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Cross country road trip to the east coast- here we go...

Cross country road trip to the east coast- here we go...

Old Aug 26th, 2016, 10:30 AM
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Cross country road trip to the east coast- here we go...

If you've been following the southern history thread, then you know what this is. For everyone else: Next year is looking like a prime year for a summer east coast road trip. Partly because the planets are aligned in terms of time off/family obligations, and partly because my beloved Lady Ford has most likely one good road trip left in her. I'd really like your advice on my itinerary.

Practicalities:
I tend to prefer 6 hours max in the car and I'm planning to camp for a lot of it. Some of it is hostels. I am not opposed to great, inexpensive, central hotels, which I have found in some places. I don't care much for one night stays. It would NOT be helpful to suggest flying and renting a car; I have investigated that thoroughly and it just comes with too many expenses and hassles, Imo.

I know someone will ask about budget lodging...let's say: 30-100 a night.

I have roughly 2 months. June 20-September 15 are free. Under no circumstances do I want to be driving on holiday weekends. I have family in St. Louis, so that's nonnegotiable. Because I really, really want to visit a specific light house in northern Michigan, I need to be in that region on any Saturday.

Interests: history, hiking, food, swimming. Extraordinary bookstores. Lighthouses. Walkable, charming cities/towns. Local festivals. Trying to tick a few more National Parks off my bucket list! Maryland crab and oysters are on my mind.

This road trip has two driving motivations: 1. I have yet to make it to Gettysburg, and one of my interests is the Civil War. 2. Maine, and New England in general.

Problem I need help solving: I keep thinking...I'm driving all that way, should I add on this or that. I don't generally rent a car when I fly, so all of my trips to the Midwest and east coast have been city centered.

Places I have been (so you know what is redundant and/or what I am deliberately skipping): DC, Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, Provincetown MA, Nantucket, Salem, MA, Williamsburg,

Twin Falls June 21, 22 (visit friend)
Bryce Canyon June 23, 24
Grand Canyon Mather campground 25, 26
Durango, 27, 28
Colorado Springs 29
Oakley, ks 30

(Topeka) pit stop for brown vs board of Ed

Kansas City July 1,2
St. Louis 3,4 (cousins)
National quilt museum (Paducah) 5
Nashville, 6, 7
(Lost River)
Mammoth cave national park 8,9
Louisville 10, 11
Lexington. 12, 13
Great Smokies 14, 15, 16
Asheville 17, 18
Savannah 19, 20, 21 (day trip to Charleston?)
Williamsburg 22, 23, 24 (Colonial W, Busch gardens).
Shenandoah NP 25, 26
Harper's ferry 27, 28
(Annapolis, Maryland crab)
Gettysburg (Iron Masters Mansion) 29, 30
Philly 31, August 1 (UPenn museum, reading market, Ben Franklin).
Newport Rhode Island 2, 3 4,
Martha's Vineyard 5 6 7,
Boston. 8, 9, 10
Maine 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
Vermont 17, 18, 19 20
Finger lakes area (?) 21, 22
Niagara falls 23
Ann Arbor 24
(Traverse city)

mackinac island/detour light: 25, 26, 27, 28
Madison 29, 30,
Minneapolis 31, September 1, 2, 3, (renaissance fetsival, state fair)
De smet 4,5 (Laura Ingalls)
Custer state park 6,7
Yellowstone 8, 9, 10, 11
Headed home.


I don't HAVE to do Minnesota at all, if you have better suggestions, but the Renaissance Festival sounds hilarious, and I enjoy state fairs. I'm not attached to Kentucky except for Mammoth Cave and Lost River. One nights without notes are probably to break up the drive. As I said in my southern thread, I would love to see Charleston, but I have yet to find good budget pedestrian friendly lodging. Savannah has a hostel. I could camp and add a few days to Charleston but I think I'd still have to drive in and park. If I find no lodging alternatives, would it be better to day trip to Charleston and sacrifice a day in Savannah...OR just visit Charleston on the way from Savannah to Williamsburg?

Thoughts, ideas? Any hazards known to these areas? In the west we have wildfire season- does the east have that? I seem to remember that Massachussetts mosquitoes are large and hungry, but that's about it.

Thanks for any advice! It's truly appreciated!
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Old Aug 26th, 2016, 01:46 PM
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The Minnesota State Fair is a wonderful experience. We always looked forward to it.
Lots to eat there!
Our kids went to the Renaissance Fair every year when we lived in Mpls. It is what it is. Rather corny and you get the feeling that it exists to employ all those aspiring out of work theater majors.
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Old Aug 26th, 2016, 01:55 PM
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Thanks for the feedback! State fair food is the best! There aren't any major Ren faires near me, so it's on my bucket list if it's convenient. I just enjoy seeing the costumes those aspiring theater majors dream up
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Old Aug 26th, 2016, 06:49 PM
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I think I'd drop one of the days in Maine and add it to Yellowstone.
In South Dakota you should stop to see the Corn Palace in Mitchell, the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore and Devil's Tower (NE WY).
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Old Aug 26th, 2016, 08:49 PM
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Tomfuller- really? Even given that I live two states away from Yellowstone and across the country from Maine? Explain your reasoning?

