One of the tours will take you to see the blind fish -- not found anywhere else. I believe it's the same tour that takes you through one of the biggest cave "rooms" anywhere -- giving the name "mammoth" to this cave.

I can't answer the rest of the questions. We liked Shenandoah National Park's Skyline Drive, but we've never done the BRP.



Donna

1. They are quite similar, but as long as you are going that way and have time it wouldn't hurt to do them both. Note that it will cost you 15 bucks to use the Skyline Drive unless you have a NP pass. I'd highly recommend you take the inland route to get to Front Royal - I-78 to I-81 to I-66. It's a lot more pleasant drive than fighting your way down I-95. If you want an excellent fast food burger and some great frozen custard in Front Royal, I recommend Spelunker's. It's right across the street from the Super 8, which I also recommend.

2. Yes - US-441.

Thanks GLC. So the Super 8 is decent enough?

Nothing fancy, but it's definitely acceptable.

Are you headed north to Louisville after Mammoth Cave? If so, I'd recommend US 31E. That'll take you through several small towns, including Hodgenville (Lincoln's birthplace) and Bardstown (My Old Kentucky Home, plus some nice shops, a Civil War museum, and the Old Talbott Tavern -- it's small-town Kentucky at its best). It also puts you in the vicinity of a couple of distilleries (Maker's Mark and Jim Beam), Bernheim Forest & Arboretum (great hiking!), and the Catholic heart of Kentucky (Abbey of Gethsemane in Trappist, KY and the Sisters of Nazareth in Loretto, KY). Between Bardstown and Louisville (in Mt. Washington), you'll pass a great BBQ joint called Bootleg BBQ.

If you follow 31E into the city, once you pass through the suburbs, you'll land right in the Highlands, which is full of eclectic shops, restaurants, and coffeehouses. 31E will then take you right downtown.

It's a great drive. I took it again just this past spring when I had to get home from that area and I-65 was shut down due to an accident. It's much more pleasant than the interstate!

ETA: If you're up for it, the caving tour at Mammoth Cave is quite the adventure! I believe you have to reserve it in advance (and last time I went, they suggested reserving most tours in advance, because they can sell out).

THanks morgail.
I will likely not go to Mammoth Caves. Rather, I will likely go to a cavern or 2 in Virginia off Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway.
So I might travel into Kentucky then from Gatlinburg, TN. Which would take me to Lexington first then Louisville.
If you have any similar recommendations for that route, please let me know.
Thanks!

Not a specific road or route, but around Lexington you'll find horse farms on just about any back road. Kentucky Horse Park is just north of Lexington. Distilleries in the area are Woodford Reserve, Four Roses. It's a beautiful part of the state to drive around, so I hope you get some time to just wander! Fort Boonesborough is in that general area. On the road from Versailles to Lexington, you'd go right by the "Versailles Castle" which is this crazy castle-looking building. It has an interesting history. I think it's a hotel now: http://www.thecastlepost.com/