Chicago to Tampa

[wayne0312]

Hello all, nice forum here. I will be taking a road trip to Tampa beginning of July. Rather than take what seems to be the preferred route of most thru Atlanta, I want to head East towards the Atlantic, then South to Tampa. It will be about a five day trip so I'm guessing about 6-8 hours of driving a day. Can some of you advise this misguided soul I call myself of some destinations for me? I do not want to travel to far from the main arteries, so any worthwhile scenic places for me to see on the way close to the highways? I will have my 11 and 9 year old son with me and we will be camping. Don't really want to do amusement parks, but rather see some mountains and scenery. All help is greatly appreciated!

Ciao

[Robert Schaller]

In about a week, you could go south to Abe Lincoln's boyhood home in hilly and beautiful southern Indiana, then work your way down through Kentucky and Tennessee, over through the Smokey Mountains and to Kitty Hawk on the North Carolina Outer Banks. See where the Wright Brothers started the aviation age in 1903! Head south past Cape Hatteras (this involves some ferry rides) and Ocracoke Inlet (Blackbeard sailed and fought there!) and finally down through Jacksonville to Tampa. Maybe your boys would also be interested in seeing Cape Canaveral? You should be able to find camping spots all along this route. The route as I figured it was about 2200 miles. Bob