To Tennessee

[Daa1Chef]

Heya All,

My wife and I along with our pooch are leaving from Green Bay, WI on the 14th of May for a 6 day RT. We are thinking about checking out the Scenic Highlander driving tours in the Blue Ridge and Smokey mountains. We are leaving early morning (2 a.m) and looking for scenic routes and points of interest destination stops on the way there and back. The maps tell me we should shoot down toward Indy, then Louisville, Lexington and Knoxville. We are considering a home base of Conasauga TN, once we get there. We were thinking two days to get there, two days to make the circle, and two days back. Some people have mentioned Memphis and Beale St.

We also need to find choices for pet friendly lodging of course.

Recomendations are much apprciated.

Thanks

DaChef

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

Mammoth Cave would be right on your direct route, if you went through Nashville instead of Lexington/Knoxville (which only adds 10 miles).

Having said that, I would strongly advice you that your plan to start at 2am and try to get there in one day is just not a very smart plan to kick off a vacation. You would be waking up in the middle of the night, not getting your usual amount of sleep, then driving 850 miles -which is a grueling 15-16 hours on the road and far more than we recommend for a single day. (Not to mention, if you get off to just a little bit later start than you want, you'll end up hitting Chicago in the teeth of the morning rush.)

If you do manage to make it to Tennessee without biting each others heads off, you're going to be so exhausted that you're going to need 2 days to recover before you can start enjoying your trip again. Last month, I did basically the same trip from Northern Georgia to Minnesota in one day, but it was because of an emergency, and I assure you, it was very much work and not a fun day on the road. With 6 days, there's just no reason to push yourself that hard. Wake up at your normal time, drive most of the way there to someplace like Louisville, Lexington, or Bowling Green, and finish your drive up the next day. I think it you'll have much more fun in the long run.

[Daa1Chef]

Thanks MM. That makes very good sense.

[Dominic Longo]

I agree with Midwest Michael. In one of my threads for a long trip I am planning, somebody posted that the average speed is 57 miles per hour (b/c of stops and what not) 850 miles would take 15 hours. (You could also had 3 hours to the amount of hours mapquest tells you it will take. That did the trick for me.) The most I've done was 12 with two drivers switching every 2 hours. 15 hours is a long day, especially after not getting a normal night's sleep. Also, Memphis lies on the Mississippi which is the complete opposite side of Tennessee and about 3 hours away from Nashville. I've driven from Nashville to Memphis but not Memphis to, for example Knoxville or Chattanooga, but I assume it would take 6 hours to drive across the state from Memphis to the Knoxville/Chattanooga area. If you have the time, see Memphis, but if you plan on spending two days touring the Smokey's (which are beautiful I might add) you might not get a chance to see Memphis.

Edit: I also assume that having a dog with you would require more stops. He has to eat, go to the bathroom, and get a bit of a run in from time to time to be comfortable on the trip also.

[Daa1Chef]

Hi All,

We are heading to Memphis from Green Bay for the Great BBQ Cook Off. Staying there Thursday night, Friday, and Saturday. Hope to check out the usual sites as well. Grace Land, Beale St., and just hang out for a couple days. We were thinking about driving across the state to check out the Smokies but that seems like quite a hike for just a one day stay there. Can anyone tell me weather the trip back up route 61 is of any interest. We could follow it back up to the southwest corner of our Wisconsin and head home from there. Basicly looking for a midway point to stay Sunday night, hang out Monday, and home Tuesday.

Thanks

DaChef