Mt. Rushmore is my "must see" in the area, and I'll have to research the other two...I hadn't heard of the corn palace before, thanks!
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Old Aug 27th, 2016, 03:00 AM
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"Interests: history, hiking, food, swimming. Extraordinary bookstores. Lighthouses. Walkable, charming cities/towns. Local festivals."

One thing about Maine and this travel board is that one rarely sees any info about inland and logging history. Cole Transportation Museum in Bangor is very interesting. Owls Head Transportation Museum near Rockland ME is more of a classic car museum but they have special events on weekends. On one of our visits we saw antique airplanes flying and a restored Lombard Log Hauler.

Check to see if there are any light house tours from the Maritime Museum in Bath ME during your dates. Bath is also home to the Bath Iron Works. We saw stealth destroyers at the Iron Works last June from the bridge/Rt 1. The size of the cranes is incredible.

If you are headed to Acadia via Rt 1 visit the Chicken Barn antiques and used books. See their website.

There are a lot of food recommendations for Portland on Chowhound. If you go to Fort Williams Park you can see both a lighthouse and eat a lobster roll (Bite Into ME food truck) plus a tremendous view of Casco Bay. As of 9/2015, McLoon's became our favorite lobster shack but check hours for any lobster shack after Labor Day since many are open weekends only after kids go back to school. We also visited last June in time to see an eagle swooping among the fishing boats trying to get a duck for lunch. Beautiful little working harbor in South Thomaston. Get the biggest lobster roll with both mayo (just a smear on the roll) and hot butter. You can dip the chunks of lobster that are threatening to fall off the roll into the melted butter.

You are going to have a hard time getting from Maine to VT without going thru NH. Tons of hiking opportunities in the White Mountains. Strawbery Banke Historic Area in Portsmouth. I highly recommend boat cruise either harbor or inland rivers. If you take Rt 16/Rt 4 to Concord you could do a one night stop in Concord so you could visit Canterbury Shaker Village. Gibson's bookstore is a very nice independent book store. If it rains, you can see what's playing at the independent Red River Theater. Head west on Pleasant Street (or follow signs to hospital) but keep going. Stop at Gould Hill Orchard for heirloom apples. (see their website for varieties). Keep going, you can get on I89 to VT in several places but you might not want to miss the pleasant drive thru Warner NH. Warner is also home to a telephone museum and Kearsarge Indian Museum. You can also hike to top of Mt. Kearsarge. If you stop in the small but nice independent Main Street Book Ends and go to the little gallery/meeting room in back, you might see some work by local resident David Carroll, author and artist of Year of the Turtle.

Both Brattleboro and Norwich VT have great farmers markets on Saturdays. There are other good markets as well. These two I know to have some good prepared food for a morning snack or light lunch. Brattleboro has more ethnic food vendors. Live music makes things festive.

Google Vermont swimming holes if you can take the cold water. The one in Bristol VT includes a small waterfall.

BTW Lowell Mills north of Boston MA is a national park. When we visited last year, there weren't any crowds. The park ranger kept urging us to ask him questions.

The collapse of the wool industry and the civil war change life in a lot of New England towns. At one time NH had a lot of sheep farms. As you head to VT you might want to stop off at the Fells in Newbury (not too much of a detour from I89), the summer estate of John Hay. Interesting tour explains how NH encouraged rich people to buy abandoned farms for summer estates.
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Old Aug 27th, 2016, 03:23 AM
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First of all, it is a great road trip--and I think in some cases it is a driveby, but.....

You are going to Durango and not Mesa Verde? YOu could drop COSprings
And as said, I don't know what you will do in Lexington for 2 days although you mentioned the Horse Park. Or the Smokies and Asheville for 5 days.

I think you should just forget Savannah and charleston as you were going to do in your first iteration--it is your 6 hour limit drive to Savannah--one reason I suggested Charleston instead. But you have a LONG drive (1.5 of your days to get to Williamsburg I think.
It's obvious the trip is to the upper east coast which is fine. Just dut out the southeast coast and reassign some days.
Do you know the real story of Custer's Last Stand?
Badlands are really beautiful

I think you need to insert your drive times into the itinerary. Michigan is a surprisingly "tall" state.

