Road trip from WI to VA

[mozkaynak]

we are a young couple and plan a Road trip this July. We live in Madison, WI and want to go to Blacksburg, VA as the final point.

Here is our tentative plan:

leave Madison, WI and drive to Mammoth Cave on July 15.
Leave Mammoth Cave and drive to Nashville on July 17.
Leave Nashville and drive to Great Smoky Mts NP on July 18.
Leave Great Smoky and arrive to Blacksburg on July 20.
Leave Blacksburh on July 21 and arrive to Madison on July 23.

What do you guys think about this plan?
We want to stay in our tent at most of the time. We love camping. Where can we stay? where should we visit?
I would appreciate any opinion/comment on this.

Thanks alot.

[Quebec Gen]

Road Greetings Mozkaynak and welcome to the RTA Forum!

We want to stay in our tent at most of the time. We love camping. Where can we stay?

Here are a few campground directories you should check out :

Camp USA;
Go Camping USA;
The Campground Network;
KOA;
National Parks, National Monuments and State Parks;
Bureau of Land Management campgrounds;

If you are a AAA member, you can order free camping guides. If you enjoy camping in the "wild", I'd suggest you stay mostly in BLM's campgrounds (~15$ and less). Otherwise, the KOA campgrounds (~25-35$) are usually more crowded with kids, pools, mini-putt, RVs the whole bit. State and National Parks are a good compromise, although some places might be packed during the summer months and require reservations.

where should we visit?

Starved Rock State Park, Utica, IL
Shenandoah National Park, VA;
Country Music Hall of Fame, Nashville, TN
Rock n' Soul Museum, Memphis, TN
Elvis Presley Graceland Mansion, Memphis, TN
Illinois & Missouri
2006 Distinctive Destinations (including Bowling Green, KY)

Happy planning!

Gen

[Midwest Michael]

I like your plan, it looks like you've given yourself a good amount of time for exploration without trying to do too much. Your first day trip to Mammoth Cave will be a long one, but it is certainly do-able.

I too am a tent camper, and I prefer staying at state/national parks or other public lands. Private campgrounds, particularly KOAs, tend to focus on the more lucrative RV campers and provide very little space for tent campers. Of course there are good private campgrounds for tent camping, and I've even found some state parks where tent camping is an afterthought, but by and large I much prefer public areas.

For your trip there are campgrounds right at Mammoth and at Smokey Mountains, although you may want to see about reservations, particularly on the weekends. It looks like there are a few state parks with camping near Nashville, Bledsoe Creek and Cedars of Lebanon SP could be an option, but I've haven't been to either of them myself, and the Jefferson national forest is near Blacksburg, which offers both campgrounds and dispersed camping.