Avoiding mountains, traveling north of Greenville, SC

Hi everyone – I'm planning a roadtrip where I'll be towing with a car that is not exactly well suited for towing, so I'm trying to avoid hills and mountains as much as possible. I would normally drive north using I-26/I-40/I-75 (Greenville to Asheville, to Knoxville) then north; but that takes me through the rather windy mountains of NC/TN on I-40. I've driven this route probably 50 times, but with my towing, I'd like to avoid it.

So – will I be able to avoid mountains if I drive I-85 to Atlanta, and then I-24 to I-57 north? or will I run to mountains that way too?

Thanks!

You mention I-75 to reach points north of Knoxville but then mention I-57 from I-24 if you were to circle down to Atlanta first. What is your ultimate destination with the tow?

While there are a few grades between Greenville, SC and Asheville, NC, and a few more immediately west of Asheville along I-40, but from Canton on through the mountains I-40 follows the Pigeon River and while very windy, it's not steep.

There are some long grades along I-75 north of Knoxville, roughly between Knoxville and a little north of Corbin, KY, but they're 3 lanes on the uphill side and are thus well-laid out for a towed vehicle.

Your alternate route of using I-85 southwest to ATL involves plenty of long grades as I-85 follows the edge of the Blue Ridge foothills all the way. You then have to climb up on to the Cumberland Plateau on I-24 west of Chattanooga before reaching flatter terrain at about Clarksville, TN, where it then remains fairly flat to I-57 in Illinois.

Long story short, if your destination is far enough west to involve Nashville, TN, I-24, and I-57, perhaps going down through ATL isn't such a bad idea. If instead you're headed to Ohio, Indiana, or northeastern Illinois, I'd just bite the bullet and pass through familiar territory to Asheville, Knoxville and points north of there along I-75.

Foy

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Foy

You mention I-75 to reach points north of Knoxville but then mention I-57 from I-24 if you were to circle down to Atlanta first. What is your ultimate destination with the tow?

Long story short, if your destination is far enough west to involve Nashville, TN, I-24, and I-57, perhaps going down through ATL isn't such a bad idea. If instead you're headed to Ohio, Indiana, or northeastern Illinois, I'd just bite the bullet and pass through familiar territory to Asheville, Knoxville and points north of there along I-75.

Foy

---

We're headed to Minnesota, so I think it's far enough west that backtracking won't be too awful. That being said, I'm not sure if the climb up Cumberland will make it just as bad....

Take I-85 to Atlanta, then I-20 to Birmingham. Take US-78/I-22 to Memphis and pick up I-55 to go north. Where in MN are you going?

Ben,

OK, so your only segment of I-75 would be from ATL to Chattanooga. Never been on it, but have looked closely at topographic maps and it doesn't look bad to me. From west of Chattanooga, I-24 climbs atop the Cumberland Plateau near Monteagle, TN. It's a few miles (maybe 6-8 miles in all?) of grade, then you're on top. A fairly short distance atop the grade and you descend into the Nashville basin. There are around 4 1-2 mile grades climbing out of Nashville to the west along I-24, then it's gently rolling from Clarksville all the way to I-57 at Mount Vernon, IL.

For towing, I'm not crazy about I-40 between Oak Ridge, TN and Lebanon, TN. It's one of the older segments of I-40 and the climb up the Plateau is long and the drive atop the Plateau includes a goodly number of long grades and tight-ish curves, and the truck traffic is plentiful.

Foy

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Foy

OK, so your only segment of I-75 would be from ATL to Chattanooga. Never been on it, but have looked closely at topographic maps and it doesn't look bad to me. From west of Chattanooga, I-24 climbs atop the Cumberland Plateau near Monteagle, TN. It's a few miles (maybe 6-8 miles in all?) of grade, then you're on top. A fairly short distance atop the grade and you descend into the Nashville basin. There are around 4 1-2 mile grades climbing out of Nashville to the west along I-24, then it's gently rolling from Clarksville all the way to I-57 at Mount Vernon, IL.

---

I've been over the I-85/I-75/I-24/I-57 route from Greenville to Mt. Vernon many times. Yes, the climb up to Monteagle is a pretty good grade, and the downgrade is also long and steep, but it has lanes for slower vehicles, so you shouldn't have trouble on it. From there on its smooth sailing. I'd suggest staying on I-57 all the way to Champaign, then I-74 to Normal and I-39 to Rockford, where it joins I-90 up to Minnesota. It will be interstate all the way.

Quote:

---

I'm planning a roadtrip where I'll be towing with a car that is not exactly well suited for towing, so I'm trying to avoid hills and mountains as much as possible.

---

What are you towing, and with what?


Donna

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Harry Kline

Yes, the climb up to Monteagle is a pretty good grade, and the downgrade is also long and steep, but it has lanes for slower vehicles, so you shouldn't have trouble on it.

---

What if I told you I'm towing 1450 pounds (145 pounds of tongue weight) with a subcompact (Honda Fit). Do you still think the grades wouldn't be a problem?

In the US, towing with a Fit will void your warranty. In other markets it has a 1000# limit. I wouldn't do it. If this is a one way trip and you need to drive the car back to SC, I'd rent a U-Haul truck and a car trailer, and tow the Fit.

If you must, please refer to my post #4, where in MN are you going?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by glc

In the US, towing with a Fit will void your warranty. In other markets it has a 1000# limit. I wouldn't do it. If this is a one way trip and you need to drive the car back to SC, I'd rent a U-Haul truck and a car trailer, and tow the Fit.