Take your passport(?) if you are going into Canada for Niagara.
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Old Aug 27th, 2016, 05:05 AM
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Quick reactions

More time in Charleston, less in Savannah

I would do Savannah-Charleston-Williamsburg-Annapolis via Eastern Shore

Less time in Williamsburg; bag Busch Gardens, which is really an amusement park, in favor of Jamestown

It won't be prime crab season when you are in Annapolis, but there will be crabs there and on the Eastern Shore

US 50 westward to I 66 to I-81 to Shenandoah and on to Harpers Ferry.

Too much time in Newport unless you are a tennis nut

Have you been to Monticello?

I love the ride from Sleeping Bear Dunes near Traverse City along the Lake Michigan "coast" up to the Mackinac Ferry

Now, a query: what are you driving? It matters for all kinds of reasons. The perfect answer would be "a Prius."
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Old Aug 27th, 2016, 06:06 AM
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Yes, take your passport. If you want to spend that much time in Maine, cross into New Brunswick and maybe Nova Scotia.
Its been decades since I was in Maine but I do remember the Maritime Provinces.
The Canadian side of Niagara Falls is better than the US side in many peoples opinion.
I hope your old lady Ford is still in good shape.
My style of travel is to take Amtrak and then rent a car to drive a big loop and then go onward on Amtrak.
I earn Amtrak Guest Rewards points on my car rentals.
While driving across New Hampshire, try to drive the Kancamagus Highway http://www.kancamagushighway.com/
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Old Aug 27th, 2016, 06:43 AM
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Quick response...then I shall come back later to absorb all this good advice!

Maritime Provinces were on the original version and I was sad to cut them but it seemed like too far out of my way. I have a edl, though, so no worries about Canada. I just don't enjoy the border crossing.

Lady Ford is in excellent shape, thank you for inquiring after her health It's just that I come from a family of Ford-ites, and I can just see her long slow demise on the horizon.

Durango meant Mesa Verde- sorry, my bad! Haven't decided to camp near food or near hiking yet.

Inland Maine and Rocky Mountain NP keep hopping onto the itinerary and hopping off again. Never enough time...

For those of you who have driven through Colorado- is the southern route through CS noticeably different than north? Breckinridge was in the original plan, and google maps didn't make it look much longer, but I was a little concerned about mountain driving. CO is weirdly the only Western state I have never driven through- but have seen a lot of the airport!
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Old Aug 27th, 2016, 07:18 AM
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hmmm.


No Prius*. Oh, well. I don't have one, either.

Can you sleep in your car, not on the streets of the French Quarter or the South Bronx, but as an alternative to the whole pitching a tent thing?

There are lots and lots of articles on the Internet about doing this, with and without modifying the car. If your stature is mouselike, check them out and give it some thought. For the cost of a couple of night lodging! you could have a cooler, foam pad, mosquito screens, camp stove, reading light, campground chair, etc.

*The advantage of the Prius is that you can -- reportedly -- run the A/C while you sleep in a hot campground. When the battery gets low, the car automatically starts and runs on gasoline long enough to recharge.
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Old Aug 27th, 2016, 09:13 AM
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Southern CO up to COSSprings is not NEARLY as beautiful as through the mountains.
Be aware that if you do not stay IN Mesa verde park at Far View hotel, it is a long drive in and out.
That is interesting about the Prius, Ack. DDIL has one and I'm sure they know that, just at a stop light.
And agree about the omissions Ack suggests. And definitely about Charleston over Savannah if you keep it in.
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Old Aug 28th, 2016, 10:22 AM
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That's really neat about a Prius, Ackislander. I am unfortunately not mouselike in stature. I have tall long legged ancestors. I have tried sleeping in my car before and it's doable, but not something I'd plan to do. I do have all that camping gear though. though When the current car dies, I really want something more roomy but that car payment will cut into my travel habit

So- tentatively, if I go up through Breckinridge, that gives me about 13, 14 hours between Breckinridge and St. Louis. Maybe I am not giving Kansas enough credit, but the only things I am interested in so far are KC style bbq and Brown vs. Board of education. How should I break that trip up?
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Old Aug 28th, 2016, 10:40 AM
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I know a couple people who work on PIT projects that have the little teardrop shaped trailers. The back hatch opens for a mini kitchen with a little bit of storage.
It beats sleeping in a car or taking down a wet tent in the morning.
If you are driving through western Kansas on I-70, you can stop at Mingo (SE of Colby) and find the oldest geocache in the world.
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Old Aug 28th, 2016, 10:50 AM
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I have seen those little trailers! But I haven't decided if I'm at the point of really wanting to do maintenance, deal with storage, and have to find a place to park it when visiting a city. My tent seems a lot more flexible use wise. if someone is with me, they usually aren't camping people- it is hotels all the way, so that trailer wouldn't be useful for many of my trips. But so tempting.
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Old Aug 28th, 2016, 11:55 AM
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As your only interest in Kentucky is Mammoth Cave and Lost River, why are you spending a total of four nites in Louisville and Lexington after Nashville?

