Chicago to Great Smokey Mountains.

[nisars]

Hello Friends,

This great site has helped us a lot in the past roadtrips, which were...

Chicago to Mt Rushmore - 2006
Chicago to Yellowstone NP - 2007
Chicago to Niagara Falls - 2008

This season we are planning to visit Smokey Mts. Its almost 10hours drive. And we are planning to start early morning from Chicago and reach Pigeon Forge by same night.

Any one with any suggestions, any interesting stops, good fun places for kids and family on the way to/from Smokey.

I'll appreciate.

NS

[AZBuck]

Chicago to Pigeon Forge is over 580 miles. You can do that in a 10 hour drive, but only the most cursory stops for food, fuel and bathroom breaks, and maybe one or two leg stretches. If you could add a day to the drive down, then you can start to add "fun places" like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Mammoth Cave, and Cumberland Gap. But seeing such places takes time, time you won't have if you need to make it all the way down in one day.

AZBuck

[nisars]

Thanks AZbuck.

Per your suggesting, instead of driving for 10hr from Chicago to Great Smokey Mtns (GSM). we decided to spent a night in Elizabethtown close to Mammoth Cave NP, that means...

Day 1 - Drive (5 hours drive) from Chicago to Elizabethtown, KY - stay over.
Day 2 - Drive (1 hour) to Manmonth Cave, spent morning-afternoon and late afternoon leave for GSM (4 Hours). Stay over.
Day 3 - Visit GSM - stay over
Day 4 - Continue GSM - stay over.
Day 5 - Early morning leave GSM for Chicago (may be overnight stay somewhere in between).

Thanks for you suggestion.
Will share my trip xp, when we return.

NS

[Starguard]

Dont forget to take many pictures and post them here for all to see :)

[etoiles]

I did this same drive just last summer. Some things that are nice to see along the way if you need to stretch your legs:

- In Indianapolis they have a great free art museum that is fun for a short while. They have some old masters and a great contemporary section. And, since it's free, no pressure to stay there long.

- Louisville, KY - Huge baseball bat outside the Louisville Slugger Factory. You can take tours of this but you must buy a ticket)

- Corbin, KY - (south of Lexington) the original KFC restaurant. In the dining areas there are some displays set up of what his kitchen looked like and original dining room furniture, etc.. There is a statue of the colonel by the food ordering area.