If you must, please refer to my post #4, where in MN are you going?

---

The precise verbiage on the warranty voiding is that it may void the warranty. There's quite a few threads over on the "fitfreaks" forum about towing with a Fit. But I think I will be taking your advice and going the long way around.

I'm driving to about 30 miles south of Minneapolis, right off of I-35.

I would strongly recommend you rethink your plans. "May" void your warranty means that if you have any engine or transmission problems from this point forward you "may" as well consider yourself s.o.l. - and thats because you will be putting a tremendous amount of stress on your drivetrain that is all but certainly reduce your cars lifespan. 1400lbs is just too much weight for such a small car, especially over such a long distance, and there are also significant safety concerning the ability to control that kind of weight at high speeds.

Its one thing to be a little overweight on your towing and going a short distance. being 50% overweight and towing for a couple thousand miles is a very bad idea any way you look at it.

Okay, when you get to St. Louis on I-55, take I-270 to I-64 to Wentzville, then US-61 to near Keokuk, then IA-27 to US-218 to Iowa City, I-380 to Waterloo, then back on US-218 to US-18 to I-35. This is the most direct route from STL to I-35 south of MSP.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Midwest Michael

I would strongly recommend you rethink your plans.

---

, etc....

Yes, you are probably right. But I'm afraid we're already committed. I leave tomorrow. I'll be taking a bunch of precautions: won't be going more than 55 mph, and I'm following the other fellow's advice and headed west through Memphis to avoid all the hills. I'll update this thread when we arrive in MN to let you know whether we made it or not. It should be an interesting 24+ hours!

Thanks again for your comments.

Thanks glc, I'll be following this route; and I'll update the thread when I arrive in MN.

By 24+ hours, I sure hope you mean 72 hours. With the extra miles for this longer route, and the set-up you have for this drive, you need a minimum of 3 full days for this trip if safety is actually a concern.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Midwest Michael

By 24+ hours, I sure hope you mean 72 hours. With the extra miles for this longer route, and the set-up you have for this drive, you need a minimum of 3 full days for this trip if safety is actually a concern.

---

I was doing it with one other person that is a road warrior, so we swapped to stay alert, spent the night in St. Louis, and did it in 2 days. When I said 24+ hours I meant 24+ hours actually moving. It ended up around 25 hours – about 15 hours day 1, and 10 hours on day 2.

But as promised, I'm updating to say that we made it safely and without incident. The weather was fantastic – no rain and the wind was low – and everything went well despite being overloaded. We stopped at the first Flying J and weighed the trailer and car, and it came in overweight. Trailer was 1700 pounds (200 over hitch rating), and the car came in at about 3600. This is about 500 pounds over the absurdly low US manual's cargo rating, but that's a problem that could be another thread on its own.

I don't recommend anyone doing this, but for us it worked. We took the long way to avoid all the hills, drove cautiously, stuck to the right hand lane, etc....and everything was fine. Thanks again to everyone that contributed to our finding the safest route. We appreciate it.

You were 200 lbs over your hitch rating, on top of being 70% over your cars recommended maximum towing capacity?

Then on top of that, you did this in just 2 days, including an extremely dangerous 15 hours on your first day?

We are thankful you didn't have any problems, but please don't for a second think what you did was safe. What you did was very, very dangerous. Essentially, you played russian roulette, and you won, this time. You may not be so lucky next time.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Midwest Michael

You were 200 lbs over your hitch rating, on top of being 70% over your cars recommended maximum towing capacity?

Then on top of that, you did this in just 2 days, including an extremely dangerous 15 hours on your first day?

We are thankful you didn't have any problems, but please don't for a second think what you did was safe. What you did was very, very dangerous. Essentially, you played russian roulette, and you won, this time. You may not be so lucky next time.

---

Well, I wouldn't have recommended it, but for financial reasons, we had to do it this way. I won't argue with you about the overloading. I tried to sell off most everything, but didn't quite do it as planned. I'm curious though, why do you say 15 hours between two people is dangerous?

In order to drive that many hours in a day safely, there needs to be 2 people awake at all times - the driver and someone to make sure the driver stays awake. This is why you need 3 or more drivers in rotation to do a "speed run".

Financial reasons are a really bad reason to endanger other people's lives.

Countless studies have shown - and the crash statistics back it up - that the human body will start to start to seriously suffer the effects of fatigue after sitting in a car 10 hours, and the longer you continue to operate a vehicle, the worse the effects get. Just swapping drivers every so often doesn't change the effects. Even if you didn't "feel" tired, I can assure you that your reaction times were severely dulled - much like someone who has had too much to drink - long before you stopped for the night. Throw in the fact that you were towing a severely overloaded rig where you needed an extra level of alertness - and had a much higher than normal possibility of having an emergency situation - and there is just no getting around the fact that what you did endangered the lives of everyone else on the road.

You got away with it this time. It's easy to conclude that what you did was just fine - no harm no foul - but that would be a horrible lesson for you or for anyone reading this thread to take from your experience. Statistics show that many repeat drunk driver get behind the wheel drunk 100 times before they get caught or get into a crash, it doesn't mean the first 99 times were safe. If you repeated your actions again, you might also make the trip safely, but eventually, when you do something that is very dangerous, your luck will run out - and many times it's other people who get hurt in the process.