va to birmingham to memphis to chichago to niagra

[joanid]

i'm heading out at the end of the summer.
any cool places to stop along the way? i'm kind of doing a civil-rights/up to chicago then across the top to niagra falls, thing.
i'd like to go to festivals, fairs, historic places, and i'd like to stay off the beaten path. i'll be pulling a vintage camper so i'll need campsite advice, too. i'd like to stay at state/national parks as much as possible.

thanks for the help, and wish me luck!

[Mass Tim]

Welcome to the RoadTrip America Forum!

The end of the Summer would be an excellent time to take this trip. With everyone heading back to school and being off the road at this time of year, you will be able to enjoy the scenery without worrying about traffic as much as during the peak travel times. However, I would recommend getting reservations at some of the more popular parks as it can be tricky to get a site still.

I would recommend getting a National Parks Pass, and investigating the state park pages for each state you plan on traveling through.

[Midwest Michael]

Keeping with your theme, I would highly recommend checking out some of the many Lincoln related sites in Illinois. The Presidential Library in Springfield is an excellent stop that I highly recommend, but there are also many other Lincoln related sites throughout that area.

As far as camping goes, I do almost all of my camping in state parks and other public lands. My technique for finding them is really quite simple, I look on a map. Most maps are really quite good at marking state parks and identifying which ones have camping available. Then before the trip, I'll start looking at the park specific websites of the places I think I might end up staying at.

[AZBuck]

Somehow, I suspect you already know about most of the critical places and events of the civil rights movement in the deep south, but a few of the places that you should be sure to include on your tour are the National Civil Rights Museum in Selma as well as a host of churches there and in Montgomery, Birmingham and Tuskegee. Just remember that the movement didn't start in the 50s and 60s, so while you're in Tuskegee, check out the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site. Finally, for an historic location, that is somewhat off the beaten path, make a stop outside Selma at an active archaeological dig and reconstruction of Alabama's first capitol at Old Cahawba.

End of summer is a great time to be travelling if festivals and fairs are on the agenda. Many county fairs will be taking place in Alabama and Mississippi. State fairs tend to be later, but I like the scale and feel of county fairs better anyway.

As far as state parks go, your best resource is just a good search engine into which you enter 'State_Name state parks'. And if you possibly can, get a passport before you go and see Niagara Falls from the Canadian side.

Oh, and "Good Luck"

AZBuck