With your interests, consider seeing Forts Henry and Donelson, both interesting Civil War sites--where General US Grant began to make his mark--then drive up to the Caves area and then back down to Nashville before heading to the Smokeys. There are a number of interesting Civil War sites between Nashville and the Smokey area--Franklin and Stones River Tennessee, Chattanooga, Tennessee, a really interesting city and the venue for another big Civil War battle, as was Chickamauga, Georgia, just south of there. Franklin was the next to last chance for Confederate General John Bell Hood to show his talent for shredding Confederates armies before he was beaten at Nashville and relieved of his command (much to the chagrin of the Yanks.

Looks like a lovely trip. Have a great time!
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Old Aug 28th, 2016, 12:49 PM
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I would not worry too much about Kansas. You might stay in Frisco instead of Breck--cute little town. You will lose an hour on the clock also.
Cheap motels in Kansas right on the interstate. I know nothing about any "memorial" in KC for civil rights but maybe so..
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Old Aug 31st, 2016, 02:47 PM
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Revised draft. I'm a little more happy with this one, I think. Added a few interesting state parks that I'd like to see. Comments, suggestions for improvement would be very much appreciated.


Twin Falls- 1 night
(7h36m)
Las Vegas- 1
(45 min)
Hoover Dam
(4h)
Grand Canyon- 2
(5 hrs)
Mesa Verde, Morefield Village- 2
(4h 13 m)
Mesa Campground, Gunnison- 1
(3 h)
Breckinridge- 1
(7 h 25 m)
Salina, KS? 1
Brown vs BofE in Topeka and Kansas City bbq for lunch.
(5h)
Lake of Ozarks State Park, ha ha tonka- 2
Onondaga cave
(2h45m)
St. Louis- 2
(4h 30m) National Quilt museum, Paducah)
Nashville, TN- 2
(3h 13 m)
Mammoth Cave NP, Lost River
Lexington, KY: horse park, Cincinnati for Underground Railroad museum- 2
(4h)
Great Smoky Mts. NP- 2
(7 h)
Savannah, GA- 2
(1 h, 30m)
Hunting Island State Park, Beaufort- 2
(2h)
Charleston SC- 3
(7h 39m) this coastal route to cape hatteras- would it be better to go inland?
Cape hatteras KOA- 2 nights
(3h)
Williamsburg VA- 2
(3h 30 min)
Trap Pond State Park- 1
Annapolis
(3h)
Harper's Ferry- 2
(3h)
River's edge camping: fallingwater, allegheny bike trail- 2
(3h)
Gettysburg-2
Winterthur museum and gardens
(3h30 min)
Philadelphia- 2 nights
(4 h)
Mystic- 1
(1h)
Newport RI- 2
Martha's Vineyard- 3 nights
What ferry should I take? Do I need my car? I was thinking that new bed for ferry would be a good way to avoid cape traffic but it's walk on only.
(2 hours?)
Boston- 4
(5h)
Acadia NP- 2
Searsport shores campground- 2
Monhegan Island- 1
Moody's Diner, owls head-1
Kennebunk- 2
(3h)
Franconia Notch State Park-1
Vermont: shelburne, covered bridges, Vermont country store- 4 nights somewhere
Watkins Glen State Park, NY- 2
Niagara- 1
Frankenmuth Jellystone- 1
Mackinac- 4
Drive down coast through Traverse City, sleeping bear dunes?
Muskegon-1
Madison- 2
Minneapolis- 3
(4h30m)
De Smet, SD- 1
(5h30m)
Custer state park, mt rushmore- 2
Cody WY- 1
Yellowstone NP-2
Twin Falls
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Old Aug 31st, 2016, 02:55 PM
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Sigh. I always forget that formatting does not transfer. If it hasn't got a number next to it- it's on the way from the previous place to the next. Or I screwed up.
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Old Sep 1st, 2016, 02:12 AM
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Acadia NP- 2
Searsport shores campground- 2
Monhegan Island- 1
Moody's Diner, owls head-1
Kennebunk- 2
(3h)
Franconia Notch State Park-1
Vermont: shelburne, covered bridges, Vermont country store- 4 nights somewhere

Searsport Shores is a lovely campground.
Take a picnic lunch to Monhegan and enjoy sitting on the rocks looking out to see. Don't forget binoculars.
Owls Head is in a wonderful area. Nice short hike to the light. Transportation museum if you like classic cars. Marshall Point lighthouse is very beautiful area and no charge. I believe there is a parking charge at Pemaquid Point near Damariscotta but it's not on your list.

Kennebunk is a tourist mecca and you haven't listed Portsmouth NH which although also a tourist mecca, is full of history and I think prettier.

Just about anyplace you choose in VT would be good. VT country store is fun. The campground between Bristol and Brandon (Lake Dunmore in Salisbury) is good. It's same side of state as Shelburne just further south.
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