North Carolina to Boston in 2 days

[elsieboy]

Hey all,

I'm after a bit of advice!

The girlfriend and I need to get from central North Carolina (Durham or Winston-Salem) to Boston in 1.5 days. We'll have driven down the standard route from Boston the day before, and are looking for a bit of a more interesting trek back.

We can leave from NC about lunchtime (Sat), and need to be in Boston by the following (Sun) night. We'd like to spend Sat night somewhere nice and relaxing, so that probably means spending the night somewhere before the halfway point, to arrive at a reasonable time.

What scenic route would you suggest, preferably one that avoids tolls? Google maps is suggesting either US-1 north or US-15 north.

We've both done a lot of long-distance driving (including to the West Coast and back).

Thanks!
elsieboy

[glc]

If you are trying to do this in only a day and a half, you need to stick to the Interstate and Interstate-quality highways. This is an 800 mile drive which is NOT safe to do in one day EITHER direction.

From Winston-Salem, take 52/74/77 north to 81, take that to 84 to 90. I show a good overnight choice as being around Hagerstown MD.

[Foy]

From Durham, I'd agree with US 15 and I'd keep on US 15 all the way to Harrisburg, PA. US 15 passes through some very nice countryside in VA, MD, and PA. It's practically all 2-lane and goes through quite a number of small towns and villages, but no cities of any size.

If you start from Winston-Salem, your time element precludes using US 15, but in addition to considering glc's fine route, you could consider US 158 over to Reidsville, thence US 29 north through Lynchburg and Charlottesville to north of Warrenton, VA, where US 15 has intersected US 29 and heads off to Harrisburg, PA. From about Chatham, VA on north, US 29 parallels the Blue Ridge so mountain views are common over a long distance.

If time allows, you can avoid NYC and the surrounding areas of NJ and CT by taking I-81 north from Harrisburg to Scranton, thence I-84 east into MA, where you'd intersect the Mass Turnpike west of Boston.

Foy