Traveling from Philadephia to Charleston, SC then back up the Blue Ridge Parkway

[Gerry Weinhardt]

Me and my roommate are leaving on a ten day road trip on the 11th of August. We are going to drive straight through from Philadelphia to our first major stop, which is a campsite at the southern part of the Outer Banks, NC. We will stay for two days before taking the ferry back to the mainland and driving about 9 hours til we reach Charleston, SC. We are going to stay at the NotSoHostel Hostel one night and a local Holiday Inn the second night. On the third day in Charleston, we plan to leave around 12 and head northwest until we hit Asheville and this is where we are looking for the most help. We are devoting four full days to driving, camping and exploring the Blue Ridge Parkway. My main concern is that I do not know if my 1995 Toyota Camry, that has 120,000 miles, will be able to make the trek. The car runs great and has been babied her whole life but I was wondering if anyone has any tips or ideas. We have one week before takeoff and we are just looking for any last minute ideas. We most likely will not reserve any campsites since we are planning on just taking this last part of the trip day by day. Any comments will be very much appriciated.

[Mark Sedenquist]

Me and my roommate are leaving on a ten day road trip on the 11th of August.

Welcome to the Great American RoadTrip Forum! Looks like a great plan -- some days are a little long, but I guess you already know that.

We are going to drive straight through from Philadelphia to our first major stop, which is a campsite at the southern part of the Outer Banks, NC.

It is not a terribly long distance -- but it will still take you every bit of 9 hours to get past the traffic along the way.

We will stay for two days before taking the ferry back to the mainland and driving about 9 hours til we reach Charleston, SC.

Even if you use I-95, I think you are dreaming on this leg of the trip. I would plan on 11 hours...

On the third day in Charleston, we plan to leave around 12 and head northwest until we hit Asheville

That is about a 267 mile romp -- should take you a tad under 6.5 hours to drive it.

We are devoting four full days to driving, camping and exploring the Blue Ridge Parkway.

You are going to love it -- just remember that this is moseying kind of roadway -- average speeds less than 25 mph for long stretches.

My main concern is that I do not know if my 1995 Toyota Camry, that has 120,000 miles, will be able to make the trek. The car runs great and has been babied her whole life but I was wondering if anyone has any tips or ideas

If it is running well, and you have checked everything out -- I don't see any problem.

We most likely will not reserve any campsites since we are planning on just taking this last part of the trip day by day.

Excellent plan. The last time I drove the parkway was in 1995, so my recommendations may be out of date, but there are other posts on this forum about it. Use the search utility -- and here is one post that might be helpful to you. Be sure to look at the bottom of this page for more ideas (similar threads).

Mark

[Gerry Weinhardt]

Thanks a lot for the advice. We are really excited about the trip. Like I said above we got everything set for the Outer Banks part of the trip. If anyone has any suggustions about things to do in Charleston, we would greatly appreciate any feedback. As for the Blue Ridge Parkway, we are looking for anything anyone has to offer. I know there are some beautiful waterfalls around the end of the Parkway below Asheville. Also I found a website about Grandfather Mountain, which seems like a pretty cool spot to explore. If anyone knows anything about these points of interest or any other spots please let us know. Thanks a lot